Omicron is not the Problem

 The Omicron variant will likely continue to dominate the news cycles for a bit, but over the longer term, it will probably prove to be just another aftershock from the main Covid-19 crisis, and not a new crisis in its own right. 

The basic framework remains: 

• The variant will quickly span the globe due to unvaccinated populations.

• But the vaccines developed to protect against Covid will either contain Omicron or will be updated quickly by manufacturers to do so.

• The main health damage from this variant, therefore, will be among the unvaccinated in the U.S. and overseas.

• The mental health impacts of this unending pandemic will last for years.

But the political controversies spawned by the pandemic may prove to be even more lasting and damaging than the health crisis. That’s because I believe there is a connection between the global plague that threatens everyone and the rise of extremism. 

It is hard to prove that connection; after all, Trump was already President when the pandemic hit, but Covid may well have accelerated a process that was already underway.

Now it appears that extremist beliefs will continue to be on the rise in a world where a majority of the global population (about 53 percent from estimates I’ve seen) already lives under anti-democratic rulers. 

And it would be difficult to over-emphasize the dangers of increasing authoritarianism in the specific communications environment we live in today. Authoritarians use the existing media systems, including social media, more effectively than democratic leaders can do.

Therefore, disinformation, conspiracy theories and outright lies (like Trumps’a claims about the 2020 election) will continue to compete successfully with honest, verified information here and around the world for the foreseeable future.

In that sense, the global heath crisis is ultimately also an informational crisis. The lack of strong journalistic institutions to wage battle against the propagandists is a key weakness of this particular moment in history.

We need to change that. We need a strong new international commitment to a free press, free speech, and the primacy of accuracy over lies if we are to withstand the authoritarian aftershocks of Covid-19. But how can we possibly accomplish that?

For now, I’m arguing that freaking out about Omicron is essentially a distraction from the main issue of our time — political extremism. If we are going to freak out about something, let it be that.

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MONDAY’s NEWS:

• Will the Vaccines Stop Omicron? Scientists Are Racing to Find Out. — A “Frankenstein mix” of mutations raises concerns, but the variant may remain vulnerable to current vaccines. If not, revisions will be necessary. (NYT)

• As the omicron variant arrives in the West, wealthy countries are reaping what they sowed (WP)

• Dutch find 13 Omicron cases among S.Africa travelers (Reuters)

• Travel doors slam shut as new Covid variant triggers alarm, stranding hundreds of passengers (CNN)

• In omicron hot spot, somber mood as S Africa faces variant (AP)

• U.S. braces for Omicron ahead of southern Africa travel ban (Reuters)

• Organ transplant patients are at risk from covid. But some donors and recipients are fighting vaccination requirements. (WP)

• Omicron variant puts world in a 'race against time', says EU Commission President (CNN)

• Once rare, lung transplants for COVID-19 patients are rising quickly (NPR)

• China study warns of 'colossal' COVID outbreak if it opens up like U.S., France (Reuters)

• Covid live news: Omicron variant detected in Canada as Fauci warns two weeks needed to study new strain(Guardian)

• Omicron Likely Already in U.S., Officials Say (WSJ)

• U.S. focuses on booster shots as best strategy against new variant (WP)

• S.African doctor says patients with Omicron variant have "very mild" symptoms (Reuters)

• WHO calls for balanced response to new virus variant (Financial Times)

• How vaccine makers plan to address the new COVID-19 omicron variant (NPR)

• Anthony Fauci said claims he lied about certain research funding in the Wuhan lab smacked of contempt for science. (Politico)

• Fetal Viability, Long an Abortion Dividing Line, Faces a Supreme Court Test — On Wednesday, the justices will hear the most important abortion case in decades, one that could undermine or overturn Roe v. Wade. (NYT)

• Amid massive shortage, Canada taps strategic reserves — of maple syrup (WP)

• Researchers try producing potato resistant to climate change (AP)

• Nobel-winning stock market theory used to help save coral reefs (Guardian)

• Special Report: The Secretive Libyan Prisons That Keep Migrants Out of Europe (New Yorker)

• As Afghanistan’s economy collapses, international community looks for innovative ways to avoid humanitarian disaster (WP)

• Taliban Covert Operatives Seized Kabul From Within — Undercover agents—often clean-shaven, dressed in jeans and sporting sunglasses—spent years infiltrating Afghan government ministries, universities, businesses and aid organizations. (WSJ)

• ‘We will start again’: Afghan female MPs fight on from parliament in exile (Guardian)

• Researchers: HIV killed by vaccine in monkeys (NHK)

• News crew guard dies after being shot in attempted robbery (AP)

• The Black people who lived in Walden Woods long before Henry David Thoreau (WP)

• Organized Retail Thefts Continue Over Thanksgiving Weekend (WSJ)

• US and Iran seek to break impasse at talks on reviving nuclear deal (BBC)

• How Tucker Carlson became the voice of White grievance (WP)

• A Chaotic Rivalry Weekend Sets Up Final Sprint for College Football Playoff Spots (WSJ)

• AP Top 25: Michigan rises to No. 2; Oklahoma State up to 5th (AP)

• The voices we make when we pretend our dogs can talk (WP)

• What Stephen Sondheim Knew About Endings — His work was strongest when it lingered in the pain of knowing that no ever after lasts long. (Atlantic)

• Family Creeped Out By Alexa Playing Back Conversations They Haven’t Even Had Yet (The Onion)

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MONDAY’s LYRICS

“The Truth”

Song by Jason Aldean

Songwriters: Brett James / Ashley Monroe

Tell 'em all I'm on vacation
Say I went to visit friends
That you ain't heard or seen from me in quite a while
When they ask you where I've been
Tell 'em I'm out on the west coast where it don't ever rain
And that I'm probably doing fine

Just don't tell 'em I've gone crazy
That I'm still strung out over you
Tell 'em anything you want to
Just don't tell 'em all the truth
Yeah don't tell 'em all the truth

Tell 'em all I'm out in Vegas
Blowin' every dollar I ever made
Tell 'em that I must be into something bad for me cause
I sure lost a lot of weight
Tell 'em I'm out on the road with some old rock and roll band
Living like a gypsy can

Just don't tell 'em I've gone crazy
That I'm still strung out over you
Tell 'em anything you want to
Just don't tell 'em all the truth
Yeah don't tell 'em all the truth

The truth is that I'm asking you to lie
And we both know that it ain't right
But if you ever loved me please
Have some mercy on me
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Tell 'em anything you want to
Just don't tell 'em all the truth
Yeah, don't tell 'em all the truth
I still need you
Yeah, that's the truth
I still love you
Baby, that's the truth