One More Step Towards the Cliff
We weren’t prepared. We’re still not prepared.
Category: People and Society
The COVID Resurgence (or Revenge of the Sick)
As the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic raged across the country over the summer of 2020, there was no shortage of public health officials, epidemiologists, medical practitioners and statisticians warning that a second wave of the virus could be expected. They implored the public to minimize social gatherings, continue wearing masks when around people and prepare for the […]
Requiem for the American Dream
Whatever one’s opinions or feelings regarding Donald J. Trump as head of state, a businessman, parent, spouse or human being, there is no denying the profound influence he has exercised over large swaths of the American electorate. His boorish approach to leadership has captivated millions. His indifference to advice and recommendations has been applauded by […]
Social [media] distancing
Everywhere these days you hear the phrase “social distancing”, a phrase I feel didn’t exist until the last few months. In essence, what this means is that we (i.e. society) must maintain a high degree of space or outright isolation (i.e. distancing) from each other in an effort to slow the spread of the SARS-COV-2 […]
Silencing Voices
“[T]he right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances” once again came under threat in Alamance County, North Carolina in recent weeks. A variety of activist groups joined in Graham on 24 November to protest the county’s most recent alliance with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. […]
Shades of Justice
So Amber Guyger was convicted. She is the off-duty Dallas cop who shot and killed her neighbor because she thought he was an intruder in her apartment and not, as it turned out, the other way around. Geiger is white. Her victim, Botham Jean, is black. The story fell into a strange place within the […]
Reduced Recycling
As a concept and in best practice, recycling is a wonderful idea. It finds ways to recover material that would otherwise occupy landfill space and uses it to create new products and materials. Some of these materials, theoretically, are infinitely recyclable as the chemical structure does not deteriorate and so could virtually eliminate the need […]
Losing (Black) Face
America has always had a contentious relationship with multiculturalism and, specifically, its tendency to simultaneously devalue and co-opt Black culture and Black bodies. One of the more blatant and visible examples of this is in the long tradition of white people using “blackface” and the practice of minstrelsy to demean people of color, perpetuate damaging […]
In Response – 5 July 2019
In the Summer 1993 issue of Foreign Affairs, the late Samuel P. Huntington published an essay titled “The Clash of Civilizations?”. The essay’s thesis has maintained an extraordinarily high value over the ensuing decades. In many ways, it became the dominant narrative among certain elements of the political right, particularly in the years immediately following […]
Taking Care
No one in their right mind would support the thesis that the American healthcare system, as it exists currently, is not in need of immediate and tremendous repair. The disagreement, as it is with so many issues, comes not from a contention over the issue itself but rather what can or should be done to […]
