Thinking in Three Dimensions

RFK Jr. can’t do it to save his life.

There’s a robust debate on the question of stupidity. Who is the dumbest member of the presidential cabinet? After last week’s debacle (Houthi-gate?), many smart people are voting for Hegseth. The idea that he did not register the fact that a journalist was part of a classified intelligence dialogue is one of those things that is never supposed to happen. He then denied that anything had gone wrong. Pity the military that is now led by a man for whom alertness and accountability do not exist.

But it’s a sign of these times that there is someone still dumber. We know a lot about RFK, Jr., the Kennedy family member who has been disowned by his relatives. You’re probably thinking about the vaccine issue and the kids who have already died from measles. I think about them a lot and how they should have been protected by the laws that govern child endangerment and neglect. If you fail to take normal care of your kid, the state has a right to intervene. That’s what we say in those awful cases when religious zealots pray for their children instead of getting them to a pediatrician. The problem now is that we have a vaccine denialist in the slot where a normal professional should be.

But there is another level of madness to his method, and this one takes us to the edge of disaster. “Thinking” aloud about the threat of bird flu, RFK has now suggested that the disease be allowed to take its course. Viruses simply burn themselves out. No research necessary. No intervention required. Let’s let the sick birds die and all we have to do is bury/burn their bodies. The strong and healthy will survive and so will we. The technical term is laissez faire.

The problem, of course, is that it’s not that simple. As the epidemic community has already pointed out, a virus is a highly mutable organism. It shuffles and re-shuffles its biological codes so that it can survive whatever we throw its way, growing ever more lethal in the process. Good practice requires that we get to it quickly so that it has fewer opportunities to fight its way back.

Apart from that, a mountain of dead birds covered in blood and vomit and feces is more potentially dangerous than a smaller, discrete pile. Let’s say you’re one of those evil immigrants who has been hired to do what no one else will. The more birds you handle, the more opportunities for infection. Better to limit the spread of the epidemic instead of placing our bets on self-extinguishment.

Doesn’t that make sense to you? It should, because as people grow to adulthood, they naturally think in three dimensions. They learn to imagine the circle of consequences that naturally attend any important decision. In this case, it means that if you can see the chickens, you’ve only done half of your homework. You also have to see the blood and vomit, and the unfortunate souls who have to handle it.

RFK, we’re looking at you.