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Superstitious Talismans in Politics
I have come to believe that for many mask wearers, there is a subconscious belief that if they are willing to suffer enough, then Donald Trump will not win the election.
Does this sound too wacky to you? I am seeing an enormous amount of superstition around COVID, and also around this election. Nobody cares about actual data anymore. They just reckon that if they don’t wear a mask, they’ll be struck down. There is a term for that, and it is not “infectious disease expert.”
When you add the political situation into the mix, I really am beginning to wonder what happens after the election. If Biden wins, COVID vanishes as an issue within days and weeks. I am certain of it. But if Trump wins, will it be seen by the lib-maskers as proof that their deity/superstition has failed them, that they have no suffered enough, or they need to do even more than suffer with masks in order to rid the world of Orange Man?
In my experience, very few people lose religious faith just because of data. Instead, they escalate. In which case, there is a plausible argument to be made that a Biden election may, at least in the short term, lead to the end of the COVID-crisis and the end of protests and riots.
Published in General
You know, I think you’re on to something here. The generation of my mother and father (born in the 1920s) knew that people would die. My mom lost a brother to a tetanus infection when he was 12 years old. My dad’s parents both died before he was eight from things that can be cured/prevented now. People who were born before they had all of the modern medical advances that we now have — vaccines, surgeries, emergency care, etc. — understand that everyone is going to die, and some will die before they get to an advanced age.
Many people are very unwilling to allow risk in their lives. I taught elementary school for 24 years. You would NOT believe the rules that are imposed on school systems. When our youngest son was 16 his marching band got to go to New York City to compete in the Atlantic Coast Regional Finals (we lived in Maryland.) It was probably 1998. I signed one paper to let him go on this field trip. The last year I taught 4th grade, ANY field trip — even one where we walked to a middle school a block from our school — required an entire packet of paperwork that was mandatory to be completed or the student could not attend.
Is it because people have only two kids now, and they don’t dare risk losing one? Is it because we’ve become so accustomed to having a pill, a vaccine, emergency medicine, whatever, that fixes/prevents most of the things that caused a lot of death in past decades? I think that people believe that if they do everything according to the “rules” that everything should work out for them.
Maybe one of the reasons so many of those in their 20s who are now out rioting believed this. They’ve been told to follow the rules, go to college, get a degree, get a job, etc. Then, they got that degree (some of them entirely useless) and now have all the debt, and the only jobs are temporary or minimum wage, and they feel screwed!
Also, maybe they were never taught religious values and don’t have an understanding of what life is all about: learning to love God, trying to follow His teachings, and returning to live with Him someday. This life isn’t the end.
Maybe…they’re just wacky.
Superstitious-talismanic-expert-mask-psychosis.
I think people are simply
adverseaverse to messages that involve managing a disease that everyone will ultimately get.We were told to wear masks to slow the inevitably spread so we didn’t overwhelm hospitals. What people heard was, ‘wear masks and nothing bad will happen’.
Edit: Spelling.
Remember, a large number of people are wearing masks because they are required to do so. Another group are afraid of social consequences or actually believe the masks are needed. I seriously doubt a large portion believe wearing a mask will defeat Trump.
Itchy face masks are definitely an improvement over hairshirts.
People heard that because that is what the media is telling them.
A Browns fan I follow on Twitter retweeted ESPN’s tweet that the Browns are above .500 for the first time since 2014. Trump makes everything better.
Wearing the mask is like throwing salt over your shoulder or putting garlic above your doorway. According to the CDC’s own website, nobody is wearing masks the “proper” way anyway. Masks don’t work if you have a beard. Are all men going to have to shave now? We’re going all the way with this, right? If it saves one life…
One thing may end, but something new will begin.
In a game of would you rather, I’d choose covid over biden.
Hands down.