I have literally been blocked by friends on social media for saying things like “thank god this isn’t weaponized smallpox” or telling them that the likelihood of dying is very low.
I think a lot of it at this point is that nobody wants to admit they’ve been conned. That’s a very difficult thing to realize, and it’s painful. Easier to live in fear, especially when the perception is that everyone else around you is afraid too.
I heard a great quote from somebody who left Scientology - “you trap yourself.” Once you start buying into a particular extreme and false worldview, you have to excuse reality in order to stay in it, and you do it willingly.
Spot on. This was evident at one of my son's baseball games. Every team we've played this summer has had none, or 1 at the most parents/coaches wearing a mask while watching.
Then he played the opt-in school in a very upper class liberal part of town. Every parent and coach wore masks the entire time. Kids wore them while in dugout. Even the coaches when they were >15 ft from the nearest person.
The same group of parents freaked out when a thunderstorm was over 15 miles away. None of us were going to let the kids play in actual dangerous conditions, but these parents/coaches were so scared, they were talking to the umpire at the mere sight of dark clouds on the horizon. And of course they didn't get out of their cars to warm up again after the storm passed until the game was about to start.
I have literally been blocked by friends on social media for saying things like “thank god this isn’t weaponized smallpox” or telling them that the likelihood of dying is very low.
People WANT to be scared.
I think a lot of it at this point is that nobody wants to admit they’ve been conned. That’s a very difficult thing to realize, and it’s painful. Easier to live in fear, especially when the perception is that everyone else around you is afraid too.
"It's easier to fool a person than to convince them that they have been fooled."
Yup.
This is why cults can be so successful.
I heard a great quote from somebody who left Scientology - “you trap yourself.” Once you start buying into a particular extreme and false worldview, you have to excuse reality in order to stay in it, and you do it willingly.
Spot on. This was evident at one of my son's baseball games. Every team we've played this summer has had none, or 1 at the most parents/coaches wearing a mask while watching.
Then he played the opt-in school in a very upper class liberal part of town. Every parent and coach wore masks the entire time. Kids wore them while in dugout. Even the coaches when they were >15 ft from the nearest person.
The same group of parents freaked out when a thunderstorm was over 15 miles away. None of us were going to let the kids play in actual dangerous conditions, but these parents/coaches were so scared, they were talking to the umpire at the mere sight of dark clouds on the horizon. And of course they didn't get out of their cars to warm up again after the storm passed until the game was about to start.