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# ‘Nothing to See Here’: Just Pandemic, Fires, Storms, Blackouts, Riots, Unemployment!
August 27 2020
Written by Kenneth S. Alpern.
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**ALPERN AT LARGE**--If a tree falls in the forest, and there's no one around to hear it, does it still make a sound?
If other people get sick, and lose either their lives or their loved ones' lives, while our friends and family are fine, is the pandemic still real?
If other people get financially destroyed due to the economic shutdown and the inability to work with the kids at home, but we're getting paid and keeping our benefits, is our nation's economic struggles our personal problem?
If California is on fire, but not in our neck of the woods, is that disaster our problem?
If Texas, the South, and the Southeast are facing hurricanes and flooding, is that disaster our problem?
If CNN and other major networks are labeling the Kenosha riots as mostly peaceful, as Newsweek [reports](https://www.newsweek.com/cnn-mocked-calling-kenosha-riots-fiery-mostly-peaceful-protests-1527997), is the destruction and loss of life a reality, or a "nothingburger"?
If Portland is still experiencing nightly riots, and possibly having the feds come back, but we live in California, is that a problem for us in the Golden State?
If Governor Newsom [is admitting](https://saveourskylineohio.com/2020/08/18/gov-newsom-admits-green-energy-failed-california/) Green Energy has its limits, but Mayor Garcetti still wants to shut down natural gas plants currently supplementing Los Angeles's energy needs, is L.A. in no need of carbon-based fuels in the years to come?
If [rolling blackouts](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/08/19/californias-blackouts-should-be-warning-renewable-energy-advocates/) are an increasing problem, summer or otherwise, is there a limit to the benefits of renewable energy, or will we all be just fine without fossil fuels altogether?
If the aforementioned blackouts keep occurring, and California has to buy outside electricity is there any problem for middle-class residents to economically and physically thrive and survive, or is there "nothing to see here"?
And if our Internet needs, more important than ever with the pandemic, and no less with our already-growing telecommuting-based economy, keep getting slower and slower, and with more disruption, and if we don't have enough water, is there a good reason to develop at our current pace without more infrastructure development FIRST?
Just wondering. Because those of us who raise these questions keep being told to stand down.
As in "nothing to see here". As in "mind your own business". As in "if you don't like it, move."
Again, just wondering.
*(CityWatch Columnist, Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father to two cherished children and a wonderful wife. He was termed out of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) twice after two stints as a Board member for 8-9 years and is also a Board member of the Westside Village Homeowners Association. He previously co-chaired the MVCC Outreach and Planning Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of the MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He was previously co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee, the grassroots Friends of the Green Line (which focused on a Green Line/LAX connection), and the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at* . *The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)*
*-cw*
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