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(CNN)   We're all worried about coronavirus, but no worries needed: With its never-failing intelligence and perspicacity, CNN answers the question on millions of Americans' lips: Why isn't Trump's Coronavirus Task Force more diverse?   (cnn.com) divider line
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    More: Dumbass, Washington, D.C., President of the United States, The Washington Post, Professor, Broadsheet, patronage network, American studies, associate professor of history  
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464 clicks; posted to Politics » and Main » on 03 Feb 2020 at 11:05 AM (3 years ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



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Sensei Can You See [TotalFark]
2020-02-03 3:15:35 AM  

 
Sensei Can You See [TotalFark]
2020-02-03 3:29:13 AM  
I guess they believe Trump said "What? A new and potentially apocalyptic disease threatens the world? Quick! Go find a bunch of old white men! I need--what? Their credentials? Fark that! Just make sure they're all old white guys!"

Which in turn would mean that Obama said "What? This deadly Ebola virus could threaten the US? Quick! Go round up a few token men, some women, a transgender person or two and make sure at least half of them aren't white! I need--what? Credentials? Fark that! I don't want competence! I want diversity!"

Which would ALSO mean that in either case, POTUS would have the time to sort through a couple hundred resumes and sort them by race and gender.
 
somedude210 [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2020-02-03 8:56:52 AM  
Focusing on identity politics really does take away from focus on important issues. Perhaps by design, certainly can be exploited by asshats
 
sno man [TotalFark]
2020-02-03 9:12:51 AM  
I'm not sure I need diversity per-say, but everyone on the Task Force actually qualified would be a nice change, and one or two fluent in Chinese would be handy af.
 
FlashHarry [TotalFark]
2020-02-03 9:18:37 AM  

Sensei Can You See: World Ends: Women and Minorities Hardest Hit


(conservative "humor.")
 
Jake Havechek [TotalFark]
2020-02-03 9:44:50 AM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Diogenes [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2020-02-03 9:54:31 AM  

sno man: I'm not sure I need diversity per-say, but everyone on the Task Force actually qualified would be a nice change, and one or two fluent in Chinese would be handy af.


At least they put a Chinese dude in charge.

Weekend Update: Chen Biao on the Coronavirus - SNL
Youtube a53NbzTxKg8
 
Chris Ween [TotalFark]
2020-02-03 10:27:24 AM  
miro.medium.comView Full Size


That's pretty white.
 
Destructor [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2020-02-03 10:28:48 AM  
And why all the focus on this one minority virus? There are other under represented viruses out there that should be examined by the task force.

/Am I Democrating right? I need to get the hang of it by November.
 
Chris Ween [TotalFark]
2020-02-03 10:31:02 AM  

Destructor: And why all the focus on this one minority virus? There are other under represented viruses out there that should be examined by the task force.

/Am I Democrating right? I need to get the hang of it by November.


I went to the CDC site and they have a page for the Disease of the Week.
 
Diogenes [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2020-02-03 10:45:07 AM  

Chris Ween: Destructor: And why all the focus on this one minority virus? There are other under represented viruses out there that should be examined by the task force.

/Am I Democrating right? I need to get the hang of it by November.

I went to the CDC site and they have a page for the Disease of the Week.


OOO!  It's Bubonic History Month in March!
 
disco ball
2020-02-03 11:05:51 AM  
I was unaware that one existed.
 
oldfool
2020-02-03 11:06:50 AM  
March is shaping up to be a really shiatty month
 
Cache
2020-02-03 11:08:05 AM  
I didn't read the article, but let me guess based on past experience:
The task force is made up of CEOs who profit from illness.
 
Bungles
2020-02-03 11:09:43 AM  
Given it's probably quite unlikely that the dozen or so people in the country most capable and competent in dealing with this crisis are all white middle aged men, yeah it is sort of an issue.

It's not about "Everything must be diverse!!" it's "This lack of diversity is a red flag there's an underlying lack of rigour in finding the best people".
 
Tr0mBoNe [TotalFark]
2020-02-03 11:13:31 AM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
iheartscotch
2020-02-03 11:14:00 AM  
Trump has a Coronavirus Task Force? Does he know that? Do THEY know that?
 
jake_lex
2020-02-03 11:15:26 AM  
I just assumed that the "task force" was just whoever was in line for the omelet bar with Trump at Mar-A-Lago.
img.huffingtonpost.comView Full Size


"Put lots of cheese in that, boy.  Hey, what do we do about this Chinese flu thing?"
 
Serious Black
2020-02-03 11:15:27 AM  

Sensei Can You See: I guess they believe Trump said "What? A new and potentially apocalyptic disease threatens the world? Quick! Go find a bunch of old white men! I need--what? Their credentials? Fark that! Just make sure they're all old white guys!"

Which in turn would mean that Obama said "What? This deadly Ebola virus could threaten the US? Quick! Go round up a few token men, some women, a transgender person or two and make sure at least half of them aren't white! I need--what? Credentials? Fark that! I don't want competence! I want diversity!"

Which would ALSO mean that in either case, POTUS would have the time to sort through a couple hundred resumes and sort them by race and gender.


Inclusion of people with different perspectives and biases on a team is a precursor to competence and that team avoiding groupthink.
 
Serious Black
2020-02-03 11:17:09 AM  

iheartscotch: Trump has a Coronavirus Task Force? Does he know that? Do THEY know that?


Does the president actually know anything?
 
Glorious Golden Ass [OhFark]
2020-02-03 11:17:18 AM  
Don't be stupid.  Diversity would increase the likelihood of effectively combating the spread of a disease by increasing the knowledge of how different groups act.  Getting out a Wash Your Hands message is different for minorities and whites thanks to how desperately different their educational resources are.
 
Bloody William
2020-02-03 11:18:15 AM  
Considering the origins of the virus, it's kind of surprising not to see more Chinese scientists brought in for their expertise and observations, based on the populations it initially affected.
 
thealgorerhythm
2020-02-03 11:19:24 AM  
Diversity on a public health task force creates a panel that understands implicitly

- how to communicate risk to diverse communities in America with languages and cultural touchpoints that make sense

- how particular diverse communities may have different behaviors that exacerbate or reduce risk

- how underlying health disparities can put particular diverse communities at greater risk

- where particular healthcare infrastructural supports may be weaker in diverse communities

fark you submitter.

Diversity in epidemiology creates strength and keeps us all safer thanks to science.
 
thealgorerhythm
2020-02-03 11:20:21 AM  

Bloody William: Considering the origins of the virus, it's kind of surprising not to see more Chinese scientists brought in for their expertise and observations, based on the populations it initially affected.


They're probably busy in, you know, China.
 
desertratt
2020-02-03 11:20:31 AM  

Bungles: Given it's probably quite unlikely that the dozen or so people in the country most capable and competent in dealing with this crisis are all white middle aged men, yeah it is sort of an issue.

It's not about "Everything must be diverse!!" it's "This lack of diversity is a red flag there's an underlying lack of rigour in finding the best people".



The coronavirus is the flu, right.    And judging from the #'s to date, not very potent.  So, why is the hype continuing?
 
thealgorerhythm
2020-02-03 11:22:11 AM  

Sensei Can You See: World Ends: Women and Minorities Hardest Hit


World Ends: Women and minorities leave note explaining how to stop the problem that none of the bros bothered to read.
 
Bloody William
2020-02-03 11:22:19 AM  

desertratt: The coronavirus is the flu, right.


No. No, it isn't. It is a common respiratory infection different from influenza, and very specifically the Wuhan variant of it has turned out to be much deadlier than other versions, so things like, containing and preventing spread of it are important.
 
cman [OhFark]
2020-02-03 11:24:36 AM  
I live in one of the least diverse cities in America

Laredo is 98% Hispanic

Guess what? The sky hasnt fallen down yet.

So do we need more white folks to move here to increase its diversity? Honest question.
 
disco ball
2020-02-03 11:25:11 AM  

jake_lex: I just assumed that the "task force" was just whoever was in line for the omelet bar with Trump at Mar-A-Lago.[img.huffingtonpost.com image 850x476]

"Put lots of cheese in that, boy.  Hey, what do we do about this Chinese flu thing?"


I won't even be shocked if the omelet bar guy ends up on tv in a month.

Sorry...a couple of weeks...we'll see.
 
Bloody William
2020-02-03 11:25:35 AM  

cman: I live in one of the least diverse cities in America

Laredo is 98% Hispanic

Guess what? The sky hasnt fallen down yet.

So do we need more white folks to move here to increase its diversity? Honest question.


thealgorerhythm: Diversity on a public health task force creates a panel that understands implicitly

- how to communicate risk to diverse communities in America with languages and cultural touchpoints that make sense

- how particular diverse communities may have different behaviors that exacerbate or reduce risk

- how underlying health disparities can put particular diverse communities at greater risk

- where particular healthcare infrastructural supports may be weaker in diverse communities

fark you submitter.

Diversity in epidemiology creates strength and keeps us all safer thanks to science.


There you go.
 
AngryDragon
2020-02-03 11:26:19 AM  
Jesus Christ.  The epitome of tone deafness.
 
Serious Black
2020-02-03 11:26:57 AM  

desertratt: Bungles: Given it's probably quite unlikely that the dozen or so people in the country most capable and competent in dealing with this crisis are all white middle aged men, yeah it is sort of an issue.

It's not about "Everything must be diverse!!" it's "This lack of diversity is a red flag there's an underlying lack of rigour in finding the best people".


The coronavirus is the flu, right.    And judging from the #'s to date, not very potent.  So, why is the hype continuing?


Human brains irrationally evaluate risks in modern environments. We do this because we evolved in a world where problems were of different categories altogether. In the case of focusing tons on coronavirus while ignoring influenza, it's because coronavirus is a novel threat while basically everybody and their grandma has heard of influenza at least once in their life. Our brains overinflate the danger posed by unusual events and downplay the danger posed by ordinary events.
 
docsigma
2020-02-03 11:28:21 AM  

Serious Black: iheartscotch: Trump has a Coronavirus Task Force? Does he know that? Do THEY know that?

Does the president actually know anything?


He knows what the inside of Ivanka's asshole tastes like
 
give me doughnuts [OhFark]
2020-02-03 11:28:29 AM  
I thought he disbanded the pandemic response team?
 
Norquist Vagprobe
2020-02-03 11:29:27 AM  

Bungles: Given it's probably quite unlikely that the dozen or so people in the country most capable and competent in dealing with this crisis are all white middle aged men, yeah it is sort of an issue.

It's not about "Everything must be diverse!!" it's "This lack of diversity is a red flag there's an underlying lack of rigour in finding the best people".


As a white guy in humanities academia, I have mixed feelings about this. Your perfectly reasonable statement is about five years behind the curve where I come from. Lately the social justice types here have abandoned the "red flag" argument in favor of a more bold "you're damn right I should be hired just because I'm black" argument, and quite often, they win. "Diversity" hires of obviously less qualified people absolutely happen, and they ruin morale in departments. My (FWIW Arab) wife is dealing with this bullshiat right now in her job search.

The rest of the labor market hasn't gotten nearly this bad yet, but don't be surprised if it starts spreading in the next 5-10 years.
 
skozlaw [OhFark]
2020-02-03 11:29:38 AM  
When you're so incompetent that almost nobody is willing to work with you, you get what you get.
 
Bungles
2020-02-03 11:31:26 AM  

desertratt: Bungles: Given it's probably quite unlikely that the dozen or so people in the country most capable and competent in dealing with this crisis are all white middle aged men, yeah it is sort of an issue.

It's not about "Everything must be diverse!!" it's "This lack of diversity is a red flag there's an underlying lack of rigour in finding the best people".


The coronavirus is the flu, right.    And judging from the #'s to date, not very potent.  So, why is the hype continuing?


No, it is not the 'flu - coronaviruses are an entire family of viruses - not connected to the influenza faily - SARS being one of that family. The current virus doesn't have a name, because it's so new.

We don't yet have the data to work out the potency - the incubation period is only roughly known, and it's not far off the current length of the outbreak, so we do not have the data.

Look at this current data:
Fark user imageView Full Size



That's just over a week of data, and bears all the hallmarks of something that could become a pandemic, very, very quickly.

Even if it was "just like the flu", allowing that to become a global everyday virus like flu viruses would mean tens of millions of deaths a year.
 
incendi [TotalFark]
2020-02-03 11:31:32 AM  

Bungles: Given it's probably quite unlikely that the dozen or so people in the country most capable and competent in dealing with this crisis are all white middle aged men, yeah it is sort of an issue.

It's not about "Everything must be diverse!!" it's "This lack of diversity is a red flag there's an underlying lack of rigour in finding the best people".


The nifty thing about a white supremacist society as long-running as ours is that there are sorting mechanisms in place at every level to ensure that, whatever sort of credentialing you're after, the "Top Men" are going to be white dudes of dubious competence from well-connected families.

/not very nifty, I know
 
Jesterling [TotalFark]
2020-02-03 11:31:48 AM  

jake_lex: I just assumed that the "task force" was just whoever was in line for the omelet bar with Trump at Mar-A-Lago.[img.huffingtonpost.com image 850x476]

"Put lots of cheese in that, boy.  Hey, what do we do about this Chinese flu thing?"


The giant framed picture of Alec Baldwin doing his Trump caricature is a nice touch.


/jina
 
give me doughnuts [OhFark]
2020-02-03 11:33:01 AM  

desertratt: And judging from the #'s to date, not very potent.



It's mortality rate is about three orders of magnitude higher than the flu.
It's also easier to catch.
 
thealgorerhythm
2020-02-03 11:34:58 AM  

give me doughnuts: I thought he disbanded the pandemic response team?


They convinced him it was a monopoly response team instead. Trump hates playing cooperative games.
 
DeaH
2020-02-03 11:37:01 AM  

sno man: I'm not sure I need diversity per-say, but everyone on the Task Force actually qualified would be a nice change, and one or two fluent in Chinese would be handy af.


Yep. Here's the thing about diversity: we have a diverse population and a threat that is coming from another country. Someone who can communicate with Chinese scientists would be incredibly helpful. If we are going to deal with a potential public health hazard, we need to have real experts, and we need people who can go into the various communities in America.

I know white guys get all fragile whenever anyone brings up the fact they can't handle every single thing, but they will get over it assuming they aren't wiped out by a virus or something.
 
Magnanimous_J
2020-02-03 11:39:32 AM  

Serious Black: Inclusion of people with different perspectives and biases on a team is a precursor to competence and that team avoiding groupthink.


As someone who works in tech in Seattle, I absolutely assure you that incompetence and groupthink is just as likely, even if your team looks like the Captain Planet kids.
 
snapperhead
2020-02-03 11:40:42 AM  
Because only white people need savin'?

Maybe having diverse management means the agency would have credibility in diverse communities?
 
desertratt
2020-02-03 11:42:03 AM  

Bloody William: desertratt: The coronavirus is the flu, right.

No. No, it isn't. It is a common respiratory infection different from influenza, and very specifically the Wuhan variant of it has turned out to be much deadlier than other versions, so things like, containing and preventing spread of it are important.


VirusDeath Rate

Wuhan Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)      2%*
SARS                                                          10%
MERS                                                         34%
Swine Flu                                                 0.02%
 
sno man [TotalFark]
2020-02-03 11:48:28 AM  

snapperhead: Because only white people need savin'?

Maybe having diverse management means the agency would have credibility in diverse communities?


Were dealing with the Trump Administration here, and he's only fishing in the shallow end. Let's try and get a task force that is at least all experts, maybe one or two with some working Mandarin as a second language. Diversity is best, but best isn't happening on 45's watch.
 
AngryDragon
2020-02-03 11:49:37 AM  

snapperhead: Because only white people need savin'?

Maybe having diverse management means the agency would have credibility in diverse communities?


Maybe the requirement for transmission of a highly virulent virus is that you are human regardless of your ethnicity.
 
Bungles
2020-02-03 11:50:44 AM  

desertratt: Bloody William: desertratt: The coronavirus is the flu, right.

No. No, it isn't. It is a common respiratory infection different from influenza, and very specifically the Wuhan variant of it has turned out to be much deadlier than other versions, so things like, containing and preventing spread of it are important.

VirusDeath Rate

Wuhan Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)      2%*
SARS                                                          10%
MERS                                                         34%
Swine Flu                                                 0.02%


That asterisk, I suspect, links to "currently not enough data for an accurate mortality figure" or "at least".

Mortality will not be accurately measurable for several weeks.
 
RedT
2020-02-03 11:53:46 AM  

Bungles: Given it's probably quite unlikely that the dozen or so people in the country most capable and competent in dealing with this crisis are all white middle aged men, yeah it is sort of an issue.

It's not about "Everything must be diverse!!" it's "This lack of diversity is a red flag there's an underlying lack of rigour in finding the best people".


Because as we know middle aged woman were all barefoot and pregnant in the 80's and 90's, and black and brown people weren't even invented way back then, so the only people qualified were the men who were the only people in college at the time.

/I do love the assumption that middle aged men are the only qualified folks around to do anything because the historic oppression of everyone else exists until today, unless you are talking about righting historic oppression, in which case it ceased to exist when the civil war ended.

Fark user imageView Full Size

https://www.statista.com/statistics/184272/educational-attainment-of-college-diploma-or-higher-by-gender/
 
Bloody William
2020-02-03 11:56:00 AM  

desertratt: Bloody William: desertratt: The coronavirus is the flu, right.

No. No, it isn't. It is a common respiratory infection different from influenza, and very specifically the Wuhan variant of it has turned out to be much deadlier than other versions, so things like, containing and preventing spread of it are important.

VirusDeath Rate

Wuhan Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)      2%*
SARS                                                          10%
MERS                                                         34%
Swine Flu                                                 0.02%


Gonna say 1/50 people dying from a virus that's spreading rapidly is a big farking problem.
 
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