@philip_cardella@historians.social @lhgmk2

Yeah, sadly, this is the conclusion I've come to, and it's the exact same conclusion that I've come to with climate change. Unless there's one thing they can do that won't change anything else in their lives, they're just not going to go along with the necessary changes to their own lives.

I've had minor variations of the conversation about COVID with multiple people that I know that ends with:

I got vaccinated. What more can you do? *cough* *shrug* *cough*

With the corollary from the last few decades of:

I recycle. What more can you do? *drives off to the mall to buy more stuff*

And the more recent one:

I put solar panels on my roof. What more could I possibly do? *drives off in an SUV*

There's simply layers beyond that wish for deus ex machina that the average person isn't willing to consider. I think that's why click bait articles of "One simple thing you can do!" are successful. Everyone will consider "one simple thing" but after that probably not.

That's why the lure of "take a shot and pandemic's over for you" was so enticing for people, even though you probably realized it was never going to happen if you thought critically about the science behind it. I'm still upset about all of the people I know who vaxxed and relaxed because they fully bought into it. "Biden and NPR said so, so it couldn't possibly be wrong."