Factual Dispatch #48: Epoch Shifts - From Terror to Plague

The Times They Are a-Changin'

September 12, 2020

The best thing I read about the needed policy response to the pandemic was written on April 6th by Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security advisor to President Obama:

The first months of this crisis suggest that the world order that emerges on the other end is likely to be permanently altered. America’s response to 9/11 committed the familiar mistake of hastening a superpower’s decline through overreach; the Trump presidency, and our failure to respond effectively to COVID-19, show us the dangers of a world in which America makes no effort at leadership at all.

Enormous upheaval, however, also offers the opportunity for enormous change. And that is what America needs. This is not simply a matter of winding down the remaining 9/11 wars—we need a transformation of what has been our whole way of looking at the world since 9/11.

2020 is no longer the day after 9/11. We no longer live in the post-WTC era, where the backdrop of all policy discussions, foreign and domestic, was so-called Islamic Terrorism. 9/11 put the final nail in the coffin of the Cold War era, with discussions of suppressing the spread of communism earning stares of disbelief and confusion. Americans have lived through many eras, the Colonial/Revolutionary Period, Manifest Destiny, Industrialization, Civil War, Reconstruction, WWI, WWII, the Cold War, to the War on Terror. And with the COVID-19, we’ve officially crossed into the Era of the Pandemic. Just imagine trying to get court approvals to trap Muslim teens in honey traps pretending to be Hamas. Though old tactics do die hard:

Solomon and Teeter were accompanied by two men they believed were members of Hamas, a Palestinian political and militant organization that the U.S. government has designated a foreign terrorist organization. Solomon and Teeter, who had been on the streets of Minneapolis following the killing of George Floyd by police, claimed to be members of a group called Boojahideen — part of the so-called Boogaloo movement, a loosely organized collection of far-right, pro-gun extremists who advocate for civil war and the overthrow of the U.S. government.

The Hamas operatives had enlisted the two men to build parts that could modify weapons. The arrangement was the first in what was supposed to be a growing partnership between Hamas and Boojahideen. Now Hamas, the group FBI agents were pretending to represent, is publicly denouncing the prosecution and its supposed connection to the two Boogaloo members.

When I say policies are dependent on the era they reside in, this is what I mean. We spent otwo decades monitoring Muslims, Fox News effectively prevented a Mosque from being built blocks away from Ground Zero (remember the Ground Zero Mosque?), members of Congress and state government mainstreamed hate towards Muslims, Americans confused Muslims & Sikhs, Arabs & Persians, Shia & Sunni, and 16 flavors of minorities went from innocuous to threatening (myself included).

In the same way, during the first two months of this year, only epidemiology and foreign policy nerds had any idea of what was happening in Wuhan. Now, the idea of using intelligence funding to go stomp around the Afghanistan/Pakistan border would earn you similar looks to the guy asking about Commies in 2004.

The idea of “9/12” is compelling to me, as the attacks happened two weeks into my freshman year of college, my first time living outside of New York City in my adult life. 9/12 drove much of the support for the wars that defined my college years, in addition to reminding me that I was a brown person in a land of white and black. A week after the towers fell, I was getting my hair cut and walked out of the salon to five feet of graffiti stating “Kill All Arabs,” that I somehow missed on the walk in.

In that moment, my Greek ancestry fell away and I realized how far from home and suspect I was, in Baltimore not Queens. Thankfully I was never the recipient of direct physical violence because of my race, but verbal abuse, discrimination at work, threats from law enforcement, and fear from women late at night, have been hallmarks of my life. As they have been for 100% of minority friends & colleagues.

The same things are happening again. Japanese, Indonesian, and Korean Americans were mistaken for Chinese in the same way that Sikh, Berber, and Persian Americans were mistaken for Muslims. Tacitly accepted/tightly targeted racism is seen as acceptable to the era, as long as you focus your fire correctly. Anti-Muslim sentiment has not kept up with anti-Chinese bias, which allows politicians of certain stripes to take advantage of America’s demand for a scapegoat.

This year was made far worse by a political party, president, and millions of Americans who seem to only tolerate New York City on 9/11. 364 days out of the year, we’re a Hive of Scum and Villainy filled with disgusting terrorists who should be turned into pillars of salt. It is tiring to watch my city be targeted by morons of all stripes who can’t even blow themselves up properly, in response to the rhetoric of from people who are terrified ISIS will bomb their local Wal-Mart. As opposed to most years where we only surface as a focal point of hatred a few times a year, NYC has been under active bombardment since Mid-March.

It is truly astonishing to hear people who have spent the last several months calling for NYC to be purged, to turn around and attempt to commemorate a disaster that resulted in the deaths of slightly more than 10% the number of New Yorkers who have died to COVID-19 so far this year.

What Epoch replaces plague? I hope something like solar exploration, deep sea colonizing, or a wave of almost AI. Here's to hoping something good for a change. I'd say we deserve it, but I promised to never lie to my readers.

Royal Sampler

Repairing the USS Bonhomme Richard is Worth Almost Any Cost (US Naval Institute) Fascinating read on the rare opportunity for the Navy to enhance its wartime repair operations without actually being at naval war. You can only get better at something if you have the opportunity to practice it.

Biden Wins. Then What? (TomDispatch) Andrew Bacevich details what Biden should do in his first two weeks. Policy-wonk focused and dry, but a good comprehensive read.

We Now Know How Much Trump’s Postmaster General Slowed Down the Mail (Slate) If anyone’s arguing with you about the Post Office slowdown being anything but grift, show them this Slate piece. Then show them this Citizens for Ethics release on Louis DeJoy’s conflicts of interest.

The Broken Algorithm That Poisoned American Transportation (Vice) Infuriating, crucial read on how bad algorithm design can cause centuries of problems.

Afghan watchdog: Half of police in some provinces use drugs (AP) For literally just this sentence: “The agencies also found that between 50% and 70% of police positions were “ghost soldier” jobs unfilled by real people.”

Song of the Dispatch: 

As the chill comes, what do you need to survive the coming winter?

Yours,T