Psychic Numbing and Security Prominence Are Killing Thousands of Americans

Photograph by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0.

By Paul Slovic

It is stunning when a columnist writing for a major American newspaper comes within a hairbreadth of accusing the sitting president of the United States of murdering thousands of Americans. Yet this is the implication of Greg Sargent’s assertions in his July 8, 2020 Washington Post opinion column.

Sargent rejects the notion that denial of the COVID-19 threat is at the heart of Donald Trump’s incompetent leadership in the fight to control this pandemic. It’s not that Trump does not know that many thousands of people are suffering and dying of this disease or that he is denying the facts. The evidence indicates something far worse than denial. He knows but does not care. Far from being a “hapless, clueless actor” Trump is a “deliberate and malevolent one,” choosing to prioritize his own political needs for reelection over what experts tell him is in the best interests of the country.

Sargent puts forth an interpretation of Trump’s malevolence that clearly points to two pillars of the deadly arithmetic of compassion: “he’s merely indifferent to the catastrophic consequences that are resulting from these failures” and is “prioritizing nakedly self-interested political calculations over any such concerns.”

Elsewhere, we have shown how psychic numbing and security prominence have led to powerful nations turning a blind eye to genocides as well as enabling mass killings of civilians in warfare. The fact that President Trump, beset by these psychological demons, has command of America’s nuclear weapons is another great cause for concern. Sargent and others have made us aware of these violent workings of some human minds. It is our responsibility to put this knowledge to use to stem the tide of malevolence they unleash.