639 lines
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639 lines
70 KiB
HTML
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<title>24 July, 2022</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<body>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Liz Cheney’s Revenge on Donald Trump—and Her Own Party</strong> - The season finale of the January 6th committee showed Republicans wallowing in the former President’s dishonor. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/liz-cheneys-revenge-on-donald-trump-and-her-own-party">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Harvesting Wheat in Drought-Parched Kansas</strong> - A global grain shortage has put extra pressure on American farmers. Can they navigate extreme weather and skyrocketing inflation when the world needs them most? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/harvesting-wheat-in-drought-parched-kansas">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Abortion Surge Engulfing Clinics in Pennsylvania</strong> - Patients are travelling to the state from Ohio, Kentucky, and even Louisiana, but how long will that option last? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-abortion-surge-engulfing-clinics-in-pennsylvania">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How the Federalist Society Won</strong> - The conservative legal movement was pivotal in getting Roe v. Wade overturned. But does it have any control over what happens next? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-education/how-the-federalist-society-won">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Much Damage Are the January 6th Hearings Doing to Trump?</strong> - Even as Republican support for another Trump Presidential bid appears to be slipping, he can’t be counted out. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/how-much-damage-are-the-january-6th-hearings-doing-to-trump">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>What keeping secrets does to you</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="An illustration shows people hiding behind walls, peering around them furtively." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/TRvvCL2PiHCwtGJ3C6Sqk8CUPTU=/342x0:5675x4000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71167380/GettyImages_1346327931.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Getty Images/iStockphoto
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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We can keep a secret — but should we?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="atnZre">
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I have secrets. So do you. So does everyone else. This is one of the many things human beings do — we hide stuff from other people.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7x2XQE">
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But why do we do this? Are we afraid of intimacy? Are we ashamed of our past? And perhaps more importantly, what does all that secrecy cost us?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="svUITW">
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These are questions a new book tries to answer. It’s called <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646505/the-secret-life-of-secrets-by-michael-slepian/"><em>The Secret Life of Secrets</em></a> and the author is Michael Slepian, a psychologist at Columbia University. He’s spent a decade studying secrets and has a lot to say about what they are and what motivates them.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x9Wt7Z">
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I invited Slepian on <a href="https://tools.applemediaservices.com/podcast/1081584611?country=us"><em>Vox Conversations</em></a> to talk about what distinguishes a secret from a lie, what kinds of secrets are most common, and why he thinks that, ultimately, we should find ways to let our secrets go.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="koqrjf">
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Below is an excerpt of our conversation, edited for length and clarity. As always, there’s much more in the full podcast, so listen and follow <em>Vox Conversations</em> on <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vox-conversations/id1215557536">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/search/vox%20conversations">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6NOJ6IkTb2GWMj1RpmtnxP">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/show/vox-conversations">Stitcher</a>, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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</p>
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<div id="CVFUnN">
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hRzbMQ">
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</p>
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<h4 id="w6qMA1">
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Sean Illing
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fxI8HD">
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Your book opens with you recounting how a 10-megaton secret was dropped into your lap that sort of exploded your life.
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</p>
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<h4 id="meGX6m">
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Michael Slepian
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W2VGZP">
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I was doing studies [on secrets] and I was presenting those studies, as I learned this major family secret. In fact, I was on interview at Columbia for the position I have now. I’m showing people this brand new research on secrecy, and that’s my entire day. And at the end of this day, I’m still with these folks, we’re having dinner, we get drinks afterward.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tQwXwW">
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And then at some point around midnight, I get this call from my dad. And I’m like, “Why is he calling me at midnight?” And then he calls me a second time, and I’m like, “Oh no, something terrible has happened.”<em> </em>And I assume someone died or something tragic. I call him back. And he says, “Michael, I have to tell you something. I think you should sit down for this.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mVaTSw">
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And then he tells me that he’s not biologically able to have children. He’s telling me that he’s not my biological father.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oM0ft2">
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And as you can imagine, that’s totally surprising and shocking. But the first thing I thought to myself was, “This is okay.” I thought, “I don’t choose my friends based off genetics. What does it matter if my parents aren’t genetically related to me?”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zon13I">
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But it was the secret keeping that really shocked me.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5ncHHI">
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It turned out that everyone in my family, apart from my younger brother and myself, knew this secret the whole time.
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</p>
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<h4 id="BjhW59">
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Sean Illing
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3vs3F5">
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A lot of academics who study whatever it is that they study, it can feel very abstract. And then suddenly, boom, you’re hit with this secret that is kind of at the core of your identity and your life.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kECIVt">
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Did that concretize anything for you in any particular way? Did it change how you thought about secrets in general, having collided with one that gigantic in your own life?
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</p>
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<h4 id="ya0TjQ">
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Michael Slepian
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Re3avU">
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What was so relevant to what I was understanding about secrecy, the science [of it], was, I asked my parents, “What was it like to keep the secret?” And they told me it wasn’t something that was difficult to hold back in conversations because it’s really easy to not let that long, complicated story just spill out of your mouth.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TiJ6BA">
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Once in a while their mind would return to this. And they said that’s when it became a problem — that it wasn’t hiding it in conversation that was difficult. It was having to return to their decision over and over and start wondering, “Did we make the right decision?” And as we got older, they started becoming less sure.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iyQRDT">
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And that matched exactly what I was finding in my research at the time, that the hard part of having a secret doesn’t seem [to be] those moments when we’re in conversation. That turns out to be the easy part. It’s having to live with the secret alone, and being unsure whether you’re doing the right thing.
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</p>
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<h4 id="iOl8W8">
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Sean Illing
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YRE0hp">
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What are the most common secrets people keep? You have some interesting charts in the book about this, but I want the audience to have a sense of what you discovered here.
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</p>
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<h4 id="H60AuX">
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Michael Slepian
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1LR6ax">
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Some of the most common secrets include romantic desire, issues around money and finances, sex, which will come as no surprise. Family secrets are quite common, secret ambitions, being unhappy with something, whether it’s your social life, your physical appearance, your romantic life, issues around mental health, violating another person’s trust.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="79liFE">
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I could keep going.
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</p>
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<h4 id="zwTeJJ">
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Sean Illing
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0E8SRc">
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Can friendships, relationships, romantic relationships survive <em>without</em> secrets?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z7YPUQ">
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It seems to me that I’m not sure they could. Maybe that says something terrible about me. Do you think our relationships could remain intact if we were totally transparent about everything all the time?
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</p>
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<h4 id="ISy8UN">
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Michael Slepian
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hFmUrK">
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I think it would lead to some bumpiness.
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</p>
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<h4 id="0TEeHm">
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Sean Illing
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BYXYpw">
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That’s one way to put it.
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</p>
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<h4 id="ziioU3">
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Michael Slepian
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DJk1ti">
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I think we hold secrets back for the right reasons sometimes. White lies are one example.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q0qghq">
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Your friend asks you, how do they look? And you’re like just arriving at the party and it’s too late to change or to do anything about it. You say the nice thing. People will agree saying something kind and nice is better than being brutally honest. There’s no need to needlessly hurt someone’s feelings when there’s nothing that can be done about it.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PWlb1N">
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Another example is sometimes it’s just too soon to reveal something, but like a week later, it’s better to reveal it then. And so, maybe it’s something you could only keep temporarily secret.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ASj6il">
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Maybe it’s you’re protecting [someone’s] feelings, [like] if someone just says something nasty about your partner. There’s not a lot of good reason to pass that on if it’s just going to make them feel bad, and that’s the only consequence.
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</p>
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<h4 id="XqZSWu">
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Sean Illing
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QMGwn9">
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Okay, so obviously one of the big lies in the chart is infidelity.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cp94Yk">
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In terms of the trade-offs, it’s hard for me to imagine a more weighty one, right? If you’re someone who has been unfaithful in your relationship, and let’s say you have a family, you have children, the cost of telling that truth or revealing that secret could be the destruction of your family and lifelong trauma for your children. But the price of keeping that secret might be psychologically catastrophic as well.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Qq2lj7">
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I’m not asking you to tell people what they should do or what they shouldn’t do, but maybe I’m asking you what that decision calculus should look like.
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</p>
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<h4 id="m5LXUf">
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Michael Slepian
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mMVcZ8">
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The thing to consider first is, what is the reason you want to tell the person? Is it that you just can’t think about this thing in your head anymore, and you want to get it off your chest and just get it out in the open and not have to deal with it as a secret anymore?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zed8fm">
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If that’s the reason you want to reveal the secret, if it’s just to make yourself feel better, the risk, of course, is that it makes you feel better, now it’s off your chest, but it could make your partner feel a whole lot worse.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vFPnEn">
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And so the question is, when is that the right thing to do?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n9NZWz">
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Other things to think about are, is this a one-time issue? If this is a one-time issue and it’s not going to come up again, there are folks who would advise you to say, yeah, don’t reveal it because this is not some larger problem.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UF21ZV">
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If it’s a repeat problem, if this is something that’s continuously happening, I would say it’s a much bigger deal to be holding this issue back.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HBnfcJ">
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And the final consideration is, would your partner want to know this? And that’s a hard question to know the answer to. But I can tell you about a study where I asked a couple of hundred people about this situation.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o4ZNj2">
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Imagine your partner, one time, totally regrettable mistake. They were out of town. They were drunk. They would never do this again. Would you want to know?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s7xmvq">
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And about 75 percent of people said yes, which really surprised me, actually.
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</p>
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<h4 id="muB2g2">
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Sean Illing
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rCpoh6">
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I was surprised by that too. And you know what? The more I thought about it, the less surprising it was.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nVzImA">
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But I really do wonder if the difference between theory and practice is really significant here. A lot of people think they would want to know that, but if they really learned it and there was no going back, that it blew up their life, I wonder how many people in retrospect would say, “You know what? Maybe it was better, maybe ignorance was bliss in this case.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W17qpj">
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I don’t know, but boy, that’s a big number. I thought it would be closer to half.
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</p>
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<h4 id="WzPQmx">
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Michael Slepian
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7pJV1Y">
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Yeah, so did I, and so maybe I should have run this study again where after people give their answer, I just ask a follow-up, which is, “Are you sure?”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="93Ae5b">
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But besides sort of wondering whether we’ve got the percentage correct or not, another way of thinking about this is, one in four people said very decisively that they wouldn’t want to know. I mean, that sounds like a big number to me, too.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pTqZUI">
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And so, the best thing you can do when you’re grappling with these complexities, with this decision that is such a significant decision with such huge ramifications, there is no reason you should be figuring this out on your own. It’s way too complicated to figure out on your own.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="110AQG">
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So the best thing you can do is find someone that you know can keep this secret safe, that you trust, and see what they think and start considering these different options and scenarios.
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</p>
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<h4 id="f96o6N">
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Sean Illing
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SsO0IW">
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We’ve been talking a lot about the person or the people maybe affected by your secret or involved in your secret. But I’m interested in what it’s doing to the secret holder.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nQzptk">
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And in the book you talk about shame and isolation and feelings of phoniness or inauthenticity.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1xHncu">
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What would you say is the primary or the hidden cost of keeping secrets for the person keeping the secret?
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</p>
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<h4 id="A0gIZn">
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Michael Slepian
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HTgx1b">
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So we see shame, isolation, uncertainty, inauthenticity.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6Oa8UQ">
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Of all of those, the one that seems to be the most harmful is shame. And the reason for that is shame is this global negative evaluation of yourself. And if you feel worthless, powerless, small, it’s really hard to change that. It’s really hard to just not feel ashamed and just to sort of ignore that.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vOz0WH">
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But there is a way forward if that’s something that is holding you back, which is that if shame is a negative evaluation of the self, if you can just redirect that negative evaluation to the behavior in question, that’s what we call guilt. And so rather than thinking of yourself as a bad person, you can say, “I did something bad<em>.” </em>
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YXs9Ag">
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And what’s so helpful about reframing it in that manner is: You don’t have to do that thing again next time. You can act differently next time. People change, you can learn from your past, you can draw a lesson, you can do something going forward differently.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qUqnTu">
|
||
And that shifts the negative evaluation from your whole self to something you did in the past.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="brc6j7">
|
||
Sean Illing
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2L94Hr">
|
||
I love your emphasis on the time secrets steal from us. Like the time we spend thinking about our secrets, worrying about our secrets, revisiting them in our mind.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5kvynr">
|
||
That leads to insecurity and that wastes an enormous amount of precious attention and presence in your life. It’s almost never worth that. Maybe sometimes it is, but I feel justified in saying it’s almost never really, truly worth it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="SuvD71">
|
||
Michael Slepian
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WW2StZ">
|
||
An easy way out of the negative cycles of thinking is just bringing another person in. It’s so easy to get caught up in rumination and rehashing the past. And just getting another perspective into it. Just having someone else in that conversation can help you out of this negative thought loop for sure.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="HspgEO">
|
||
Sean Illing
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6TQr55">
|
||
I did take some comfort in the fact that you found that secrets tend to impact all of us in very similar ways, right? No matter where we’re from, whether the South or the North or America or somewhere else.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="llBrFH">
|
||
Which if nothing else says, this is just a human thing, it’s a universal human thing.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="rBJVFE">
|
||
Michael Slepian
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="phxRSG">
|
||
Yeah, we see that the secrets that people keep, the kinds of secrets that people keep and how they affect us leading to experiences of shame, guilt, isolation, inauthenticity. These are experiences that I’ve seen all across the world. We surveyed people all over the world and see if they keep the same kind of secrets and they affect us in similar ways.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gxybl7">
|
||
And so if you’re struggling with a secret, that’s something to remember. We all keep the same secrets. We all have the same experiences with them.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Sri Lanka’s new president is already cracking down on protests</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="Ranil Wickremesinghe Was Elected As The New President Of Sri Lanka" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gLgAmUbdkNm2ZjRm_prGBvHofns=/102x0:2587x1864/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71166396/1242017326.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was elected as the new President of Sri Lanka addresses the media during his visit to the Gangaramaya Buddhist temple in Colombo, Sri Lanka on July 20, 2022. | Pradeep Dambarage/NurPhoto via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
President Wickremesinghe is an ally of the president who protesters just forced out.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mr9j8e">
|
||
Ranil Wickremesinghe is the interim president of Sri Lanka per a parliamentary vote, after an unprecedented popular protest brought down former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s administration. But while naming an interim president may<strong> </strong>help the country manage some of its staggering debt, it’s unlikely to bring about the kinds of change protestors demand.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x2vlQ6">
|
||
Gotabaya appointed Wickremesinghe prime minister in May after his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned from the post during the protests. Now, Wickremesinghe — who served as prime minister five previous times and was also finance minister during his most recent term — will serve as president until the country holds a popular vote in 2024.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Px9RtH">
|
||
Wickremesinghe’s closeness with the Rajapaksa clan — Gotabaya and Mahinda, who was president from 2005 to 2015; their brother Basil, the former finance minister; their brother Chamal, <a href="https://www.defence.lk/Profile/state_minister_of_defence">who has held multiple posts</a>; and Mahinda’s son Namal, who served as sports minister under Gotabaya — has made him unpopular with protesters.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zMa7Nc">
|
||
That’s with good reason; on Friday, just two days after Wickremesinghe secured the presidency, police and security forces conducted a violent, pre-dawn raid on the main protest encampment in Galle Face, as <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/07/sri-lanka-shameful-brutal-assault-on-peaceful-protestors-must-immediately-stop/">Amnesty International</a> reported.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Aq0fZ7">
|
||
According to the report, the police, special forces, and military staged “a massive joint operation” on the GotaGoGama camp at the Presidential Secretariat <strong>— </strong>the office of the President of Sri Lanka. Protesters have been staying in tents there since April and were due to vacate parts of the encampment Friday; however, around 1:00 am local time, security forces descended on the camp with no warning, after having blocked off the encampment’s egresses.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sLTEE5">
|
||
“There were about 200-300 demonstrators at that time, I would say,” one eyewitness told Amnesty. “Suddenly [the forces] came out from [behind] the barricades and totally destroyed and broke down the tents. There were enough police and military to swamp the area. The police and especially the army beat up peaceful protesters.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t2aX2Q">
|
||
Amnesty reported at least 50 injured and nine arrested, although activist and attorney Swasthika Arulingam, who’s been involved in the protests in Colombo since March, told Vox that only eight were arrested, all of whom had been bailed out as of noon Eastern time Saturday.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="joVNhD">
|
||
“We need to reorganize the struggle,” Arulingam told Vox. “People are shaken.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="14p4bw">
|
||
Though protesters achieved the unthinkable — getting the Rajapaksas out of leadership despite nearly two decades in power — concerns remain about Wickremesinghe’s ties to the previous administration.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="A9EkI6">
|
||
Financial stability requires political stability
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KvIh1J">
|
||
Wickremesinghe is a longtime political actor who’s held many positions in Sri Lanka’s government. Although he is the head of the United National Party (UNP), the Rajapaksas’ Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) backed him in the parliamentary election to secure his position as the interim president of Sri Lanka. <s> </s><s></s>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Uuduyn">
|
||
Wickremesinghe’s main priority as president is — or should be — helping the country refinance its massive, unsustainable debt and secure loans from the International Monetary Fund, as well as implementing crucial economic reforms to ensure that the economy remains stable in the decades to come. “These are reforms Sri Lanka has been talking about for decades, has been unable to execute, but will have to be now implemented,” Constantino Xavier, a fellow with the Foreign Policy and Security at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress in New Delhi and a nonresident fellow with the India Project at the Brookings Institution told Brookings podcast <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/20220722_TheCurrent_Xavier_transcript.pdf">The Current</a> on Friday. “Reforms in terms of the labor sector, in terms of the public sector companies that still have monopolies in various sectors, from the energy [to] the port sector in Sri Lanka.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1jWaHB">
|
||
Wickremesinghe, Xavier said, is “the only individual that has emerged as satisfying different actors” including the IMF and Sri Lanka’s Western creditors who are critical to helping Sri Lanka refinance its debt. “Ranil Wickremesinghe is generally seen as a technocrat that is quite popular in particular with the Western countries that play an influential role here,” Xavier said, although he acknowledged that Wickremesinghe is deeply<strong> </strong>unpopular with protesters.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9pHlXT">
|
||
Despite his unpopularity, though, Sri Lanka needs a measure of political stability to continue negotiations with the IMF, the previous session of which concluded in late June, while Gotabaya was still in charge. “I think getting a president in place means you restart the process right away; I think that will be top of the list,” Tamanna Salikuddin, director of South Asia programs at the US Institute of Peace, told Vox in an interview last week.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gX8mX0">
|
||
On Monday, before he was elected interim president and just after he declared a state of emergency, Wickremesinghe announced that IMF talks were near their conclusion and that “discussions for assistance with foreign countries were also progressing,” <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/sri-lanka-president-wickremesinghe-declares-emergency-2022-07-18/">Reuters reported last week</a>, quoting a press release from Wickremesinghe’s office.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LPQa2e">
|
||
The protest movement started over disastrous financial policy under the Rajapaksas, built on the back of their rapacious consolidation of power and dismantling of democratic institutions, as Xavier explained on Friday’s podcast. “They have centralized power politically that has come with some benefits: obviously, that the country has been led with a strong, for some people, authoritarian streak and very decisive governance, but at the same time also the weakening of critical institution like the Central Bank of Sri Lanka,” he told The Current host Adrianna Pitta. “So therefore when you are progressively over 10, 20 years weakening those governance structures, and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka I mentioned […] because it is really the heart of the financial crisis of the country that has taken on loans without much scrutiny on the sustainability of refinancing mechanisms.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OB7TEO">
|
||
Though tackling the approximately $51 billion in debt that Sri Lanka owes is the first priority for its government, looking forward it’s not clear how Sri Lanka can build a sustainable economy when its tourism industry is decimated due to Covid 19, and its agriculture sector due to failed policies.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pfjhe4">
|
||
“There’s been one body blow after another,” Salikuddin said, referring not only to Covid-19, but also a 2019 series of bombings at churches celebrating Easter and Russia’s war on Ukraine. “Now, with the collapse, you have countries all over the world issuing safety travel notices, so I don’t see tourism coming back any time, at the same rates that they’re hoping for.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="ae8i2B">
|
||
Will the Rajapaksas face justice?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2GTHMO">
|
||
Despite the turmoil Sri Lankans have endured under Gotabaya and his family— chiefly the lack of medicine, basic food supplies, and fuel as well as a disastrous ban on importing chemical fertilizers, which decimated Sri Lanka’s agricultural sector — the Rajapaksas and their cronies might never be held to account.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sfEgpH">
|
||
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/22/gotabaya-rajapaksa-former-sri-lanka-president-must-face-war-crimes-investigation/">They have thus far evaded culpability for alleged human rights abuses</a> during the end of the 30-year-long civil war between ethnic Tamil militants fighting for a homeland in the north of Sri Lanka, and the country’s Sinhalese majority. Mahinda was president in 2009 when the war ended, and Gotabaya was his defense minister; during his time<strong> </strong>in that role, in the final months of the war, according to a UN panel report, the Sri Lankan military<strong> </strong>was alleged to have committed atrocities including sexual violence, forced disappearances and killing of Tamil civilians, claims that the Sri Lankan government denied at the time.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wSqeJj">
|
||
“I think it’s really interesting to think how the Rajapaksas came to power,” Salikuddin told Vox. “They crushed — with a lot of allegations of human rights violations and war crimes — crushed the Tamils, and that led them to power on this Sinhalese nationalism, Buddhist nationalism wave. So they could tell the majority Buddhist nationalists, ‘Look, we ended this 30-year civil war. We won.’ And the Sinhalese, Buddhist nationalists were ok looking the other way.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Lvv3Lu">
|
||
However, for Tamil and other sidelined minorities, “I think the wounds are still existent,” Salikuddin told Vox. “There’s never been any truth and reconciliation, there’s never been any [addressing] of all the missing persons, or of the war crimes of the Rajapaksas.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZIOVEO">
|
||
As of now, Gotabaya is in Singapore, <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ex-sri-lankan-leader-rajapaksa-was-granted-short-term-visit-pass-ica">but only on a temporary basis</a>. Thus far, he hasn’t asked for or been granted asylum, the Straits Times reports; thus it’s unclear how long he plans to stay.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xwFzZ6">
|
||
Mahinda and his son Namal, the former sports minister whom <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-11/sri-lanka-s-fallen-dynasty-is-already-planning-its-next-comeback#xj4y7vzkg">Bloomberg</a> reports is being groomed for a future in political leadership, will not leave Sri Lanka, an unnamed aide told <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/14/ex-leader-mahinda-rajapaksa-will-not-flee-sri-lanka-top-aide">Al Jazeera</a> last week. Meanwhile Basil, the former finance minister and the brother of Mahinda and Gotabaya, was reportedly turned back at the airport by officials, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-12/airport-staff-block-ex-fm-basil-rajapaksa-from-leaving-sri-lanka#xj4y7vzkg">according to Bloomberg</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o66QL0">
|
||
In the immediate term, though the protests have been significant, sustained, and have brought about some victories, “much of what we’ve seen in terms of the protests in Colombo and international media is actually a very urban progressive elite that is on the streets, that is asking for a fundamental reset of the country,” Xavier said, adding that “the majority of the Sri Lankan electorate, I would risk, is still behind the Rajapaksas. This is the conservative, rural, southern vote of the majority ethnic group called the Sinhala group. So therefore, no solution in Sri Lanka can happen without that popular support, particularly when the very painful reforms period will begin in a few months.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Rk8NuT">
|
||
Furthermore, the fact that crackdowns have already begun two days into Wickremesinghe’s tenure, despite the fact that the protests have been largely peaceful, doesn’t bode well for the future. When asked if she thought the Rajapaksa dynasty would face justice for the downfall of the Sri Lankan economy, Arulingam said, “Not anytime soon.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LMescE">
|
||
<strong>Correction, 8:20 pm: </strong>Ranil Wickremesinghe is the head of the United National Party, not the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. A previous version of this article misstated his political affiliation.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Why the WHO finally declared monkeypox a global public health emergency</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4XEV7VWhIGUTDBvtwmNL6WyT7EI=/232x0:3368x2352/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71165643/GettyImages_1205434458.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
World Health Organization leadership, including Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, center, attend a press conference at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, in March 2020. | Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
A “public health emergency of international concern” is the organization’s loudest alarm bell. Here’s what it can accomplish.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C9hfTf">
|
||
On Saturday, July 23, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26o1BMmj6as">declared</a> the spread of monkeypox to be a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), the organization’s loudest alarm bell signifying an emerging outbreak.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S2Fgyy">
|
||
Since early May, more than <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/monkeypox?facet=none&hideControls=false&Metric=Confirmed+cases&Frequency=Cumulative&Shown+by=Date+of+confirmation&country=~OWID_WRL">15,000 cases of monkeypox</a> have been identified across more than 60 countries. Disease caused by the monkeypox virus typically involves a few days of fever and lymph node swelling <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/index.html">followed by a rash,</a> which can leave scars. Most cases in the current outbreak have resolved without hospitalization or the need for medication. As of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/who-reports-two-new-monkeypox-deaths-2022-07-07/">July 7,</a> there have been three deaths, all of them in Africa.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VhxAcV">
|
||
When the WHO first convened a committee in <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/who-declines-to-label-monkeypox-a-global-emergency">late June</a> to determine whether monkeypox was a PHEIC. As cases have continued to rise worldwide, the committee reconvened on July 21 — and this time, the outcome was different.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MnJ8R2">
|
||
“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little and which meets the criteria in international health regulations,” Tedros said when announcing the emergency.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MR71c8">
|
||
Tedros made the declaration despite the the WHO’s <a href="https://www.who.int/groups/monkeypox-ihr-emergency-committee">emergency committee for monkeypox</a>, which did not come to an unanimous consensus on whether to declare an emergency. “There are uncertainties on all sides,” said Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, explaining Tedros’s reasoning in deciding to declare a PHEIC. “He sees a window of opportunity to to bring this disease under control,” said Ryan. The committee offers a recommendation, but ultimately it was Tedros’s decision.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eZVQ6R">
|
||
The last time the WHO declared an international emergency was in <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/covid-19-public-health-emergency-of-international-concern-(pheic)-global-research-and-innovation-forum">early 2020</a>, for Covid-19. While the disease caused by the currently spreading monkeypox virus is much less severe than Covid-19 and spreads far less easily, there are good reasons for the WHO to declare an emergency.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kPloXF">
|
||
For starters, said Ana B. Amaya, an expert in global health governance at Pace University in New York, this monkeypox outbreak is just very different from past outbreaks of the disease. The vast majority of the latest cases have been identified among gay and bisexual men, and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/18/health/monkeypox-lgbtq-safety/index.html">sexual contact with multiple sexual partners</a> has emerged as an important risk factor. Scientists are now trying to determine if the virus spreads through sexual fluids like semen and vaginal fluid in addition to the ways it’s already known to spread: via skin-to-skin contact and, to a lesser degree, by respiratory transmission.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b9MjZ1">
|
||
Prior to the current outbreak, monkeypox often spread <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4880088/">throughout households</a> via close contact and, possibly, shared items like utensils and linens. In the past few weeks, <a href="https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2022/07/20/seven-month-old-baby-contracts-monkey-pox-in-madrid/">isolated</a> <a href="https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.29.2200552">reports</a> of infections in children, who are thought to be at <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/monkeypox">higher risk for severe outcomes</a> of monkeypox infection, reinforce the worry that without containment, outbreaks often spread beyond the populations where they start.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="7bi0dH">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tZBy5x">
|
||
The prospect that the virus might be spreading in ways not seen before raises the concern that it will surprise us in other ways — for example, by causing severe disease if it reaches certain populations it has not yet reached, like large groups of immunocompromised people, said Amaya. “All of that is really alarming. And that’s why it’s very important for us to have a coordinated response that starts from the WHO level,” she said in a late-June interview, before the WHO’s first meeting to discuss issuing an emergency declaration.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GTMS5B">
|
||
But beyond that, this kind of declaration encourages countries to coordinate to stop the virus’s spread in a few different ways. Here’s how that works.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="C4WMrD">
|
||
A public health emergency is not the same thing as a pandemic
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gVq3Z2">
|
||
To be resoundingly clear: The WHO did not declare monkeypox to be a new pandemic. There’s a difference between a pandemic and a PHEIC.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6Di9GP">
|
||
A pandemic is squishily defined as “an epidemic occurring over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries, and usually affecting a large number of people,” according to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=vEZmAwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=A+dictionary+of+epidemiology&ots=ej5LgDPB1f&sig=VZXfw0O8m-1CfAD4gJMeyEuoCiQ#v=onepage&q=A%20dictionary%20of%20epidemiology&f=false"><em>A Dictionary of Epidemiology</em></a>. Public health experts use the phrase “pandemic” to emphasize the global reach of an outbreak. They seem to agree that <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/3/9/21163412/who-coronavirus-covid19-pandemic-world-health-organization">calling something a pandemic means it demands a coordinated international response</a> — and potentially, that it’s too big to contain.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z1bRnM">
|
||
On the other hand, a PHEIC is a more carefully defined term. It describes a situation that has not necessarily grown out of control, but has the potential to do so.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NwF2Pc">
|
||
According to the WHO’s International Health Regulations, an outbreak <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/emergencies-international-health-regulations-and-emergency-committees">qualifies</a> as a PHEIC if 1) it’s unusual or unexpected, 2) has potential for international spread, and 3) requires an immediate international response.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pi63xN">
|
||
The WHO has only declared <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7798963/">six PHEICs</a> to date, including Ebola, Zika, and Covid-19.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ezMIct">
|
||
The monkeypox outbreak easily meets the first two criteria for an emergency: the virus’s spread outside West and Central Africa and among sexual networks are both unusual patterns, and the virus has already spread internationally, with cases now present in about 60 countries. And given that spread, containing monkeypox will clearly require an international response.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="CMbKFk">
|
||
Why did the WHO wait to declare an emergency?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LiAtTz">
|
||
Some experts think this outbreak easily met the PHEIC criteria when the WHO first addressed the question about a month ago. Why didn’t it declare an emergency then?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nWPCXa">
|
||
“It’s possible the panel decided to take a cautious approach to avoid causing alarm,” said Amaya, who told me that in her view, the emergency threshold had already been met in June. Arguably, it was a missed opportunity: Declaring the emergency earlier could have facilitated more containment efforts early on.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4RGJbh">
|
||
Andrew Pekosz, a Johns Hopkins virologist specializing in emerging pathogens, said that when public health authorities make emergency declarations, they sometimes prioritize disease severity over case numbers. With monkeypox causing so few deaths, declaring the outbreak a global emergency in June may have felt a little over-the-top, even if thousands of people had already been infected. He thinks that’s a mistake.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v84PH1">
|
||
“The more we allow a virus to replicate,” Pekosz said, “the more likely that these viruses are going to become better at infecting us,” much as they have with Covid-19. (Although monkeypox virus is less prone to mutation than SARS-CoV-2, it nevertheless can and does <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01907-y">accumulate mutations</a> over time.) An earlier declaration might have unlocked more resources — including vaccines — for the low-income countries that need them most, while the global case count was a third as high as it is right now, he said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="auQzkT">
|
||
Declaring an emergency signals an outbreak’s seriousness and the WHO’s intention to disseminate expert knowledge
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tuXNSj">
|
||
In the US, declaring a state of emergency <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/3/13/21178414/trump-coronavirus-national-emergency-state-funding">mobilizes funds</a> to support states’ responses to a disaster like a hurricane, or a public health crisis. That’s not the case with WHO PHEIC declarations, which do not unlock access to funding, explained <a href="https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/aboutus/people/heymann.david">David Heymann</a>, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who previously headed WHO’s emergencies department, in a late-June interview.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CZFIQq">
|
||
Instead, these declarations act as a signal. They inform health departments worldwide that responding to the outbreak is urgent, and this can mobilize resources to help lower-resource countries fund their response.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4cuHrV">
|
||
In some cases, declarations can include recommendations for <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7106206/">travel restrictions</a>, as during the 2003 SARS outbreak that largely affected countries in East Asia. Although the WHO explicitly did not recommend travel restrictions early in the Covid-19 pandemic, many countries chose to independently institute such restrictions, <a href="https://gh.bmj.com/content/6/3/e004537">with varying effects</a>. In declaring the monkeypox emergency, Tedros said, “the risk of interference with international traffic remains low for the moment.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YCrawT">
|
||
Amaya said declaring an outbreak an emergency also signals that the WHO plans to be a source of clinical and scientific guidelines aimed at helping public health workers worldwide achieve disease control. That guidance isn’t always perfect — the organization faced vociferous criticism for its <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00925-7#:~:text=Early%20in%20the%20pandemic%2C%20the,happen%20in%20the%20next%20pandemic.">sluggishness at acknowledging SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted by aerosol particles</a> that can remain suspended in the air for hours — but it is nevertheless authoritative on a global scale.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pFtSO9">
|
||
Ideally, that effort draws on the deep knowledge about monkeypox that resides in the nations that have been contending with the virus for decades, she said. “It is an endemic disease in several African countries, and so part of this is we should be learning from our partners in those African countries,” said Amaya.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="YrfLtR">
|
||
The emergency ought to get countries to share vaccines. But it’s not guaranteed.
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HJLagd">
|
||
Vaccination plays a key role in controlling monkeypox transmission during an outbreak, and crucially, these vaccines already exist.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j4JG6k">
|
||
The Covid-19 pandemic taught the world some painful lessons about the importance of global coordination to ensuring fast and equitable vaccine distribution. The PHEIC alarm bell hopefully will spur action so the same mistakes are not repeated.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jKMdf4">
|
||
A major reason global health experts have been anxious over the timeliness of a WHO emergency declaration for monkeypox is the declaration’s potential to get vaccines to the most vulnerable groups quickly.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CDdfOF">
|
||
<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/clinicians/smallpox-vaccine.html">Vaccines do exist</a> to prevent monkeypox, and while many countries have a quantity of these vaccines on hand as part of their national stockpiles, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/15/health/monkeypox-vaccine-supply.html">US demand has greatly outpaced supply</a>, and the global supply of vaccines <a href="https://www.nouvelle-aquitaine.ars.sante.fr/communique-de-presse-variole-du-singe-monkeypox-mise-en-oeuvre-de-la-vaccination-du-12072022">is</a> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/monkeypox-vaccination-resources/monkeypox-waiting-for-your-vaccination">relatively</a> <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2022-DON392">small</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="ViDzND">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aTjiYP">
|
||
Countries have been scrambling to order more vaccines, and while the producer of the most popular monkeypox vaccine <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/bavarian-nordic-expects-sign-more-contracts-monkeypox-vaccine-2022-06-07/">has not disclosed</a> which countries have put down orders, the nations that have announced vaccine purchases have generally been higher-income ones, like Germany, Britain, and Canada.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YuP1FE">
|
||
That portends a pattern of vaccine inequity that unfolded to tragic effect during the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, with <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/28/22405279/covid-19-vaccine-india-covax">poorer countries</a> struggling to <a href="https://www.vox.com/22759707/covid-19-vaccine-gap-covax-rich-poor-countries-boosters">acquire vaccines</a> and cut off from vaccine production efforts. In his announcement of the WHO’s Emergency Committee’s plan to convene in June, WHO Europe director Hans Kluge said following a more equitable blueprint for monkeypox vaccine distribution would be a key step in controlling the outbreak.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mPYLS6">
|
||
“A ‘me first’ approach could lead to damaging consequences down the road if we do not employ a genuinely collaborative and far-thinking approach,” Kluge said. “I beseech governments to tackle monkeypox without repeating the mistakes of the pandemic — and keeping equity at the heart of all we do.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6HKn4N">
|
||
When the WHO declares an emergency, it also makes recommendations to affected countries, which often relate to vaccination strategies. This spurs countries to coordinate vaccine strategies to increase vaccine supply in less wealthy countries. It can also spur donors to fund vaccination efforts that prioritize equitable access to vaccines. However, the WHO’s recommendations in the face of an emergency are ultimately just recommendations.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="25AqhP">
|
||
“There’s no way to enforce that globally,” Heymann said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CB1Kj1">
|
||
The <a href="https://www.who.int/initiatives/act-accelerator/about">ACT Accelerator</a>, a collaboration to raise funds to distribute Covid-19 tests, therapies, and vaccines to low-resource countries, was an attempt at an equitable solution in the pandemic. However, in the eyes of many, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8376241/">it did not succeed</a>. Public health experts are hopeful earlier action on monkeypox could avoid some of the ACT Accelerator’s pitfalls.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vQvKx2">
|
||
In its announcement today, WHO representatives said it was encouraging countries with large vaccine stockpiles to share and donate vaccines to other countries who do not currently have access to vaccines.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="wWL1qk">
|
||
Countries face stricter requirements for case finding and reporting, making disease spread easier to track
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VsvG9i">
|
||
Although many countries are already reporting cases, an emergency declaration would intensify and formalize countries’ reporting requirement. “Countries should be reporting already, but this means a much more rigorous response and more surveillance,” Amaya said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KHo740">
|
||
More surveillance means new crops of cases would get detected more quickly, allowing public health authorities to intervene earlier to control chains of transmission.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dionsZ">
|
||
The WHO has faced criticism for being both too slow and <a href="http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1956608,00.html">too fast</a> to declare public health emergencies in the past, and for favoring political over technical criteria in making these assessments. Prior to the emergency declaration, global health experts expressed hope that this time, WHO would get their timing just right.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xTKx7g">
|
||
Lawrence Gostin, who authored a 2020 article <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30401-1/fulltext">calling on the organization to reform its process</a> for identifying and announcing such threats, <a href="https://twitter.com/LawrenceGostin/status/1539301003232743424">tweeted</a> on June 21 that it was time for the WHO to declare monkeypox an emergency. “It’s far better to act rapidly & decisively now rather than wait until monkeypox is no longer containable,” he wrote.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P9e4tZ">
|
||
On Thursday, July 21, exactly one month later, he <a href="https://twitter.com/LawrenceGostin/status/1549837301831942149">tweeted</a>, “The window for containment is rapidly closing & may well already have closed.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fFBQFK">
|
||
Today, Ryan, the director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said he hoped the global coordination that would follow the declaration would prevent monkeypox from becoming endemic, and also prevent it from spreading beyond the community of gay and bisexual men who currently comprise the vast majority of cases.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="td4bOP">
|
||
“We don’t wish to see this version of the disease established itself along with other diseases that have become established,” he said. Immunocompromised people, including those with untreated or advanced HIV disease and people taking chemotherapy, are at increased risk for severe outcomes or death due to monkeypox infection.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g81vXj">
|
||
The WHO has indicated its decision to act. Whether that will be enough to curb this outbreak before it spreads into new, increasingly vulnerable populations, we won’t know for some time.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OwCkdQ">
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3mn8B1">
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lVpYsH">
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cricket Scotland board resigns ahead of report into racism</strong> - A review was conducted after Scotland’s all-time leading wicket-taker, Majid Haq, told British broadcaster Sky Sports that Cricket Scotland was “institutionally racist”</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Silver, a testament to Neeraj’s grit, skill and determination</strong> - Olympic champion overcame a niggle to climb from fifth to finish second</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Neeraj Chopra makes history with javelin silver</strong> - Makes a strong comeback to become India’s first World Championships male medallist; Rohit finishes 10th; Eldhose ninth in triple jump</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A look at javelin champ Neeraj Chopra’s achievements</strong> - Before winning the silver at the Oregon World Championships, Chopra produced his personal best throw of 89.94m at the Stockholm Diamond League</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cricket Australia inks seven-year deal with Disney Star to broadcast matches in India</strong> - Disney Star will take over from Sony, who have held the Australian rights since the 2017-18 season.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Irani sends legal notice to Congress leaders over allegations against daughter</strong> - Party claimed her daughter acquired an illegal license to run a bar in Goa</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Award for Ottappalam coop. urban bank</strong> - Kerala Bank Excellence Award for the best urban bank in the State</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>CISCE class 12 results: 18 candidates share top rank; girls outshine boys by small margin</strong> - The pass percentage in the exams stood at 99.52%.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Police hunt for Meghalaya BJP leader accused of running brothel</strong> - Bernard Marak has claimed in a video that he is in Delhi</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>CM Stalin urges PM Modi to ensure completion of medical education by Ukraine-returnee students in Indian colleges</strong> - Stalin’s letter follows a recent reply by the Union government in the Lok Sabha that no permission has been given by the NMC to transfer or accommodate any foreign medical students in any Indian medical institute or university</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Kyiv’s forces moving towards occupied Kherson - Zelensky</strong> - Kherson city has been in the hands of Russian troops since the early days of the war.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov seeks Arab world’s support</strong> - Sergei Lavrov is in Egypt as Moscow counters international anger over the war in Ukraine.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Zelensky accuses Russia of ‘barbarism’ over Odesa attack</strong> - A landmark grain deal is in doubt after missiles hit the port of Odesa in a widely condemned attack.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>France 1-0 Netherlands: Eve Perisset scores extra-time winner from the spot</strong> - France “are here to build history” after beating the Netherlands in extra time to reach the Euro 2022 semi-finals, says boss Corinne Diacre.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dover and Eurotunnel queues: Gridlock persists for travellers to France</strong> - Travellers using both the Eurotunnel in Folkestone and ferries from Dover face lengthy delays.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>WHO declares monkeypox an international emergency as child cases raise alarm [Updated]</strong> - The declaration comes amid new reports of cases in children. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1868796">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Keanu Reeves dropped by Comic-Con to reveal John Wick 4 sneak peek teaser</strong> - “Have you given any thought to where this ends? No one, not even you, can kill everyone.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1868957">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>NASA’s new toy may have already spotted the oldest known galaxy</strong> - Remarkably normal-looking galaxies, remarkably close to the Big Bang. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1868924">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The new MacBook Air runs so hot that it affects performance. It isn’t the first time [Updated]</strong> - Apple can (and probably should) provide more cooling for the M2 MacBook Air. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1868852">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>New trailer makes LoTR: Rings of Power finally look like a Tolkien-worthy epic</strong> - Epic prequel series premieres on Amazon Video in September—and Sauron’s presence looms. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1868888">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>Why do people still have babies?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
For shits and giggles.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/cabalavatar"> /u/cabalavatar </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w6mpnc/why_do_people_still_have_babies/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w6mpnc/why_do_people_still_have_babies/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>There are two kinds of people who care a lot about their exact age.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Small children and 39 year old’s.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Neferpizza2"> /u/Neferpizza2 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w6rccw/there_are_two_kinds_of_people_who_care_a_lot/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w6rccw/there_are_two_kinds_of_people_who_care_a_lot/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>God created the dog and said: "Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.“<br/> The dog said:”That’s a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I’ll give you back the other ten?“<br/> So God agreed.<br/> God created the monkey and said:”Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I’ll give you a twenty-year life span.“<br/> The monkey said:”Tricks for twenty years? That’s a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?“<br/> And God agreed.<br/> God created the cow and said:”You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer’s family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.“<br/> The cow said:”That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I’ll give back the other forty?“<br/> And God agreed again.<br/> God created man and said:”Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I’ll give you twenty years.“<br/> But man said:”Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?“<br/>”Okay," said God, “You asked for it.”<br/> So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.<br/> Life has now been explained to you.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/cavemans45"> /u/cavemans45 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w67xxu/god_created_the_dog_and_said_sit_all_day_by_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w67xxu/god_created_the_dog_and_said_sit_all_day_by_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>A man walked into a bar</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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And stayed there my entire childhood.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Grease2feminist"> /u/Grease2feminist </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w6c6xr/a_man_walked_into_a_bar/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w6c6xr/a_man_walked_into_a_bar/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>Student: I’ve been writing my exam for 2 hours but haven’t answered a single question!!!</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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Politics Teacher: Well done, that’s an A.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ExtraSure"> /u/ExtraSure </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w6o7z6/student_ive_been_writing_my_exam_for_2_hours_but/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w6o7z6/student_ive_been_writing_my_exam_for_2_hours_but/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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