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| Silverfiddle Rant! |
Politico has assembled mini-essays from “more than 30 smart, macro thinkers” on what the outcomes from our corona virus experience will look like. This vapid, illogical quote sums up the entire project:
“It’s clear that in a crisis, the rules don’t apply—which makes you wonder why they are rules in the first place.”Many of the missives are innocuous, giddy pie-in-the-sky platitudes heard in late-night college sophomore dorm discussions, but the underlying themes throughout include enforced solidarity and uniformity, obeisance to a leviathan government of infallible experts who will replace our fallible personal judgements, and an enforced end to those horrible old fashioned cultural practices that are not just stupid and un-scientific, but endanger us all.
There is also a common thread--squirming worm-like throughout--that names enemies of the Brave New Project: Donald Trump, petroleum industry, automobiles, eating meat, capitalism, privatized health care, personal liberty and autonomy, limited federal government.
A Brave New World
The authors envision a post-corona Brave New Future where government provides free college, free money, free health care and free child care, but for me their writings conjured scenes from a dystopian hellscape, everyone cossetted in their own sterile bubbles, peering out at fellow humans through plastic lenses and internet cameras while government instructions blare from social media outlets.
Where the authors see an opportunity to force us all to eat soylent green (for our own good, of course) I see a totalitarian dystopia, sterilized of personal agency and genuine human love. I execrate almost all of the proposals in this article, except for improvements in medical care coverage and giving workers more resources to take care of themselves and their families, and I believe these goals can be accomplished without more government bureaucracy. Unfortunately, Republicans are not up to the herculean task of crafting intellectual and practical arguments against more big government.
Lost in all this is the fact that markets and freedom did not fail us—Big Government did
Please read the article and tell us what you think. Below I list a few of the best essays, the worst, and which ones I think are most likely to happen.
The Best
* The rise of telemedicine. Ezekiel J. Emanuel
* Regulatory barriers to online tools will fall. Katherine Mangu-Ward
* Congress can finally go virtual. Ethan Zuckerman
* Stronger domestic supply chains. Todd N. Tucker, Dambisa Moyo
Most Frightening
* Government becomes Big Pharma. Steph Sterling
The Best
* The rise of telemedicine. Ezekiel J. Emanuel
* Regulatory barriers to online tools will fall. Katherine Mangu-Ward
* Congress can finally go virtual. Ethan Zuckerman
* Stronger domestic supply chains. Todd N. Tucker, Dambisa Moyo
Most Frightening
* Government becomes Big Pharma. Steph Sterling
The "brilliant thought leader" fails to realize that the private sector is not charged with planning for and fighting pandemics, government are, and they have largely failed. South Korea is an example of how a free market democratic nation successfully fights a pandemic.
Most Likely to Happen
* Expect a political uprising. Cathy O’Neil
Most Likely to Happen
* Expect a political uprising. Cathy O’Neil
But like any revolution, it will play out in wild and unpredictable ways, not how she predicts
* Stronger domestic supply chains. Todd N. Tucker, Dambisa Moyo
* A hunger for diversion. Mary Frances Berry
* Stronger domestic supply chains. Todd N. Tucker, Dambisa Moyo
* A hunger for diversion. Mary Frances Berry
What say you?
We're doomed....
ReplyDeleteSleepy Joe Biden will pick either Sassy Stacey Abrams or Krazy Kamala Harris as his VP that shows you just how desperate he is!
DeleteHarris makes sense. She'll sleep with him. Stacey is likely a little more discerning...
DeleteHe'll have to paw at his staff if he chooses her (and yes, there is a pun in there).
I have not read the recommended articles, yet.
ReplyDeleteBut like many commenters before me, that shall not deter me :)
I did look for that "rules" quote.
I would have thought, out of context, that “It’s clear that in a crisis, the rules don’t apply—which makes you wonder why they are rules in the first place.” was sarcasm. It seems not. The author is arguing for no rules. Typical leftist approach to the Constitution.
I reserve the balance of my time for further comments and yield to the chair.
Ten bucks says that when Obozo speaks this afternoon to endorse Biden , he will make it all about himself and his "accomplishments."
ReplyDeleteQuite a few me, myself, and I in BHO's speech endorsing Biden.
Deleteand along come Michelle..... 50 of my chips as VP...
DeleteBunkerville,
DeleteMichelle as VP? Ye, gods!
Obama's "endorsement" of Joe Biden is here. 12+ minutes. Sounds like a campaign speech.
DeleteLikes galore at Twitter.
DeleteSheesh.
From the New York Times;
Delete[I]n the weeks after it became clear that Mr. Biden was the party’s near-certain nominee, Mr. Obama — telling a friend he needed to “accelerate the endgame” — had at least four long conversations with his former vice president’s remaining rival, Senator Bernie Sanders. Mr. Obama’s efforts to ease the senator out of the race played a significant role in his decision to end his bid and, on Monday, endorse Mr. Biden, according to people close to the Vermont independent.
Sure enough, as BHO endorsed Biden, he invoked Bernie.
As usual Obama's style of leadership is to wait for a parade to form and then jump in front of it. Now that no other candidate is left standing, he will endorse Biden. One more in thousands of illustrations that this man has no spine whatever.
DeleteJayhawk,
DeleteObama's style of leadership is to wait for a parade to form and then jump in front of it.
Perfect metaphor!
I'm in the process of reading that long essay at Politico.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that "A Decline in Polarization" by P.T. Coleman is wishful thinking. I'd like to be wrong, though.
Try this on one...
Deletehttps://theintercept.com/2020/04/13/coronavirus-lockdown-domestic-violence/
to recognize that the nuclear family should not be the presumed center of social support, or even childcare.
we should fight for policies that socialize — or, indeed, communize — child and elder care.
The Bern Berns on...
SF,
DeleteDamn!
"Danger, Will Robinson" (TV series Lost in Space)
An increase in the number of domestic disturbances is entirely believable. According to my sources, after self-isolating with his three wives for five years, Osama bin Laden personally called the Navy Seals and gave them his location.
DeleteMy neighbor decided he and his wife don't want children.
DeleteToo late. :)
Try this on ==>
DeleteHoward Marks’ latest at Oaktree => bottom line, nobody knows nothing about the future => you can safely ignore 98% of the media.
https://www.oaktreecapital....
Sometimes I get frustrated. And I am a mellow guy. Like mellow mellow. I was raised in small town (under 10K) and have over two decades education from way out west where some on the east coast think we don't matter. Worse yet, they moved here like a slow moving COVID-19. We do matter. We are cut from a different cloth. We let our colors show where the numbers were. We will do our talking and will walk the talk. Blessings.
DeleteMy eyes glazed over when I read this:
ReplyDeleteContemplative practices may gain popularity. And maybe—just maybe—the culture war that has branded those who preach about the common good with the epithet “Social Justice Warriors” may ease amid the very present reminder of our interconnected humanity. -- "Religious worship will look different" by Amy Sullivan
1960's kumbaya -- on the bong.
Sheesh.
It's not so outlandish though, that pendulum's been primed to swing back for a while.
DeleteDefinitely happening right now -- a good thing (as I'm seeing in my own field right now as I myself make adaptations):
ReplyDeleteThe resistance—led by teachers’ unions and the politicians beholden to them—to allowing partial homeschooling or online learning for K-12 kids has been swept away by necessity. It will be near-impossible to put that genie back in the bottle in the fall, with many families finding that they prefer full or partial homeschooling or online homework. -- "Regulatory barriers to online tools will fall" by Katherine Mangu-Ward.
@AOW: "1960's kumbaya -- on the bong."
ReplyDeleteLOL! I wish I could have said it like that!
SF,
DeleteI lived through the 60's -- sober. It sounds crazy, but I've never smoked even one joint. But I did sit around (in the university cafeteria) and hear the potheads talk of the secrets of the universe. Pffffft!
I'll take a pothead's mystical BS over a coke rant or habitual drunkard's lament any day. (Naturally, when *I* drink I become hilarious and fascinating.)
DeleteJez,
DeleteLOL!
I won't argue with the your statement that the pothead's mystical BS is easier to take than a coke rant or habitual drunkard's lament is easier to take.
But it is not easy to take the pothead's mystical BS on every lunch break or every break between classes at a university cafeteria. Big doses are a royal pain!
I've been drunk only a few times. What do I do? Make unfiltered and excoriating statements to many.
I'm a normally blunt person (my nickname on the blogs is "Blunt AOW"), but that bluntness ramps up when it is unfiltered. **wink**
That sounds fun! (just not too often :)
DeleteI never had any "mystical insights" on pot, hash or LSD.
DeleteJust a lot of laughing. Then depression.
Of course, I was an idiot.
Uplifting news:
ReplyDeleteNotre-Dame's great bell to toll once again on anniversary of fire!
Excerpt:
PARIS (Reuters) - A year on from the inferno that gutted Notre-Dame de Paris and stunned the world, the cathedral’s great bell will ring out on Wednesday evening, as a mark of the building’s resilience and that of the medics battling France’s coronavirus epidemic.
The bourdon bell has sounded just once since April 15, 2019, when the blaze broke out that consumed the spire and the roof and, officials say, came within half an hour of burning the 850-year-old cathedral to the ground.
It will toll at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT), coinciding with the hour when Parisians applaud from their windows and balconies in tribute to the frontline staff risking their lives to treat COVID-19 patients....
Read the rest at the above link.
WONDERFUL NEWS!
ReplyDeleteAbbott Labs announces immunity test for COVID-19:
An Illinois company that’s played an outsized role in coronavirus testing said Wednesday it’s added an immunity test to its portfolio and will ship nearly 1 million tests to U.S. customers before the end of the week.
Abbott Laboratories said it will ship about 4 million tests in April and be able to produce about 20 million per month as of June.
The antibody, or “serological,” tests will be a critical tool for the nation as it tries to emerge from the depths of the COVID-19 crisis and get life back to normal.
The tests will determine whether someone had the disease — some people might not know if they did — and developed antibodies that protect them from future infections.
“It will provide more understanding of the virus, including how long antibodies stay in the body and if they provide immunity,” Abbott Laboratories said in a news release. “This type of knowledge could help support the development of treatments and vaccines.”
[...]
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, White House policymakers and others have pointed to the serological tests as the best way to figure out who has a level of protection to the disease and can return to work to get the economy revving.
The testing will be especially useful for health care workers on the front lines of the fight or essential workers who must be out in society instead of hunkered at home....
One comment to the above article:
This is why capitalism is the way to go in an imperfect world. The socialists would still be playing identity politics and the blame game, i.e. doing nothing useful. They are Nero, fiddling while Rome burns. Get the picture Pelosi?
So, ideally it will take just 16 months to test the population of the United States.
DeleteAwesome, except what happens if you take the test and find out you are not immune after 18 months of "social distancing" and "isolating" to prevent people from being exposed to the virus and gaining immunity?
Another in the "Oh this solves everything" panaceas which actually solves nothing. Testing does not prevent disease.
Let more die you say. Because that is exactly what will happen. Science must lead the way on this. Not faith or keeping your fingers crossed. All I know is I have family, including grand children. My worry is for my children and grand children. Testing IS what needs to be done. Extensively.
Delete@RN: What an incredibly vapid comment, even by Rational Nation standards.
Delete@ RN: Yea, go ahead and hit that bong again.
DeleteLOL!
It blows my mind to think that, given all the horrible things “science” has done to us, that anyone with two brain cells could say “Science must lead the way on this ...” Junk science is usually the result of junk scientists, people who call themselves scientists, but who violate the scientific method to accelerate their own notoriety. Either their hypotheses testing is inadequate, or they’ve made inferences based on flawed work, or they use selective data to skew data (climate change proponents are infamous for this), or all of these ... and ir-Rational Nation wants us to roll over for this? He can; I won’t. For as many pathologists in this country, there are an equal number of explanations for the COVID-19 virus and what they think we ought to do about it. Who do you believe? Pelosi and Cuomo, or scientists and doctors who voted for them?
DeleteScience is a filter, not a generator.
Delete"Climate-change deniers cherry pick data worse than mainstream climatologists": discuss.
Mustang,
DeleteWho do you believe? Pelosi and Cuomo, or scientists and doctors who voted for them?
"Aye, there's the rub."
@ Jez
DeleteMy reference was to the intentionally skewed collection of data, not its post-hypothetical debate. If the process of data collection is flawed, by whatever means or intentions, then the data and its conclusions will be equally flawed. If one wants science, then one has to pursue understanding through a rigid application of the scientific method of inquiry.
IOW, always try your best to *disprove* your hypothesis. It's a good rule, one which climate skeptics should follow too.
DeleteHow would you collect data differently? Can you think of a way to make eg. satellite measurements any more neutral than they currently are?
@ Jez,
DeleteI am neither a (weather) scientist nor a statistician.
Perhaps you meant to address your comment to Mustang?
Years ago, I worked for a testing company that not only produced items, but then employed psychometric data to validate these items through a series of bench-mark measurements. Whenever a field test failed to yield acceptable data, as determined by state boards of education, it was simply a matter of changing the psychometric so that the test result delivered the desired result. My point being that it is possible to skew data after harvesting it in order to achieve a desired (agenda driven) result. Few question this data because "scientists told us so." The fact is that most of us do not have access to “raw data” and, even if we did have access to it, we are unqualified to validate it. The issue then becomes one of trust. When we read of intentional manipulation of data by NOAA test directors (Daily Mail, Washington Times), then we cannot have confidence in the product of scientific inquiry. Last, the choice of words is important. If we value good science, then we must acknowledge that the entire history of earth is the story of climate change. Despite 4.5 billion years of cyclic warming and cooling, earth remains intact (or at least that seemed to be the case a few moments ago). There is an important difference between temporary spikes (in either direction) and major shifts in global temperatures. I think we ought to have a valid diagnosis before we decide to operate.
Delete@AoW, correct. "IOW" is not a mis-spelling of AoW, but an initialism of "in other words".
DeleteJez,
DeleteAh! Thank you for clarifying.
@mustang: climategate? Now there was a non-story if you ask me. I can't think of any leaked practice or "deception" which hadn't already published as an experimental method.
Delete"This is why capitalism is the way to go in an imperfect world. The socialists would still be playing identity politics and the blame game, i.e. doing nothing useful. They are Nero, fiddling while Rome burns. Get the picture Pelosi?" So true...this IS good news...am also hoping it's not serological next time, I'm hoping the saliva tests are ready soon because not many people can take their own blood. Still, this is FABULOUS news!!!
ReplyDeleteHEAR! HEAR, Z!
DeleteUnfortunately, however, most people have to learn the Immortal Truths o Being the hard way.
That's why we have Red China, North Korea, a former Soviet Union still locked into patterns of persistent poverty, deprivtin and authoritarian despotism, and why we have Cuba, Venezuela, most of Central and Souh America living in sub standard conditions at best, why Britain and most of Europe are as feckless, feeble and degenerate as they are today, and why Africa still deserves to be called The DARK Continent.
Unfortunately, thanks to the persistent machinations of the Power-Mad, Demon-Inspired Left WE are perilously close, ourselves, to succumbing to the prevalent GroupThink generated by Marxism and its eqully deadly offshoots and derivatives.
The Devil is known to produce powerfully seductive blandshments to win souls way from God making them ripe to be cast into Eternal Misery in the Darkness and Derangement of Doubt, Dissipation, Decay, Dissolution, Depression, and Despair.
Disbelieve that at your peril