TO MY LEBANESE FRIENDS. Heading soon to Lebanon in spite of events (please don’t tell my publishers). What people keep complaining about is the “instability” of the situation and the tension -not wondering that (1) tension is good; the more people are scared of instability (hence vigilant), the more stable the place (complacency is bad); (2) Lebanon is vastly MORE stable than one would have predicted given what’s taking place (think of the events that DID NOT happen). (3) Lebanon is antifragile: every problem leads to incremental mithridatization. (4) The media distorts risks. The press magnifies some hazards (just think of the hyping of risks of sharks in San Diego) not the real ones; their track record in predicting turmoil & collapses is close to zero.
The more scared people are of instability the more stable because vigilant? Really? I wonder how being permanently fearful of stable property rights would have hampered the eradication of poverty… Sure… Things might have been more stable but at how much lower a level.