Thursday, April 02, 2020

 

Political Mayhem Thursday: Who to blame?


Yesterday's New York Times featured a story about a group of 70 UT-Austin students who ignored warnings and celebrated Spring Break in Mexico. Now 28 of them have tested positive for COVID-19, and many others may have it as well. 

So, yeah, it's easy to blame them, and people like them, for the pandemic. And President Trump. And China. And a bevy of slow-moving actors who didn't do what needed to be done. And blamed they are!

It reminds me of an incident I saw once while skiing. I came upon a little family group stopped partway down a steep hill. The mom was lying on her back screaming in pain, her leg broken into a very unnatural position. The dad was next to her, with their kid (who apparently had cut mom off going down the slope). The dad was yelling at the kid: "Hunter, your mother may be seriously injured!"

A few thoughts.

First, yes, Hunter's mother was seriously injured. There really was no maybe about it.

Second, it seemed like maybe not the best use of dad's time to blame the kid right at that moment, as his wife writhed in agony. 

And that reminds me a bit of all the blaming going on now.

Certainly, history will sort a lot of this out. I don't doubt for a minute that Trump and Spring Break partiers will not be well remembered (probably Trump will come off worse than the college kids).  Accountability will happen. But this- the days before the worst of it-- might not be the time to focus on that. 



# posted by Mark Osler @ 12:00 AM
Comments:
I think that it is best to leave all the blaming up to the President of the United States. That appears to be the job that he is best equipped to handle. He must be really good at it because I see a lot of smiling nodding heads around him.
These are tragic times for so many people and the President is probably just demonstrating how inappropriate it is to pass the buck.
I think it is the time to recognize all forward looking solutions
# posted by Blogger John Osler : 1:34 PM
 
Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

#