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Against Coronaphobia
I have noticed a strange phenomenon among many people. They seem to be unable to calmly and rationally assess the risks of COVID-19, and even to be hostile to any discussion of the risk. I’m going to call this reaction coronaphobia.
A reasonable concern, or even fear, of a new and potentially deadly virus — Chinese or otherwise — is not coronaphobia. It is perfectly legitimate to have some fear of dying in a plague, especially when we’re in the middle of a plague that is killing tens of thousands of people in this country alone. It is perfectly appropriate to wish to take sensible precautions, and to advocate that others take some precautions, perhaps even to make some such precautions mandatory. It is not coronaphobia if you have a different level of risk aversion than a certain cranky, but occasionally humorous, lawyer from Southern Arizona. At least I hope that I am occasionally humorous. I’m probably not as good at diagnosing this in myself, though I’m confident that I’m right about being cranky.
Nevertheless, I think that coronaphobia exists, and is a problem. It is a matter of degree, as are many phobias. It is difficult to overcome, because by definition, a phobia is an irrational fear, and it is difficult to rationally overcome irrationality. Irrationality doesn’t want to listen, you see.
Fear itself does seem to be irrational, and deeply rooted biologically. I think that it is both useful and adaptive in many circumstances, but it can be paralyzing. From my limited study in the area of phobias, mostly based on lectures by Jordan Peterson, the worst thing that you can do in treating a phobia is to protect the suffering individual. The cure is exposure therapy, but this must be done carefully and in moderation.
There is an element of courage involved in this, but I don’t think that it is fair, or helpful, to accuse a phobic person of being a coward. They are dealing with an irrational element of their nature. We all have irrationality built into us, and this is often difficult to master. It is true, however, at least according to Peterson, that gradual exposure can help a person overcome a phobia, but he doesn’t become less afraid, exactly. He becomes braver.
Personally, I struggled with a fear of flying, many years ago. In my case, it was triggered by turbulence, and I did not find anything that could altogether banish the fear. Back when I was an atheist, I would close my eyes and try to pretend that it was just an earthquake. I had gone to college in Southern California and had experienced several earthquakes, and found that they did not make me afraid. The fear wasn’t well-controlled in my case, until I became a follower of Jesus. I do still have a momentary fear reaction to airplane turbulence, but now I simply tell myself that I die, it’s not a big deal. Streets of gold and all.
I find that this works with COVID-19, too. But I guess it’s not for everyone.
Back to coronaphobia. I have some diagnostic criteria to propose, though I want to phrase them in Jeff Foxworthy style:
- If you agreed with Gov. Cuomo that no price is too high if we save even a single life . . . you might be a coronaphobe.
- If you accuse anyone wishing to end the lockdowns of wanting old people to die . . . you might be a coronaphobe.
- If you think that any discussion of the economic costs of a particular policy is comparable to the ideology of Joseph Stalin . . . you might be a coronaphobe.
- If you continue to contend that the growth of COVID-19 has been exponential in the face of my endless posting of 1,832 graphs demonstrating that it is not, with the circles and the arrows and the paragraph on the back of each one explaining how it demonstrates that this whole pandemic thing is no big deal . . . you might be a coronaphobe.
- If you think that anyone comparing COVID-19 to the flu in any way is a reprehensible dolt who is obviously a brainwashed Trump supporter like Richard Epstein . . . you might be a coronaphobe.
- If you react with hostility and suspicion to any evidence indicating that this plague might not be as bad as the Black Death . . . you might be a coronaphobe.
- If you agree with David French that any discussion of relaxing the lockdown is unreasonable because, for the moment, the worst plague in our lifetimes is the leading cause of death in the US and you don’t care about his dear departed Nana who he just loved so, so much, unlike a reprobate like you who probably doesn’t even love his own mother . . . you might be a coronaphobe.
- If you accuse anyone who disagrees with you of being a terrible Christian . . . you might be a coronaphobe. (I know, this one is a bit repetitive of #7.)
- If you agree with Sir Jonah Goldberg that hiding in our homes is a profile in courage . . . you might be a coronaphobe.
- If you point out, in response to evidence that COVID-19 deaths have occurred overwhelmingly among the old and infirm, that there was this one healthy, young guy who died . . . you might be a coronaphobe.
- If you think that a vaccine is right around the corner because it’s really easy to develop vaccines and it will probably be ready in a few weeks from those amazing Israelis and the only reason that no one ever developed a coronavirus vaccine before was because there was no need to do so because it’s not like there was some worldwide panic about SARS or MERS or anything . . . you might be a coronaphobe.
- If you think that Dr. Fauci is a ChiCom collaborator who wants to bring down the United States so that he can rule us as the first Medico-Philosopher-King which is why he funded the Wuhan lab where SARS-COV-2 originated . . . you might be a coronaphobe.
- If you believe that HCQ has been clearly demonstrated to be a wonder drug that cures COVID-19 — or wait, maybe it was remdesivir, but it has to be with a z-pac, no, it has to be with zinc, or it’s intravenous vitamin C, or hydrogen peroxide, or drinking fish tank cleaner (no, never mind, that was HCQ again), or injecting yourself with bleach or lysol or shining a really bright light on your insides — and we don’t need no stinkin’ control groups . . . you might be a coronaphobe.
- If you disagree with the Sage of Southern Arizona in any way, shape, or form . . . you might be a coronaphobe.
If you thought “who” in response to the reference to the Sage of Southern Arizona, you need to remember Russell’s greatest role:
Please join the Sage of Southern Arizona in the great battle of our time, the struggle against coronaphobia. Fear is the mind killer. Forth, and fear no darkness. Do not be at all afraid to be killed in nasty ways! The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Oh, and the virus.
You can be a chicken. A little girl. A fraidy cat. A defeated lobster. Or you can join me in the path of coronabravado. What are you waiting for?
ChiCom delenda est.
Published in Humor
I like the list, and mostly agree. You snuck in a strawman at #4 – nobody says it’s exponential like pure e^x. I’ve read your posts, and you’ve not proved that there wasn’t an exponential phase. But otherwise, yeah.
Now…THAT’s funny.
I have never seen this side of Jerry.
We are blessed to have a [very small] handful of great humorists on Ricochet…I can only think of two at the moment, but in any case there aren’t a lot more…but one of them has been hiding amongst us.
My coronaphobia pet peeve: When I see people wearing a surgical mask when they are alone in their car.
Is it possible to pass a virus to yourself?
Just point at them and laugh.
You see, I was just trying to protect my invisible girlfriend . . .
In all seriousness, I have coronaphobiaphobia. I’m afraid that fear of the virus will destroy the civilization I hold dear.
Who is he? Or her, perhaps.
I find it hard to believe that you’ve never seen my cranky side. Sometimes I think that it’s the only side that I have. Though I guess there’s my tiresome side, and my pompous side, and my grouchy side, and my short-tempered side, and my self-righteous side. How many sides can a guy have?
Well, a lot, actually, though it’s hard to see my sides, because of my overall bulk, as long as I keep facing you. I mean, I make Captain Jack Aubrey look skinny. Fifteen stone? I’ll raise that threescore and ten, and then some (pounds, not stone). I make King Robert Baratheon look like a slip of a thing, at least as portrayed by Mark Addy. Anybody seen my breastplate stretcher?
Now it’s really easy to see my side, if I turn sideways. Gary Robbins and Bob Thompson can attest to this. Sideways, I’m probably wider than either of them head-on.
I have made my attempts at humor before. So, in light of the complete absence of popular demand, I present my greatest hits.
Hey, I love my car and would never infect it!!!
I have no idea how to evaluate the risk; so I am just going with my best judgement. There are so many people out there stating opinions with complete confidence and no facts or data to back it up. And you can’t really trust most of the “facts” or “data” out there.
Of course this is possible. This is why we weren’t supposed to wear masks, before we were all supposed to wear masks. You might cough in your car, and that would allow the virus to get from your lungs into your eyes, which would let it get into your blood, where it would get into your red blood cells and release the special iron ions from the hemes, which would attack your lungs. Maybe you need a refresher course!
I missed one symptom of coronaphobia, which Rob pointed out in the latest Ricochet podcast:
Funny, and modest to boot!
I wish I hid my bad sides on Ricochet as well as you have. I’m cranky, tiresome, pompous, grouchy, and self-righteous, too, but I’ve let everyone know it. You’ve not.
I rest my case.
Whenever I say something is new to Ricochet, someone points out that it isn’t.
This is just like going to a Session meeting and introducing a proposal to address what one perceives as a new problem for which no solutions have ever been tried before, when my wife is one of the Elders.
I’m crushed that you didn’t read my Brave Sir Jonah post, and didn’t follow the link to his April 17 essay at National Review, which said: “if left unchecked, the rate of COVID-19 infection would be exponential.” People were saying precisely that it was exponential, though they probably had little idea what this even means.
Then there is this article saying it is exponential, and this one, and this one, and this one in USA Today, and this one at WaPo, and this one also at WaPo. Dorothy could hardly keep track of so many strawmen! I particularly like the USA Today article, which points out that you might remember exponential growth from middle or high school, which the author plainly does not, but thinks that he does.
I really appreciate the strawman reference, as it provides a great tune for another parody song. I’ll keep this one in mind.
Water? I was thinking Scotch, and so far it’s working. But isn’t that the opposite of coronoaphobe? Maybe call it coronoaphobeophobe?
Mark, I’m a little embarrassed here. I have an unfair professional advantage over you in this type of thing. You see, I’m sly and conniving, too. I know how to use false modesty. I know how a little self-deprecating humor can overcome resistance to an opposing argument, or help one to make friends and influence people. It’s not quite Lawyering 101, but it is Lawyering 201.
If you want to get into the advanced stuff, you can use group control methods. These do work best outside the courtroom, where it’s mostly presentation without audience participation. If you’re clever, while lecturing or presenting to a group, you can mildly pick on one or two of the other alpha-male types. You have to make sure that they’re smart ones. They’ll give it back, and you can take it graciously, and this disarms the group even further. Call it indirect prompted self-deprecation.
Now if you know what I’m doing, you’ll be on your guard anyway, and my false modesty won’t fool you. So I can disarm you by conceding a factual point that you thought I would dispute. Then you’ll think that maybe my false modesty wasn’t false after all, in which case I’m a good and honest guy and not a sly manipulator, and then you can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.
Ah, but we’ve already established that you haven’t read my prior, brilliant humor, so perhaps you missed all of this as well. :)
I don’t think so. It’s just a coping mechanism, demonstrating how an irrational fear can lead to other silly irrationality. Like my old game of pretending that airplane turbulence was an earthquake.
Yes, I’m a little behind on my reading. I am going through the archives alphabetically by author, and I’m still on “Arahant”.
Till I’m caught up, I am willing to stipulate that it was generally known that
But I don’t know why you have to make such a big deal about it. On Ricochet, tooting your own horn is considered bad form.
You wouldn’t know her, she goes to a different high school.
I would have liked this post just for the “Big Trouble in Little China” clip. But it was just a good post! Well done.
IF YEW put yore MawMaw on the speaker phone so she don’t git infected . . . yewwww maight be a coranaphobe.
IF YEW thank’t “social distancing” means dating your second cousin instead of yer first . . . yewwww maight be a coranaphobe.
Water? Go with the Gin and Tonic. Truly boosts stomach acid as well as acid reflux.
Coronabravado? Sign up for the covid challenge trial.
Profiles of coronabravado here.
The shut down is suffering from mission creep. The same kind of ideas that have got us stuck in Afghanistan for 20 years.
Hey, I had one of those too!
Pssst: Still do, so don’t tell my wife . . .
Awesome!
If you disinfect your trailer with Budweiser, you might be a Coronaphobe . . .
If you only use a Royal typewriter, you might be be a Coronaphobe . . .
If you only smoke torpedo-shaped cigars, you might be a coronaphobe . . .