For the Record 02/05

Posted

The Washington Post this past weekend had a great story on the coronavirus. I cannot begin to overemphasize the importance of reading this story. While the story has one major shortcoming, in most respects it is thorough and well-written.

The title is: “Early missteps and state secrecy in China probably allowed the coronavirus to spread farther and faster”. To find the story, google “early missteps”.

To begin with I quarrel with the title. If you read the story, I think you’ll come to the same conclusion I did, namely that China’s actions – or lack of action – undoubtedly made the situation worse. Use of the word “probably” in the headline was misleading.

Here is the timeline as set out in the story: By mid-December many people in China had an idea a problem disease was brewing in Wuhan, a city of 11 million in the interior of China. By Dec. 26 officials knew the situation was getting grave. On Dec. 30, a medical doctor in a private online chat with doctors he had gone to medical school with, stated that they were dealing with a coronavirus. Two days later the doctor and seven other physicians were arrested. Their crime was the spreading of “rumors.”

That environment continued for three weeks, during which time the government downplayed the danger.

On Jan. 20, a doctor famous for his handling of an earlier disease, announced that the coronavirus could be spread from person to person. The next day the Communist Party newspaper mentioned the epidemic for the first time and in a page 2 story reported that party leader Xi Jinping had told government workers to “put the people’s health and safety first.” 

The Communist Party line did an about-face. Prior to this people could get arrested for spreading “rumors.” Now the Communist hacks were saying any bureaucrat who covered up the epidemic would be “nailed to the pillar of shame for eternity.”

Sounds a little like Pelosi bragging about how she besmirched Trump’s reputation in history. The misinformation and the 180 are also similar to the shenanigans of Schiff, Pelosi and Schumer.

Within days the Chinese government had closed off an area of 50 million people in the Wuhan region. By then, however, the damage had been done. The virus literally had been spread around the world.

My biggest problem with the story is that the authors are trying to pin the blame on government workers, who “focused on maintaining stability — and praising party leader Xi Jinping — as the crisis worsened.”

Then the authors blame the culture, stating that the situation “also underscores how a bureaucratic culture that prioritizes political stability over all else probably allowed the virus to spread farther and faster.”

The story in most respects is great. We owe a great deal to WaPo for bringing us this story. The story, however, falls short in not placing the blame on Communist strongman and dictator Xi. To refer to him only as “party leader” is not all the much different than how the Chinese government handled the situation for more than a month.

The real problem in China is their form of government. They not only have socialism/communism, they have socialism headed up by a dictator. Socialism simply does not work. Combined with dictatorship, the results have been lethal. Look at Russia and look at Venezuela.

There is another recent story you should look at. This one comes from The New York Times and tells how the dictator of Venezuela has turned part of that nation’s capital city into a giant playground for the rich, while millions go without food and other necessities. Google: Venezuela capital booming.

There are other stories I would point out to you. Google: “Anti-Chinese sentiment” and you will see stories that read something like this – the corona virus is spreading and so is Anti-Chinese sentiment. That’s unfortunate. The problem is not with the Chinese people, the problem is the socialist policies applied by a dictator and this is not the story being told by the media. These sweethearts would have you believe the rest of the world is racist. The public is being told the virus problem in China was caused by bureaucrats. This is a classic example of fake news. The problem is the socialist Chinese system. With every breath the media is pushing a socialist agenda. 

The media does not tell us that the Democrats running for president are trying to take us down this socialist path. We are already headed there. Obama gave us socialized medicine, and obviously had to tell us lies to get us there. Remember we were told we could keep our doctor, keep our health insurance plan and save $2,500 a year?

We don’t hear much about open borders. That’s pure socialism. Taking money from Americans without due process and giving it to people who are in this country illegally is socialism.