The "learning to live with it" phase of the pandemic functions through widespread denial of the reality of ongoing harm.
That denial is paradoxically enabled by a basic tendency toward optimism, which although a positive trait gets in the way of effective action.
That denial is paradoxically enabled by a basic tendency toward optimism, which although a positive trait gets in the way of effective action.
Lauren Berlant calls this "cruel optimism," in the sense that the desire to always look on the bright side stops people from recognizing the harms being done to them, or doing anything to address those harms. The tendency is to believe "everything will work out for the best."
For example, mass infection means exposing young people to the virus over and over again. While parents may intellectually realize the risk, the intellectual realization is suppressed by the overwhelming need to believe their children are happy, healthy, and have bright futures.
Likewise, people may intellectually know there are significant risks from infection, not just of hospitalization and severe outcomes but also risks associated with long covid.
The optimistic impulse encourages them to believe it can't happen to them - until, that is, it does.
The optimistic impulse encourages them to believe it can't happen to them - until, that is, it does.
On the broader social level there is an optimistic tendency to believe in grand narratives of overcoming. Good inevitably triumphs and the righteous prevail.
In their day-to-day lives, people are obliged to act happy-busy-good, and to do otherwise is to be labelled a malcontent.
In their day-to-day lives, people are obliged to act happy-busy-good, and to do otherwise is to be labelled a malcontent.
Optimism is a positive trait in many ways. It can help us see the best in others and to strive to achieve great things, even in the face of adversity.
But it is also something that can enable enormous harm when it functions as a mechanism of denial.
But it is also something that can enable enormous harm when it functions as a mechanism of denial.
To say optimism as it relates to the pandemic is cruel is not a call for pessimism, but rather for a hard-nosed realism. It is a call for a clear recognition of the enormous harm being done, followed by reasonable and readily available measures to stop unchecked mass infection.
As it relates to the current stage of the pandemic, optimism is getting in the way of many people recognizing the harm to themselves, their loved ones, and their communities.
And it is getting in the way of doing anything to stop those harms.
And it is getting in the way of doing anything to stop those harms.
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