COVID Update December 21: 2020 has been filled with such a strong assortment of emotions, facts, and politics.

And I’ve tried the best I could to find & summarize the right facts in these threads. But there’s more going on that I haven’t captured. But I will try now. 1/

As a country it became clear to most of us at some point that you can’t get through a pandemic very well as a divided nation. That all the division that had been brewing for years was coming back to haunt us. 2/

That every bit of indifference to the plight of others, every time we didn’t do everything we could to make people less likely to suffer, every selfish instinct— were all coming bone to roost. And in the worst possible ways— with people’s lives. 3/

We saw other countries that place society higher than individual needs— Japan, Singapore, NSSCs*, Vietnam, China— have much lower death rates. 4/

*My new acronym I’m trying out: Non-Swedish Scandinavian Countries— like it?

I’m not saying these countries are perfect. But neither are the most individualistic & those with more indifference to poverty— Russia, Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia— where the deaths/100,000 were multiples higher. 5/

And the US was squarely in the latter group—the “me not we” group.

We are the ultimate lottery country. For the small chance at everyone becoming a billionaire, we are all willing to tolerate a culture & policies which give the rich a wide open playing field & no safety net.6/

Want to pollute to make a quick buck at the expense of other people’s lives— the US is your country.

Want to operate nursing homes without worrying about fines of infections spread— the US is your country. 7/

Want to redline, gerrymander, exploit immigrant labor while denying them rights, cross-sell Wells Fargo products, put people in credit card debt, make kids live without housing— this is your country. 8/

And the excuse— that we can’t run a deficit, that we hate government, that we don’t want taxes taking *our* money, that wealth redistribution is evil, that regulation zaps free enterprise— those are made up theories by people with advantages looking to make them bigger.9/

So all of these have been to some silent killers— disrespecting science, disrespecting government, racism, over-incarceration, profits over patients, unequal access to education, multi-gen poverty— have not been silent during the pandemic. These are loud killers. 10/

These things have a a very visible cost. But they all benefit too many people to change easily. And 30% of our judges— appointed in the last 4 years— by all this stuff hook, line & sinker. They’ve read Ayn Rand, they meet with Jerry Falwell— that’s the country they want. 11/

And the forces that have prevented a unified response were the forces that have been at work for a number of years to divide us— false experts, social media, bad actors who push misinformation, propagandists to whom COVID-19 is nothing but a vector for their agenda. 12/

They’ve never set foot in a hospital, nor are they curious to. They haven’t done essential work or put themselves at risk. They are unwilling to sacrifice a single $ of economic growth for the health of the public. And so they offer acounter message. 13/

The counter message isn’t about saving small businesses— they would have taken that campaign to Congress if it was.

It’s not about a better scientific theory of herd immunity— that’s moronic.

It’s about a refusal to sacrifice. 14/

It’s not about being tired of wearing a mask. Or COVID fatigue. Those are realities we all face.

It’s not about worries over mental health or overdoses. They’ve not lifted a finger or advocated spending a nickel.

It’s selfishness dressed up as something friendlier.15/

So the US made COVID response a tribal call. Not a unifying call. And it’s one reason why we have failed & continue to fail worse than others. 16/

I think history is likely to show that Trump the “it’s anyone’s fault but mine” met up with Trump the populist and saw an opportunity to sew division, play to the crowd & promote his importance.

And he thought it was good politics. It was not. 17/

But here is the thing that gets me. I began the year without anger, all business, focused on saving lives & helping people’s story get told. Many may know I reached out to & worked with the administration & any governor who asked.

But over the course of the year... 18/

I had to acknowledge that we had a president & much of the country that didn’t care if we succeeded.

And that made me angry. 19/

Here’s the thing about anger. It’s so often misplaced & pointed at the wrong direction. So I often choose to sit on it til I understood it?

Was I mad at the virus? Or was I mad at other people? 20/

Part of the answer turned a out to be I am angry that people who recognized what was happening & could do something didn’t. That is part of it.

But not all of it. The other part is much harder. 21/

When I get angry at other people’s behavior, I usually inevitably at some point ask myself the question “what about my own behavior? What I have I done here?”

And the ugly reality is if I really want to know the answer, it is yes— I am part of the problem. 22/

In fact, if I keep asking myself the question, what part of the blame is my own, eventually I will see it.

Have I not seen all these things happening? Have I not ignored suffering? Am I not part of the reason we are here? 23/

And so this complicated set of feeling we have— including the anger— but this sense of being a quintessential American. Wowed by the good stuff. Way too willing to live with the bad stuff. 24/

I can list all the things we tried to do this year. #inthebubble supported farm laborers, feeding people, incarcerated ppl, Tribal lands with all our profits. Got PPE to millions. But it doesn’t change the point that we have built a helpless nation. 25/

Helpless in the face of tragedy. Indifference in the face of mounting deaths.

This is not the country we wanted. It’s not the country we thought we had. 26/

We have been given the most simple test. Can we rally together? Simply that.

And we failed. We failed our fellow citizens. We failed the people with the least protection. Because that’s exactly who we decided to be. /end