Beating the virus is not rocket science

SA’s Covid-19 infection figure is approaching 800 000, yet most of us insist on being idiots about the pandemic.

I’m not talking about the people who spread G5 conspiracy theories or the Covid-19 denialists. Those are fools we have grown accustomed to.

I’m talking about people who don’t wear face masks, who don’t sanitise regularly, who don’t practice social distancing. But most of all, I’m talking about that very special brand of idiot: the science evangelists.

Don’t misunderstand me: I love science. But I think ordinary people are fools if they proclaim to believe in science while they wouldn’t recognise science if it bit them in the backside.

You find them everywhere, but the moral high ground of the social media landscape is their natural habitat. Science evangelists position themselves in their minds as perfectly logical, reasonable and intelligent, and anyone who deviates from their ideas, are stupid extremists. Because science does not allow for emotion or questioning, you see.

The irony is that real science has no objection to those who disagree with it now and again. It’s known as science denial. We are hardwired to be idiots and part of that lunacy is that we are unwilling to accept a scientific theory that challenges our religious or world views. It’s just the way we are programmed. Intelligence has nothing to do with it.

Therefore, dear reader, I know science will excuse me if I tell you that I see a gaping hole in the perfection of science – it does not recognise magic and miracles, and that’s what we’ll need in the next month or two.

The festive season is ahead of us and it takes no genius to predict that there’s a real risk of the infection rate spiking. In addition, the festive season has traditionally been suicide season and the mental health challenges that 2020 had in stock will make this a particularly difficult time.

Science is cool, but what we need now is compassion with others, because we don’t always know what goes on in the hearts of those around us. Surgical face masks are not the only masks people wear…

By all means, sanitise and social distance. But don’t forget to reach out and touch the lives of those around you. Now is the time to be less of a science evangelist and more human.

Dirk Lotriet.

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