There's a fundamental problem with our campaign to get people to wear masks. It's pretty obvious, but here it is:
Socrates: Our greatest healers and physicians are united in urging us to wear masks in order to fight the plague that runs rampant among us. Do you believe their advice to be sound?
Glaucon: Why yes.
Socrates: And what evidence do they offer that you find so persuasive?
Glaucon: It is obvious that masks reduce the expulsion of bad airs from breathing and coughing. If I am suffering from the plague—but still out in the agora because I am not yet feeling any ill effects—it diminishes the number of malignant corpuscles that I introduce into the world.
Socrates: So when you wear a mask, you do it to help other people, not yourself?
Glaucon: That is so. It is not perfect, but it is still beneficent to the good health of Athens.
Socrates: And you consider this a virtuous act.
Glaucon: Indeed I do. A respect for the good of society is one of the highest virtues.
Socrates: Quite so. But you'll admit that not everyone thinks as you do.
Glaucon: Unhappily, all my experience among men teaches me that you are right.
Socrates: So on the one side, we have your fellow citizens of virtue. They are the most likely to heed the advice of our physicians, are they not?
Glaucon: I cannot disagree.
Socrates: And being virtuous, they have probably already visited a physician and procured for themselves a potion that protects against the plague?
Glaucon: Indeed, I myself have done so. I believe it was called a "vaccine."
Socrates: And what does this "vaccine" accomplish?
Glaucon: It greatly reduces the chance of catching the plague.
Socrates: And therefore reduces the chance of expelling plague particles into the world.
Glaucon: I would think so. It seems a matter of simple logic.
Socrates: Now let us attend to those who are less virtuous than Glaucon. Have they procured this vaccine?
Glaucon: Lamentably, many have not. They are known as anti-vaxxers.
Socrates: And how do they feel about masks?
Glaucon: They hate them with a holy passion.
Socrates: Allow me to summarize. On the one hand, we have the virtuous, who are vaccinated and pose little threat. They are also the ones most likely to heed warnings to wear masks.
Glaucon: Yes.
Socrates: On the other hand, we have the non-virtuous, who are unvaccinated and pose a great threat. Yet they are the ones least likely to heed mask warnings.
Glaucon: It is sadly so.
Socrates: And what does this tell us about the effectiveness of our great oratory in favor of mask wearing?
Glaucon: That it is most effective among those who need it least, and least effective among those who need it most.
Socrates: Quite so. As Aristotle taught us, persuasion is an emotional appeal, not a logical one.
Glaucon: Aristotle has not been born yet.
Socrates: Ah, you are right, my young apprentice. My apologies.
Glaucon: But this puts me in mind of something.
Socrates: I thought it might. Go on.
Glaucon: Surely persuasion is not our only possible tool?
Socrates: Of course not. What other means are commonly used in a democratic polis?
Glaucon: Why, the underlying authority of any state is based on the use of force. Indeed, the legitimate use of force is normally restricted to the state.
Socrates: And is this applicable to our present predicament?
Glaucon: Of course. It has long been agreed that a pandemic justifies the most vigorous application of state power. The ekklesia could, in perfect justice, simply mandate both vaccines and masks.
Socrates: And yet they don't.
Glaucon: There are some limited mandates. But I concede the point. Without mandates, mere campaigns to increase mask wearing are probably close to useless.
Socrates: As the Byzantines learned to their regret.
Glaucon: Another anachronism.
Socrates: Sorry.
We need Hungary to followAustria in imposing a national vaccine mandate for the entire population. It would create a dilemma for the likes of Tucker Carlson that could well render them totally incoherent.
They just ignore what they do not want to hear--and their audience will not know...
They are already totally incoherent.
Their audience already confuses Austria with Australia, and Western Austrailia (WA) with Washington State.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/1/20/1583615/-After-140-anti-vaxx-chronicles-this-rapture-watcher-finally-broke-me
theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/31/ted-cruz-confuses-washington-state-with-western-australia-in-attack-on-covid-kill-joys
Say WA?
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5353303
Stupid 101
Socrates: And what does this tell us about the effectiveness of our great oratory in favor of mask wearing?
It identifies the bad without equivocation, and brings into high relief the better world we cannot have entirely because they are here.
If the mask weren't around they'd find something else to be bad about, of greater or lesser import, but with some idiosyncrasy. The mask identifies them all at once.
I mean lack of mask, of course.
My elementary school teacher/daughter informs me that the vast majority of the students at her school who get Covid are unvaccinated. And their parents are the most likely to send their kid to school with symptoms. A conundrum indeed.
7 of 21 in my wife's kinder class are now out with Covid, all in the past 2 days.
Not sure how bad this has to get before the right people realize remote learning isn't the worst thing in the world.
Yes. The alternative in so many cases at the present time is substitute teachers, combined classes and/or multiple study-hall periods, due to staff out on quarantine. Students may be back in the school building, but it was fantasy to think that schooling would be back to normal.
Somebody tell those Greeks about US federal courts. Last week SCOTUS overturned the mandate for federal contractors. Today another court blocked the mandate for federal workers. Taking a cue from the courts, companies like Starbucks are reversing their mandates.
Saying we need mandates doesn't change the fact that we are done with them. At least at a national level.
The virus will continue to burn through the population until every man, woman, and child who is not vaccinated gets infected. Most will survive. Many will die.
That's about the best-case scenario. The worst would be a more contagious and deadly variant emerges. The healthcare system is already at the breaking point. The breaking point for society at large may not be as far off as we think.
In some ways, the mandates have done most of their job--and least with those companies who went ahead and implemented them while needing the cover of the federal mandate.
With the current rulings, it's becoming increasingly clear that the Republican party and their justices are turning into a death cult. Cruelty is the point? I keep hoping their fever would break
What is interesting to me is the pool of unvaccinated that basically provide an environment for mutations. Some ;pools, like Florida, whose economy basically depends on visitors, provide super spreader sites, like a donnie rally, that infect travelers.
A highly infectious mutation that kills after ten to twenty days of asymptomatic presentation would seem likely, providing the virus a terrific opportunity to not just survive, but prosper.
I cannot figure out who is smarter, the virus or DeSantis.
Spring Break seemed to have done a good job of seeding the virus across the country early on....
What is the prognosis for an equally or more contagious and much more aggressive strain which is still well-controlled by vaccines? It seems that would be the Best of All Possible Worlds.
It would, if we could be certain that there were no other side-effects of getting Covid for those who survive (whether asymptomatic or hospitalised or anywhere in between.)
A couple of centuries of the flu have shown that it doesn't seem to have long term consequences*. Covid has only been around for a couple of years but we can't be so confident; "long Covid" may yet turn out to be a real and significant thing.
If a sizeable percentage of Covid 'survivors' end up with long-term conditions, that could prove to be just as bad.
*at least not at scale because it's largely been controlled. There clearly are some small number of people who get serious side-effects for some reason but that's true of anything.
“…every man, woman, and child who is not vaccinated gets infected. Most will survive. Many will die.”
You know… I’ve made my peace with that eventuality. We can’t help people who don’t want to be helped. It’s time to leave them be. Or shoot them… I’m good with either. 😂
I am not at peace with that, because many of us who have particular medical conditions are also vulnerable even if vaccinated and boosted (just not as even more vulnerable as we'd be if we weren't). That's not even counting those who are medically prevented from being vaccinated. It's not safe for us to go out without mandates, so I'm not.
The Biden administration continues to miss the opportunity to add COVID vaccination status to the tiny list of conditions -- smoking being the only one right now -- that insurers are allowed to add surcharges to insurance rates to meet the ACA requirements. I'd denote a ceiling of $500 for monthly surcharges, so as to allow insurers to target $500 specifically. Simultaneously, he could offset by requiring insurers to deduct $250 for people who are vaccinated.
He could also add an EO on crisis care/triage putting the vaccinated and those whose conditions prevent them from being vaccinated, at the front of the line for hospital beds and free monoclonal antibodies as well as other free FDA-approved treatment drugs.
No need to coerce, just add incentives to get vaccinated.
I like Glaucon. He keeps Socrates on his toes and brooks no sophistry.......
Omicron is vastly contagious so that vaccinated people are still a significant risk in the aggregate. Less effective is still significantly effective.
Also n95s mean your mask also protects you.
Kevin, this is a great post. You've passed Rhetoric with an A+!
Also wanted to say this, didn't have anything else to add to the conversation.
Yes. Especially early on he captures Socrates' voice very well. This Glaukon is brighter than most Socratic interlocutors, but still on point.
At this stage in the pandemic when, as was pointed out, the virtuous are essentially safe, there is no reason for us to mandate vaccines or masks in public areas. Perhaps in closed spaces like planes and mass transit. Of course, every employer is free to demand such things as a condition of employment. Mine does.
The less virtuous can go to hell. if that tanks the economy for a while longer or puts some bars and restaurants out of business, I don’t much care. I do feel bad for certain folks working in the fine arts, theater, symphony orchestra etc. They are just screwed.
Watching the packed stadiums of NFL playoff teams last week ought to tell us something. It’s fine.
And the schools? I have no clue what to do. I wouldn’t teach under these conditions.
I’m one of the “virtuous” - vaccinated 3x with plans to get #4 as soon as it’s approved. Yet I’m currently sick with Covid, and it’s a bitch. I’m going to survive of course… but it’s easily worse than the flu, mostly because it lasts much longer. I’ve had symptoms now for 10 days… and cut back significantly on my work responsibilities as a result.
Point is: even the virtuous have something to gain from a mask mandate. Slowing the spread of Covid amongst the virtuous means fewer virtuous people having a multi week bout of hacking, coughing, sneezing, head pounding, shivering, feeling drowsy, etc distracting us from our jobs. That does have some value.
I agree. I just went to grocery store and wore a mask. I was the only one.
My sister has Covid now too. Not a walk in the park for sure. Her 4 year old granddaughter had it a couple of weeks ago. She had it worst of all the recent cases in extended family. She it too young for vaccine. Good luck.
As someone who is teaching public school in the classroom with my usual size of classes through this phase of the pandemic (minus the 10-20% of students out with Covid on any given day), I'm glad that I have my booster shot and my KN95 masks. At our school it seems to be the athletes who are most affected, but some staff have been infected, too, especially during the first wave of Omicron. fingers crossed.
Very clever
"Glaucon: Aristotle has not been born yet."
Truly one of the best lines evar! A great read, thanks.
No hemlock for you today.
Best Wishes, Traveller
Very clever column….re: the endless power struggle of masks and vaccination…exhausting wrangling will persist…however..persuasion has possibilities still..the health insurance rebate or penalty is good….it would also be persuasive to concentrate on upgrading air circulation and purification in schools and offices as means of controlling infection… it’s neutral and really more useful then the best mask
I love these. Please do a series 🙂
Agreed. Maybe we can get Achilles and the Tortise and Crab to drop in from time to time as well. And I believe Simplicio lives just a few blocks away from Glaucon.
Was the guy in the middle always holding up the wrong finger, or do I only notice that when he and his friend are the only ones wearing masks...