Did we NEED the pandemic? Did we need to lose so much? Maybe . . .

[skip fox]

I'm thinking about climate change and the very real possibility (some say "probably&quot that we will extinguish ourselves, taking ten-thousand species with us into extinction.

The pandemic is causing a national trauma like a world war.

Like a world war, will it bring more Americans to believe in collective action at certain times, as opposed to individual assertions of self. As Americans we live in a culture which values self-reliance and individualism over government and science.

But in such traumatic times won't the shrill assertions (often with a gun at a state capitol or on Fox) seems childish, toy-like?

World War II did this for my father's generation. And such a mentality, as Tony Judt pointed out so well in Ill Fared Land, lasted for a generation. There were plenty of Republicans, but they funded libraries, parks, highways, and multiple projects for the public good because of their civic sense.

And now with climate change threatening mankind's existence, this would be a perfect time to start valuing science, expertise and government once more.

Climate Change threatens to make the coronavirus seem like having to spend an afternoon with a boring cousin.

[LakeArenal]

1. No.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. I suppose we didn't NEED it.

But the planet is vastly overpopulated and the number of humans needs to decrease, and decrease drastically.

Even the worst case scenario, every single person on the planet gets it, and 10% die (which is far, far above the current mortality rate) still won't put a dent in population growth. Our current numbers are unsustainable.

Even if there could be a world-wide, 100% enforced one child policy (excepting naturally conceived multiple births), world population would continue to grow for decades before beginning to come down.

I do think there will be a lot of profound changes once we've come through this pandemic, which is going to take at least a couple of years, possibly longer. I have my own ideas and hopes of what they will be, but we'll have to see.

We are still at the beginning of this. Maybe a third of the way through Act I. And like a Shakespearean play, this is going to have five acts, maybe more.

[abqtommy]

3. No, we don't need the pandemic. Many of us had/have concerns that could have been addressed

by responsive/responsible politicians but if this pandemic motivates us to get angry and prod those
in positions of power to action then lets make the best of it...

[skip fox]

4. Finally,

someone who read the post.

I agree, but I don't think the nation was going to get serious about it without an earlier traumatic experience.