10 things I have learned about society in the UK and Ireland since the pandemic began: 🧵
1. Ableism is baked into society. My father, who developed a seizure disorder late in life, understood this all too well. I only really understand it now.
2. Most people have shockingly low levels of both resilience and adaptability. This I always knew.
3. Progressive academics are, in general, hypocrites. I have less of a problem with right-wing people not masking because at least they're being honest. If you're making a career out of pretending to care, but you're not wearing a mask at conferences, you're a hypocrite.
4. Also, people who profess to loathe the government and express extreme distrust in anything politicians say are very quick to set that sentiment aside when it suits them. Which tells you a lot about people's core values.
5. Society is extraordinarily resistant to change. I absolutely understand people wanting to eat and drink in restaurants and bars - that's totally natural - but when people are resistant to something as banal as HEPA filtration, that tells you something.
6. People lie all the time. I've lost count of the number of times people have told me they mask indoors but then the pictures pop up on social media...
7. People are very vulnerable to peer pressure. Men I know who try really hard to project an image of being a tough, hard guy have let slip to me that, 'they don't like people looking at them' - because they're wearing a mask.
8. Scientific experts are far from neutral. Science itself is not a neutral, objective pursuit. An aside: the single most important part of my education in terms of understanding this idea was taking a Philosophy of Science module in 1992. Kuhn and Feyerabend. Thanks @UlsterUni
9. Similar to (3), most peoples' declared compassion for others in society is fundamentally performative. It wasn't that long ago when people stood outside and clapped for carers. Thomas Hobbes was absolutely spot on.
10. Magical thinking is everywhere, from governments to individuals. Even the most rational of people are vulnerable to it. Hope is not a strategy.
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