Reason Why People Can Align To Social Distancing During The COVID-19 Pandemic
The simple answer? Because it’s the entire world, and that’s too much even to imagine. Although everyone entitled to give an opinion such as doctors, scientists, law enforcement, politicians tell us to stay away from any social manifestation that is not absolutely necessary, some of our own kind find reasons to disobey. Without carrying that their actions are susceptible to spreading coronavirus and COVID-19, people still indulge themselves in reprovable actions, trying to live their lives like there is no coronavirus pandemic out there.
Antisocial behavior has lots of conscious and unconscious reasons. Antisocial behavior is the human being’s incapacity to adapt to what society needs to exist. And community needs for every citizen to give up something he/she thinks or feels he/she deserves or needs. To be social means we can’t do whatever we please. It means adjusting our wishes and expectations of what society can give us. And now, society needs us to remain social by social distancing.
We have a common enemy, and that is not the society asking you to stay home. Our enemy is a microscopic form of life that can end ours. Hygiene is mandatory, but it is not enough. We can carry pieces of COVID-19 virus on our sleeves, on our shoes, on our hair, purse, coat, jeans, phone, cigarette, EVERYWHERE. There is no place that we can hide from it, except our home, where we don’t enter with our shoes on and don’t put the clothes we wore outside on the back of a chair.
It might sound like a neurotic crisis, and for some of us, it is. But this time, the neurosis has a real reason, and it can keep us safe. Now is the time when neurosis is helpful, and an easy mind can hurt the ones around us and us. For those of us that see and understand the magnitude of what the world is living, it is almost impossible also to understand how others cannot see it.
Disobeying social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic
How can they believe that they are right in walking on the streets, meeting their friends, visiting, hugging, not keeping the distance when they pass by you, coughing without covering their mouths with a tissue and then putting their hands all over the products on a shelf or the bus’s bars? It’s unimaginable. But there it is. The other side of reality is mocking you with its unconsciousness. Psychology has an explanation for this kind of antisocial behavior: thinking errors.
Overgeneralizing, minimizing, emotional reasoning, know-it-all, and entitlement are behavior generators. When people act, they always have a reason. A thought or belief hides behind every action. And sometimes they are wrong. It is tough for those living with these thoughts to see or to accept that they might be wrong. They believe in them, have feelings that tell them they are right. And, in this situation, they shouldn’t accept that they are just wrong but that they are also guilty of spreading a killing coronavirus.
“If I distance myself, that could prevent up to 2 million deaths in the US only?! It can’t be!” It’s where things become unimaginable form them. They can’t accept that they are THAT wrong. And this is the point where the thinking errors start. “Where is the threat? I don’t feel it!” “Everyone is exaggerating!” “I’ve been here, and I know it can’t be that bad!” ”It can’t happen to me, and I’m not in the risk category!” “It will be okay. I’m telling you!” “No one can tell me what to do!”
It is a form of mental blindness. We must be aware that we can’t make everyone see what we see, even if we are right. Seeing is believing. It’s part of being human. We believe in different gods, and some gods can’t be reached with reason. And this kind of babel, where every god speaks a different language, makes an alignment impossible. And this might be our road to perdition.
As our second lead editor, Anna C. Mackinno provides guidance on the stories Great Lakes Ledger reporters cover. She has been instrumental in making sure the content on the site is clear and accurate for our readers. If you see a particularly clever title, you can likely thank Anna. Anna received a BA and and MA from Fordham University.
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