You are riding along on a trail ride without a care in the world. Your horse is walking calmly with his ears up and at a relaxed pace. Your reins may even be on the buckle.
Then suddenly.
A plastic bag blows into your path.
Your horse ducks, and before you know it you are galloping in the other direction with no control.
Over a damn plastic bag.
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America right now, is that horse.
via GIPHY
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We all have spent hours and hours teaching our horses to use the thinking parts of their brain. We want them to think first, instead of immediately fight or flight.
When the fight or flight part of your brain is activated, the thinking/logic part of your brain shuts down. It cannot work. This is science. Same for us, same for horses. Which is why we try not to let them get into that fight or flight mode. It can be difficult to get them to come "back to earth."
This pandemic is a real public health emergency.
The masses see this as a real threat to their safety for a couple of reasons.
1. It is new. What we don't know much about, we are scared of.
2. We can't see it
3. We can't control it ourselves.
via GIPHY
The reason people are hoarding and acting like goddamn idiots is the same reason people seek out religion. They need answers to things there are no answers for.
They are trying to gain control over a situation they have no control over.
See #3: Lack of control = Fight or flight. (hello fellow anxiety/panic attack sufferers AM I RIGHT)
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People need to stop and use the thinking part of their brain. The virus isn't a direct threat to their lives. (For most. The idea is to protect those who might get really sick from this)
The point of these pandemic procedures is to prevent our health care systems from being overwhelmed. Kind of like the groceries stores were when people decided to hoard TP.
Yes, let's all flock to the store and get our nasty germs all over every product. Oh the irony.
The public simply isn't thinking. They are in fight or flight. They perceive the plastic bag as a real threat to their safety. And without thinking, they turn and run.
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No, it's not the media.
In fact, as a journalist, this is our finest hour.
Arm yourself with facts, use your thinking brain, quit hoarding and wash your hands.
Truth.
ReplyDeleteWas listening (patiently) to our postmistress' lengthy COVID-19 related ranting today.
ReplyDeleteAll I could think was - people are scared, they want to protect themselves and their loved ones, they are worried about economic issues as well as health... that is why they are behaving this way.
PRACTICE EMPATHY!
Not all people in the media are journalists, as you know, they are essentially at this point agents of chaos feeding the populous disinformation. A lot of places people get their information aren't reputable - the biggest stoker of mass hysteria I've seen are local sub-reddits and of course facebook. It is really sad, and disheartening to see people unable to discern between reputable sources and not, it is really frustrating to continually tell people that what they are circulating isn't fucking true. I dunno I don't have a nice or good way to end this comment honestly.
ReplyDeletel. Williams - i hear what you are saying. When people blame the media, what they really mean is probably YouTube, or FaceBook, or Geraldo or some random website or even a public speaker spewing misinformation. it is infuriating!
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't think its people's fault, it is partially a problem with language and its obviously who hires those knuckleheads faults- I do it too and I usually mean NOT NEWS when I say media otherwise I'd say News.
ReplyDeleteStay safe my friend. Derby has been moved to September so hopefully I'll see you then on the otherside.