Multipliers

Some events appear serious, yet are really trivial.  The popular press and social media seem to concentrate on easy-to-report yet eventually irrelevant activities. And of course there are other events or activities that develop and evolve and go almost unnoticed until the effect on the rest of the world disrupts life as we know it, with a multiplier effect.

Top of my list is the issue of refugees and quasi refugees around the world and their misery and discontent (as well as their ambitions). I have read estimates that start at 30 million, but do not include the ‘resident’ refugees in Europe or Africa or North America. These individuals and families, on the positive side, often display the characteristics everyone admires from strong families to an incredible work ethic.  Their fate is usually no fault of their own. It then comes as a surprise when the US or French realize that they are integrated and a powerful potential political force in their societies.

Today it is the negative that is in the headlines.  The disenfranchised and frustrated, easily manipulated sociopaths arising out of displaced communities.  Their numbers swell, and casual observers avoid discussing the cost of doing nothing.  Those ‘cost of doing nothing’ started in the past year with the rapid spread of Ebola (no health infrastructure), proliferation of extreme terrorism, the catastrophic burden on some governments (Jordan and Lebanon), and the conflict of immigrant floods of children across the US border.

Still reminds me of the police officer in Casablanca.  We should not be shocked at the results of our inattention, but prepare for the next shock. These shocks have a multiplier effect on society.  There will be an overreaction.  Too bad, since some thought and planning is the solution.  We are all Charlie.