I have a cultural observation regarding the US's quarantine efforts and my experience as a painter. For background, I wear surgical gloves while I paint and have been doing so for years. I also do a lot of painting outside, which is the main reason I wear the gloves.
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Now if you compare that to a country like Japan you see that they have no problem wearing masks, following guidelines, and that doing this is perceived as being a good citizen. This may be the same in Sweden, where (I'll let a Swede tell me) maybe this is also a social good.
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This experience just wearing gloves when I paint makes me think a severe quarantine lockdown in the US is actually pointless. Not because it wouldn't work, but because culturally Americans just think it's the worst thing ever and won't even follow it if it was mandatory.
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This also tracks w/ why we have a quarantine in many places and it's just not working. I walk outside and people just DGAF, no mask, no distance, just fuck it. NYC reports people still go running ffs. They lined up by the thousands to watch a boat pull in and still had concerts.
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Rational people can't understand, but being a "glove and mask dork" is simply culturally the worst thing to ask someone to do in the US. Americans absolutely hate dorks and will do almost anything to avoid that shame. Then you have prominent leaders adding to the dork factor.pic.twitter.com/44WdKoEOlI
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So, I sadly believe that the US quarantine will be worse than doing nothing. Not only will it basically be like doing nothing because people won't listen, but it will also destroy the economy and take a decade to recover. All because Americans don't want to look like dorks.
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On the flip side, this cultural norm in the US is why we couldn't ever do it like Japan or Sweden. If we said, "country open but wear a mask" it'd be pointless because Americans just won't listen. I really think the virus will explode and be pervasive no matter what we do.
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End of conversation
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I suspect you might already be familiar with the story (& legacy) of Dr Ignaz Semmelweis; but this sort of attitude sadly doesn't seem to be limited to the US. Though perhaps it has persisted the most intensely there.
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