Steve writes:
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I happen to be reading Rebecca Solnit's "A Paradise Built in Hell" which is a deep dive into the theme of how people (sometimes) show their best while suffering great disasters. Particularly in the area of community spirit and synergistic cooperation. She
anecdotally and analytically reviews disasters from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to Katrina, focusing *mostly* on the positive examples of people stepping up individually and collectively to show demonstrate/discover their "best selves". In this, she
speaks of the tension between "Seeking a better life" and "Seeking a better world". It is suggested that in the face of disaster, the latter is evidently the most efficient route to the former, and on the whole, the behaviour of individuals in those contexts
suggests that such is self-evident. She acknowledges that there are plenty of opportunists who *do not* apprehend that their "best interests" are supported by cooperation, but instead notice that the fragility of their context allows them to "exploit" that
fragility, and in fact seem convinced that it is not only an opportunity but an unction. >
There’s a more cynical interpretation of positive disaster behavior. Because of the way human memory works, everyone understands that *many* people will remember in vivid detail all kinds of nuances about a crisis. So it is of
benefit to be helpful, because others will remember that. It does not necessarily mean that anything will change about how an otherwise Grinch-like person will behave after the crisis. Goodwill is a currency and a crisis is when one can buy low. Also
it may just be collectively necessary in some circumstances for everyone to cooperate, and even a completely selfish person can see that.
Marcus
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