Polling on the coronavirus shows a clear divide between the "haves," defined for this purpose as the ones who can work from home and/or are still making money, and the "have-nots," who are suffering, often severely. Yet a significant portion of the have-nots say the economy shouldn't be opened up until it's "safe" to do so. How can this contradiction be explained?
The answer is fear. The media and politicians have convinced people that death from the "scourge" is always lurking around the corner. The data and statistics clearly show that most people have nothing to fear, but people are always inclined to believe the worst.
If politicians wanted to be honest and informative, they'd be calmly explaining the realities, but most of them are totally invested in defending their actions (and never admitting mistakes) so they continue to mislead.
A friend who is a retired clinical psychologist tells me he and others in his profession are very concerned about the deleterious impact that fear of this "plague" is having on people. It's very unhealthy.
The media should be ashamed. They focus on every outlier death of people under 50, no matter that they're comparatively rare. The NYT seems unable to stop itself from casting a negative tone on every development. This morning, for example, the front page has a story entitled "New Cases in U.S. Slow." Good news, right? No, the Times feels compelled to add to that headline "Posing Risk of Complacency." They're really beyond redemption.
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