Inflection anniversaries

ENAR

One has to assume that there are many reasons why somewhat articulate people tend to intellectualize social and economic moments of despair or change. Distancing ourselves in various ways from the direct emotions of shocks and despair, some talk of inflection points, some of tipping or turning points, and some perhaps of nadirs. All these terms differ in nuanced meanings – nadirs for example technically are points directly below the observer whereas an inflection point might denote a curve’s transition from convex to concave – but all these terms carry common connotations of danger, need for change and, in the case of climate tipping points, even irreversibility.  Looking back at the first three months of 2020 after a year of continual struggles and crises, it is justified to speak of three and more inflection points which back then changed the Lebanese trajectory: the discovery of the coronavirus SARS-CoV2 in January