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Natalie Baker

NATALIE D. BAKER is an Assistant Professor of Security Studies at Sam Houston State University in Texas. She is at her best when she is deconstructing.

Disaster Preparedness Is an Illusion

Disaster management, on an institutional level, performs an illusion of security; or a collectively shared pretense that people can prevent such events from occurring if a collection of actions is undertaken. It is a fantasy mainly because managing large-scale disruptions in a meaningful way is something we are generally very poor at doing, as has been demonstrated many times.

Fear is more powerful than facts

Thomas Paine wrote in The American Crisis, “To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead.” These words, penned in 1778, are like a preview of the global disposition to the threat posed by COVID-19.

The Numbers Must Have Context

Viruses do not know logic other than replication. But they are deeply attracted to distinct patterns of human behavior.

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The Brooklyn Rail

OCT 2023

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