Thoughts on COVID-19 and Memory: My Interview with Ronald Gruner
Remembering COVID-19 and how we deal with disease and memory.
Hello everyone,
I hope you are doing well.
As many of you know, I do a lot of interviews. Whether it's discussing the dangers of red-baiting and the Red Scare, Mitch McConnell's abuse of the Senate, or how America's spiritual failures have corrupted our body politic, I have always found interviews to be a powerful method for getting to the core issues of our politics. My recent interview with historian Ronald Gruner was no different; however, unlike some of my previous interviews, it is arguably more pertinent to our daily lives as we strive to understand how we will handle disease in the future.
In my interview with Mr. Gruner, we discussed the importance of preparing for diseases like COVID-19, the critical need for a clear and concise history of the pandemic, and the devastating losses we suffered as a nation and as individuals.
The Striking Moment
However, one particular point in the interview stuck out to me. During the interview, I asked Mr. Gruner his thoughts on the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. While some believe the disease originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, most scholars believe it occurred naturally. However, during our interview, Mr. Gruner noted a variety of explanations for the virus, but at the end of all of them, he acknowledged that he ultimately didn't know and that the answer likely won't be available for a long time.
The Importance of "I Don't Know."
It should go without saying, but when a person doesn't have an answer to a question, the honest thing to do is admit it. Unfortunately, much of our commentary sphere is consumed by people giving answers without knowledge. They will insist that a given narrative is true with very little evidence backing up their claims, and they use their right to an opinion as a means to claim a right to credibility. Mr. Gruner's honest decision to admit the limits of his research is not only laudable but critical to an informed analysis of any given issue, especially one as complicated as COVID-19. Through a balanced and honest view of the larger context of the tragedy that is the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Gruner demonstrates the value of his work and perspective.
Mr. Gruner not only does an excellent job of threading the needle between criticizing what went wrong with COVID-19, but he is also humble in acknowledging that his work, like any other, has limitations in what it can do. I highly recommend Mr. Gruner's book and his Substack, which can be found here. I want to thank
for his time, and if he ever wishes to return, he is more than welcome to do so.