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W. Aaron Vandiver's avatar

Great piece that tracks my thinking. I noticed in my work with green groups over the years that the donor class, on which nonprofits rely for funding, largely co-opted the environmental movement in terms of messaging, priorities, and overall outlook. Environmentalists used to be much more radical. Also, the government/Big Pharma public messaging about the virus seems to almost have been designed to appeal to the left-wing sense of empathy that green groups and other activists specialize in. "My mask protects you, your mask protects me. My shot protects you, your shot protects me." This collectivist approach has been alluring to the left, as it appears on the surface to offer a chance to undermine the excessive individualism and greed they have always railed against. Unfortunately they have failed to realize that this pseudo-empathetic approach actually empowers the greedy and exploitative systems they are supposed to be against, and grants the "evil greedy corporations" previously unfathomable authority over everyday life. The centralized, authoritarian, technocratic approach to disease mitigation completely ignores the genuine needs of individuals and communities, as you lay out so thoroughly in your essay.

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Sharon English's avatar

Kim, you articulate here so much and more of what I have been wondering and thinking during these past two years and what needs to be asked! Why have the folks so committed to living in alignment with the Earth shown none of that commitment in their response to the pandemic? I can only surmise that to be a political party in this system, one's own best intentions and values are corroded by the narrow lines of debate, campaigning, etc. In other words by the system. But beyond Greens, why have so many liberal-minded/holistic health minded people I know also not criticized the very problematically narrow and increasingly fascistic mainstream response to the pandemic? Great piece of writing here and brave. Thank you so much.

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