Thread by @dcpetterson

Big events change culture. The Civil War, WW1, the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, WW2, the Civil Rights movement--all these things (and others) altered our language, our habits, our imagery, and even our myths.

Covid will do so as well.

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"One small step for man"... "Ask not what your country can do for you"... "We have nothing to fear but fear itself"... "Fourscore and seven years ago"...

Even "Beam me up, Scotty."

We can go through history and pull quotes, images, customs that are created by events.

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Growing up, I was taught to always rinse a glass before using it. Take it from the cupboard, half fill it with water, swish it around, pour it out. Then fill it with whatever you were going to drink (milk, water, whatever). This is what we all did. I never understood why.

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As an adult, I learned more about history. My parents grew up during the Dust Bowl. Dust storms would sweep across the nation, covering everything in a layer of dirt. Even glassware and dishes stored away in the cupboard would get coated with dust. Yes, clean before you use.

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Events change culture.

After Covid, handwashing will be a fetish. Shaking hands and hugging strangers will be less common. Physical isolation, encouraged already by our electronic culture, will be accelerated. More people will work from home.

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It may be that in certain circumstances, showing one's face will be as scandalous as a nude beach. We may see a return to opera masks as a fashion statement.

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It will be clear whether a book or a movie was created before, or after, the pandemic, because the social customs engaged in by the characters will tell us the era. Already, seeing old movies from a year ago, I cringe and the open-face-ed-ness of public acts.

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I don't know for sure how this will play out. But our culture =will= change.

That's just from covid.

Trumpian fascism will alter the world irrevocably in countless other ways, even if we defeat it next month.

Speculate on the changes.

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