As with most Americans, I have been watching and reading about the coronavirus, COVID-19. What has created some facepalm moments for me have been the overreactions that one can read in the media. Not surprisingly, they boil down to two extremes. One is the failure to believe anything that is being said while the other is the lemming-like fear that is leading to the emptying of shelves in stores.
The failure to believe overreaction is mostly held by people who have become accustomed to believing conspiracy theories or to doubting the press on anything they do not wish to believe as true. Thus, from anti-vaxxers through fascist-mongers through medicine-is-wrong-my-natural-medicine-will-cure-cancer through socialist-mongers, etc., these are people who have come to believe that they have sources of information that are incredibly more reliable than the press, than scientists, than medical personnel, than peer-reviewed-studies, and so on.
This first group has a mindset that is akin to that of the dwarves in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle. At the end of the story, they are huddled in a stable and are unwilling to believe even Aslan when he tells them the truth of their situation. They claim that they will not be fooled anymore, but it is obvious to the reader that they have succeeded only in fooling themselves. Those dwarves came to believe that their sources of information were more reliable when they were actually unreliable.
The first group has been filling Facebook with memés that often are, at best, a misinterpretation of the facts, and, at worst, complete fabrications. The problem for them is the complete disregard of what medical authorities have been saying and the conspiracy theory that this is all ginned up by the press. In order to belive this, they now also have to believe that the political structure in most countries, ranging from pure communism through various democracies, have been so caught up in the press hysteria that they have come to believe a set of lies perpetrated by the media. Frankly, given our combative world, what is the probability that the political authorities of the world would be so deceived that they would drop their differences in order to cooperate on a falsified health crisis?
The second group is easier to describe for this is the hysteria and fear group. Neither the health authorities of the world nor the political authorities have been saying either that this is the end of the world or that this period of social isolation is going to last for months. If you notice, most shutdowns have been already announced as being of one or two months, and only for those parts of the economy that can be safely shut down. No one is asking farmers to stop farming nor food deliveries to stop nor for electricity plants to shut down nor for gasoline to stop being delivered, etc.
We have been told that for a month or two we will be inconvenienced in order to try to ameliorate the transmission of COVID-19 so that the virus may be slowed down. If we can stop it at this point, it will mean that we may not see it again or may not see it again until its next cycle of growth. By then, like the flu vaccine, there is a possibility that we may have vaccinations and/or better methods to deal with the spread of this virus. As an example, the Ebola virus still exists, but it was “starved to death” in its first outbreak and now has been able to be kept under some control through watchfulness and immediate isolation techniques.
But, this second group is the group that empties store shelves and buys as though the zombie apocalypse is about to start. In their fear and panic, they cause problems for their fellow citizens who may now not readily have some foods or conveniences available to them in the short term. Just like the first group, they believe that they have sources of information that are better than what is being broadcast by both the media and health authorities. And, their interpretation of what they see is also colored by the fear that they are being lied to. But, unlike the first group, this group believes that it is worse than what they are being told. I should note that this group is all about themselves. Notice that, by emptying shelves, they are proclaiming that they are so important that they will not share with anyone nor will they behave as members of a community.
Here is the sad part. It appears already that the containment efforts are showing success in countries that were hit early. This tends to say that our prophylactic efforts here may mean that no additional containment efforts will be necessary. But, if this is true and if, in the end, this country does not suffer any large outbreaks, like Italy and China, the first group will feel vindicated while the second group will feel defrauded. And, both groups will become like the dwarves in the C.S. Lewis novel mentioned before.
The first group will be convinced that they were correct. Aha!, they will say. You see, this proves that there was never anything about which to worry. They will pat their backs and give no credit to the early actions by health authorities, the President of the United States, and Congress. The sad part is that the very success of the containment efforts will have proved to them that their view that the majority of the world authorities were wrong was the correct view. Only a full-blown 1918-level pandemic would have satisfied this group, and I suspect that if such would have happened then they would have blamed the authorities for insufficient action.
The second group will feel defrauded. Even though their actions have been an overreaction, they will not see that. Various of them will join the first group and will claim that they were deliberately misled when they were not. No authority has asked the populace to buy in excess and to be able to survive several months without needing to do any more food shopping (or toilet paper shopping). Yet, their minds will not acknowledge that and, looking around for someone to blame, they also will probably settle on the media rather than acknowledging their misinterpretations.
What is a sane way to look at all this? First, we are facing a virus whose profile appears to fit that of a pandemic, both in infectivity and possible severity. It makes sense to take strong precautions to stop it in its tracks. Second, you are only being asked for a temporary stoppage of what social contact can be stopped. It is not a permanent request only temporary, and only long enough to break the chain of transmission. It is a frustrating and inconveniencing stoppage, but one necessary for the greater good. Third, please stop thinking that the lone voice out there claiming that everything you hear is false has any validity. To believe that you have to believe the sad converse which is that the political and health authorities of the world are all lying to you and that the press is their footstool. If you really think it through, that position makes no sense at all. Fourth, not only this time but on other subjects as well, quit believing the lone voice-in-the-wilderness who says something different. While there are times in history when the lone voice was indeed the truth, those times are both rare and memorable. Generally, the lone voices are incorrect or have made a logical mistake. Put them aside.
Finally, I trust that we will all have a quiet summer after this is all over. Sadly, that will be just in time for the ramping up even more of the political season that we must endure every four years.
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