Comparisons, comparisons, comparisons
Nowadays, if we're not reading scientific news about the virus, or reading individual anecdotes about people and their various brushes with the virus, or about lockdown measures and what's open and what's not, we spend our time comparing countries.
Look at New Zealand! Great efforts. Look at USA! Terrible efforts. Oh dear, South Korea has its second wave! Oh dear, Wuhan has its second wave!
And then - oh wow, Australia is paying its essential workers so well. Oh wow, Canada is increasing spending on essential workers. Why is our country so lousy IN COMPARISON?!?!
Well, that's the whole issue. You can't compare countries and their efforts against the virus in such a basic way. Let's just take Singapore vs Canada, my favourite form of comparison. Singapore has a crazy number of cases right now, and in comparison to Canada, one might think wow Singapore has it out of control. But then again, Singapore's testing rate is a lot higher than Canada's, so maybe there is under reporting? Number of deaths in Singapore are least in the world in comparison to number of cases... why no praise there?
At the same time, Canada is such a big country, land-wise and population-wise, how can the same level of testing be possibly conducted?? It's just logic, isn't it?
Then the topic of essential worker pays. I have seen a serious wave of JT's face all over FB by my friends and family in Singapore - look at Canada, why are we not following in their footsteps? Well for starters, Canada is a welfare state. Income tax is so high as it is, keeping enough money for high minimum wages and free healthcare. But high income taxes mean that the money you earn, is going to other people, especially if you're not needy yourself. Do you want to pay higher taxes in Singapore and support your fellow people? If you're not willing to do that, which I'm sure you're not, please stop going crazy on social media. Every country operates differently because the needs of the country are different. You can't just harp on a few good things happening overseas and insist it happen in your country too without understanding circumstances or background that goes into such decisions. Why not focus on the positives for once?
Look at New Zealand! Great efforts. Look at USA! Terrible efforts. Oh dear, South Korea has its second wave! Oh dear, Wuhan has its second wave!
And then - oh wow, Australia is paying its essential workers so well. Oh wow, Canada is increasing spending on essential workers. Why is our country so lousy IN COMPARISON?!?!
Well, that's the whole issue. You can't compare countries and their efforts against the virus in such a basic way. Let's just take Singapore vs Canada, my favourite form of comparison. Singapore has a crazy number of cases right now, and in comparison to Canada, one might think wow Singapore has it out of control. But then again, Singapore's testing rate is a lot higher than Canada's, so maybe there is under reporting? Number of deaths in Singapore are least in the world in comparison to number of cases... why no praise there?
At the same time, Canada is such a big country, land-wise and population-wise, how can the same level of testing be possibly conducted?? It's just logic, isn't it?
Then the topic of essential worker pays. I have seen a serious wave of JT's face all over FB by my friends and family in Singapore - look at Canada, why are we not following in their footsteps? Well for starters, Canada is a welfare state. Income tax is so high as it is, keeping enough money for high minimum wages and free healthcare. But high income taxes mean that the money you earn, is going to other people, especially if you're not needy yourself. Do you want to pay higher taxes in Singapore and support your fellow people? If you're not willing to do that, which I'm sure you're not, please stop going crazy on social media. Every country operates differently because the needs of the country are different. You can't just harp on a few good things happening overseas and insist it happen in your country too without understanding circumstances or background that goes into such decisions. Why not focus on the positives for once?
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