The one big lesson of the pandemic is a new realization of the interdependence of modern humanity. Applying this concept should change the behaviour of our collective society. I know the word “socialism” drives people away, so let’s just say more cooperative and empathetic policies need to take precedence over the old free-enterprise, winner-take-all drivers of earlier societies.
Here are three areas of life where even our self-interest should tell us to become more outward-turning and less tribal.
- Treatment of the Elderly
Here’s the place where socialism hits home the hardest. It’s easy for the thoughtless to intone that, for example, the poor don’t deserve help, because those people think they’ll never be poor. It’s easy to deny help to foreigners because they’re…well, somewhere over there. But we’re all going to be old one day. So if empathy doesn’t work, self-interest is the second-best motivator. Treatment of the elderly has to improve.
- Business-Friendly Governments
We note a great deal of connection between attitude towards business and COVID numbers. As time goes by and data rolls in, the reasons start showing through the political hype. While governments have been closing down obvious hotspots that affect the general public, many of the worst cases have been happening elsewhere, as the hum of big business goes on unabated.
Quebec and Ontario are rife with for-profit old age homes and notably lax in regulation. In Alberta and Ontario, it turns out the behind-the-scenes offenders are factories, especially meat packers. And we’re not talking about “essential food production” here, unless feeding rich Chinese their daily pork ration counts. Because China is where the profits for these factories come from. But while small stores and restaurants have been kept out of business for showpiece politicizing, big box stores and factories have been running steadily. Is it any wonder the stock market has risen throughout the pandemic, and the billionaires of this world have added about 660 new members to their ranks?
We need to choose more politicians who realize that they owe their allegiance to the people who elected them, not the businesses who paid for their campaigns.
- Foreign Aid
If you don’t have an empathetic bone in your body, you should want to help poorer countries like India control their outbreaks. It all has to do with playing the odds.
Virus Mutation
You may not realize it, but as the COVID virus has passed through millions of people it has mutated thousands of times. The point about natural selection is that we will never see the unsuccessful mutations, because…well, they’re unsuccessful. Their strain doesn’t work, so it dies out. It’s only the successful ones that we notice.
We have noticed the “variants of concern” because they work. Mainly, because they spread faster. Some of them also have stronger effects.
The Super-Virus
I don’t want to rain on everyone’s parade, but it’s only a matter of time before one of these variants turns out to be immune to our vaccines. As I discussed a few weeks ago, we already have tons of experience of this phenomenon due to our misapplication of antibiotics, producing “superbugs” like the flesh-eating disease.
But it’s Not a Matter of Time
The key element is the number of times the virus passes to a new victim. And this is where India poses a problem. There have been 152 million COVID cases worldwide. Of these, 20 million are in India, and their numbers are growing alarmingly. It stands to reason that the new supervirus has the best chance of coming out of India. So the sooner India gets a handle on their epidemic, the safer we will all be.
So if a 30-year-old Canadian who works from home has to put off a vaccine shot for a month, the chances of that person getting the disease are still dropping because of our growth towards herd immunity. If that dose of vaccine goes to someone in India, it has a chance of stopping the spread of a new variant that could kick-start the pandemic all over again.
The Bottom Line
The one thing we should have learned from COVID; in this overpopulated, travel-oriented, interconnected world, a butterfly flapping its wings halfway around the world could very well unleash a tornado in your front yard. So it’s in our self-interest to help all butterflies live happily, no matter where they are.
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