Common Sense In Dr. Isaacson's The Hot Zone

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Dr. Isaacson in the book “The Hot Zone” does not play a major role in the story, but when in a time of need she steps out and does what is needed for the common good. Recently after Nurse Mayinga died from the Ebola virus, there was a need for someone to clean up the room that she had been staying in in the hospital. The crisis moment here was that everyone understood that this woman had the ebola virus, so there were no volunteers to clean up the room for risk of catching the virus, and most likely dying from it. It is at this point in the chapter where the role of the common good comes into play in the form of Dr Isaacson offering her help to clean out the infected room. “Dr Isaacson said to the staff “I won't be of much use to you now,”(pg. 129 Preston) and she got a bucket and mop and washed the rooms”. This might not …show more content…

The definition of common sense is “good sense and sound judgment in practical matters.” when we look at the island of sick monkeys and the decisions leading up to the outcome there is no “common sense”. A pretty good example comes from the part in the text where “the boss” is putting sick monkeys on an island, unbenounced to Mr. Jones “The boss of the company was having sick monkeys put in boxes and shipped out to a small island in Lake Victoria.”(pg. 41 Preston) Any person with a small inkling of common sense would know that it is a bad idea to put sick monkeys on an island together but this man it a perfect example of rational bad behavior because instead of killing the monkeys and possibly losing money, he could just send them to this island and get the monkeys from there as he needed them. Rational Bad Behavior is a problem not only for the common good but also a large amount of time it results in not the most positive outcome for for the person displaying these