Thursday, April 2, 2020

Looking Forward

The first best thing about gaining control over the spread of COVID-19 will be the reduction in risk for people likely to be hardest hit by it. The second will be the lightening of the burden borne by health-care professionals, and the third will be the return of children and teachers to their classrooms.

The fourth will be the end of my social media feed's endless presentations by everyone I know telling me I'm doing it wrong.

Of course they're not addressed directly to me. But some people have a rather exalted idea of how many people see their posts. Yes, if my posts are public then theoretically everyone can see them. But in reality not even everyone on my friends list sees them; I have no doubt that some folks have unfollowed me over the course of my time online and of the remaining people I've probably receded enough into some of their pasts that they just scroll on by unless I include a clever eye-catching image.

So in reality, if I choose to post a meme/sermon telling people it's time to get it together or pay attention or take this seriously or think of the vulnerable or some other phrase that makes it clear I as the poster am much much wiser and more compassionate, the only people I'm going to tell that to are people I already know. And despite their obvious poor judgment in friend selection, I'm pretty confident they understand what they need to do. If they don't, and they've ignored health officials, presidents, celebrities and newsMuppets, I can't for the life of me figure out why they'd pay attention to me.

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