What 9/11 Can Teach Us About the Economic Shutdown
America has fought a war on drugs. A war on poverty. A war on crime. A war on terrorism. And now a war on a virus. War seems to be a pain point that convinces people to trade their freedom for security. And many people crave security above all else. The average Path to Manliness reader is a cut above the rest here. You likely favor liberty over security and have grown frustrated over the current shelter in place orders.
America has struggled winning conventional wars on the actual battlefield since World War II. Korea is still divided, Vietnam fell to the communists, Iraq is not a pristine vacation destination and ISIS still wages its war on the infidels. The West loses wars because it fights enemies who are using Fourth Generational Warfare while the West still uses conventional tactics that were dreamt up before color television. Bombing the crap out of them was a novel idea in 1941. Today, it’s becoming ineffective and expensive.
And like the actual battlefield, which of these so called “wars” have been successful? Drugs are just as prevalent today as ever. In fact, the only real headway in the drug war has been allowing marijuana to be legalized. Crime is down but hardly crushed beneath our feet. And terrorism is simply kept off American shores and outsourced to bases in countries that typical Americans can’t locate on a map. The problem with fighting these wars is they are, by definition, unwinnable.
The problem of the soundbite
Let’s face it, the average person is easily swayed by the soundbite. When your phone is buzzing with notifications every 15 minutes and your kids are whining about the lame schoolwork they don’t want to do on the nice spring day, you’re mind is going a mile a minute. And when you hear someone say what you want to here, that they’re going to “Declare War on the Coronavirus!” Well, you start filling in the blanks of what the hell that even means and before you can stop to really contemplate how dumb this phrase is, you’re trying to figure out what to cook for dinner.
Soundbites are meaningless when looked at in depth, but their effects are grand and far reaching. The same is true of memes which are essentially the same thing. We live in a world that flows with the latest memes. In fact, after you finish reading this article, you won’t remember the little details or if there was a spelling error. You might not remember more than one little thing. But if I can implant one subtle idea that you agree with, then that can become a meme. Imagine how powerful this can be when done on mass scale. There are vast networks hidden right in plane sight that implant these ideas into your head for their own nefarious agendas. Nobody talks about this.
The fallout of these wars
When faced with a crisis, people tend to put their blinders on. What do I mean by this? Let’s wind the clocks back 20 years. Back in the year 2000, it was literally unthinkable that the government would be tracking each of its citizens. Technologically, it was nearly impossible, but times were changing. Only 28% of people owned a cell phone. Social media wasn’t even a well-known term yet. MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and even Friendster were still to be invented. People lived their lives in the real world. The Mall, not Twitter, was the real community gathering space. The world was recovering from the Dotcom crash and the internet was becoming ever more prevalent in our lives. Then it all came crashing down, literally.
The 9/11 Terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon shook this nation to its core and America declared war on terrorism. Everyone was shocked, terrified and unsure what to do. I remember sitting in algebra class and being pulled into another classroom to watch live new coverage of these giant concrete towers in New York. I never even knew the name of these skyscrapers before, but it was unnerving to see men and women in baggy suits covered in ash running through the streets of lower Manhattan. Despite this “unprecedented” event, a word that the media is loving right now, we weren’t sent home from school. Seriously, if you took a shot of booze every time someone says “unprecedented” on the news, you’ll succumb to alcohol poisoning by noon.
And after school was over, my friends and I went to football practice like it was a normal day. Our coach shouting at us that we had to continue our normal routines, or we’d let the terrorists win. In response, the stock exchanges were shut down for 3 days. On September 13, a mere 2 days later, flights resumed but with much stricter security checks and the banning of multiple items on flights. This tragic event brought forth many changes and created a post 9/11 world that is unrecognizable from its predecessor. But we didn’t shut down our economy.
What happens when an entire economy shuts down?
Well, we are finding out. So far, we have 16 million unemployment claims and some reports of people calling the unemployment office over 200 times without getting anyone to answer their calls. On March 9, 2020, already named “Black Monday 2020,” the Dow fell 2013 points in one of the worst single day drops in U.S. history. Only 3 days later the Dow dropped another 2,352 points or 9.99%. The stock market crashed by roughly 30% in weeks. For comparative numbers, you have to go back to 1987 when you were likely either an infant or not alive.
Enough about Wall Street. What about Main Street? Well obviously, it’s not good for businesses to be shut down. America was not meant to be shut down and certain businesses can’t transition to the online world. Already as many as 30,000 restaurants have already shut their doors for good, with another 110,000+ expected to closed down forever. And with them go millions of jobs. And as people struggle with losing their jobs, it affects more than their finances.
How many suicides will be caused by social isolation?
Is the cure worse than the disease? We will likely never know the answer, but we are already seeing an uptick in suicides due to a variety of factors. Social distancing may help flatten the curve, but it also has an adverse effect on a species that craves social interaction. So, before you make the painfully ignorant remark about saving lives from the virus is more important than the economic fallout, perhaps you should quiet your emotional side of your brain and think about this logically. For some, I’m asking too much.
Now more than ever you should be amplifying your social interaction. Call your friends and family. Check in and see if your loved ones need anything. Depression is often hidden behind a polite smile and self-deprecating jokes. You can still interact socially and many are stuck bored at home each night. Every week on Friday night, I’ve been hosting Zoom sessions with friends where we get together and catch up. Apparently, these Zoom sessions have been dubbed “Virtual Cocktail Parties.” They’re surprisingly fun and a great way to connect with those friends who are hundreds of miles away. Nobody has all the answers and we might as well adapt to the changes, if only temporarily.
What lingering effects will we see of children who are being taught by their parents? This education shutdown will create the greatest divide in equality of education seen in recent history. If you’re fortunate enough to have a stay at home mother raising your kids, they are getting a boost above their classmates. But what of the kids who have parents that would rather work, watch Netflix or do drugs? How many kids are receiving zero education right now because their parents aren’t interested? What about single parent homes who work and depended on the schools as a form of government sponsored daycare?
What does a Post-Corona World Look Like?
Many businesses are already talking about downsizing their physical presence as people are beginning to realize that they are effective working at home. The cost savings benefits make it challenging to justify the existence of so much office space and a home office saves you the time of a commute.
Whenever we hear our leaders talking about “Declaring War” on something, it usually means drastic changes in our daily life. There will be fallout from the impact of the Covid-19 Coronavirus. Those who lived through it will surely change their daily habits. Hygiene habits will be improved. Our pantries will look a little fuller like those who lived through the Great Depression. And maybe we will begin to rethink our priorities and place more important on what really matters to us.
Let’s end this on a positive note. Its tough to appreciate anything until it’s been taken away. We will have baseball games again. We will have football and concerts and festivals in our downtown squares. Whenever that first baseball team takes the field in front a 50,000 people, you’re going to see the most emotional and proud display of human defiance ever. Like the Chicago Blackhawks fans cheering the National Anthem after Desert Storm. Like the Saints crushing the Falcons to a proud New Orleans fanbase after Katrina. Like the Yankees after 9/11. This crowd will be deafening, and it will be extremely emotional and moving. I can’t wait to hear the roars of mankind refusing to live their lives in fear.
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