Stiff Neck
Richard Russo had run out of sympathy for COVID skeptics, he wrote in April—until he remembered his father.
Thanks for Richard Russo’s thoughtful essay about loss of sympathy for anti-vaxxers. The way Russo related this global issue to his personal experience with his in-laws, and the sometimes-outdated views his late father espoused from his barstool, reaffirmed why he is one of my favorite writers. And his point about how lack of access to good health care has contributed to the anti-vax movement is something I hadn’t fully considered.
However, the bigger problem remains: Those who spread COVID skepticism—or racism, like Russo’s dad—don’t just hurt themselves; they damage society at large. Perhaps, as Russo suggests, writing about others, and reading about them, can give us the empathy many seem to be lacking.
Adam Idelson
New York, N.Y.
Just before reading Richard Russo’s beautiful essay, I was reviewing my students’ answers to various multiple-choice questions on a recent quiz. Just about everyone got most of the questions right, but for one particular question, half of the students selected the wrong answer. When that happens, either the question was phrased in a confusing way or the instructor failed to communicate the underlying principle effectively. It would clearly be inappropriate to conclude that because they selected the wrong response, half of the students must be fools. As Russo so artfully points out, the same is true of refusals to wear a mask or receive inoculations to protect against COVID-19. If a large share of the population refuses to follow publichealth recommendations, then something is wrong either with the way important messages are delivered or with the way many people’s life experiences are understood. As a society, we must learn to do better on both fronts. Along the way, Russo’s comments may help restore an appropriate level of compassion for those who suffer needlessly.
Steve Weissman
Lecturer, UC Berkeley
Goldman School of Public Policy
Berkeley, Calif.
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