Bangs and Whimpers

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Chapter One

T.S. Eliot: "The Hollow Men", 1925

... but a whimper

Bangs and Whimpers

The Nature of Bangs

• Spectacular: The most dramatic events
• Headline worthy: Dominate global attention long afterward
• Massive casualty totals: Sudden, brutal
• Acts of war or terror, major accidents, natural disasters, other tragedies
• Victims of Bangs tend to be younger than Whimpers

Examples of Bangs

• 9/11, Pearl Harbor, Holocaust, Hiroshima, Lusitania, JFK assassination, Killing Fields, Rwanda genocide, ISIS, Mao, Stalin's purges, Lockerbie, Paris, etc.
• Titanic, Tenerife, Coconut Grove, Triangle Shirtwaist, Bangladesh factory
• Boxing Day, Katrina, Fukushima, etc.
• Refugees drowning, influenza pandemic, Newtown, Utoya massacre

The Death Toll from Bangs

• Road accidents: 1.3 MM/yr.
• Genocide: ~1 MM ave. for 70 yrs.
• State warfare: 118,000/yr.
• Natural disasters: 81,000/yr.
• Terrorism: 28,000/yr.
• Mass murder, non-terror: 100/yr.

The Nature of Whimpers

• Attrition: quieter death
• Slower loss of life due to human or natural causes
• Considered less newsworthy
• Unavoidable or accepted grimly
• More likely than Bangs to victimize the elderly or very young

Whimpers: Examples

• Heart disease, stroke, cancer, other diseases, indoor pollution
• Starvation, drowning, heat stroke
• Suicide, homicide, infanticide, gendercide
• Migrations, displacement

The Death Toll from Whimpers

• Disease: 27.2 MM
• Starvation: 8 MM
• Infanticide/gendercide: 2 MM
• Suicide: 0.8 MM
• Homicide, not mass murder: 0.6 MM
• State violence/warfare: o.15 MM
• Unspecified: 20 MM

Global Mortality

• 59 million people will die this year...one of every 125 persons
• 142 million will be born
• Growth rate= 1.12%/year; far below 1.99% growth in 1973
• Whimpers >>> Bangs by 18-fold!
• Minimal awareness of the huge disparity

Top Global Risk Factors of Mortality

• High blood pressure: 13% of all deaths
• Tobacco use: 9%
• High blood glucose: 6%
• Physical inactivity: 6%
• Overweight/obesity: 5%
• All the "Bangs" combined: 5%, but all the "Whimpers" combined: 95%

Chapter Two

Bangs: Motor Vehicle Accidents

Bangs: Genocide

• Mao in China: ~30 MM
• Hitler's Holocaust: 12 MM
• Leopold in Belgian Congo: 8 MM
• Stalin's purges: 7 MM
• Tojo in invasion of China: 5 MM
• Pol Pot in Cambodia: 1.7 MM
• Two dozen others>>100,000 victims each

Bangs: Earthquakes

Bangs: Tsunamis from Quakes

Bangs: Terrorism

Bangs: Floods

Bangs: Volcanic Eruptions

Bangs: Mass Murder

Bangs: Shark Attacks

Chapter Three

Bangs: Root Cause #1

Bangs: Root Cause #2

Bangs:  Root Cause #3

Bangs: Root Cause #4

Bangs: Root Cause #5

Chapter Four

Whimpers: Disease

Whimpers: Mass Starvation

Whimpers: HIV/AIDS

Whimpers: Suicide

Whimpers:  Drownings

Whimpers: Child Labor

• 168 MM children age 5-14 at work
• 1/2 in hazardous mfg., mining, and fishing
• 21 MM in forced labor (aka slavery)
• Most prevalent in Africa and Asia
• Unknown worldwide death toll

Chapter Five

Whimpers: Root Cause #1

Whimpers: Root Cause #2

Whimpers: Root Cause #3

Whimpers: Root Cause #4

Whimpers:  Root Cause #5

Whimpers: Root Cause #6

Chapter Five: State of the World

• Extremely unequal distribution of wealth
• Slowing rate of population growth
• Massive death toll remains from disease even as longevity increases
• United Nations HDI rates Norway #1, Australia #2, and Switzerland #3...with USA at #8 in terms human development

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The top 34 million people own 45% of the world

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State of the World: HIV/AIDS

• 75 million infected since mid-twentieth century
• 35 million fatalities
• 0.8% of adults 18-49 are now living with AIDS
• Sub-Saharan Africa is center of the disease, with 4.4% of adults infected

HIV on a slow decline....

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Chapter Six: The Third Sector

Our Sector:

• Confronting the Manifold Crises of Our Time
• by Jon Van Til
• Presented to the Australian and New Zealand Third Sector Research Conference in Sydney, 25 November 2016
• And presented to the ARNOVA Conference in Washington, DC, 2016

The C Sector: Core Culture

Civil Society in the Age of Obama

Policy Initiatives under Obama

• Extend and refocus national service
• Reorient faith-based social service
• Support social entrepreneurship
• Tighten non-profit regulation
• Reduce rampant unemployment

Third Sector Impact: A Crisis in Confidence

• Europe evolved to a market driven project with reduced space for TSOs
• Neo-liberal priorities paved way for authoritarian and xenophobic populist parties

Sociological Analyses of Crises

• Mannheim (1940) pointed to inexorable power of "dictatorship, conformity, and barbarism."
• Sorokin (1941): Depth of crisis of capitalism and culture "unfathomable, its end not yet in sight...one of the sharpest turns of the historical road."

Chapter Seven

-------------------Robert Frost

• Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice.
• From what I've tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor fire.
• But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate
• To say that for destruction ice
• Is also great...and would suffice.

Basic Facts: Health. Wealth, and Longevity

Basic Facts: Health, Wealth, Longevity

Our Sector:

• Confronting the Manifold Crises of Our Time
• by Jon Van Til
• Presented to the Australian and New Zealand Third Sector Research Conference in Sydney, 25 November 2016
• And presented to the ARNOVA Conference in Washington, DC, 2016

The Crisis Builds: "The Second Coming"

• Turning and turning in the widening gyre... The falcon cannot hear the falconer
• Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
• The best lack all conviction, while the worst... Are full of passionate intensity.
• ..............by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)