Not About Covid

Imagine what it was like in the 1940s during World War II. What did people talk about? Of course, the course of the war and what they had heard about friends and loved ones involved with the war. Today, Covid is our World War II. It’s hard to have a conversation with anyone that doesn’t eventually focus on Covid. What is it? How did it start? How does it spread? How do we stop it?

My title says this is not about Covid so you are probably wondering where this is headed. Where I am headed is to think about the source of our disagreements about it – and about recent racial incidents and about the recession, and so on.

I was walking around Green Lake talking with my friend Barbara and it dawned on us that we live in an incredibly testy world. We wondered why it had to be so ugly and non-productive. I found myself giving my standard answer – our confrontations are about extreme ideologies and the people who follow them.

But as we talked more about Covid disagreements, it seemed pretty obvious that those heated disagreements were not caused by Karl Marx or Adam Smith or Al Gore and Rush Limbaugh. Similarly, racial animosities are not so easy to predict.

So as we sidestepped a lot of goose poop and watched the geese and ducks match their cloaca, we dug deeper into our differences.

We came up with 17 causes of our differences – I know I must be able to find a couple more. Maybe you can help me. 

The truth is that those 17 are not really independent so I guess I won’t worry about the number.

As I rattle these off, keep in mind how these differences might play into your opinions about various issues today. Notice, too, which ones of the 17 come into play for a particular issue but not for others. Thus we might not see the same people lining up together to take positions on any given issue. For example, liberals might not agree with other liberals about a cure for Covid. Some conservatives may have very little in common with other conservatives as they try to resolve racial issues.

These 17 are in no particular order.

1.    Financially Selfish v Generous – you want to keep what you make/you are very charitable

2.    Inward oriented v greater good – you are focused mostly on you and your family and friends/you speak often of the greater good

3.    Philosophical purity v practical/law abiding – you adhere to a philosophical position/you like to think you do things that are efficient or practical including following the law

4.    Empathetic v rule following – you feel strongly about the plight of others/you mostly want people to abide by or not deviate from the laws

5.    Competitive v cooperative – you see much of life as a contest that you want to win/ you work with others

6.    Loyal to people v loyal to ideas – you are loyal to your spouse or your boss or your friends/you prefer to be loyal to ideas or laws

7.    Spiritual v practical – you are driven by the values of a religion/your behavior is mostly driven by practicality

8.    Religious v spiritual – you adhere to a specific religion/you mostly are driven by religious values but not a particular religion

9.    Habitual v free spirited – you are very disciplined and predictable/you are hard to pin down.

10. Rich v poor -- you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth/you were born into poverty

11. Energetic v lazy -- you love to be creative and productive/you love watching Popeye reruns and laying on the couch

12. Smart v not so smart -- biology gave you raw brain power/heredity didn't help you learn 

13. Healthy v Sickly -- you are well and maybe athletic/you are chronically ill and often need medical attention

14. You take recreational drugs v you don't drink alcohol or take drugs -- you are a little wild & crazy/you have empathy for those who need help with chemicals

15. Sloppy v Neat -- you pay attention to details/you let it all hang out

16. Huggy v Standoffish -- you love to be with people and get attached/you dislike close or emotional relationships

17. Bourbon v Scotch – okay this one is for fun and gives me 17. :-)

I am sure there are more of these. What’s missing in my list of 17?

Here’s the trick. Some of these choices put you in the D or R camps. Maybe Rs are financially selfish and Ds are generous? But surely you see that you cannot easily assign a person the same ideology or a party based on each of these very strong character traits.

And that is why I believe that Covid and recent racial tensions are not easy to parse. We are not getting predictable things coming from the mouths and behaviors of our friends and relatives and politicians.

Maybe this is good. Maybe ideological living is not good for us. Maybe we will spend more time thinking and doing less shouting and cheering? Maybe our most vexing current problems do not require an ideological basis for understanding or solution. 

I don’t know but it sure was nice walking around Green Lake in the summer.