Summary

The web content discusses the prevalent "every-man-for-himself" culture in the United States, particularly evident in the exploitation of undocumented immigrants for labor and the individualistic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

The article reflects on the societal and political attitudes in the United States, highlighting a culture that prioritizes individual gain over collective well-being. It points out the reliance on undocumented immigrants for post-disaster recovery, despite public rhetoric advocating for their departure. The pandemic has further exposed this mentality, with citizens and politicians alike disregarding public health measures for personal convenience or political gain. The piece criticizes top scientists and officials for not forcefully countering misinformation spread by the President, suggesting that their silence or complicity may be driven by self-interest or fear of repercussions. The author argues that this self-serving behavior benefits exclusive clubs of wealthy individuals at the expense of the broader population, exacerbating inequalities and undermining the nation's unity.

Opinions

The author suggests that homeowners and contractors prioritize quick home repairs over the legal status of workers, indicating a hypocritical stance on immigration.
There is a critique of the refusal to wear masks and the lack of mask mandates, seen as valuing personal freedom over communal safety during the pandemic.
Politicians are accused of valuing re-election over implementing life-saving measures, reflecting a selfish approach to governance.
The President is criticized for fostering division and taking advantage of the individualistic culture for political gain.
Top scientists, like Anthony Fauci, are seen as not directly challenging the President's misinformation, possibly due to fear of job loss or replacement by someone more compliant.
FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn's initial support for an unproven treatment is viewed as a lack of courage and a disregard for his commitment to healthcare.
The author laments that allegiance to exclusive clubs of wealthy individuals overshadows loyalty to the nation, leading to policies that ignore the pandemic's disproportionate impact on the less privileged.

It’s an Every-Man-for-Himself Culture

Whatever happened to team USA?

I was watching a Netflix documentary on immigrants this past weekend. Guess who we depend on to get the job of recovery done quickly following natural disasters? Undocumented immigrants.

The documentary showed immigrants lined up by the side of the road near a Home Depot (or some such store), where builders picked them up to be part of the day’s crews that would be repairing roofs, clearing debris, and rebuilding homes.

Homeowners looking on at the repair work being done said they welcomed said workers because they wanted their homes fixed and made safe as quickly as possible. When told many of the workers were undocumented, they said that was the contractors’ problem, not theirs.

Doesn’t matter who does the work or under what conditions. As long as I get what I need, it’s all good.

One interviewee was particularly adamant the workers must go back to their home countries and come back the right way if they want to work in the US.

Of course, go back after my house is taken care of.

As if there was a right way they could come it. They would have if there was one, for Christ’s sake.

But there’s really no need to grant these workers legal entry to the United States. It’s easier and cheaper for contractors and builders to deal with undocumented workers.

An every-man-for-himself mentality

The way many regular citizens and politicians have dealt with the pandemic has brought this mentality to the fore.

We have, for starters, people’s refusal to wear face masks and politicians’ refusal to mandate mask wearing.

My fellow Americans: How does wearing a mask during this unprecedented event that’s unlikely to repeat itself during our lifetime diminish our precious individual rights? Is this nonsense more important than the lives lost, the economic wellbeing sacrificed, the jobs lost, and the interruption of children’s education as a result of a pandemic made unnecessarily prolonged so that you can go mask-less?

I guess you don’t care. It’s every man for himself in the land of the free.

My question to politicians and other government officials: How can you care more about pleasing your “base” and going along with the President than about taking the simple step of implementing a mask mandate that saves lives, shortens the pandemic and thereby limits its economic damage?

You could care less. There’s nothing in it for you. Being re-elected is what matters.

Not even top scientists working for the President will take one for team USA.

I’ve heard the argument that the US hasn’t been able to handle the pandemic well because it’s a big country whose Constitution protects state and individual rights.

Baloney. It’s the general culture.

The President, of course, has heavily promoted and taken advantage of this culture by being, as he might have said were he talking about someone else, “the most divisive President in the entire history of the United States, by far.”

This is to be expected.

What’s appalling are the influential scientists and government officials playing along, misleading and acting cowardly.

What kind of a deal did they sign? What type of pact makes them do so? Or is it, simply and tragically, that they won’t risk their jobs over this?

His hard work, expertise and dedication to public health notwithstanding, I, for one, have never heard Anthony Fauci directly call out the President on any on the ridiculous claims he has made about the virus. On the one hand, he didn’t initiate forceful corrections or rejections of such claims. On the other hand, when asked, he has uttered the most diplomatic statements possible, things like, “What years of research shows is X”, and not directly called out the President.

I held out hope that he might say something like, “The President is telling lies about how long the pandemic will last, how dangerous COVID is and what treatments are safe and effective.” If not that, at least something along the lines of, “The President may have been given the wrong information because his claims are false. The truth of the matter is X.”

More recently, we had the example of FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn who, with the President at his side, supported the notion that convalescent plasma reduces mortality by 35%. As it happens, the scientific community criticized such a claim as a gross misrepresentation, and Hahn admitted the next day that the criticism was warranted.

Did Hahn throw his lifelong commitment to health care out the window because the President was standing next to him? Was it a lack of courage? Most importantly, would he have reversed himself had he not been called out on it?

Sadly, I do not believe so. Hahn was doing what was convenient for him and didn’t think of taking one for Team USA.

As to Fauci, I still give him the benefit of the doubt since he hasn’t gone as far a directly echoing the President’s lies. Perhaps he’s just trying to not get fired because he fears being replaced by someone willing to do so? I do hope that’s the case. Otherwise, what a disappointment.

We all have a choice: it’s either allegiance to an exclusive club or to the whole nation

I turned NPR the other day on my way to work and a New Yorker reporter was talking about his interviews of Trump supporters from a wealthy Connecticut town.

One of the people he interviewed was a man in charge of the town’s finances. Despite all of Donald Trump’s objectionable actions and statements, he supported Trump because the President’s economic policies benefited the citizens of his town and his concern was for said citizens.

His allegiance, then, was not to the United States of America but to a relatively small group of people who are generally wealthy and work in finance, trading, banking and such. He said as much.

Too many Americans are placing their allegiance on exclusive clubs instead of the nation as a whole.

And this is enormously tragic when the exclusive club calling the shots is the mostly-wealthy-mostly-white-mostly-men’s club, whose members don’t care much about how the pandemic exacerbates inequality; how it disproportionately kills people of color; how seriously it affects children in poor school districts; and how heavily it burdens mothers, particularly working mothers.

For this exclusive club’s members, as long as the stock market remains high and taxes on wealth low, Trump is doing a great job in every respect, including his pandemic response.