In a live Zoom recording of the Radio Hour, Jesse Singer, author of “There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster—Who Profits and Who Pays the Price” joins us to discuss why the record breaking “accidental” death toll in the United States is not really an accident but predictable and preventable. Plus, Ralph and Jesse answer live listener questions.
Jessie Singer is a journalist and author whose writing appears in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, BuzzFeed, The Village Voice, The Awl, New York Magazine, The Guardian, and elsewhere. Her new book is entitled There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster—Who Profits and Who Pays the Price.
We often think of accidents as a matter of personal responsibility– “I screwed up” or “They screwed up” or “I would have done it differently.” But it’s actually a matter of risk exposure. And these class and racialized differences in accidental death demonstrate that we’re not all exposed to the same risk.
Jessie Singer, author of There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster—Who Profits and Who Pays the Price
I think there are a wealth of solutions here, if we keep in mind this idea that people are going to make mistakes. And focusing on those mistakes is always a distraction. But we can protect people from the worst consequences of their mistakes.
Jessie Singer, author of There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster—Who Profits and Who Pays the Price
We know what a Molotov cocktail is. And we have to start thinking about the phrase “corporate cocktail”– which is one part greed, one part power, and one part technology. Because so many of these deaths and injuries and illnesses come from corporate power run amok.
Ralph Nader
There Are No Accidents