Daily Clips: April 5th, 2016
Why did the CDC stop researching gun violence?
The failure of the CDC to invest in studies of gun violence has greatly inhibited the ability of social scientists, law enforcement agencies, and policymakers to understand the scope and causes of shootings — while also limiting understanding of interventions that might save lives…
Today, less than $5 million is spent each year on gun studies. A single HIV or cancer study can cost twice as much…
Frieden [the CDC’s Director], who declined an interview for this story, has faced public criticism for not addressing—or even acknowledging—gun violence as a public health issue.
Low-skilled immigrants are good for the working class: Noah Smith points out that “new research shows that low-skilled immigrants may do a lot more for the native-born working class than we thought.”
David Brooks writes another awful article: When I went to go see David Brooks speak in Seattle last month, he told the crowd that he usually consults “200 to 300 pages of research” for his columns. Think of this claim as you read his latest work:
Odder still, people are often plagued by a sense of powerlessness, a loss of efficacy. The liberation of the individual was supposed to lead to mass empowerment. But it turns out that people can effectively pursue their goals only when they know who they are — when they have firm identities.
Strong identities can come only when people are embedded in a rich social fabric. They can come only when we have defined social roles — father, plumber, Little League coach. They can come only when we are seen and admired by our neighbors and loved ones in a certain way. As Ralph Waldo Emerson put it, “Other men are lenses through which we read our own minds.”
If this is the payoff he is getting from hundreds of pages of research, then I think Brooks needs to rethink his approach.
Tweet of the day:
#Same pic.twitter.com/H1h3aEUtOy
— MoveOn.org (@MoveOn) April 5, 2016
