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Our inane country is not the only one where belligerence and conspiracism have taken hold of large numbers of people. I would submit, though, that America will always be the loudest and most obnoxious about it. Still, Michael J. Stern visited Great Britain recently, and his findings do not offer much hope for humanity. Willful ignorance is more contagious than even the virus itself -
I thought COVID-19 anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers were a unique phenomenon of American stupidity, but having just returned from a two-week trip to England, I fear that the reckless response to a virus that has killed almost 5 million people worldwide is not an American thing — it’s a human thing.
Many of us who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 and who have committed to the discomfort of wearing masks in indoor public places, have spent the better part of a year fuming at the estimated 93 million Americans who are eligible to receive the vaccine but refuse it — and the people who ignore mask requirements and walk through indoor public spaces with their mask hanging off one ear.
I figured this callous disregard for the safety of others had its genesis in the wave of anti-science paranoia that was stoked by our 45th president, but I witnessed the same wanton negligence an ocean away.
When the United Kingdom finally lifted its quarantine requirements for vaccinated American visitors in August, I quickly planned a trip to visit my partner, a Brit, whom I had not seen for 20 months.
I knew that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had lifted virtually all vaccination and mask requirements to access public places, but I was confident that British common sense and courtesy would prevail. Boy, was I wrong. (Read more)
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