Fraying Nerves + Flaring Tempers = Rising Irrationality

“Ever since college I have been a libertarian—socially liberal and fiscally conservative. I believe in individual liberty and personal responsibility. I also believe in science as the greatest instrument ever devised for understanding the world. So what happens when these two principles are in conflict? My libertarian beliefs have not always served me well. Like most people who hold strong ideological convictions, I find that, too often, my beliefs trump the scientific facts. This is called motivated reasoning, in which our brain reasons our way to supporting what we want to be true.” -- prominent libertarian Michael Shermer, 2013


Rationale: a set of reasons or a logical basis for a course of action or a particular belief

Some of the news from the last few days reports a harsher undertone among some of the public and from conservative pundits. State stay at home orders prompted a large protest in Michigan, with mostly conservative people protesting and demanding for workplaces to be reopened immediately. The Washington Post writes:

“For miles, thousands of drivers clogged the streets to demand Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) ease restrictions and allow them to go back to work. They drowned downtown Lansing, Mich., in a cacophony of honking. They blared patriotic songs from car radios, waving all sorts of flags from the windows — President Trump flags, American flags and the occasional Confederate flag. 

But in the massive demonstration against Whitmer’s stay-at-home executive order — which they have argued is excessive and beyond her authority — the pleas from organizers that protesters to stay in their vehicles went unheeded. Many got out of their cars and crashed the front lawn of the capitol building, with some chanting, ‘Lock her up!’ and ‘We will not comply!’

Right-wing media joined in the chorus. Tucker Carlson of Fox News described Whitmer’s actions as ‘petty authoritarianism,’ accusing her of putting on a show in an effort to be former vice president Joe Biden’s running mate. On Wednesday, Rush Limbaugh, a conservative talk-show host and Trump favorite, applauded the protesters, saying Democrats like Whitmer are ‘being coached by Nancy Pelosi and [Charles E.] Schumer to push this harder than they might normally feel is appropriate.’ 

Local law enforcement on Wednesday even joined the conservative criticism, as four county sheriffs wrote an open letter informing residents they would not be “strictly” enforcing Whitmer’s new order.”

Conservative allegations of political motives are not accompanied with any evidence, rendering rhetoric more irrational partisan dark free speech based on unsubstantiated, probably false conspiracy theories. Multiple sources are reporting that conservatives are now arguing to reopen businesses along these lines: “I'm no doctor but, some businesses can reopen right now. Retail stores can reopen now. There is no reason to keep businesses closed.” So far, none of those arguments I am aware of has even acknowledge the fact that America is still unable to conduct large scale testing for the virus and for antibodies to the virus.

That ‘rationale’ is not rational on several levels. First, it is even not a rationale because it is not based on facts. Instead, it is based on ideologically inspired opinions that real facts contradict. Real experts, not ideologically blinded political blowhards, uniformly assert that it is still too early to relax social distancing measures at present. Those measures now appear to be having a significant effect in slowing the spread of the virus. Second, America is still unable to do the large scale testing that is absolutely needed to guide rational decisions about when it is safe and who is safe to relax containment rules for. People who test positive for antibodies may have immunity from reinfection and are thus reasonably believed to be safe to release back to the workforce.

Regarding testing, the New York Times writes today:

“As President Trump pushes to reopen the economy, most of the country is not conducting nearly enough testing to track the path and penetration of the coronavirus in a way that would allow Americans to safely return to work, public health officials and political leaders say.

Concerns intensified on Wednesday as Senate Democrats released a $30 billion plan for building up what they called ‘fast, free testing in every community,’ saying they would push to include it in the next pandemic relief package. Business leaders, who participated in the first conference call of Mr. Trump’s advisory council on restarting the economy, warned that it would not rebound until people felt safe to re-emerge, which would require more screening. 

And Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York reiterated his call for federal assistance to ramp up testing, both for the virus and for antibodies.
‘The more testing, the more open the economy. But there’s not enough national capacity to do this,’ Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, said at his daily briefing in Albany. ‘We can’t do it yet. That is the unvarnished truth.’ 

At his own briefing later in the day, Mr. Trump boasted of having “the most expansive testing system anywhere in the world” and said that some states could even reopen before May 1, the date his task force had tentatively set. Twenty-nine states, he added, ‘are in good shape.’”

Ideology beats truth

Once again, American conservatism and rigid ideology are at odds with scientific facts and the facts fall to irrational beliefs based on no stated rationale. There is an unstated rationale. It is true that sooner or later the social distancing and lockdown rules will need to be relaxed. The economic damage so far has been very high. The damage could be catastrophic and long-lasting if rules are not relaxed fairly soon, maybe as soon as the middle or end of May.

Experts talk, political ideologues walk

It is now time for economic experts, not political blowhards, to start laying out scenarios for how much longer our economy can withstand this shutdown without incurring cataclysmic injury and how to reopen it with or without enough testing data to make informed decisions. Economic estimates will need to include as a factor, the fact that we still cannot do widespread testing and thus may be forced to reopen while flying mostly blind about the extent of the infection or how many more people will die.

The president’s constant uninformed blithering that facts contradict are damaging. That kind of dark free speech makes it harder for real experts to speak with authority the public will accept. When president keeps irrationally undermining experts, many people disbelieve their advice. At present, experts are giving the best advice they can based on data that is significantly limited due to the president’s astonishing incompetence in dealing with the pandemic from the beginning to this very day.

To assert that our president is unfit for office, is almost an equally astonishing understatement. The main problem here is the president, not the experts. Our president should be impeached for his incompetence and failures, especially including his failure to get large scale testing in place weeks ago.