Dr.Phil, Dr.Trump, Dr.Brois, Dr.Uncle, Dr.Auntie…It seems as if everyone is an expert nowadays doesn’t it? From talk-shows to news and all the way to Whatsapp chains, there are hoards of people that fail to understand the basis of constructive communication. This notion is harmful in general, as when information is doctored for a certain purpose, it loses its ability to illustrate the truth in favor of its more personal goals. An even scarier notion is when everyone looks to a layman to spread the truth. A scissor is not dangerous in its own, but there as two ends from which you can hand it over, and if enough people learn to hand over a blade, it can have tangible repercussions.
A simple example of wrong information is “herd immunity”, an actual concept that is often misunderstood, and this understanding shows visible outcomes in the UK. Dr.Boris Johnson publicly stated that the UK should all become immune to the coronavirus through herd immunity, a fabulous concept in bright wording. What his idea of herd immunity really means is to simply get everyone infected immediately. Simultaneous infection is the best way to guarantee the maximum possible death rate as the healthcare system’s main goal right now is to spread the cases out long enough so that the infection rate matches with the treatment rate, “herd immunity” ensures that the least amount of people have access to medical support at any given point. Dr.Boris lead the UK into complacency and allowed the virus the spread rapidly, thus putting the UK into a far worse situation than they could’ve been had he done his research. This is a prime portrayal of the fact that the lack of expertise and readiness in belief cause real impacts in dire times, it’s likely that a few thousand people have been unnecessarily though this misunderstanding.
Preaching advice for others about what you don’t know will hurt the listeners, but what about preaching for yourself? Suburban America has literal mobs people prowling through the street screaming in bands to end social distancing as it is an encroachment on their rights. These protestors state that their perilous and appalling needs for “haircuts” – obviously humankind’s most basic survival condition, right there above the lives of others - overrules a tried and tested technique to suppress a pandemic that has worked in nearly every single country in which it has been employed, and has saved a few thousand lives; Clearly, you would expect Donald Trump, a person who has gone on record in support of the lockdown and president who should act in the interest of protecting the people, to quell such counterproductive rebellions. Betraying all sense of consistency and all scientific logic, Dr.Trump has decided to diagnose his country with cabin fever, the new most important pandemic of America. When social distancing was all the craze, he was in support but has suddenly shifted his stance, it’s almost as if he sides with the highest populace to maintain a good image, how uncharacteristic. One can see the personal significance of public approval, but I take issue with the fact that his previous support controlled the virus, and this new ideal posts crowds within the proximity of transmission and allows deluded self-righteous people with no real arguments to hide behind fake diseases and say cabin fever and hair prove that scientific solutions to combat infection are illegitimate. These people have taken it upon themselves to beat the bones out of Asian-Americans – and touch and spread the virus- who have never been to China as justice for bringing COVID-19 from there in the spirit of America.
Whether it’s false nationalism and the support of baseless belief for individual motives, or simply the lack of understanding, the people in the spotlight who pretend to know things cause the people in the right and the wrong to get hurt. As an individual, the best things we can do are keep in mind the credibility and intentions of our sources, practice the information from those sources that meet the right standards in regards, and maybe give more guff to those who don’t. Check your scissors before you take them, manipulators and the less informed like to hand you the sharp end.