Daily Southtown

Too many living in bubble of judgment

People approve of what fits their beliefs. If not, then everyone else is wrong.

- Jerry Davich jdavich@post-trib.com

Too many people live in a self-quarantine­d bubble.

Not the protective bubble againstCOV­ID-19, but a pretend bubble against our COVID-19 fears. We randomly pick and choose which precaution­s to followbase­d on a hodgepodge of beliefs that often conflict with each other. Yetwe continue to act on a blind faith of chosen theories despite its obvious hypocrisie­s.

For example, those people who insist that everyone elsewear a facial mask in public— at all times— although they’re allowed to be selective about it. If they choose towear a mask only in certain social situations, they expect others to simply nod and agree with their double standard.

I’ll bet you knowsomeon­e in your social circle who fits this two-faced descriptio­n. I’m tired of nodding and agreeing throughmy mask of smirks and sighs.

Eitherwear amask and practice social distancing for all social situations, or stop preaching to others howto do so during this public health crisis. It’s like sermonizin­g about going to heaven while doing deeds thatwill certainly send you to hell.

I’m sick of playing the pandemic game of pretend with these people.

I’ve noticed an emerging similarity between how people cherry-pick their scientific beliefs regarding this pandemic and how people cherry-pick their religious beliefs. If it fits their lifestyle, they approve. If not, everyone else is in the wrong.

This haughty attitude exposes a contagion of self-righteousn­ess that I’ve spent a lifetime to avoid. With both groups of zealots, we’re supposed to believe exactlywha­t they believe orwe’re the ones either going to hell or contractin­gCOVID-19.

Both of these judgments are contaminat­ed with a smugness that seeps through their mask or their faith. Preach less and practice more, I say. Otherwise it’s just more lieswe’re subjected to without a vaccinatio­n in sight.

According to PolitiFact, a nonpartisa­n fact-checking website to sort out the truth in American politics, the biggest lie of 2020 did not come from our president or any other politician.

The biggest lie involved any claims that “denied, downplayed or disinforme­d” aboutCOVID-19. “Lies infected America in 2020. The veryworstw­ere not just damaging, but deadly,” PolitiFact stated last month.

PolitiFact’s editor-inchief Angie DrobnicHol­an told the Poynter Institute, “Ultimately, we decided on lies about the coronaviru­s because health andwellbei­ng are at the core of what it means to be human. If you can’t keep yourself and your family safe and healthy, you can’t form a government with your fellowciti­zens. Life itself comes before democracy.”

I disagree with PolitiFact’s conclusion. I say the biggest lies are the oneswe tell ourselves, without enough (or any) proof, evidence or justificat­ion. Too many of us habitually lie to ourselves and expect everyone else to believe these lies.

TheCOVID-19 pandemic has only further revealed this ancient truth.

“There is absolutely­NO reason on God’s green earth for healthy people to be forced towearmask­s. This is democrat-political, 100%, and it meansSHUTY­OUR MOUTHSANDO­BEY,” wrote Scott Cullen, a reader from Tucson, Arizona. “That is why many of us refuse towear masks unless forced to, and thenwe take them off once inside. Because it is complete bull(expletive).”

Cullen continued to preach the gospel of what he believes is The Truth regarding this pandemic.

“No matter what Google, Snopes, and anyone else says, to those in the know that really control things, (call them the Illuminati, or whatever youwant, the superrich like Soros) COVID-19 really does mean C=SEE, OVID=SHEEP, 19=SURRENDER,” he wrote via email. “That’s why the corporate media was told to constantly call it ‘COVID-19,’ NOTthe Corona Virus. I refuse to be a dumb sheep.”

Like I said, too many people live in a self-quarantine­d bubble. Most of them are convinced that it’s other people who do so. It’s an unmasked illusion of arrogance.

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