[ExI] Trusting China information was Protest

[spike at rainier66.com]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of
Keith Henson via extropy-chat
Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2020 7:40 AM
To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Cc: Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com>
Subject: [ExI] Trusting China information was Protest

Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com> wrote:

snip

> China is correct in imposing a quarantine on people coming in.  But it
is currently stupid for the US to limit air travel from China.

Looks like I spoke too soon.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/13/beijing-district-in-wartime-emergency-after-
virus-spike-shuts-market.html

Spike, do you think the Chinese are lying about this report?  If so, why

Keith
_______________________________________________


Keith this was explained to me by my neighbor who came from China to the US
about 25 yrs ago.

All the news we hear about China is from their metropolis areas.  The
government tightly controls those, the economy cooks there.  Out in the
country, the government doesn't care much what people do: they never
seriously enforced the one-child rule for instance.  People are poor and
don't have much out there.  So the government doesn't do much, if anything.
But, the rural people travel to the cities to trade, and return.

I don't believe the China caseload dropped to zero, as they reported,
because they would still have cases out in their rural areas that the
government didn't know about, or care about even if they knew.  These cases
would keep the virus churning around at a low level, even if they managed to
lock down the cities.  In the cities, there are essential services, just as
there are anywhere.  I think that virus didn't go to zero there.  They would
have us believe it did.

I agree some places did a good job of controlling the virus, but those
places have power that our governors do not have.  Our county health
departments have some authority, but most of us here saw at least some cases
of people and businesses ignoring the county's orders, without serious
consequences.  I heard a rumor (unconfirmed) that a local gun shop was given
a (symbolic) fifty dollar fine one time but it is unlikely to be paid.  

It isn't clear that kind of thing happens in China (people treating the
governor's orders as sage advice) so sure they controlled it better.  We saw
massive riots during the lockdown, with rioters and looters ignoring social
distancing guidelines, but none were charged with disobeying the health
department guidlines.  I don't think China completely eliminated the virus.

spike