Maslow Applies

Rewritten from a blog tour post called "Basic Psychology and the Apocalypse"

Maslow applies. Maslow always applies

If you are around me long enough, you will undoubtedly hear me say that at some point in time. Usually in relation to an apocalypse of some sort. I spent my last few years on the con circuit pounding that point.

I took basic psychology in college, just like every other undergrad. So it never ceases to amaze me when writers ignore the baseline needs of their characters.

An example: in the opening moments of "The Walking Dead" television series, Rick Grimes approaches a gas station, one with a mile of backed up cars, evidence that people were camping there but no longer are, and big signs that say “No Gas.” He goes clear to the pump and checks it. This, to me, is neglecting Maslow. He is looking for gasoline to find his family and neglecting to observe signs that compromise his safety. Safety rates just above basic physical needs on the scale. Belonging is the next step up from safety. Take care of your safety first. Put your own oxygen mask on first, as the airline safety speech says.

The baseline concern in any apocalypse is the lowest level: basic physiological needs. Air, water, food, shelter. The bare essentials of survival. And this is why we like apocalypses. They reduce our very complex lives and worries to the most simple things.

Right now, I have a lot on my mind: can we make it with me working part time? Will my son get into the university in Japan that he wants? Can I make all my deadlines? How am I going to afford all the conventions I committed to? Can I really get my publishing house off the ground? How's chemo going to work for my mom this time around? How much longer is my dad going to be around, and can he survive another week-long nosebleed? You know, all the stuff of the middle-class sandwich Generation X.

An apocalypse would focus all that into several big concerns: is the water safe to drink? Do we have food? Who am I going to have to shoot to keep me and mine safe?

Where we are today:
Maslow still applies as we go through this pandemic.

Money, that which creates food, shelter and safety, is an issue for a lot of people. They are the ones demanding to be allowed to go back to work. They need the baseline needs met before they can worry about other people. They're trying to get their own oxygen masks on first: stay fed and sheltered.

I am personally better rested than I've been in years and my brain is kicking out of survival mode (where it's been for 30 years) and into "what can I do" mode. Money isn't an issue for us and we are very fortunate there. Shelter and food are accomplished. I'm hitting Buckminster Fuller instead of Maslow.



But the people who are more precarious are going to continue to be a problem. There are also the usual "You can't tell me what to do" cranks and those who believe the conspiracy theorists that there is no virus at all, and this is a practice run for tyranny.  The latter two cannot be solved. The first, the answer is money.

If our government can hurl trillions at Wall Street, it can feed 300 million people for the duration.
$1000/month for 1 year is about $3.6 trillion, about what we dropped to keep Wall Street Solvent for an hour.. But when you put money in at the bottom, it circulates upward.

My brother makes $1000/mo as a school bus driver and is going to college full time to be a teacher. He shares a duplex with 5 other people: a bus driver (who makes the same), a college student, a disabled paramedic (disability), his boytoy and a logistics coordinator (who makes an adequate living). Together, hey manage rent and utilities and food. They have 2 car payments and gas is sometimes a struggle. Every one of them has bad medical debt they cannot pay. And he needs new dentures because his were badly made and do not fit.

Adding 6,000/month into this $5000/mo household would change everything. Rent would be paid in advance, medical debt would be cleared, college bills would be paid, cars would get paid off, savings could happen for emergencies. Everything would improve massively for them.

The money would be spent. It would buy groceries and gasoline, books and clothing, household goods and rent. And that is what creates jobs: demand for things.

If people felt secure, if they knew they would be able to pay their bills and eat steadily, they would be more willing to stay at home. Not all of them, true, but there wouldn't be the emergency feeling of "We have to open back up or we will die!"

It came across my facebook that perhaps, the feds could do something really useful:
Send out a box to every person once a month that contains PPE, a debit card for $1000,  and a vote by mail card. Use USPS.

The 1000 isn't even full time minimum wage (there is no such thing as full-time minimum wage and hasn't been for 35 years.) but it would make a huge difference.  It would let people get off the bottom level of Maslow.

And if we ever want to get anywhere as a country and as a people, we have to get off that bottom tier.

Maslow beats everything, because it always applies.