On July 7, 2020, NBC News reported that Arizona had a record
number of cases (105,094) and of deaths (1,927), with a four percent daily
increase in reported cases. Also, coronavirus hospitalizations and related
ventilators being used were also at record highs. A reporter with MSNBC stated,
“Arizona is in crisis.” On the previous day, on MSNBC television, that same
reporter had said, “Arizona is in free fall,” in that the number of cases was
rising so fast. It had taken three months for the first 50,000 cases and only
23 days for the next 50,000. Observing that people were not wearing masks in
downtown Scottsdale, he reported that “Arizona is out of control.” People there
were not taking precautions, and the local and state authorities were not on
top of the crisis. On June 22, 2020, a physician with the University of
Arizona-Phoenix interviewed on The 11th Hour show on MSNBC asserted
that the Arizonans who were saying, “No one is going to order me to wear a
mask,” were being selfish because refusing to wear a mask, say on a bus or in a
store or restaurant/bar puts other lives at risk. Also a salient ingredient of
the crisis in Arizona was the anti-science contingent of the population. In an
interview at the time, Alan Alda (of the TV show, MASH) pointed to “pockets of
people who still think science is just another opinion” as having a mindset
that “puts us all in danger.”[1]
The rigors of scientific experiment, such as the use of control groups and
random selection, render science closer to knowledge than are mere opinions
based on ideology and a person’s own experience. Privileging one’s own ideology
and experiences counts as self-embellishing, and perhaps even self-idolatry.
Such people are not likely to accept knowledge that contradicts their
respective opinions and experience. Living in Phoenix at the time, I had
encountered a lot of anti-intellectualism and incompetence along with refusals
to enforce virus-deterring policies and even laws. Just one year earlier,
Arizona’s education system through High School (K-12) had been rated as 49 out of the 50 States, but this does not explain the sordid attitude that is
pervasive there.
The full essay is at "Arizona Out of Control."
1. David Hochman, “Alan Alda Is Obsessed with the Power of Science,” AARP: The
Magazine, June/July, 2020.
