Too Much Testing says Trump, Advertisers Rebel, and Fort Bragg

In our last newsletter, we asked whether America had hit rock bottom. And somehow we’ve sunk even lower. Based on recent polling, Americans are at an all-time low for happiness and pride.

Even with COVID-19 infections still on the rise, our President is tacitly encouraging us not to wear masks. He also wants to stop testing because it increases the number of recorded cases which in turn may suppress the stock market. On top of that, Trump has stopped funding for NIH research into COVID-19 vaccines. Most shockingly of all, 41% of the US population still supports him.

We are a nation torn apart by a pandemic, racism, and looming economic depression. Fueling each of these crises is misinformation, paranoia, and hatred. It is time to get Savvy.

Day of Reckoning for Nationalist Leaders

The last decade has witnessed the rise of nationalist leaders from India and Turkey to Brazil, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Each of these leaders did the following:

• Used isolationism to rally their bases to win elections & maintain power
• Prioritized blind loyalty over expertise & experience in choosing teams
• Pandered to their bases with exclusionary, divisive, & hate-fueled politics
• Tarnished the media, judiciary, & other democratic institutions
• Created enemies to distract from domestic social & economic challenges

COVID-19 has been a humbling moment for these leaders with the pandemic bringing them to their knees. These countries have the highest infection rates, their economies are stalling, political allies are deserting them, and their approval ratings are suffering. In contrast, women-led nations such as Germany, New Zealand, Finland, & Taiwan (with predominantly left-leaning, global policies) are fairing much better.

Why? Devi Sridhar, the Chair of Global Health at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, explained in the British Medical Journal, “The only way to avoid ‘groupthink’ and blind spots is to ensure representatives with diverse backgrounds and expertise are at the table when major decisions are made.” That’s exactly what these women leaders have done.

Bottom Line: Fear-mongering, gas-lighting, and polarization may get you elected in the 21st century but those tactics do not work when dealing with a pandemic. Leaders who encourage diversity of thought and avoid groupthink fair better.

Greater testing is necessary regardless of what Trump says

Depending on what you read, you may have a completely different understanding of the pandemic and whether it is subsiding. The White House, which is determined to drive economic activity given its correlation to re-election, downplays signals that the pandemic is spreading. Health officials warn that we aren’t out of the woods yet. When searching for the truth, use the following as a guide:

• Look at your county statistics first and foremost. Listen to your local health officials
• Watch positivity rates in your county. Anything above 5% is dangerous
• Keep an eye on hospital bed, ICU, and ventilator capacity in your local hospitals
• Wear a mask in public, the science shows that it saves lives
• Maintain social distancing and continue to obey shelter-in-place rules

Bottom Line: Testing doesn’t lead to new cases. Ignoring state and county guidelines do. That’s what happened in Texas forcing its Governor to retreat reopening.

The Military Fights its Commander-in-Chief

Earlier this month, the military discussed changing the names of the ten forts named after Confederate generals. This included the Army’s largest base of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Fort Bragg was named after General Braxton Bragg who first achieved fame during the Mexican-American War. However, according to Earl Hess, author of Braxton Bragg: Most Hated Man of the Confederacy, he developed a reputation for “incompetence, for wantonly shooting his own soldiers and losing battles.” He was also a plantation owner with 105 slaves whom he worked to death.

The President has pushed back, saying it is a non-starter to change the names. Meanwhile, NASCAR banned Confederate flags at its events. Towns across the South have been trying to change names and remove statues for some time but have been stymied by their state legislatures. This is America fighting its past with a President unabashedly on the wrong side of history.

Bottom Line: Senator Jack Reed, the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee said it best, “Changes are warranted. Nobody can rewrite history, but it’s our duty to be honest about it and learn from it, and build a better future.”

What does Verizon & Unilever joining the StopHate4Profit mean?

The StopHate4Profit campaign in partnership with the ADL, NCAAP, Color of Change, and other organizations asks advertisers to pause spending on Facebook until it does more to fight racism, antisemitism, and hate from spreading on its platform. Until yesterday, there were enough advertisers protesting to make for a news story but not much greater impact than that. Then Verizon, the tenth-largest advertiser in the country, signed on. And this morning Unilever announced that it is pausing all spending on Facebook and Twitter until the end of 2020. In response, Facebook shared several new steps to eliminate hateful content in ads and clamp down on false claims. Whether this is enough to stop the boycott and limit the damage to Facebook’s annual $70 billion ad revenue is left to be seen.

Unlike past efforts, the StopHate4Profit campaign has been gathering steam because it includes specific recommendations. Those include:

• Providing more transparency and releasing data around identity-based hate
• Removing all ads from content labeled as misinformation or hateful
• Flagging content in private groups associated with extremist ideologies for review

While Facebook has done a lot of good for the world, it has come at a cost. These recommendations are important. There’s one that’s missing though: Deprioritizing engagement as a primary signal for Facebook’s algorithms to determine how many people a post should reach. Those engagement signals motivate people to express more extreme, polarizing, and hate-filled, views.

Bottom Line: Verizon and Unilever are showing courage — something few other brands have. While Facebook has done a lot of good for the world, listening to its critics and further strengthening its platform is long overdue.

Disproportionate Coronavirus Impact on Black Community

Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert made it clear that he thinks institutional racism has played a role in the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus on the Black community. He gave a few reasons for this including the jobs that some African Americans have don’t allow them to adequately protect themselves

Alongside government, business leaders must address institutional racism within their organizations and in society at large. Larry Fink, the Chairman & CEO of Blackrock shows how companies can do their part in this LinkedIn post.

Bottom Line: Systemic racism takes many forms and has painful consequences. The COVID-19 tragedy exposes just one of those tragic consequences.

Updates from the last newsletter

• Federal officials are exploring new testing strategies to increase the testing capacity in the country. The US is witnessing a rebound in cases even if you don’t factor in the increased number of testing.
• Rumor has it that an NFL team may sign Colin Kapernick this summer. Meanwhile, the NFL admitted that it mishandled the peaceful player protests last summer and did not listen to its players when it should have.
• The authors discussed fake news, misinformation, and what the future holds for America in a Zoom interview with the Interactive Advertising Bureau.