More and more things are returning to normal.  Some commercial for something a lady is trying on pants and being excited about wearing pants.  Recently, I noted coming across a used condom in the parking lot instead of a disintegrated mask, marking that things are returning to normal.

Not everyone seems to be okay with this.

This is my review of Fort Collins Brewery Kettle Soured Dark Cherry Imperial Red Ale:

Which brings me to this piece on how individualism goes against the idea of public health. (TW:  The Atlantic)

Framing one’s health as a matter of personal choice “is fundamentally against the very notion of public health,” Aparna Nair, a historian and an anthropologist of public health at the University of Oklahoma, told me. “For that to come from one of the most powerful voices in public health today … I was taken aback.” (The CDC did not respond to a request for comment.) It was especially surprising coming from a new administration. Donald Trump was a manifestation of America’s id—an unempathetic narcissist who talked about dominating the virus through personal strength while leaving states and citizens to fend for themselves. Joe Biden, by contrast, took COVID-19 seriously from the off, committed to ensuring an equitable pandemic response, and promised to invest $7.4 billion in strengthening America’s chronically underfunded public-health workforce. And yet, the same peal of individualism that rang in his predecessor’s words still echoes in his. “The rule is very simple: Get vaccinated or wear a mask until you do,” Biden said after the CDC announced its new guidance. “The choice is yours.”

Nowhere in this article does it appear it occurred to the writer that last line is technically blackmail.  The writer’s premise should you bother reading, is public health measures would simply work better if people would just follow along and do what they are told.  Its easier to do in cultures of high conformity, therefore public health measures should not be presented as a personal choice.  The danger of somebody choosing wrong will kill us all.

It was then pointed out to me in conversation this is not an unusual  circumstance.  The field of public health like any other is subject to forces that drive out heterodox opinions.  Take economics for example:

Many factors have contributed, but three especially.  First, neoclassical economists have as a group deluded themselves into believing that all you need for an exact science is mathematics, and never mind about whether the symbols used refer quantitatively to the real world.  What began as an indulgence became an addiction, leading to a collective fantasy of scientific achievement where in most cases none exists.  To preserve their illusions, neoclassical economists have found it increasingly necessary to isolate themselves from non-believers.

Second, as Joseph Stiglitz has observed, economics has suffered a triumph of ideology over science.1 Instead of regarding their theory as a tool in the pursuit of knowledge, neoclassical economists have made it the required viewpoint from which, at all times and in all places, to look at all economic phenomena. This is the position of neoliberalism.

Those naturally prone to contrarian thinking see this in real time, everyday, for a variety of subjects.  People like this are probably dangerous.

The issue the field of public health faces, is heavy reliance on statistical modeling of large populations.  When their measures fail they don’t consider the possibility the model relied on faulty assumptions.    Its we that are wrong, not the model.  This is Hayek’s “Knowledge Problem” in action.  Need an example?  In spite of the public being well aware smoking can cause cancer for decades, people still buy cigarettes.

 

Not just another sour cherry ale, this one had cherries soured in a kettle?  I did not intentionally make that last sentence sound like the first two lines of a limerick.  Unlike the one from last week, it doesn’t drive me to consider listening to quackery.  This is more like the one that reminded me of cherries jubilee, except dryer.  It pretty good but its a bit pricey. Fort Collins Brewery Kettle Soured Dark Cherry Imperial Red Ale: 4.1/5