Friday Roundup 3/11
My, how easily we let our attention be manipulated from one socially justified culture war to another...
The Cultured Warrior #038
While I was rather optimistic in last Friday's newsletter, I'll return with a healthy dose of skepticism and uncertainty.
With one fell swoop, a State of the Union Address, and unfavorable midterm polls the CDC "re-evaluated it's risk analysis formula." Â The change resulted in less than 30% of American counties (rather than 90%) being classified as "high risk."
Of course, this should only sew more waning confidence in the government as more questions are begging to be asked: Â What changed? Â Why? Â What if we had used this "new", presumably improved, formula all along?
Let's not forget that hordes of folks rallying for totalitarian implementations at home "for everyone's safety" have now deemed the war in Ukraine as worthy of all their attention. Â As a quick reminder, there are 11 million children starving in Yemen as a result of America's foreign policy (source, source) and tens of millions more dealing with food insecurity in Afghanistan due in no small part to our engagement in a 20 year war (source, source).

Oh, and the Maasai – with 50,000 years or so of intact culture -- are facing (partial) eviction from their native hunting grounds in Tanzania.  Why?  So the UAE and UN can make way for trophy hunters (source).
Not only do we have short memories, but apparently once rebellious instigators of change have become comfortable enough to look down their nose at anyone not writing their paycheck and the social "trickle down effect" is obvious.
It is beyond disturbing how easily we let our attention be shifted from one culture war (many of which embody fetishism over rhetoric or thinly veiled xenophobia) to another while we continue to remain oblivious to the class warfare under our nose. Â Do you think the Masai or Hadza contribute more to Tanzania's (or UN) GDP than the aforementioned trophy hunters? Â Tell me again it's not about money or control.
To save the day, I did find a rare piece of pro-meat literature discussing food insecurity and global disease / sustainability:
Modeling the Contribution of Meat to Global Nutrient Availability | Frontiers in Nutrition, Feb. 2022
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