Event Tectonics: Quake, Shake, Bake & Fake
(WorldNews Politics)

Asked what would determine the course of his government, English prime minister Harold Macmillan (1957-63) answered, `Events, dear boy, events.` One way to slice the impact of events is by four levels of salience regarding the attitudes of leaders and the public: quake: a monster event that fundamentally transforms bedrock perceptions; shake: a major event that alters perceptions somewhat, but not enough to change underlying views; bake: an event that generates lots of heat, little light, leaving perceptions and underlying views intact; and fake: an event widely perceived as important, that ultimately proves largely or entirely illusory. Quake: COVID-19 is the perfect `black swan` event, one...