You’ve probably heard of the butterfly effect, the idea that a tornado can be formed by a minor perturbation such as a butterfly flapping its wings a mile away. Every action has a consequence, for better or worse, even something as minor as a butterfly flapping its wings. The theory suggests that small changes in initial or present conditions can lead to large-scale and unpredictable variation in the future state of being.
In 1800, German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte was the first to speak about this theory in his work, The Vocation of Man. He said, “you could not remove a single grain of sand from its place without thereby … changing something throughout all parts of the immeasurable whole.” The term “butterfly effect” gained traction in 1952 through Ray Bradbury’s piece, A Sound of Thunder. Bradbury details the idea that the death of one butterfly could eventually have a far-reaching ripple effect on subsequent historical events. In 1963, mathematician Edward Norton Lorenz published the first modern scientific application of the theory. While studying weather models, he noticed that a very small change in initial conditions created a very different outcome.
But what if we applied the theory to a real-world application such as the COVID-19 pandemic?
Seemingly, minor changes had a massive impact on society and have completely changed the world around us. Let’s call it the Bat-erfly effect.
The most obvious example is the continued and prolonged masking of children in schools. Mainstream “science” pitched masking as a minor and temporary inconvenience that would help the greater good. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and cloth masks had little to no effect in stopping the spread of COVID-19. The more disturbing point is that masking children has shown to have a profound impact on their socialization. Numerous studies have concluded that forcing children to wear masks has impeded critical development milestones, such as causing difficulty hearing and understanding speech, trouble identifying facial expressions and emotions, and inhibiting social interactions.
The spiral toward chaos doesn’t stop there. Child suicide has risen significantly since the beginning of the pandemic. This is a concrete representation that the mental health of America’s youth is in critical danger.
The children aren’t the only ones who have suffered from minor “inconveniences” that were meant to help the greater good but lead to devastating, life-altering effects. Lockdowns were another COVID-19 mitigation policy proven to do little in stopping the spread. But, lockdowns did lead to increases in depression, substance abuse, domestic violence, and suicide. Not to mention the seismic toll that these policies had on business owners from almost every economic sector in the country.
As things shift back to normal and the government slowly eases its grip on controlling many aspects of our day-to-day lives, you can’t help but wonder why there is no accountability. Why were ineffective policies/mandates continued to be put in place? Why was the massive abuse of COVID-19 funds left unpoliced?
The only way to understand the full effect of the failed policies, the mandates, and reckless spending is to do a full investigation. The butterfly effect teaches us that small initial changes lead to massive future variabilities. We may never know what changes could have been made to stop the devastating long-term effects that we are seeing. But we can investigate and hold those accountable for the massive problems our country has to deal with due to failed leadership.
Ben Carson is the founder and chairman of the American Cornerstone Institute and the former Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
