"But one class—one class—that I took in high school taught me skills that I still use today, all day, every day. It is the one class, had I not taken it, that I’d be dumber, slower, worse off without today. It was the definition of what a class should do: It gave me knowledge that I would rely upon the rest of my life.
"My sophomore year of high school: I took Typing..."
10-4, good buddy. Me too. And I still remember the strawberry blonde teacher, maybe ten years older, coifed and girdled and mascara'ed and Maidenformed and high-heeled within an inch of her life, who fueled a pubescent teen's fantasies--until she was observed in shorts and tank top and flip-flops, hair blown awry by the ocean wind, eating a Dairy Queen cone and pushing a stroller in company of another similarly attired young matron with stroller. Today they'd be right at home in Walmart. But she still taught me to type...er, keyboard.
I always love your work, Will, but I was disappointed in your article about "off ramps" from the public health protections. Exactly why should we be searching for off ramps? Daily transmission rates are still in the mid 70,000s (and slightly RISING) and daily deaths are still in the 1,200 range. That's the EXACT range we were in a year ago before the massive, devastating winter wave. And Europe is experiencing another wave currently that will almost certainly be our near future. Not only are we "not close" we're still smack dab in the middle of a global pandemic with no obvious way forward except vaccinations and masks and public health orders.
My sense is that elite liberals are obsessed with "off ramps" because, for them, the pandemic IS essentially over - THEY are vaccinated, THEY do not feel threatened, THEY are tired of the little inconveniences, etc. Let's start thinking about off ramps when we're down under 10,000 daily cases and, say, 200 daily deaths, for a couple of WINTER months and our vaccination rate is above 80%.
I mean, I understand this: I try to bring up these points in the piece. But I'd also point you to David Wallace-Wells' piece about this, who writes about this in a far better, smarter and more eloquent way than I did.
I think my larger point is that I think most people either: a) have done everything they can to try to do the right thing and aren't sure what more they can or are supposed to do, and are thus exhausted; or b) have never really changed their behavior during the pandemic in the first place and certainly aren't going to start now. I mean, I'm still wearing masks, I'll continue to, I'll do the right thing. But the idea that we shouldn't be looking for off-ramps is weird. I mean, obviously we should be looking for off-ramps! No one wants to live like this forever! I don't think we should do it "next week." But I also do not think it is irresponsible to try to figure out how to live in a world where you've done everything you can to protect you and the people around you and, as we see every single freaking day, find it pretty impossible to change the hearts of minds of people who don't or won't.
Thanks for the response and I hope DWW is correct about the therapies. But I think there's something uniquely American (and elite liberalist) to the desire for "a return to normality" because "I've done everything right" - it reduces problems of collective action to individual ethical choice frameworks (classic America) and it rejects the idea of permanent exogenous societal changes that are outside of our individual choice framework (also classic America).
As an example, I will point to the fact that in many parts of southeast Asia face masks have been common and everywhere for decades - whether there's a pandemic or not. Why shouldn't this be our future? Why is this not on the table? I would gently suggest that it's because we believe the implicit foundation of society and reality is something like "I did my part and now I should get to do whatever I want regardless of the facts on the ground for anyone else." I'm not saying that is where you are coming from *personally* but rather that this is the water in which we swim - and the desire for off ramps is a clear manifestation of that implicit foundation.
I understand all of this, and I don't really disagree. But there is the world as we would like it to be and the world as it is. I agree that both of things are Classic America. They are also, for better or worse, America.
What is the point of scolding people who got vaccinated? I wear a mask still in public, but if you people are going to do that for decades in America...probably not even most liberals wouldn't entertain that.
"you people" seems pretty loaded here. not sure who or what you're angry at. i just don't want people to die unnecessarily and if changing my life patterns in fairly minimal ways reduces the chances of that happening then i think all of us should very happily do that for as long as possible - and forever, if necessary.
COVID-19 will never go away. It will at some point become endemic (like the annual flu) and there will (hopefully) be a lower risk of transmission and, most critically, severe illness. But it will never go away. And the important questions right now are (1) what do we owe each other (morally, ethically, in solidarity) until it comes endemic and (2) what potentially permanent changes need to be made to society to protect those who remain most at risk?
The present elite discussion of "off ramps" does not critically engage with either of these questions.
In high school, my social studies teacher was also our typing teacher. I remember telling her that I thought this class was stupid and a waste of time. She told me I couldn't be more wrong and that this skill is something you'll use until your fingers don't work anymore. Thank you, Mrs. Wilhelm for getting me to take it seriously.
I will always regret the gap year I took between high school and college. I sat at the typewriter to type a paper for freshman English and-nothing! The skill was gone.....
I have terrible handwriting. My 8th grade typing class saved me. Thanks for writing this wonderful essay.
"But one class—one class—that I took in high school taught me skills that I still use today, all day, every day. It is the one class, had I not taken it, that I’d be dumber, slower, worse off without today. It was the definition of what a class should do: It gave me knowledge that I would rely upon the rest of my life.
"My sophomore year of high school: I took Typing..."
10-4, good buddy. Me too. And I still remember the strawberry blonde teacher, maybe ten years older, coifed and girdled and mascara'ed and Maidenformed and high-heeled within an inch of her life, who fueled a pubescent teen's fantasies--until she was observed in shorts and tank top and flip-flops, hair blown awry by the ocean wind, eating a Dairy Queen cone and pushing a stroller in company of another similarly attired young matron with stroller. Today they'd be right at home in Walmart. But she still taught me to type...er, keyboard.
I always love your work, Will, but I was disappointed in your article about "off ramps" from the public health protections. Exactly why should we be searching for off ramps? Daily transmission rates are still in the mid 70,000s (and slightly RISING) and daily deaths are still in the 1,200 range. That's the EXACT range we were in a year ago before the massive, devastating winter wave. And Europe is experiencing another wave currently that will almost certainly be our near future. Not only are we "not close" we're still smack dab in the middle of a global pandemic with no obvious way forward except vaccinations and masks and public health orders.
My sense is that elite liberals are obsessed with "off ramps" because, for them, the pandemic IS essentially over - THEY are vaccinated, THEY do not feel threatened, THEY are tired of the little inconveniences, etc. Let's start thinking about off ramps when we're down under 10,000 daily cases and, say, 200 daily deaths, for a couple of WINTER months and our vaccination rate is above 80%.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/12/covid-cases-surging-europe-america-denial
I mean, I understand this: I try to bring up these points in the piece. But I'd also point you to David Wallace-Wells' piece about this, who writes about this in a far better, smarter and more eloquent way than I did.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/11/there-is-finally-a-visible-way-out-of-the-covid-pandemic.html
I think my larger point is that I think most people either: a) have done everything they can to try to do the right thing and aren't sure what more they can or are supposed to do, and are thus exhausted; or b) have never really changed their behavior during the pandemic in the first place and certainly aren't going to start now. I mean, I'm still wearing masks, I'll continue to, I'll do the right thing. But the idea that we shouldn't be looking for off-ramps is weird. I mean, obviously we should be looking for off-ramps! No one wants to live like this forever! I don't think we should do it "next week." But I also do not think it is irresponsible to try to figure out how to live in a world where you've done everything you can to protect you and the people around you and, as we see every single freaking day, find it pretty impossible to change the hearts of minds of people who don't or won't.
(But DWW says it better.)
Thanks for the response and I hope DWW is correct about the therapies. But I think there's something uniquely American (and elite liberalist) to the desire for "a return to normality" because "I've done everything right" - it reduces problems of collective action to individual ethical choice frameworks (classic America) and it rejects the idea of permanent exogenous societal changes that are outside of our individual choice framework (also classic America).
As an example, I will point to the fact that in many parts of southeast Asia face masks have been common and everywhere for decades - whether there's a pandemic or not. Why shouldn't this be our future? Why is this not on the table? I would gently suggest that it's because we believe the implicit foundation of society and reality is something like "I did my part and now I should get to do whatever I want regardless of the facts on the ground for anyone else." I'm not saying that is where you are coming from *personally* but rather that this is the water in which we swim - and the desire for off ramps is a clear manifestation of that implicit foundation.
https://www.voanews.com/a/science-health_coronavirus-outbreak_not-just-coronavirus-asians-have-worn-face-masks-decades/6185597.html
I understand all of this, and I don't really disagree. But there is the world as we would like it to be and the world as it is. I agree that both of things are Classic America. They are also, for better or worse, America.
What is the point of scolding people who got vaccinated? I wear a mask still in public, but if you people are going to do that for decades in America...probably not even most liberals wouldn't entertain that.
"you people" seems pretty loaded here. not sure who or what you're angry at. i just don't want people to die unnecessarily and if changing my life patterns in fairly minimal ways reduces the chances of that happening then i think all of us should very happily do that for as long as possible - and forever, if necessary.
I believe Will is correct, and I think mask-wearing is not going to be going on for years if COVID mostly goes away.
COVID-19 will never go away. It will at some point become endemic (like the annual flu) and there will (hopefully) be a lower risk of transmission and, most critically, severe illness. But it will never go away. And the important questions right now are (1) what do we owe each other (morally, ethically, in solidarity) until it comes endemic and (2) what potentially permanent changes need to be made to society to protect those who remain most at risk?
The present elite discussion of "off ramps" does not critically engage with either of these questions.
In high school, my social studies teacher was also our typing teacher. I remember telling her that I thought this class was stupid and a waste of time. She told me I couldn't be more wrong and that this skill is something you'll use until your fingers don't work anymore. Thank you, Mrs. Wilhelm for getting me to take it seriously.
I will always regret the gap year I took between high school and college. I sat at the typewriter to type a paper for freshman English and-nothing! The skill was gone.....