Possible factor? Perhaps. And if so, it would make a case that punishment is still a useful tool in modern society. There's nothing better. But what if the mos

Possible factor? Perhaps. And if so, it would make a case that punishment is still a useful tool in modern society. There's nothing better. But what if the most significant factor is modern society itself? Prior to the pandemic we had: - significant cronic poverty - those a notch or two up live pay cheque to pay cheque with little or no job security, iffy health care, and so on - the number of people and families in such peril continues to grow - the article also mentions drugs (i.e., pain killers)[1] - etc. See Matthew Desmond's "Evicted" for more details. https://evictedbook.com/ https://evictedbook.com/ Then on top of this sad social situation we added a gloom & doom pandemic? And thru that we were led by a virologist (not a sociologist). Here's an appropriate example: Fauci did the commencement speech at Princeton Univ a couple months back. He received a standing ovation. Of course he did...the wealthy / elites had been otherwise spared of significant short and long term damage. But that small group is an exception, and certainly not the majority. Yet they continue to remain ignorant of the realities of the world outside their bubble. Long to short, when are we going to look in the mirror and ask: - What about collateral damage? - We were at war (with Covid) and evey war has collateral damage, yet we refuse to look, to ask. Why is that? [1] drugs aren't a factor, it's the courts?? That's absurd.