From a story attempting to add a little perspective to the current crisis, the number of Americans who consider themselves "very happy" appears to be at an all time low, at least while these things have been measured. How much of that is down to their extremely constricted social lives? Quite a bit, I would guess.
I'm fairly lucky. As a natural introvert, I need to be in contact with other folks some of the time, but not all or even most. I have family and friends that I've been able to keep in touch with some way or another, and that includes at least a couple of friends I've met with in person all the way through. On walks outside I catch sight of people and sometimes exchange greetings. Today I dined in at a breakfast place I like a lot which just recently reopened.
The only thing that really bothers me is that we're still hearing the rhetoric of "can't do this, can't do that, everyone will die." The evidence that COVID-19 was an unprecedented plague was always thin on the ground, and at this point the idea is completely in tatters, yet some people want their deadly pandemic and will have it. Even there, it's not so much the people lying that depress me as those who've fallen for it. Or just haven't thought about it, somehow.
I'm fairly lucky. As a natural introvert, I need to be in contact with other folks some of the time, but not all or even most. I have family and friends that I've been able to keep in touch with some way or another, and that includes at least a couple of friends I've met with in person all the way through. On walks outside I catch sight of people and sometimes exchange greetings. Today I dined in at a breakfast place I like a lot which just recently reopened.
The only thing that really bothers me is that we're still hearing the rhetoric of "can't do this, can't do that, everyone will die." The evidence that COVID-19 was an unprecedented plague was always thin on the ground, and at this point the idea is completely in tatters, yet some people want their deadly pandemic and will have it. Even there, it's not so much the people lying that depress me as those who've fallen for it. Or just haven't thought about it, somehow.
2 comments:
No wonder a lot of people say they aren't particularly happy - for any number of reasons, but high among them is the official reaction to the current disease crisis.
“Communities faced with epidemics or other adverse events respond best and with the least anxiety when the normal social functioning of the community is least disrupted.”
The quote is from an article titled 'Smart Society, Stupid People' posted today on the American Institute for Economic Research website that pretty much covers what you've said here and what we've suspected for months.
The one bright spot for us has been having regular conversations with you.
You can make people obey you buy convincing them they don't have a choice. That particular part is alarmingly easy, and we've seen it done all over the place this year. But while some people will take it the rest of the way and extinguish any dissident thoughts, you can't expect everyone to do that. It's heartening because people not being happy shows that they're still independent, but frustrating because it just gets ignored.
I was fascinated with that article. I've always thought of Hayek as being an extreme individualist thinker. His idea, through Tucker's contemporary lens, that people as individuals haven't gotten much smarter, is unexpected but makes sense.
You and I have similar taste in bright spots. :)
Post a Comment