A broken clock is right twice a day.<\/p>
Which is about 729 times a year more than the New York Times is right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But here we are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Excellent piece by David Leonhardt, on how the terrible news coverage of the Covid pandemic is a reflection of human nature (And, I will also infer, some of the worst aspects of modern American media culture). In this case, the fact that people love reductionistic stories with heroes and villains, and that journalists (and the business people they report to) are not only basically human, but know that that bit of human nature brings eyeballs and dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s been on display:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the case of Covid, the fable we tell ourselves is that our day-to-day behavior dictates the course of the pandemic. When we are good \u2014 by staying socially distant and wearing our masks \u2014 cases are supposed to fall. When we are bad \u2014 by eating in restaurants, hanging out with friends and going to a theater or football game \u2014 cases are supposed to rise.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The idea is especially alluring to anybody making an effort to be careful and feeling frustrated that so many other Americans seem blas\u00e9<\/a>. After all, the Covid fable does have an some truth to it. Social distancing and masking do<\/em> reduce the spread of the virus. They just are not as powerful as people often imagine.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The main determinants of Covid\u2019s spread (other than vaccines, which are extremely effective<\/a>) remain mysterious. Some activities that seem dangerous, like in-person school or crowded outdoor gatherings, may not always be. As unsatisfying as it is, we do not know why cases have recently plunged. The decline is consistent with the fact that Covid surges often last for about two months<\/a> before receding, but that\u2019s merely a description of the data, not a causal explanation<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
People like to see, Or think they see, their actions having an impact on the larger world.<\/p>
<\/p>
Somebody has found a market feeding that impression, Including The very human tendency for people together in tribes.<\/p>
<\/p>
The Karen tribe seems to be descended from the crowd of mean girls and bullies in junior high.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A broken clock is right twice a day. Which is about 729 times a year more than the New York Times is right. But here we are. Excellent piece by David Leonhardt, on how the terrible news coverage of the Covid pandemic is a reflection of human nature (And, I will also infer, some of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[416],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-covid19"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79694"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79695,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79694\/revisions\/79695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}