Clemson University football coach Dabo Swinney's confidence in America to gain the upper hand on COVID-19 is misplaced "jingoistic bravado" and an "embrace of ignorance." "From Dabo to the Dumbo" in the White House, it's part of conservative efforts to socially distance themselves from science, says Deadspin writer Jim Rich.
Swinney is a caricature of many who are ignoring the seriousness of the virus, Rich writes after the upbeat football coach said some encouraging words for a troubling time:
“This is America, man. We’ve stormed the beaches of Normandy. We’ve sent a rover out on Mars and walked on the moon. This is the greatest country. We’ve created an iPhone where I can sit here and talk to people in all these different places. We’ve got the smartest people in the world. We’re going to rise up and kick this thing in the teeth and get back to our lives.”
Rich isn't encouraged. The writer calls that "stupidity passed off as grit or expertise" and fears it's "downright deadly. It’s a whole separate disease – thinking you’re smart when you actually aren’t (it even has a name: the Dunning-Kruger Effect) and it has infected a massive swath of America, from Dabo to the Dumbo in the Oval Office.”
The New York Times illustrated Rich's point Thursday with a story mapping the correlation between the rapid spread of the virus and many states’ lethargy when it came to enacting stay-at-home orders.
"Not surprisingly, a majority of the states were led by Republican governors and full of conservative folks who are more comfortable social distancing themselves from science than their neighbors," Rich says.
However, Rich is dead wrong and none too good at math either. Most of the states with the highest number of infections are blue states. Sadly, New York and New Jersey are totally out of control with almost half of all U.S. infections between them. Washington was the U.S. epicenter last month. Those three states, along with Illinois, California, Connecticut, Maryland and Massachusetts are all among the worst states for the outbreak.
Swinney's approach, Rich contends, is contemptuous and practically shouts to other nations, “We’re America, die, motherfucker, die!” Deadspin's conservative hater also claims:
"This was President Trump’s first of many mistakes – not having a plan and thinking everything was going to be just fine. And you hear echoes of that hubristic stupidity in Swinney’s comments when he talks about whether the college football season will be delayed."
Swinney said his personal plan (the job he was hired to do by the state of South Carolina; he wasn't hired to direct a state infectious disease lab) is to get his football team ready for the season opener in late summer. Which has not yet been cancelled or postponed. He said he'll leave it to the smart people to figure out the doomsday scenarios. Yet Rich "crucifies" him for doing his job. Being a high-profile conservative makes him a wonderful target for Deadspin:
"Yeah, don’t worry, someone will figure something out. Just not Swinney. He has a football season to worry about. And certainly not the president. He has TV ratings and political axes to keep him occupied. Let Jared Kushner figure it out.
"And as for storming those beaches to victory? You know, like Dabo and his pals like to brag about when telling us how America’s exceptionalism will save the day?
"No worry. Our infantries in Florida and Texas have it covered."
Rich isn't very wise for picking on red states Florida and Texas. The Lone Star state has just 2.9 infections per 10,000 citizens, compared to blue states New York (71) and New Jersey's (46). Texas also reports less than one death per capita. Florida reports 686 cases per million people, compared to New York's 7,138 and New Jersey's 5,000. Despite Rich's cynicism, those infantries in the two red states actually do have it covered.
