Sons of the Never Wrong

This is the name of a widely-admired folk music group. It has to be the best name I’ve ever heard for a musical group of any kind. Of course, it refers to the fact that many parents (99% of them fathers, I’m sure) will never admit they’re wrong. In parents, it’s funny enough to be a joke.

But it ‘s not funny when the president of the US can’t admit he’s wrong, which of course has been his consistent pattern since he was elected, and probably for his whole life. He will often change course, but there’s never an admission he’s wrong. In some ways, that’s funny, too. You could say “Hey, as long as he does change course when his current course becomes untenable, who cares whether he admits he was wrong or not?”

Unfortunately, this argument falls apart when we talk about Trump’s Covid-19 response. This is because a lot of the really damaging things he does are done simply in order to make it look like he was right all along – not for any plausible good reason. A good example is the fact that “someone” removed the guidance on the CDC site last week that said airborne transmission of the coronavirus was real, saying it had been a “mistake”.

There are many measures that need to be in place now that are justified by the fact that there is airborne transmission; these will in some cases be downplayed, ignored or even removed. There include:

1.      Putting air filtration systems in school classrooms.

2.      Putting air filtration in bars, restaurants, workplaces, meeting rooms – any place where there can be more than a few people at once, whether or not they will be six feet apart.

3.      Wearing masks when indoors, again even with social distancing.

Needless to say, not doing these things will result in more cases and more deaths. All because a mean-spirited man can never admit he was wrong.

I would love to hear any comments or questions you have on this post. Drop me an email at tom@tomalrich.com

 

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