Written by: Floyd Sours
Floyd Sours is a retired psychologist/author who has written several articles and three books over the years. His last book, Burnt Offerings (2010), is still available on Amazon. It can also be previewed at burntofferings-book.com.
June 23, 2020
America is in trouble. Politics are teetering on anarchy. The American public is overwhelmed with anxiety as they watch their world disintegrate. And why is that? Throughout history there have been epidemics and pandemics that civilization has not been able to control. The current crisis is particularly unnerving because it occurred in the midst of unparalleled prosperity along with highly unpredictable political voodoo. Altogether the nerves of the average American are frayed to the breaking point. The hope of a new information age being ushered in with extraordinary panache could be in jeopardy.
But wait, this is supposed to be the dawn of a new age in America despite our current pandemic. This new age has spawned enormous technological innovation including almost instantaneous communications. In effect, our country as well as much of the rest of the world can now communicate and experience feedback more effectively. In the past that was not the case.
These innovations in technology and communications in tandem with monumental increases in scientific knowledge are allowing us, for the first time, to combat this pandemic more effectively. Scientific learning together with the implementation of technological advances is the vanguard of this cause. That vanguard, in the form of science's current medical plan, is committed to combating this pandemic.
Our current predicament involves an unknown virus that is very contagious and has no cure. Never has a virus of this magnitude been controlled effectively or cured by modern medicine. On the other hand, America has been on top of its game with out of sight economic progress for some time now. The result is a unique collision between a highly contagious virus and our very prosperous nation: a black swan if you will.
That conflict has resulted in cultural chaos. The American people have generally become unhinged by their fall from grace. That fall was so shocking that the general public has become discombobulated. In other words, they no longer seem to believe in anything. What began as a protest against George Floyd's murder regressed into anarchy against any authority. The world is on fire and the people within it are out of control.
Now the public has become part of the problem as the troubled masses help spread the virus instead of helping to manage or eliminate it. This current crisis reminds me of a boyhood nursery rhyme that goes like this...Humpty dumpty had a great fall and all the king's horses and all the king's men could not put humpty dumpy together again. Like the king's men, no one seems to know how to put America together again. The medical plan is still being implemented but it is having rough going.
In John M. Barry's tome, The Great Influenza (2018 Edition), it was mentioned that experience did allow medical science in 1918 to obtain some new ideas and develop a tentative plan about how to counter an epidemic. It should be mentioned that Barry's book was written before the current pandemic was a problem. In Barry's book he described political leadership during past epidemics as generally dysfunctional or at least as a hindrance. The original plan itself appears to have been conceived during the 1918 pandemic but implemented too little and too late.
It is startling to note that our current organized plan is communicated by our media to us with very little reference to past pandemics and the cultures they have decimated. Because there is little mention that the plan has historically evolved over time, we are not made aware of several important differences between now and then.
First, the present plan has been around for a very long time and it contains almost all of the original plan. Second, there was little ability for people to electronically communicate with each other in the past. Third, the most important concept is that we have a very contagious unknown virus that no civilization has ever eliminated or managed successfully. Lastly, transportation across long distances was more difficult in the past. Only by including historical information can we understand those four truths.
Knowing that the present plan existed in the past where communication and transportation were a lot more primitive adds a new dimension to our awareness of the problem. Back then our leaders seemed to be as confused and panicked as the general public. Transportation was still largely by horse and buggy with some new innovations developing like steamships, cars and planes. Communication was largely person to person with newspapers, phones and radios coming into existence. Compare that with the internet and related electronic technologies we know today.
It was probably George Santayana who said, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." It appears to me that western civilization and America in particular have evolved into an electronic technological marvel that includes better communication and transportation. The plan we are now using to combat the coronavirus has developed from a basic plan that was implemented too late, into a more complicated and sophisticated plan. American's cannot win this battle against the coronavirus without following a comprehensive plan. Mass hysteria will only intensify the problem.
Knowing that the current plan was developed in the past in a society that was a lot more primitive in the areas of communication and transportation can be a prescription for success. Civilizations throughout history were unable to combat pandemics throughout history and instead regressed to panic and hysteria. Today we do have the technological know-how to better understand the problem and solve it. Perhaps the most important lesson to learn about combating a pandemic is that hysteria by all is not an alternative for implementing a well thought out medical plan. If we do learn from the past, then we will not be doomed to repeat it.
It is true that the panic that accompanies this scourge serves to exacerbate the problem. All of this hysterical verbiage communicated via electronic media creates a kind of hysteria that has always accompanied an out-of-control epidemic. It is the unmistakable symptom of a virus gone wild. Panic does not help us solve the problem of controlling and/or eliminating the pandemic.
In order to better understand this contagion, we all need to be aware that the current medical plan was originally formed in the minds of medical experts during the great influenza pandemic of 1918. The original plan consisted of increased surveillance, increased use of anti-viral drugs, using public health measures (i.e.: hand washing, social distancing, face masks, etc.), having lockdowns and quarantines, and the use of a political leadership factor. This medical plan has evolved through the years into a much more sophisticated entity.
The plan now includes a more detailed understanding of viruses, more sophisticated mathematical models for studying cultural data, complicated tracking in the community of the spread of the virus, and enhanced transparency of our political leadership using our new electronic communication networks. In the past, we just have not had the time, courage, knowledge or available assets to implement the plan in a timely fashion. This time we hope we are now able to implement the plan more effectively.
One thing that is present now that has not been present in the past is our electronic media: the internet, computers, and our current capabilities to develop more effective medical treatments and vaccines. The current medical plan as voiced by government and scientists would have failed miserably if the internet and electronic technology were not present.
The development of the internet together with electronic technologies provides quick and effective communication networks. These modern networks allow for the integration of the medical crisis plan throughout the country. The updated plan's implementation enhances cooperation between federal, state, and local governments. Different companies that can or could produce needed medicine and equipment are recruited to compete by creating incentives to these businesses.
Most people in our new information age can now isolate themselves in lockdown by regressing into the world of TV and the internet. At home people watch TV, send email messages to friends, get on Facebook or Twitter, and play electronic games as they stay at home to avoid contagion. We now have electronic technologies that make social distancing and quarantining more effective and less unpleasant. In addition, those technologies also allow for enhanced transportation (drone delivery, virtual meetings, etc.). For the first time well-planned medical approaches to the treatment of pandemics are able to be implemented on a large scale.
For several centuries now America has had a loosely held central government with its various semi-independent states. This federal and state partnership has been in effect for many years. Federal guidelines are communicated to state and local jurisdictions. State and local plans are then communicated intensely and clearly to the public via electronic media. The individual states have been delegated the implementation of the plan after adjusting the general federal guidelines to suit their area. This kind of communication allows for the political leadership factor to be implemented more effectively.
While all this allows plan implementation to occur, there is panic occurring in the public realm as well. Some leaders at the federal, state and local level are contributing to protests against the plan. These destructive regressions serve to reinforce resistance against effective resolution of the problem. Our media seem to reflect the notion that mass hysteria is a legitimate alternative to combating this contagious virus. It seems true that panic is currently considered an option to the current plan. Since when has panic been considered a reasonable alternative for combating a pandemic?
There has been very little mentioned recently that I could find about the goals of this crisis plan. There has been some mention of how well we are following the plan but much of it is pretty negative. As near as I can tell, the goals are 1) to develop a vaccine, 2) to develop immunity, 3) to develop treatment that reduces or eliminates symptoms and 4) to prevent/contain the spread through public health approaches. It is my opinion that there should be much more emphasis on the goals.
There is some comparison data available regarding the current pandemic and the 1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic. The CDC reports from its website that about 675,000 deaths were reported in the United States during the 1918 pandemic for a population of 103 million people. Since there are now 328 million people in America now, we might well expect over three times as many deaths to occur today if we had no crisis plan. That amounts to well over two million lives lost per capita from today's pandemic. However, we do have substantial resources today that were not present in 1918. Our current medical crisis plan is only partially implemented now, but it looks as if we will end up with far fewer deaths per capita than the 1918 pandemic since we only have only about two hundred and forty thousand deaths to date.
Western civilization has been in a never-ending conflict with disease. It appears as if that battle between science and nature is progressing with epidemics and pandemics at the cutting edge. The present plan needs the comparison data between past and present pandemics in order to understand why we were unable to solve the pandemic problem in the past. Although this problem has been around for a very long time, civilizations have never been able to manage or eliminate it.
Because today we have additional resources we can be hopeful but we can't be complacent. Our politicians need to consistently support what science is telling us and we as individuals need to take personal responsibility for protecting ourselves and one another. Perhaps, in spite of all the transparent media negativism, America will arise from the darkness to a new dawn beyond the present pandemic.