Popular ignorance

The US largely remains locked into itself, fractured by racism which fuels culture wars between educated and uneducated, fans covid infections, and generally allows Washington to do what it pleases in foreign affairs.

The total number of covid cases is more than 46 million in a country of 330 million; deaths stand at 751,000 and daily infections are 83,000. Some 67 per cent of the population has received one dose of the covid vaccine and 59 per cent have been fully vaccinated. These figures are low for advanced nations.

Anti-vaccination campaigners continue to gain ground as vaccines have been approved for children. Republican politicians are leading the charge against vaccinations although scientific data shows that a majority of people who are infected with Covid, require hospital care, and die of the disease are not vaccinated.

There are no national vaccine passports of the type issued by European Union member states and no vaccine mandates or covid tests for domestic flying as there are in Europe and elsewhere. Getting a timely PCR test for travelling abroad or before surgery can be problematic.

Mask-wearing seems to be widely accepted at supermarkets, airports, public offices and elsewhere despite stiff opposition from some people and communities and 37 people are being prosecuted across the country for causing disturbances on commercial flights when told to mask.

While Black, Asian, Hispanic and other US citizens from non-white minorities have gained prominence in politics, the professions, business, and other endeavours in recent decades, whites remain in largely charge and dominant. Racism is deeply embedded in the society, institutions, the judiciary, local, state, and national politics, and work.

Reporting for the Brookings think-tank, Rashawn Ray argues that racism is prevalent in the US at all levels of society athough it is widespread among lower class whites without university education. White people expect deference whatever their status.

He writes, “This is because many white people, particularly white people with lower levels of education and income, realise that whiteness comes with a premium that extends beyond economics to include cultural and social capital. As President Lyndon Johnson said, “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best coloured man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.’”

Systematic racism prevents even educated Black people with high incomes from achieving their potential. People of Hispanic and Asian backgrounds are somewhat better off than those with African ancestry. Black drivers may be detained by traffic police for small offenses, Black children may hesitate to do well in school, and Black hospital patients may not receive treatment equal to that given to whites.

While racism has been endemic since the founding of the country and is maintained by systematic impositions, the recent rise of white supremacists has been fostered by Donald Trump and his Republican acolytes, misinformation media, and social networks. Southern and mid-western states are particularly infected by this process. It has exacerbated longstanding tensions and unleashed “culture wars” between the mainly urban educated “elite” — which includes all races — and the less educated, largely white urban and rural folk who feel excluded and patronised by the elite.

Culture wars explain the wide gap between those who have taken the covid pandemic seriously, isolated, socially distanced, masked, tested, and vaccinated and those who have not and reject the advice of scientists. The rejectionists not only endanger their own health and lives and the health and lives of those who follow advice but create a large pool of potentially infectious people who could interact with people in countries where anti-covid protections are lacking. Consequently, covid could continue to mutate and infect people the world over.

The vast majority of US citizens do not really care about this threat because they do not travel outside the country and have little or no contact with the rest of the world. This is true even for the majority of the privileged elite. As my daughter Marya observed people here can travel to only two countries by road — Canada and Mexico — and it is expensive to fly to distant destinations. Instead, they travel within the US by road and plane, remain confined to their comfort zones and have little interest in either national or foreign affairs.

Consequently, the politicians in Washington have a free hand to suit themselves rather than serve the country and its national interests. On the domestic front, between election campaigns politicians take notice of their constituents only to provide local benefits — roads, bridges, hospitals — without committing to the sort of huge infrastructure investment projects promoted by the Biden administration. Politicians shun taxing super-rich corporations and individuals to finance the deficit created by investment in essential projects.

On the foreign front, policies are also domestic. US administrations are hemmed in by domestid lobbies loyal to foreign governments. The main example of this situation is provided by the near total White House and Congressional commitment to Israel. Donald Trump has rightly pointed out that Israel controls Congress, despite a handful of leftning lawmakers who attempt to break Israel’s grip on the US executive and legislature. Israel enjoys such control altough right-wing Israeli governments under Binyamin Netanyahu and Naftali Bennett have alienated some 70 per cent of US Jews due to Israel’s colonisation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, harsh treatment of Palestiinians and refusal to permit them to form their own state.

Popular ignorance and lack of interest does not, however, always apply. Both Trump and incumbent President Joe Biden counted on a major political boost from the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. Ending the 20 year US involvement with Afghanistan and bringing “the boys home” should have achieved their objective but did not.

Polls showed that 54 per cent of respondents approved of this policy while 42 per cent disapproved. The substantial percentage of those who disapproved was a surprise. This was almost certainly influenced by widespread media attention to the chaotic US evacuation and the failure of the US to rescue Afghans who worked with US forces. This outraged US military officers who served in that country while abandonment of Afghan women and children to the Taliban angered US women and human rights activists.

Trump and Biden did not take into consideration “unexpected consequences” of this policy in the US and cared little about the 40 million Afghans they abandoned to the Taliban. The country is bankrupt, its foreign reserves are locked up in the US, the vast majority of Afghans cannot afford food to feed their families. Health services have collapsed, girls are prevented from going to school and women to jobs. Winter is approaching and the country’s humanitarian crisis can only get much worse. Relief agencies are appealing for funds and supplies but there are so many hungry people in this world that Afghanistan is getting short shrift.

Photo: TNS