It takes a herd mentality to swallow herd immunity
When Trump muddled that phrase, I wondered if perhaps both phrases are being discussed in his inner circle.
Does Jared Kushner dismissively describe Trump’s own base is “don’t worry about them; they have a herd mentality?” When Trump tries to ask an associate why it is that anyone would volunteer to be a soldier and potentially give up their life in service to the country, does his associate answer “I know it’s really stupid and they are suckers and losers, but lucky for us they have a herd mentality?”
When his political strategists discuss how to shore up his base do they use that phrase? Do they say “we need to have some more rallies to reinforce the herd mentality?” Does Bill Barr talk about repressing America post-election, as “there will be some protesters — which we will suppress — but food and jobs will be scarce so herd mentality will take over?”
I remember watching the movie “Harold and Maude” many decades ago. In one scene, a vibrant old woman named Maude (the majestic Ruth Gordon), whose arm bears a six digit tattoo, talks about daisies. Holding one in her hand, she says “I feel that much of the world's sorrow comes from people who are *this*, [the one daisy in her hand] yet allow themselves to be treated as *that* (waving her hand dismissively toward a field of daisies).”
Sacrificing yourself for a greater cause may be noble, but to risk sacrificing yourself in a meaningless game of Russian roulette is the opposite. To be simply part of a herd, exposed at a Trump rally to a virus that might kill you, is to say the lives of none of these daisies matter.
To consider “herd immunity” as a strategy is to be willing to accept the inevitable death of 2.5 to 3 million Americans and the disability of 20 or 30 million more and a month of suffering of 100 million or so.
Three million daisies will grow back — unless you see each one as special and unique, the way Maude does — but not a single human ever grows back, once cut down by a deadly virus.
And the lives and minds wasted by this cult are also a tragedy. Like other cult followers, they see themselves as one of a crowd, forgoing their better selves, their compassion, their chance to grow or to mean something independent of their false idol.
In the meantime, our whole culture is pulled in by the gravity, as if at the edge of a black hole. November 3rd is the event horizon.
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