For the Want of Listening

Kevin Drum wants to know why his hearing is getting poorer, and what is the name for the condition. It’s called presbycusis, and it’s the hearing loss related to aging, particularly in the higher frequencies that make conversation intelligible. Not much you can do about it except conservation measures - stop listening to Pink Floyd with your I-Pod turned up to 95 decibels, stave off occupational noise-induced hearing loss by following your employer’s hearing conservation program, that if your employer has one (by the way, thank a liberal if your employer has one. . .) – and eventually, see an audiologist and get fitted with hearing aids.

Now we’ve cleared that up, it’s time to listen to something more critical. A public health disaster is brewing in the Gaza Strip. Israeli airstrikes, border closures and other military actions in response to Palestinian gun men kidnapping an Israeli soldier have resulted in electricity and water being cut off for 130,000 residents of Gaza, threatening them with starvation and epidemics. According to a UN press release a few days ago:

Some 130,000 people have been without water for the past few days and the agencies said their top priority is the restoration of the fuel supply for sanitation pumps in Gaza, with only a few days’ fuel left if supplies are not resumed.

They added that they were also worried over supplies of essential medicines and food, with some medicines already being rationed because of shortages.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that, because of the random closure of border crossings between the Strip and Israel, it had been unable to get enough food into Gaza. The current supply of wheat flour would only be enough to cover the current caseload of 160,000 people for about 10 days.

WFP spokesman Simon Pluess told a news briefing in Geneva that the Agency was deeply concerned that the recent kidnapping of the Israeli soldier and the subsequent incursion into Gaza might exacerbate the existing humanitarian crisis, especially in view of the increased border closures.

The so-called “liberal” NY Times writes dispassionately that the residents of Gaza are “adapting” to the looming humanitarian crisis.

The looming humanitarian crisis is a sign of a lack of will, on the part of the nations of the world that supposedly represent the “adult supervision” (the Quartet) when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian problem. However the inability to respond appropriately to these crises in general could also be a sign of governance and civil infrastructure coming unraveled globally. There seems to be a lot of expertise and guidance on handling health crises, from disaster response to restoration to capacity-building, if the WHO's web site, or even FEMA’s are any indication.

I wonder if we’re the problem here. We currently are so antagonistic to the UN that we’ve appointed its most strident critic as our UN Ambassador, who doesn’t seem to acknowledge the humanitarian crisis that’s coming. It’s consistent with the example of the Hurricane Katrina response, which showed that right now the wealthiest nation in the world isn’t terribly interested in governing well (as George Lakoff said recently, don’t make the mistake of thinking that they are simply stupid). That can’t be setting a good example for other nations.

It’s hard to say how much better a liberal administration will be in dealing with these kinds of problems in the future, should it be swept into power. Much will depend on whether or not government has been broken beyond repair by the Bush Administration.

I would suggest keeping an eye on tools such as WHO’s “Emergency Health Library Kit”. While it’s oriented towards public health problems related to wars, famines and disasters originating in Central and South America, Africa and Asia, the tragic day may come when we will find them useful right here in our own communities.