All Those Coronavirus Contradictions - How should we deal with them?

Contradictions. Contradictions EVERYWHERE.  That is what the coronavirus has brought us.

Yes, even here, for my own postings could at least appear contradictory.

The why of this is simple -- and important to understand. Both the coronavirus disease itself, and the way society is dealing with it, is new. For that reason even long held understandings and beliefs are being challenged by it -- and not just once, then leading to a quick, firm, conclusion, but over and over again.

Too, the 'sales pitch' is vacillating and to some degree hollow, and to some degree that must be so, for it is being worded so as to make 'the sale' today, not tomorrow. And with us entering new territory almost daily, with new and contradictory information about the virus almost daily coming forth, so the 'sales pitch' will change and change and change yet again.

Case in point: Masks.  First the public was told not to wear them, then, later, that they should.  Is this not evidence of duplicity?

The answers to even that one question in itself calls for some contradictions.

Why were people told not to wear masks if in fact they were useful?  The answers to that are simple in fact, but not so simple to accept.

One was the mask shortage.  To build up the stock available to those forced to face the virus close up -- medical personnel, for instance -- people not being faced with daily exposure had to be discouraged from wearing a mask.  "It'll help you stay safe, but you shouldn't wear one anyway" simply is not an effective sales pitch (There's that phrase again!)  so the pitch was "you don't need 'em."

Truth?  Lie?  As every parent knows such things are not as black and white as that. At least not as 'so' as is the importance of keeping those in one's charge "safe."

And on the other side there was the simple fact that if one was following the safe spacing directives when one had to be about, and staying in at other times, wearing masks was in truth generally unnecessary.

But yes, the above did reveal contradictions. And some people for various reasons will see such as "lies."

Then there is the level of contagion.  At first unknown.

But could they tell us that?

When a parent tells their children never to speak to strangers they are commonly moved to do so by a genuine fear.  But try to put the realness of that fear into numbers?  I bet speaking to strangers is safe 99.9999% of the time.  Yet the charge not to speak to strangers is still a good one.  Are the parents giving that advice then "liars"?

And to all the above we need to add the principle of cause and effect.

Right now the death toll is far lower than some feared that it would be.

"There! They lied!!!"

No, not necessarily.

First of all, it is reasonable to think that the 'lock down' and social distancing has made a major difference in the spread of the illness.   Too, lowering the end number of those made ill was not in truth the initial purpose of the lockdowns, the closures, or the social distancing.  That's where that much maligned "flattening the curve" idea comes in. And again, at least in part, that was a sales pitch.  "You're gonna get it anyhow - just at a more convenient time" just isn't a good selling message.   So instead people were told to do those things so as to stay safe.

In fact, if the coronavirus does follow the seasonal rules that many other viruses have followed, many, many lives will have been saved.  But only now are we getting a real glimmer of hope that such is so -- and already at work.

All of the above, yes ALL OF IT, contains ifs ands and buts.  Changing information. Changes in focus. Various legitimate concerns that themselves to some real degree contradict one-another.

And in all the above I have not mentioned the current hot button subject: That of personal freedom being threatened by questionable laws and decrees.  What is truly temporary, what is for a short time reasonable (and legal) -- both open to interpretation -- and questions with answers that must be predicated on a certain level of trust -- a thing being brought into question by everything mentioned above.

Which brings us full circle.

Yes, contradictions are everywhere.

Children will most certainly struggle with that. Teenagers  even more so.  But we adults should at least be able to understand and make some room for it, realizing that in the real world such contradictions are not necessarily emblematic of evil.

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