Matters in society that constitute problems for the stable operation of social institutions or populations and/or are recognized by significant groups as indicating the need for change in some parameter of social structure or process.
The COVID-19 pandemic is so bad now that it is impossible to test and trace its spread, as some countries were able to do early on to knock it out. The number of new cases is growing so fast in some states that even if the US government tried to increase testing and employ people … More Here is the Plan to Control the COVID-19 pandemic, which will probably not happen, and why
At first, the “great debate” over whether people ought to be required to wear a protective facemask in public or maintain “social distance” in the interests of public health as the COVID-19 pandemic surges across the nation, surprised me. It should not have. The controversy is not really about facemasks or public safety. It is … More To Mask Or Not to Mask: That is NOT the Question
Recent calls to “defund the police” miss the point, yet they point to something important to both the public and police themselves. More than anything, such demands express the frustration that comes on the heels of not only the recent police killings but in response to decades of attempting to reform police institutions to purge … More Misunderstanding Police: Transformation, Not Mere Reform
“Culling the herd” may be a crass way of referring to what is going on in too many states and cities today. However, we may learn something by considering the parallels and differences. In the wild, large predators such as lions or cheetahs cull herds of gazelles, zebras, etc. by attacking the old, infirm, or … More Culling the Herd with Arrogant Ignorance
Most folks assume that authority rests with some sovereign person or government entity and that its power flows from the top down. That’s what kings, princes, and wannabe dictators would have you think. They invoke all sorts of justifications, from the divine right of kings or other presumed blessing of power, right down to the … More How to Distribute Authority
In a recent post here, I asserted, “the title to Naomi Klein’s book, This Changes Everything, may apply to everything now, not least of which is the human behavior in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Well, as the current frenzy grows, that seems a gross understatement. As recent events and global trends grow more … More Frenzy: When Murder, Pandemic, and Eco-Chaos Collide
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced to the surface some very peculiar ideas about American values. Those values have changed significantly since the explosive century of industrial consumerism. As industrial extraction, production, and consumption expanded through the twentieth century, right up until the pandemic, economic change has transformed the character of the old “rugged individualism” as … More Public Health, Personal Liberty. and the Scourge of Interdependence
It seems that the title to Naomi Klein’s book, This Changes Everything, has taken on even greater meaning now, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Klein’s book is about the politics of the climate crisis. But the title applies equally to the sudden appearance of the novel coronavirus that spread so rapidly and extensively … More The Ethics of Pandemics
Sadly, the science of epidemiology is about as well understood as science itself. In the case of the current COVID-19 pandemic, many are grasping at straws to find comfort in some quick “cure” or other. Unfortunately, life is not that simple. Science and Medical Treatment Scientists estimate the efficacy of a drug based on the … More The Science and Politics of Medical Treatments in a Pandemic Emergency.
Sometimes we resist forces that take us out of our “comfort zone.” These days, two such forces, one new and in our face, and the other not so new but consistently resisted as its danger grows, now vie for our attention. A viral pandemic and a global climate crisis seem so different. But are they? … More Two Emergencies: Coronavirus and Climate Collapse
Robert MacNeil Christie, Author 