Will Coronavirus Be the Sweet Matzo Ball of Death?
Unraveling panic, policy, and bad metaphors on the Reason Roundtable podcast
People say a lot of things about the coronavirus. For instance, that the United States should "lock down our borders" in response, or that the Trump administration has recklessly "gutted" the Centers for Disease Control, or that the rubes have foolishly stopped drinking Corona for health reasons instead of taste reasons.
Nonsense cubed, argue Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and Matt Welch on a particularly metaphor-crazed Reason Roundtable podcast today. What is the "libertarian response to pandemics"? You'll have to listen to find out. Other topics coming up for discussion: the unbearable oldness of the Democratic presidential field, the increasing sourness of sci-fi legend William Gibson, and whether baseball, Batman, or The Omega Man provide the surest blueprint for our times.
Audio production by Ian Keyser and Regan Taylor.
Music credit: 'What It Is' by Silent Partner.
Relevant links from the show:
"No, Trump Didn't Cut the CDC's Coronavirus Budget. No, People Aren't Blaming Corona Beer for the Disease," by Eric Boehm
"Political Opportunists Are Using Coronavirus Fears To Push Whatever Policies They Already Wanted," by Eric Boehm
"Coronavirus: Is It Time To Panic?" by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
"Big Biotech Is Hustling To Beat Coronavirus," by Ronald Bailey
"Joe Biden Wins South Carolina Primary, Slowing Bernie Sanders' Momentum Before Super Tuesday," by Eric Boehm
"Pete Buttigieg Drops Out of Presidential Race Following Poor South Carolina Showing," by Scott Shackford
"Bloomberg Is a Statist, Not a Centrist," by Matt Welch
"Klobuchar's Tough-on-Crime Past Finally Comes Back to Bite Her," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
"The Cyberpunk Future That Wasn't," by Jesse Walker
