“We see these themes everywhere. Individuals wish to show to others that they are virtuous. They choose to do so often with harsh condemnation & dissociating from that person. But that decision: the condemnation itself is often counterproductive or even harmful.”
I really appreciate this statement. As a person of faith, for example, I see this play out on a regular basis in religious communities. People feel a need to show off how virtuous they are and that often takes the form of excluding people from the community and making its resources scarce.
The worst part is that the people who don’t check all the boxes that the “virtuous” people don’t are the people who often need those resources the most. In the case of churches: community, spiritual uplift, etc. And in the case of the medical community: actual, life-saving support.
Good post, but you need to tighten your language somewhat: 'In medicine, many twitter doctors were on the wrong side of the most profound domestic policy decision of our times: school closures.'
As a father of two elementary school kids who fought fiercely to get schools back open for in-person instruction, who had lobbied board members and attended many a local school board meeting, I am pretty well aware of this issue, and I don't think many folks thought back in March 2020 school closures were a two-sided issue. We simply didn't know enough about COVID, or in fact we knew enough that closing schools early on was the right move. Over the summer of 2020 is when it became a two-sided issue. So it's somewhat unfair to cast it as a completely two-sided issue. It wasn't an effort in virtual-signaling to close schools in March 2020.
“I don’t know about other people, but when I wake up in the morning and put my shoes on, I think, Jesus Christ, now what?”
— Charles Bukowski
“We see these themes everywhere. Individuals wish to show to others that they are virtuous. They choose to do so often with harsh condemnation & dissociating from that person. But that decision: the condemnation itself is often counterproductive or even harmful.”
I really appreciate this statement. As a person of faith, for example, I see this play out on a regular basis in religious communities. People feel a need to show off how virtuous they are and that often takes the form of excluding people from the community and making its resources scarce.
The worst part is that the people who don’t check all the boxes that the “virtuous” people don’t are the people who often need those resources the most. In the case of churches: community, spiritual uplift, etc. And in the case of the medical community: actual, life-saving support.
It’s a tragedy we judge people like this.
Very well put!
Have you read the book The Status Game by Will Storr? It talks about this sort of stuff.
Good post, but you need to tighten your language somewhat: 'In medicine, many twitter doctors were on the wrong side of the most profound domestic policy decision of our times: school closures.'
As a father of two elementary school kids who fought fiercely to get schools back open for in-person instruction, who had lobbied board members and attended many a local school board meeting, I am pretty well aware of this issue, and I don't think many folks thought back in March 2020 school closures were a two-sided issue. We simply didn't know enough about COVID, or in fact we knew enough that closing schools early on was the right move. Over the summer of 2020 is when it became a two-sided issue. So it's somewhat unfair to cast it as a completely two-sided issue. It wasn't an effort in virtual-signaling to close schools in March 2020.
Did they change their position? It's shameful to punish people for the deeds of their rulers.