Is it "vaccine alarmism" or "willful ignorance"? Yes.
In The New York Times’ Underselling the Vaccine David Leonhardt blames lagging mask wearing and vaccine adoption on “messaging:”
Early in the pandemic, many health experts — in the U.S. and around the world — decided that the public could not be trusted to hear the truth about masks. Instead, the experts spread a misleading message, discouraging the use of masks.
Their motivation was mostly good. It sprung from a concern that people would rush to buy high-grade medical masks, leaving too few for doctors and nurses. The experts were also unsure how much ordinary masks would help.
I think he’s laying too much of the blame and responsibility on the message and not enough on the intended recipients. A major problem we have is that certain parts of the US population have been conditioned to mistrust education, science, intelligence, and other traditional values. This lays the groundwork for the proliferation of lies and blame shifting. An example of this is some Republicons’ blaming investments in renewable energy for that state’s current and deadly energy disaster.
When people lack information and an interest in critical thinking they can be manipulated. We are seeing not only that political tribalism is the result but so are unnecessary illness and death.
Remember: communication involves three components: the sender, the message, and the recipient. Failure to coordinate all three can lead to failure. Or as the old saying goes, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.”
Copyright (c) 2021 by Dennis D. McDonald
