The Irony of the Moment

 

 

March 07, 2020

 

So here we are.  At the mercy of the unknown, facing an elusive and unseen opponent.  The irony of the moment is that we, in a country so adept at braggadocio, have only managed to achieve a tiny fraction of the testing volume of a nation ravaged with poverty and war in living memory.  By the first week in March, South Korea had performed over 140,000 tests for COVID-19, compared to fewer than 2,000 in the United States, which had botched its own rollout of a small number and by nearly all accounts still lacks the immediate capacity to do substantially more.  We couldn’t even muster the proper gear or procedures for repatriating our own citizens exposed overseas.  And now we can only guess at the scope of our problem.  Could be more – or could be less – than we fear.  We don’t know.

It’s pretty rich to spend so many years trashing government and education, only to suddenly find ourselves at their mercy.  The irony of the moment is that we, in a country which has for too long eschewed the value and veracity of science and the urgency of public access to healthcare, now face an enemy against which these are our most effective weapons.  We have, in some bewildering fit of masochistic national obstinance, willfully denied ourselves both the intellectual ordinance and policy defenses to combat such a virulent invader, one which our public health officials have repeatedly warned us was on the horizon.  Instead we cut their funding and built mansions on the Potomac.

While this is not about national pride – far from it – it is nevertheless enormously embarrassing.  And not only are our comic ineptitude and misplaced hubris on full display during this global public health crisis, in stark contrast to the swift responses of other countries, but now we actually risk being a weak link in the chain, forced to rely on a community containment strategy of social distancing and self-quarantine instead of the aggressive therapeutic and programmatic public interventions we see in other nations – nations we are so often quick to dismiss.  And forced to do it with a population that can neither afford to see a doctor nor miss a day or work.

There was a time in our history when we could do better.  There was a time when we were capable of meeting the challenges of the day.  When we did not turn to chronically outraged televangelist politicians to hurl feckless tweetstorms at our opponents, but rather to scientists and engineers, to physicians, to mathematicians, to machinists and master craftsmen to solve problems.  Problems they solved through careful study, through thoughtful research, and with calculated precision and preparation.  If we are ever to regain the high-water mark of American achievement, we will not do it with empty rhetoric.  We will not do it by vilifying those who are actually equipped to defend us in times of emergency.  We will not do it by declaring academics and intellectuals the enemy of the people.  We will not do it by lining gilded pockets while handing rusted pikes to the guardians of our gates. 

We’re not the first to try this.  History provides many such examples and they always fail.  Our nation’s inability to rise to this occasion is an unwelcome alarm bell for us all, and the irony of the moment is that we really are capable of better.