The Boa Constrictor Problem

 I was struck by Eric Levitz's take on why Don't Look Up largely fails as a metaphor for climate change, it's intended satirical target. While intermittently amusing, it doesn't really land because it fundamentally misdiagnosis the problem. A large comet headed to earth is a cataclysmic and immediate problem. Solving that problem would presumably involve efforts to blow the comet off course with nuclear weapons. That's a technology we already have and would just require money, which we have enough of for a one time launch.

In other words, it's a finite crisis with a finite solution. Don't Look Up has a sort of amusing McGuffin to prevent that solution, which also feels stupid and forced.

Climate change, Covid and the January 6th problem are all slow moving boa constrictor problems, as opposed to a comet, which is a rattlesnake problem. A rattlesnake strikes fast and then leaves. A boa constrictor grabs you can gets tighter and tighter. It slowly crushes the life out of you.

As we sit on the anniversary of Trump's autogolpe, I'm struck by how poorly we deal with boa constrictor problems. In the immediate aftermath of Trump's obvious culpability in an attempt to destroy electoral democracy in the US, there was a glimmer of hope that people - including and especially Republicans - would act to neutralize this threat. There was some bipartisan hope for impeachment to prevent Trump from ever running for or holding office again. Maybe a 9/11 style non-partisan commission to find the truth of everything that happened.

Republicans, for the most part, failed their test (again) to put country over party. 

Now we live in an unbelievable moment where every day brings new revelations about the coordination of elite Republicans to try and overthrow the 2020 election, and we have yet to really act.

I would argue that fighting climate change looks increasingly easy from a technological point of view: more renewables and a massive increase in nuclear power around the globe.  Boom. Done. 

I would argue that Covid looks increasingly easy from a medical point of view: mandate mass vaccinations around the globe. Boom. Done.

I would argue that the Trumpist threat to democracy is increasingly easy to combat: put the motherfuckers in jail. Boom. Done.

The fact that none of these solutions are even close to being adopted says something about our ability to mobilize ourselves for slow moving, boa constrictor problems. We can jump back and run away from a single, quick rattlesnake bite, but we simply can't bestir ourselves to do the hard work of solving the problems that are really important.

In the end, it seems we have to hate the problem in order to confront it. It's so much easier to hate someone than to work on an abstract problem. Since we hate each other - and it's not just the US - we fall back into hating the "other side" rather than focusing on the boa constrictor latched onto our leg and squeezing its way up our body.