What History Can't Teach Us

 

Throughout the year I have battling with myself over the idea of American exceptionalism and exclusivity. I thoroughly believe that something makes America different from other nations, but I don't know if that makes us better. COVID-19 has forced me to re-examine my faith in American greatness. To put it mildly, this has been one of the saddest and most disappointing moments in my life. How could the United States for all of its promise fail in this crisis? This is a question that I believe will haunt this nation for generations to come.

I believe when historians have all of the facts that they will find a villain or set of villains and a few scapegoats. And, it's very possible that President Trump will transform from villain to scapegoat. However, all of the statements, quotes and tweets will make him liable for a large percentage of this disaster.

History teaches us that the reaction to pandemics tend to follow certain patterns. In July, one of my entries offered a comparison between COVID and the Black Death. Since then I have been engaged in compiling materials on the impact of COVID in Greater New York and New Jersey. Some of my initial conclusions can be seen in a fantastic article by Deborah Barfield Berry and Kameel Stanley in USA TODAY. (See https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/nation/2020/10/12/covid-segregation-killing-black-americans-new-jersey/5798587002/)

If you read my July entry you would see the comparison to a recent story in the Washington Post. On October 15th, it featured a story by Chico Harlan and Stefano Pitrelli: "Medieval Europeans didn’t understand how the plague spread. Their response wasn’t so different from ours now." (See https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/coronavirus-plague-europe/2020/10/14/286af29c-07e9-11eb-8719-0df159d14794_story.html)

I feel like I summarized many of the points made by Harlan and Pitrelli. However, there are some critical things that are occurring now that make this pandemic different from the Black Death. And a good deal of those points are highlighted in the USA Today article. These are the things that history cannot teach us. 

I will point out more of these things by the end of the month.


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