{"id":3191,"date":"2025-01-15T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/?p=3191"},"modified":"2025-01-15T00:38:06","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T05:38:06","slug":"experts-conclude-best-way-to-handle-any-urgent-crisis-is-to-pause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/15\/experts-conclude-best-way-to-handle-any-urgent-crisis-is-to-pause\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts Conclude Best Way to Handle Any Urgent Crisis is to ‘Pause’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo Credit: Graywalls on Wikimedia Commons<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In groundbreaking research that will likely shape policymaking for generations to come, a new study released by the Institute of Progress has concluded that the best way to address any major crisis is to simply\u2026pause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study, authored by a team of highly paid consultants, academics and local residents who self-identify as \u201cexpert big-picture thinkers,\u201d asserts that when facing intractable problems, suspending any attempt to make progress in favor of letting the issues solve themselves or becoming someone else\u2019s responsibility is the most effective strategy for long-term success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTaking any action whatsoever regarding any challenge can result in all kinds of unintended consequences,\u201d said lead researcher Dr. Brent Tardy. \u201cTake the housing crisis, for example. If we built more housing quickly, people might\u2026live in it. And then what? Exactly. It\u2019s better to take a few decades to carefully study every possible detail and potential outcome before making any rash decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study analyzed numerous historical crises – like climate change, financial recessions, and that one time when the world ran out of toilet paper – and found a clear pattern: doing absolutely nothing consistently led to outcomes that were, at the very least, not the fault of the people who paused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen leaders pause, it allows time for emotions to cool, for stakeholders to lose interest, and for the public to become distracted by the next crisis,\u201d explained Dr. Tardy. \u201cIt\u2019s essentially a strategy of playing political possum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study includes practical recommendations for anyone facing a crisis, whether it\u2019s a global pandemic or deciding what to eat for dinner. Step one: pause. Step two: establish a task force to manage the pause. Step three: create a committee to further discuss the pause. Step four: draft a playbook to use for future pauses. Step five: deny any responsibility for the consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research has already found eager adopters. “This makes total sense. I watch a lot of sports and it always seems that when a team is about to lose, the popular strategy is to call a bunch of time-outs right before the end of the game,” said local councilmember Wyatt Longer, who never played sports. “I don’t know if it ever works, but it does piss everyone off.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though many people expressed concerns about doing nothing, Dr. Tardy dismissed them as overly dramatic. \u201cCrises have a way of resolving themselves over time,\u201d he said. \u201cTake all these people complaining about not having a home. If we just pause and wait to see what happens, eventually they’ll just look elsewhere for a home, and then we won’t have to hear them complain anymore. Problem solved.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In groundbreaking research that will likely shape policymaking for generations to come, a new study released by the Institute of Progress has concluded that the best way to address any major crisis is to simply\u2026pause. The study, authored by a team of highly paid consultants, academics and local residents who self-identify as \u201cexpert big-picture thinkers,\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3192,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,18],"tags":[1836,24,1130,1838,1224,1288,1593,317,640,309,705,315,710,1837,1351,320,943,668,667,405,638,787,1829,1522,130,706,1393,445,1733,1204,116,98,93,111,4,1258,1396,1397,433,1340,1278,718,716,1218,967,1839,406,115],"class_list":["post-3191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-science-and-tech","tag-attainable-housing","tag-dc-satire","tag-dmv-satire","tag-housing-crisis","tag-housing-shortage","tag-kristin-mink","tag-local-satire","tag-marc-elrich","tag-maryland-satire","tag-moco","tag-moco-council","tag-moco-dps","tag-moco-executive","tag-moco-housing","tag-moco-news","tag-moco-permits","tag-moco-planning","tag-moco-planning-board","tag-moco-planning-commission","tag-moco-politics","tag-moco-satire","tag-moco-schools","tag-moco360","tag-mocosnow","tag-montgomery-county","tag-montgomery-county-council","tag-montgomery-county-hpc","tag-montgomery-county-planning","tag-montgomery-county-satire","tag-nimbee","tag-nimby","tag-political-satire","tag-satire","tag-satirical-news","tag-takoma","tag-takoma-dc","tag-takoma-historic-district","tag-takoma-humor","tag-takoma-metro","tag-takoma-minor-master-plan","tag-takoma-news","tag-takoma-park-satire","tag-takoma-satire","tag-thrive-montgomery","tag-virginia-satire","tag-wes-moore-housing","tag-will-jawando","tag-yimby","wpcat-9-id","wpcat-18-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/takomatorch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/pause-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1600&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paPZSG-Pt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3193,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3191\/revisions\/3193"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}