themusicinnoise-site/blog/posts/0096-the-lesson-we-could-learn-but-wont.html

<p>With the current spread of the COVID-19 virus, we're currently seeing
the consequences of our highly interconnected global society. What
started out as a small outbreak in a province of China became a global
epidemic in a matter of a few months.Currently, as is rational, the
global focus is on treating the infected and finding a cure. However,
the time will come when this crisis blows over and we will ask
ourselves: how do we prevent this from happening again? Unfortunately, I
fear that rather than trying to find a way to prevent similar incidents
from occurring, we will simply attempt to find ways to mitigate future
casualties. Because the one thing we must change in order to prevent
future events like this would require a change in our way of life that
would inconvenience us greatly; and if there is one thing our modern man
cannot stand, it is to be inconvenienced. We must scale down our society
from global, down to national, regional, and especially local. In
effect, we must practice the principle of Subsidiarity.</p>

<p>To talk about the solution, we must first clearly outline the
problem: our societies have become globalized and are too
interconnected. This has offered certain kinds of technological
advancements to be made, as well as given us access to a larger variety
of goods/services, it has driven down the prices of these in a global
market, and it has improved our standard of living in the first world as
we export our exploitation of labour to developing nations. But this
comes at a grave cost. Rapid development of technology has caused man to
become naïve, and begin to develop for development's sake rather than to
serve an actual need. The access to foreign goods/services has caused
certain sectors of our national economies to die off, the hindering of
our national sovereignty, the specialization of our economies that makes
us extremely vulnerable to the often random changes in the market. The
low prices have destroyed entire industries in our countries, while
favoring exploitation of workers in a developing nations where labour
laws are either sparse or non-existent. Far from driving us towards a
utopia of sorts, globalization has caused suffering, exploitation, and
the destruction of domestic culture. However, many of us do not see
these (with exception of the last), as we have exported these abroad
where we can conveniently ignore them. As such, we exploit their
nation's resources until they run dry, and while that country panics
trying to find another industry to specialize in, we simply move on to
the next country with resources to exploit.</p>

<p>But with regards to our problem at hand, the COVID-19 epidemic,
globalization has enabled the rapid spread of any kind of crisis from
one nation to the next. When an epidemic breaks out in one country, it
will inevitably reach all others who participate in this global society.
When an economic crisis hits one country, it will inevitably affect all
others who relied on that country for supply of certain specialized
goods, or demand for others. Such interconnectivity has made us as a
planet more weak and vulnerable. And the only way we can avoid similar
problems from occurring again in the near future is to de-globalize our
society, returning to a primarily local, regional, and national economy
and way of life.</p>

<p>However, as we can already guess, we are not going to do this. We are
too stubborn and naïve to make any decisions that will truly help us
prevent these crises. Instead, what you will see is a lot of talk, a few
measures taken and protocols designated in order to mitigate the damage,
but no attempt to truly solve the problem at hand.</p>

<p>My suggestion: leave the cities.</p>