Saturday, April 04, 2020

What You See

I don't think many people are changing their minds about C19 until the data is clearer, and most, not even then.  What I am seeing in the few comments sections I can endure are the skeptics adding in comments like "I'm not seeing any of that around here," or "The virus isn't affecting rural areas that much."  What they can see are businesses and gatherings having to shut down, even though there's not much problem where they live.  It's all loss and no gain to them.

There's a couple of things happening here.  Some people are wired that way, wherever they live, and believe what they see rather than what they hear about from far away.  That could also be a learned behavior, or at least reinforced by living in a population that is dispersed, so that more people in your circle are telling you "I don't see anything here." There is also a sense among both rural and urban folks that those other people are distant not only in miles but in culture.  They aren't quite like us, though they may be fine in their own way.

It's easy to see how either extreme will mislead you. Believing the news versus believing only what enters your own narrow world can each go badly wrong.  It is likely a continuum versus an either-or. I have friends who are deeply influenced by pre-existing narratives, such as "natural things are better" or "the schools have gotten worse since my day," and those seem to be more likely to be swayed only by what happens to their family, their friends, their town. I would expect that this would negatively correlate to comfortableness with numbers and statistics, but when I actually consider those individuals, I don't see that pattern, or not strongly.  Something else is in play, I can't tell what.

Nor is the other extreme merely those who are easily misled by media.  Lots of people believe the news, but are very particular about what news they believe.

A semi-related story, related to believing the news or not believing it. A college professor lamented "The problem with students straight out of high school is that they believe everything you tell them. The problem with students coming later to college, after they have done something else, is that they don't believe anything you tell them."

12 comments:

james said...

People say "believe half of what you see
Son and none of what you hear"
But I can't help being confused...

Douglas2 said...

I noted Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds earlier today commenting upon the current emptiness of Knoxville hospitals, but then concluding "The 1918 Flu hit Knoxville very late — so late that some people thought we had some sort of immunity or protection — but when it finally got here it hit hard, like everywhere else."

sykes.1 said...

I wonder if the professor ever dealt with the 'Nam vets. I remember they were a hard audience. But the experience of teaching WW II/Great Depression vets must have been special. My dad was a real hard case.

RichardJohnson said...

A college professor lamented "The problem with students straight out of high school is that they believe everything you tell them. The problem with students coming later to college, after they have done something else, is that they don't believe anything you tell them."

That is not an issue with STEM courses. Having had very negative experiences w History and English classes in high school, I took the bare minimum in college.

I have noted the alarm of some profs that their going to online teaching will mean that "right-wingers" will become aware of what they are preaching in their classes.
Dying in darkness...

Sam L. said...

The song that started, "I read the news today, oh boy..." Well I gave up on reading and watching the "news", because i couldn't believe it. They/it were/was lying to me.

And as Mr. Johnson above said, those profs are part of the enemy cabal.

Texan99 said...

We have our very first confirmed case in my small rural county. This is an area of such sparse population that we probably can get away with open more businesses earlier than a lot of places. No mass transit, few dense gathering places. No one's in a mood to try it yet, but I'd guess we'll be ready to try it before cities are. On the other hand, local businesses can't thrive without tourists, and it will be a while before anyone wants to attract out-of-towners in large numbers.

My view is that it's not where you're from, it's how you act, but frightened times are not when we're at our best trusting strangers to abide by social norms.

World Virus Watch said...

You can go to Corona virus tracker will help you in getting real time data, so that you can be aware about current condition, whether in rural or urban .

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Thank you, Unknown. I have a State of NH site that tells me I have about a dozen cases in my town - and where the other NH cases are - that I check every day, but not a more comprehensive one.

Anonymous said...

In BC we Hippies have flattened the curve rather well: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-ontario-quebec-covid-19-1.5524056

Watch Sweden for a less disciplined approach.

Tom Bridgeland said...

About 60 cases in the county I work in, and less than 10 where I live. Working in a hospital, I interact with the covid patients face to face, daily. It's a tough disease.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Tom, some of my duties require face-to-face, even on droplet precautions. Ironically, one of those is making a "Safety Plan."

Christopher B said...

Willis Eschenbach at Watt's Up With That has been doing daily models of various COVID-19 statistics for both U.S states and various countries.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/daily-coronavirus-covid-19-data-graph-page/#001

Scroll down to the last graph on 10 April. As Willis explains

"One more graphic. This one shows the different countries aligned when they hit 10 deaths per 10 million inhabitants.

US is in the middle of the pack (red/black line), right on track with Sweden where there have been almost no government lockdowns. Go figure."