Why do tyrants refuse to follow the science to stop the Coronavirus? India's Modi is a left wing tyrant, Bolsonaro is a right wing tyrant, Trump tried to be a right wing tyrant, etc.
I think it has to do with tyranny itself. The tyrant cannot allow anyone to think there are people in his government nor in his country that should be listened to at all. The tyrant sets himself up as the final authority on all matters. And, tragically, that includes pandemics. So, Trump attacked Fauci, the top immunologist in America, and tells his cult followers to avoid masks and don't follow social distancing guidelines, and by the way they don't have to worry about vaccines. So over half a million people died of the pandemic while he was telling people that everything was OK.
India and Brazil are in a nightmare now with not enough oxygen, ICU beds, etc and are overwhelmed by this deadly and terrible plague. I haven't followed either tyrant closely but I do recall that India had millions of people crowded together during a holy celebration day, Kumb Mela. I don't know what superspreader events happened or are happening in Brazil, but I believe that Bolzonaro himself makes it a point to appear without mask at political rallies with unmasked crowds.
So, why?
The tyrants seem to think that keeping people away from each other will harm their economies and I guess there is nothing worse to the tyrant than short term harm to their economies. Somehow, they don't seem to understand that explosions of the pandemic shuts down their economies much worse than preventative cautions.
So, the tyrant frames the science precautions as some kind of attempt to steal people's freedoms. As if telling a drunk that he can't drive is robbing him of his freedom rather than protecting all the rest of us from being killed by him. Or they play up the very tiny chances of abreactions to the vaccines, even though the harms and risks are very significantly less than the harms and risks of the disease itself.
The reaction of tyrants to the pandemic makes no sense to me at all.
