Photo: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images Most plagues have had scapegoats. There seems to be something deep, deep, deep in human nature that responds to existential threats like this one by seeking to blame someone else, or some other group, or even an errant individual. The most intense example of this in history is the Black Death.
Why? We still don’t know exactly — but the answers will be scientific and have no moral or meaningful component to them. This is not about blame even though that is the temptation. One theory for the discrepancy was that COVID-19 was targeting smokers, and men smoke much more than women .
But none of this core biology denies the power of behavioral factors, as well: Maybe men are more likely to postpone going to the hospital and so arrive there sicker; or they’re less hygienic and thereby more liable to infection; or more risk-oriented about how they live their lives, which may put them at greater risk. I suppose you could attempt to chalk some of this up to “toxic masculinity,” but you’d be imposing meaning on something that knows no such thing.
What are we to make of this? The legacy of segregation, poverty, and discrimination has made African-Americans more vulnerable to many diseases — and it is sadly no huge surprise that this is true of this virus, as well. Class, which is related to but not identical to race, also looms large. A 2012 study attributed 80 percent of the difference in life expectancy between white and black men to socioeconomics.
Too Lazy to Be a Tyrant One of the things that long kept me up at night when contemplating the Trump presidency was what might happen in a bona fide national emergency. Trump constantly spoke in the campaign and afterward of his own power as unitary and limitless, but in normal times in America, I reckoned, it would be hard to generate a real consensus, even in the Trump cult, behind explicit strongman rule.
But he doesn’t actually want to be a tyrant. It’s way too much work. It requires real management skills — and Trump has none. He wants to be treated like a king, regarded as a king, and fawned on like a king, but that’s about it. He seems only attached to power insofar as power is attached to fame, and fame without criticism helps assuage his acute and disordered psychic needs.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: HuffPostWomen - 🏆 27. / 68 Read more »
Source: Newsweek - 🏆 468. / 52 Read more »
Source: CNBC - 🏆 12. / 72 Read more »
Source: DailyHealthTips - 🏆 710. / 51 Read more »
Source: WSJ - 🏆 98. / 63 Read more »