I hate to admit it– it probably means I’m a horrible person– but I’m having fun. I’m enjoying the coronapocalypse. Just a little. Yes, I feel a bit guilty for enjoying this as much as I am. I also know the enjoyment will fade the longer this goes on.
Category: Blogs
The official Everything-Voluntary.com blog.
Open Borders: Now Do You See What We’re Missing?
If people were free to take a job anywhere on Earth, humanity would have more agriculture, more manufacturing, more services. We would have more restaurants, more homes, more elder care. We would have more doctors and more janitors, more meal delivery and more cars to deliver the meals. If coronavirus can eliminate 90% of the restaurant business, open borders can add 90% to the restaurant business. You’ve seen the former with your own eyes, so you should have no trouble seeing the latter with the eye of the mind.
What’s the Worst Thing?
I don’t think it’s death. Death sucks, and the drive for life is good. But inability to make peace with the utter inevitability of death can lead a person to things worse than death.
Keep Healthy Habits, Help Others
The phrase “May you live in interesting times” is said to be a curse. I’m not certain it is. Would you rather be bored to death? Times can be interesting, but — when you’re ready for whatever life throws at you — not cursed. This too will pass. You’ll be fine when all is said and done. There are lessons in all this. Smart people will learn and remember these lessons; others will stay clueless.
COVID-19: What Would Rosie The Riveter Do?
Our politicians are thoroughly enjoying their extended Mussolini cosplay holiday, but their “lockdown” orders and such are merely feeding their egos, not starving the virus.
The Overton Window is Broken
I don’t mean the window has shifted. I mean the entire framework of a continuum of political possibility from total freedom to total tyranny that shifts, shrinks, or expands is broken. It doesn’t explain the current world or where it might go.
Pandemics and Open Borders
How much protection have 98% closed borders given us against the pandemic? The answer: Virtually none.
Costs of Government Action on Coronavirus
No, they are not endangering society, nor will they be the cause of millions (or even dozens) of extra deaths. People who are “downplaying” coronavirus are serving an important purpose. Besides disarming the panic-bomb, I mean. What they are doing is acting as a drag chute to slow down runaway government overreach.
Don’t Netflix Your Way Through Crises
The Netflix prescription is a passive, helpless, hopeless way to experience a trying time which may last for months. It’s a meaning-starved narcotic for people who have the time and luxury to watch it. And it’s not much of a palliative for people who are losing their jobs or friends and loved ones.
Who’s in Charge Here?
The first stage of panic (and second and third) is to scramble around looking for someone to follow. Many of us followed others into bars, but clearly most followed hoarders of toilet paper and hand sanitizer into all the dollar stores, the drugstores, and the supermarkets. But the thing that is now most scarce is information. Human beings continue to query “whadya know?”, but the answer is still “not much, you?”