Blaming Is Essential. Without Blaming Someone The SNAFU Continues

A friend wrote suggesting blaming does no good saying we have to get beyond that and cooperate. I agree we have to cooperate as well as we can. But cooperation can only be achieved when the willingness and ability of the others is known. You cannot cooperate without a goal in sight. You ask, “why are we cooperating?” – “What is our goal.?  When you decide upon that you recognize you can’t cooperate with someone who keeps setting you back from reaching the goal.

If your goal is to send goods from Point A to Point B and Bob writes down the address to which the goods are to go and he directs them to Point X he made a bad mistake. Is he to blame for the goods going to the wrong address? Of course. Should we blame him for the mistake and tell him he can’t stay in that job? I’d suggest yes. If you don’t and he does it again do have to wait until that time to blame him?

My friend also said many are to blame from the president down the line. The list is long. But in the case of the coronavirus you have to admit the president is mostly to blame. I say that because despite advice he was given that others did not have he kept painting a rosy picture. He kept saying things that were insanely wrong.

Were people wrong to rely upon his representations? Were people wrong to believe that what he was saying was true and to act upon them accordingly? By relying upon them assuming he had superior information many people in responsible positions did not do what they should have done. How do you take bold actions when the guy on top says you are all worrying needlessly? How can the blame lie on them?

A battalion commander in the middle of a battle relays the information to one of his captains. He tells him that Hill Carroll has been vacated by the enemy and he should move his company onto it. He assures him that no enemy remains. The captain relying on his statements goes off with his company without the traditional air and artillery cover to take the hill. The battalion commander was wrong. The enemy is still there and dug in deeply. The captain’s company gets slaughtered. Is the captain to blame or the battalion commander. Bad information produces bad results.

We know what concerned Trump. Remember the ship off of California. He did not want it to be allowed to dock not because of some danger from the virus but because as he said he did not want the number of virus cases in the U.S.  to rise. What world is he living in that he thought the numbers were not going to rise with the infection already within the country? Did he really believe that we were not like the rest of the world and that our numbers had peaked back in early March?

When you have a leader of such incompetence it is not the blame game to point it out. It is to be aware that we are being poorly served. How would you feel if If the battalion commander after causing the company to be wiped out by his ignorance said in response to an inquiry about it: “let’s stop the blame game.” By not blaming and pointing to errors you allow them to continue. In the face of such incompetence would you allow the person in charge who has caused harm to stay in that position?

There’s nothing we can do about Trump but not blaming him for the mess that is ongoing and will continue is wrong. Even now with all the shortages he refuses to act by requiring companies to produce what is necessary. Days and weeks go by while he dithers over what to do. He says he wants volunteer cooperation. GM said “OK, we’ll do it but give us a billion dollars up front.” That’s not volunteering. It is extortion.

 

13 Comments

  1. It is important to note

    https://whowhatwhy.org/2020/03/31/reagan-era-medicare-changes-leave-us-vulnerable-to-covid-19-experts-say/

    CORONAVIRUS
    MARCH 31, 2020 | DAVID HOLTHAUS
    REAGAN-ERA MEDICARE CHANGES LEAVE US VULNERABLE TO COVID-19, EXPERTS SAY

  2. William M. Connolly

    It is important, before we throw stones at one person, to put things in context. I hope the follow info will help do that:

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was out in San Francisco’s Chinatown in late February encouraging people to go out in public and spend money at local businesses despite concerns regarding the spread of the coronavirus.
    “It’s exciting to be here, especially at this time, to be able to be unified with our community,” Pelosi said on Feb. 24. “We want to be vigilant about what is out there in other places. We want to be careful about how we deal with it, but we do want to say to people ‘Come to Chinatown, here we are — we’re, again, careful, safe — and come join us.’”
    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/pelosi-encouraged-public-gatherings-in-late-february-weeks-after-trumps-china-travel-ban

    The Gaurdian has pictures of Nancy Pelosi, on February 24. “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, made a publicized stop this week in her home town’s Chinatown to implore people to “please come and visit and enjoy Chinatown”.
    “We know that there is concern surrounding tourism, traveling all throughout the world, but we think it’s very safe to be in Chinatown and hope that others will come,” she said. “It’s lovely here.”

    And from NBC: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/nancy-pelosi-visits-san-franciscos-chinatown/2240247/
    Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi toured San Francisco’s Chinatown Monday to send a message. She said there’s no reason tourists or locals should be staying away from the area because of coronavirus concerns.
    “That’s what we’re trying to do today is to say everything is fine here,” Pelosi said. “Come because precautions have been taken. The city is on top of the situation.”

    • Seems like you found your SCAPEGOAT, Bill. Congrats!

      • william m. connolly

        No, Abe, I post this to say don’t scapegoat anyone. Don’t scapegoat medical/public health professionals, Presidents of Universities, governors, mayors, Leaders in Europe. Don’t scapegoat anyone. Everyone acted on the data available.

        At today’s press conference, Doctor Birx said most doctors early on looked at coronavirus in Wuhan and its province, 80,000 cases among 40 million or 80 million people, and thought that it was more like SARS, a limited virus, rather than the pandemic it became. Both Dr. Birx and Dr Faucia said they did not have the data to act otherwise from what they did. And throughout February the CDC was saying “low risk.”

        By March 1, Trump had done numerous things, including issuing travel warnings against South Korea and Italy. On Jan 31 he issued the travel ban from China, as you know.

        I don’t scapegoat, nor throw stones at the Administration, the Provosts, the Governors, nor the Mayors who acted slowly. On March 2, 2020 Mayor Bill Di Blasio twitted: “Since I’m encouraging New Yorkers to go on with their lives + get out on the town despite coronovirus, I thought I would offer some suggestions” He then suggested three movies playing on March 5.

        I post this info, to say don’t scapegoat anyone. The best minds in our country acted as they thought appropriate based on the data at hand.

        No one had the data even in early March to recommend widespread closings, stay at homes, etc,

        • Look closer. The data was there but they acted in the way they felt was correct. We blew it, but not after we got the data. Not really. (As I have posted, Trump had little or nothing to do with the escalation of this disease. He was just being himself so the target was as usual. What he says about dandelions on our lawns would draw heavy fire.) It was America’s arrogance or ignorance of the belief that we were not vulnerable to a viral disaster that has put us here. And when the earth warms up ten degrees in one year and hundreds of millions die from the drought people will blame someone. Probably the sitting president and he/she will blame the previous administrations. This whole affair is made 100 times worse because PEOPLE DO NOT TAKE RESPONCIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN ACTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          The writing WAS on the wall, Bill. I know a half dozen epidemiologists and they laugh about how arrogant we are in this world about the spread of viruses. Two years ago a doctor from NIH we hawkwatch with gave us a fifteen minute speech during a rain delay that gave me nightmares. It was about this exact scenario but it was much more grim. Ya see, this virus is a bit of a lightweight. And I don’t mean a Henry Armstrong lightweight. It only kills a fraction of its victims. There are viruses out there that could have been the stand-in for ‘Rona that make it look like a little pimple on Elephant Man’s face. If this was a mutation of one of those, a mutation that was resistant to all of the meds we have, a billion people might be dead by now. For real. Just like in the moving picture shows!

          We have firemen at the ready for future fires, cops for crime waves, armies for invasions. But five million corona virus fit on the head of a pin. We’re big old humans. We don’t need to be worried and prepared about something you can only see with an electron microscope. Right? RIGHT????

          The ebola outbreak had me much more worried than this thing. But even ebola is a mouse compared to what is lurking out there. Think of it this way, Bill. The bad stuff my doctor buddies are worried about, well, think of the scene in The Godfather with the horses head in the guy’s bed. Corona is like putting the head of a gerbil in his bed to send a message. These other bugs out there are like putting the whole horse under his satin sheets, with all the horseshit it has produced in its life in the pool. Capisci?

  3. William M. Connolly

    False narratives whip up folks into a frenzy. Here’s a balanced narrative from the FEDERALIST: (about Trump’s decisive actions, about the CDC (which repeatedly issued “low risk” statements in January and February) and about China’s negligence regarding the Coronavirus itself.)
    https://thefederalist.com/2020/03/31/the-real-coronavirus-chronology-shows-trump-was-on-top-of-it-while-biden-was-mocking-the-danger/

  4. The one great falsehood to which Trump’s fiercest adherents and vicious opponents and, indeed, Trump himself subscribe is that the Coronavirus is all about Trump.

  5. The smear campaign against Trump by the media persists just as it did against Sen. Bulger. Too many bear false witness against their neighbors.

  6. William M. Connolly

    Matt, what you and others are doing is scapegoating. Malicious scapegoating. You are singling out one person for blame, and ignoring all the other politicians, all members of Congress, all the governors and mayors, all the presidents of all the universities, all the heads of sports organizations, et alia, who only decisively acted in the second to third week of March.

    Your comment yesterday, too, was malicious. Your opening paragraph was pathetically wrong. Filled with falsehoods. Early on, in late January the President acted decisively and wisely (China embargo and assembling a task force under Mike Pence, declaring a National Health Emergency), listened to health professionals, never muzzled anyone (Ask Doctors Birz and Fascio, NIH, CDC, ask all the physicians and scientists at all the medical schools and universities throughout America if they were muzzled, as you alleged); the President always encouraged states to act, always said he had the States’ back; always acted to support the states, never withheld aid or advice from anyone.

    You take a few encouraging, hopeful and aspirational statements from the president (akin to: We’ll beat this; hopefully by the Spring it will end, it will miraculously end (like every other flu in human history has ended; the aspiration was this flu would end in spring like every seasonal flu) don’t worry we have this under control) and you want to CRUCIFY him for being encouraging and optimistic.

    Where were Pelosi and Schumer and the Presidents of all the Universities and Medical Schools in January and early February? Everything was kept open. The Health Authorities in New York were encouraging people to attend Festivals. (etc) I’ve pointed out Biden held his last rally on March 10, the President on March 2. Everyone was rallying and campaigning till early March. All the Universities were open; parties, dances, concerts, sports, etc . . .all open. But you scapegoat, stone, lash and crucify only the President. Knowing the facts, you have repeatedly stoned only the President for “holding rallies.”

    Your readers know you’ve been figuratively lashing this one man and stoning him to death since the day he got elected.

    When Winston Churchill gave his “we’ll beat them on the beaches speech” you would have condemned him for giving false hope, and daily pointed out the number of British planes shot down, the number of British soldiers lost on the Continent, the failure of Churchill to act more quickly, the failure of Parliament to stockpile more equipment, the failure of Allies to act, the delay in Lend Lease, and you would have done this daily during the war.

    When FDR said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” You would have thrown stones at him, “of course we should fear” and pointed out how deadly the Japanese and Nazi forces were, you would have daily reported the casualties and scapegoated FDR for every loss, for every setback. “Why didn’t we attack Normandy in 1943” you would have wailed.

    Nothing has changed here. You distort facts because you found your SCAPEGOAT. Your blame-game is scapegoating. It is not constructive criticism.

    Nothing has changed here. Those suffering from TDS, the liberal Dems who gave us the Russian Collusion hoax for 2.5 years, the journalists at MSNBC and CNN who pushed that hoax, are , gleefully throwing stones at their favorite target, President Trump . . . .what is pathetic is that they continue their divisive politicizing, their distorted rhetoric, their name-calling, in the midst of a National health crisis.

    • So Brady is the GOAT and Bonespurs is the SCAPEGOAT. I don’t see a problem.

    • No Bill, it is not scapegoating it is recognizing the fact that this man will do anything to deflect responsibility from events that make him look bad, and it is costing lives. A few hours ago he said that the Governor of Maryland has everything he needs. Another lie. The Republican Governor immediately told the media, in no uncertain terms and on camera, THAT IS NOT TRUE.

      How long does this dangerous behavior have to continue until you recognize the threat he poses to the public?

  7. If we had no president for the past two months things would be just about the same. Who in our political realm has experience with something like this? Trump is just being Trump. He is outlandish. Outrageous. Did anyone expect anything different? What would Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush or anyone have done differently that would have made this better? Trumps actions may look wrong to many of us but who really cares? He didn’t cause anything to be much worse or better. He’ll always be an asshole. Even the most ardent supporters of the guy I know, and I know some beauties, think he is a d-bag. Its one of he best qualities in their minds.

    When someone is in pain I believe that dealing with their pain comes first. There will be plenty of time later to beat the shit out of the thing that caused the pain. Don’t get mad, the old guy in The Erie in Neponset told me. Get even.