This point has already been made many times but it’s wild to think about all the ways that American life is still different today because of 9/11, and then to remember that COVID-19 has killed 295 times as many people so far.
We responded to a sudden and immediate catastrophe by spending trillions on destructive wars in every corner of the planet, we created the most expansive government surveillance system ever designed up to that point, and we made going through a government-run full body scanner a standard part of our travel habits. But when a slow and ongoing catastrophe of a much larger magnitude emerged, we responded with a stimulus bill, a patchwork of conflicting guidance from public officials, and a failure to pass paid sick leave.
