61 lines
3.7 KiB
HTML
61 lines
3.7 KiB
HTML
<p>With the current spread of the COVID-19 virus, we're currently seeing
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the consequences of our highly interconnected global society. What
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started out as a small outbreak in a province of China became a global
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epidemic in a matter of a few months.Currently, as is rational, the
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global focus is on treating the infected and finding a cure. However,
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the time will come when this crisis blows over and we will ask
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ourselves: how do we prevent this from happening again? Unfortunately, I
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fear that rather than trying to find a way to prevent similar incidents
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from occurring, we will simply attempt to find ways to mitigate future
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casualties. Because the one thing we must change in order to prevent
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future events like this would require a change in our way of life that
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would inconvenience us greatly; and if there is one thing our modern man
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cannot stand, it is to be inconvenienced. We must scale down our society
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from global, down to national, regional, and especially local. In
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effect, we must practice the principle of Subsidiarity.</p>
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<p>To talk about the solution, we must first clearly outline the
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problem: our societies have become globalized and are too
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interconnected. This has offered certain kinds of technological
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advancements to be made, as well as given us access to a larger variety
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of goods/services, it has driven down the prices of these in a global
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market, and it has improved our standard of living in the first world as
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we export our exploitation of labour to developing nations. But this
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comes at a grave cost. Rapid development of technology has caused man to
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become naïve, and begin to develop for development's sake rather than to
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serve an actual need. The access to foreign goods/services has caused
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certain sectors of our national economies to die off, the hindering of
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our national sovereignty, the specialization of our economies that makes
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us extremely vulnerable to the often random changes in the market. The
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low prices have destroyed entire industries in our countries, while
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favoring exploitation of workers in a developing nations where labour
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laws are either sparse or non-existent. Far from driving us towards a
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utopia of sorts, globalization has caused suffering, exploitation, and
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the destruction of domestic culture. However, many of us do not see
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these (with exception of the last), as we have exported these abroad
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where we can conveniently ignore them. As such, we exploit their
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nation's resources until they run dry, and while that country panics
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trying to find another industry to specialize in, we simply move on to
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the next country with resources to exploit.</p>
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<p>But with regards to our problem at hand, the COVID-19 epidemic,
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globalization has enabled the rapid spread of any kind of crisis from
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one nation to the next. When an epidemic breaks out in one country, it
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will inevitably reach all others who participate in this global society.
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When an economic crisis hits one country, it will inevitably affect all
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others who relied on that country for supply of certain specialized
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goods, or demand for others. Such interconnectivity has made us as a
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planet more weak and vulnerable. And the only way we can avoid similar
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problems from occurring again in the near future is to de-globalize our
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society, returning to a primarily local, regional, and national economy
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and way of life.</p>
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<p>However, as we can already guess, we are not going to do this. We are
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too stubborn and naïve to make any decisions that will truly help us
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prevent these crises. Instead, what you will see is a lot of talk, a few
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measures taken and protocols designated in order to mitigate the damage,
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but no attempt to truly solve the problem at hand.</p>
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<p>My suggestion: leave the cities.</p>
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