Unmasking False Dichotomies

Last updated on: May 14, 2020 at 7:49 am by Jennifer Fitz

Unmasking False Dichotomies 2020-05-14T07:49:46-05:00 Jennifer Fitz

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

As I mentioned the other day, I & mine are doing fine this coronatide, other than a sturdy dose of ordinary life, though I suppose my suddenly becoming a conversational twitterist is right up there with sourdough (check) as a sign of just how precarious our sanity is around here. As a result of this plunge into madness, I find myself now having to do the previously unthinkable and point out that RR Reno has lost his logic.

Quotes from the screenshots that we’ll be addressing today:

Now we know who want to cower in place. By all means rage against those who want to live.

And:

Just to reinforce. Talked to my son in Seattle. The mask culture is fear driven. Mask+cowardice. It’s a regime dominated by fear of infection and fear of causing infection. Both are species of cowardice.

I can’t speak for Seattle. I live in that reddest of red states, and I observed this morning that our reported COVID-19 deaths year-to-date are tracking with our 2019 traffic fatalities year-to-date. Here’s our situation on the ground, for those who are curious:

SC Department of Health is promoting mask usage as one of a list of precautions to reduce the risk of transmitting the novel coronavirus;
Governor McMaster eased us into a partial shutdown and now he’s easing us back out of it again, with a focus on protecting vulnerable populations, maintaining hospital capacity (so far so good), and keeping open anything that can safely be kept open;
Industry groups are developing voluntary guidelines for modified business practices in high-risk industries (restaurants, hair salons, gyms, etc.);
Neither God nor guns were ever taken off the market (this is ‘Murica), but public boat ramps and shooting ranges did have to be closed for a hot minute and if we go back to being naughty “nothing is off the table.” Let that be a warning to you, citizens, I am your governor and this time I mean it. Quit making the Coast Guard have to break up your coronacation parties.

I don’t think “fearful” describes the climate here. If you know enough people in enough places, you know someone under 50 who’s died of COVID-19. As elsewhere, nursing homes in particular and the elderly in general are the most likely to be struck down. And thus, because we are the kind of state that we are, some people are quite cautious; some people are modifying their behaviors to be more careful but with little lapses like the receptionist at the doctor’s office whose employer-mandated mask covered only one of her two airways; and some people feel like it’s just not living if you aren’t sitting on dynamite while jumping your ATV over a gully full of copperheads.

So, to answer the question that our COVID-19 statistics shove in one’s face: Yes, you should be a little bit scared when you are driving in South Carolina. A healthy fear, properly ordered, leads to many a tale of people who almost-but-were-not killed by that guy driving home from the bar at four in the morning when you were headed out to the deer stand.

Thus my disappointment with RR Reno.

I realize he lives immersed in the culture of the American elite, and that it’s not paranoia when they really are out to get you. It is my firm hope that he can get himself a sabbatical in some red state paradise where the Walmarts are bustling but yes, most of us wear masks. Because right now he’s got a nasty case of False Dichotomy Disease.

Newsflash: It is possible to both think that widespread usage of face coverings, handwashing, physical distancing, and a daily brisk walk in the springtime sunshine are great public health measures in the face of a potentially-deadly illness for which the best-trained physicians in the world have only completed a few month’s residency thus far and to not be cowering in terror, but in fact to be doing all one can to live as normal a life as possible.

It is possible to both think that face masks in general are a low-cost, common-sense way to slow the spread of an airborne respiratory virus and hold that there are many good reasons this or that person might not use a mask, and that even in high-risk situations, there are often other options (face shields, plexiglass, distance, holding your breath while you dash past the lady blocking the aisle) if for some reason using a mask is not a good choice.

It is possible to both think that one should do everything possible to protect vulnerable workers who spend all day dealing with the public up close and personal and think that states should be doing all they can to keep businesses open.

Goodness gracious it is even possible to think that COVID-19 is a very serious disease and think that responsibility for public health resides primarily with the states, with local communities, with business owners, and with the personal choices of private citizens — not with federal dictate.

I may be proven wrong, and every time I hear of a comparatively young and healthy person dying of COVID-19 I feel almost as scared, for a moment, as I do when I’m riding shotgun with my 15-year-old student driver careening down the interstate in a construction zone. Not quite, though.

Statistically speaking, it is my belief after reviewing the data that I personally am in far more danger teaching my kid to drive than I am going to Walmart under our present local culture of mask-wearing, plexiglass, physical spacing, and me holding my breath as I pass elderly shoppers who can’t figure out the directional arrows on the aisles.

But it is also an established fact that my community is passing around a respiratory virus that is spread by healthy, asymptomatic adults who share the air with other people. It appears that mask-wearing offers some help, when combined with other simple, low-cost behavioral changes, in protecting vulnerable persons from catching the virus while they carry out necessary activities. Why on earth would I stubbornly object to a minor inconvenience that might buy someone a few more years with their grandchildren?

Furthermore, it is also possible that I am one of those vulnerable persons and don’t know it. There is no way to know ahead of time if my experience of the novel coronavirus will be nothing at all, death, or something in between. It’s beautiful out this time of year, and I’d rather be gardening than monitoring my O2 stats as I sweat my way through the worst flu-like illness of my life. As a master procrastinator, to my mind there is a third way, in between cowardice and bravado: I could just try to avoid the thing as long as possible? Why not?

It's All Catholic

South Carolina

Thinking Topics

Previous Post

April 2, 2020

Public Health Logic vs. #MasksForAll

Next Post

May 19, 2020 R.R. Reno Does the Right Thing

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Books Catechesis Catholic Q&A Chastity Church Craziness Come See Me Talk Disability & Chronic Illness Economics Evangelization Facepalm Forgiveness Good Things History Homeschooling Human Rights It's All Catholic Listen to Me Survey Series Liturgical Living Marriage Modesty Not Satire. But almost. Rant-o-Rama Sacred Art & Music Satire South Carolina Spark Clutter Stick that Corner Suffering Thinking Topics Writing Stuff

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 July 2026 June 2026 January 2026 December 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 November 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 May 2019 April 2019 February 2019 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was Jesus' first miracle?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Turning water into wine Healing a blind man Walking on water Feeding the 5,000