Man, oh man, what a thought-provoking read. Please click below for a simply outstanding long read on the perils and possible positive outcomes that can come from a plague by the always erudite Andrew Sullivan. The essay takes a long view of history and posits plagues as an inevitable by-product of civilization. The central argument is that plagues can upend society in ways that either destroy civilization or reimagine it. Here is just a little bit of the stellar missive: “Plagues, in this way, always present the survivors with a choice. Do we go back to where we were, if that is even possible, or do we somehow reinvent ourselves for a new future? The conflicting desires compete in our minds: to go back to normal or to seize the opportunity to change a society temporarily in flux. We can choose to make a different world, reordering our social compact and our political institutions and our relationship to the natural environment in ways that will protect us against, or at least mitigate the damage from, future plagues. Or we can recognize what was precious in what the plague took from us and seek to restore the status quo ante.”
Read more: UC Must-Reads: A Plague Is an Apocalypse. But It Can Bring a New World.
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