THE DANGEROUS TEMPTATION OF DENIAL IN A LOOMING CRISIS:
Shortly after the second plane hit the tower on 9/11, a stunned WABC television news anchor speculated live on-air that “perhaps some type of navigating system or some type of electronics would have put two planes into the World Trade Center, within about 18 minutes of each other.” The idea of multiple terrorist hijackings and deliberate suicide attacks was so horrific and unthinkable, that the anchor’s first thought involved contemplating an even less likely scenario.
In April 2007, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulsen said troubles in the subprime mortgage market were not likely to spread throughout the economy. “I don’t see (subprime mortgage market troubles) imposing a serious problem. I think it’s going to be largely contained.”
When human beings encounter really, really bad news, a lot of us want to believe that it cannot possibly be true. We seek out an alternative explanation that contends things are not as bad as they seem.
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Today Dr. Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said in a television interview that “if we do things together well, almost perfectly, we could get in the range of 100,000 to 200,000 fatalities,” but added, “we’re not sure all of America is responding in a uniform way.” I would bet that she knows what she’s talking about — certainly more than Random Guy on Social Media does. Perhaps her estimate is too pessimistic. But assume she’s not, and hope the coming weeks and months are better.
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