This is one of the most illuminating discussions I’ve seen about the state of the pandemic.
I’m not a big believer in shaming and scolding as a general rule either. In fact I pretty much hate it. And let’s be honest, shaming and scolding has become very common in our modern culture. We are giving the puritans a run for their money when it comes to using social ostracism and public opprobrium as a method of enforcing social conformity. (And I’m not talking about “cancel culture” although that’s a part of it. This isn’t confined to social media or the left. In fact, the right was the first to make a profit at it.)
He’s right that it didn’t work with HIV. You couldn’t tell people they couldn’t have sex. But they did have big public safety campaign to have people use condoms and get tested. So when it comes to health and safety I have to say that you don’t have to shame anyone but there should be a huge campaign to get people to follow the rules instead of just shrugging and saying “oh there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Smoking is a good example. They had all the information about cancer from smoking in the 1960s but wasn’t until a combination of public opprobrium about second hand smoke and legal sanctions came in that the numbers of smokers really came down. Drunk driving is another risky behavior that risked other people’s lives that required a full-fledged public safety and legal sanctions campaign to cut back on the behavior. Neither have been eliminated by a long shot. But they are no longer considered acceptable behaviors by most people and there are fewer people doing it today than ever before. The reason is that it was framed not just as a risk for the individual which we worship as a fundamental right in America. It was shown that it risked others and those other people decided they didn’t think it was right to lose their lives for your right to smoke and drink.
This is probably a short term issue that doesn’t require such a long-term solution. But I think the principles are the same. COVID may not be all that risky for certain individuals. But the risky behaviors by people who are careless or asymptomatic do put other people’s lives at risk. I guess I just don’t understand why a short period of wearing masks and social distancing is such a sacrifice that it’s simply impossible to ask people to do it if it saves lives. Even for young adults. They aren’t babies. We require them not to drive drunk and they vote and they join the military and they hold full-time jobs at which they are required to conform to certain behaviors like everyone else. Of course they can be responsible about this. It’s just that nobody really expects them to and they know it.