Power gradients either reduce the or increase the burden of evidence required to feel that an action can be 'justified' or will be supported in wider society. The steepness of the gradient varies according to many societal factors. Humans learn predominantly via role modelling - what we see and hear programs the brain for those actions regardless of our genetic inheritance. This can be healthy or unhealthy depending on what we witness. In essence, our cultures, our lore and our language either increases or decreased the effort required to travel neurological pathways - as with water, the flow will most readily move along the pathway of least resistance, of least energy required, to produce a result. In countenance to this the solution is reduction in stress and fear (to allow better use of the prefrontal cortex (rather than the primitive structures activated by fear) and changing our culture and lore toward empathy and cooperation (rather than survival of the fittest, fear and competition). Prejudice is a power gradient that produces the harm that prejudiced operators purport to be attempting to reduce.
When social policy is made exclusively by those with little to no experience of full time parenting, society shifts toward being less biomedically appropriate for the raising of healthy children. This has obvious consequences for all aspects of health, society and the natural environment. Until children are the priority of all adults real and solid societal progress will elude us.
Over three million children die annually from malnutrition... perhaps in this newly awakened sense of caring for the welfare of others we can start to make social policies that actually bring health to all.
The flu shot is a sort of "greatest hits" of the previous flu season, weakened and mixed in together... but there are always novel flus new to the season that can infect anyone... immunised or not. So even when there is a vaccine, anyone can catch a new version of the virus. When we think of this ability to mutate, we can recall that the common cold is a coronavirus, we can and do catch new colds. They mutate and return, it's what they do. And so, we do need pre-vaccine strategies that maximise total population health, maximise care of children and keep society functioning maximally - to at least, "first do no harm." Moreover, we need a fitter society that has time to exercise and eat right, time to have fun and de-stress. Perhaps this is a terrible way to learn that we need to be kinder to our bodies and brains. Perhaps it's time to get serious about implementing bio-medically appropriate social policies.
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