Knowledge, decency & the future of human liberation
A review of work by other authors and publications, which tell important stories about science and research and the right to live free from fear.
The world is in turmoil. After years of pandemic disruption, exploding hunger in all regions, and criminal wars affecting tens of millions of people, across three continents, political extremism and industrialized disinformation are combining to put democratic governance at risk around the world.
Inequality—rooted in the widening gap between the proportion of new income going to capital and income rewarding people for the work they personally perform—is worsening, which is contributing to a general breakdown in trust. No current mainstream proposition under consideration in any of the G20 nations—which account for 80% of the monetary value of wealth exchanged for goods and services, globally (GDP)—is designed to improve this trend.
In the United States, the gap defining current events is not only the wealth gap, but the gap between those who wield power and the needs, values, and aims of the majority of society. In his best electoral showing, also legally his last, Donald Trump won the votes of 32% of eligible voters, and just 22% of the U.S. population. 68% of voters denied him their support, and 78% of Americans have never endorsed his extremist agenda.
Below, we share a few pieces from other authors and publications, which we believe tell the story of this stark moment in powerful ways that will stand the test of time.
Trump Takes a ‘Giant Wrecking Ball’ to U.S. Research
By Chelsea Harvey, for E&E News
The Trump administration has frozen billions of dollars in funding, paused grant reviews, cut critical support for institutional science and released sweeping executive orders to reshape the federal government. Much of the uncertainty in the research world stems from Trump’s executive order on DEI, which calls for the federal government to eliminate programs and grants related to diversity, equity and inclusion.
… Researchers who spoke with E&E News expressed fears that the U.S. is losing its status as a global science leader. Most declined to be named, citing concerns about loss of funding and professional retaliation.
UPDATE: Late Friday, a federal judge blocked executive orders purporting to ban statements, initiatives, and research supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion. The judge wrote that the “public, vague, threatening executive order” went beyond executive authority and threatened free speech rights.
ALSO: The University of Pittsburgh announced Friday it would suspend new offers of admission to PhD candidates, due to uncertainty around federal funding for scientific research.
Rising costs and sinking home values
In some of the most climate-vulnerable areas, insurance companies have stopped issuing new homeowner’s policies and home prices may have already peaked—California being a prime example. I shared a few weeks ago how State Farm had already pulled out of Pacific Palisades, where the worst of the recent LA wildfires began, earlier this year due to increasing risk of wildfire. Across the U.S., 10% of homeowners don’t have insurance.
“The implications are staggering: Climate change is upending the basic assumption that Americans can continue to build wealth and financial security by owning their own home. In a sense, it is upending the American dream,” ProPublica’s Abrahm Lustgarten wrote of the First Street report - and I’d say this applies to everyone, not just Americans!
My Open Letter to Elon Musk
By Marc Elias, for Democracy Docket
Like many Jewish families, mine came to America because of trauma. They were fleeing persecution in the Pale of Settlement — the only area in the Russian Empire where Jews were legally allowed to reside. Even there, life was difficult — often traumatic. My family, like others, lived in a shtetl and was poor. Worse, pogroms were common — violent riots in which Jews were beaten, killed and expelled from their villages.
By the time my family fled, life in the Pale had become all but impossible for Jews. Tsar Nicholas II’s government spread anti-Jewish propaganda that encouraged Russians to attack and steal from Jews in their communities. My great-grandfather was fortunate to leave when he did. Those who stayed faced even worse circumstances when Hitler’s army later invaded.
A Letter to the Catholic Bishops of the United States of America
By Pope Francis
[T]he act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.
Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups. In other words: the human person is not a mere individual, relatively expansive, with some philanthropic feelings! The human person is a subject with dignity who, through the constitutive relationship with all, especially with the poorest, can gradually mature in his identity and vocation. The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the “Good Samaritan” (cf.Lk10:25-37), that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.
FURTHER READING
