Tag: Borders

Climate ChangeSocial Issues

Crisis and Inertia (5) – Derailing a Speeding Train

(This is part 5 in the β€œCrisis and Inertia” series.) In the first episode in this series I argued that societies and other social β€œobjects” (cultures, beliefs, institutions, ideas, ideologies, and so forth) are as inert as physical objects. Social β€œobjects” resist change – if they are moving in a certain direction, they resist a change in direction. The second notion in the tile of this series is β€œcrisis”. A crisis is an event that changes a social object’s momentum – that is, it’s path, speed, or direction. Crises come in several kinds. A minor crisis produces a (nearly?) immeasurably...