Jeanne Marrazzo, new leader of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, everyone:

Can I make a quick digression? We recently had a long Covid [research] meeting where we had about 200 people, in person. And we can’t mandate mask-wearing, because it’s federal property. But there was a fair amount of disturbance that we couldn’t, and people weren’t wearing masks, and one person accused us of committing a microaggression by not wearing masks.

And I take that very seriously. But I thought to myself, it’s more that people just want to live a normal life. We really don’t want to go back. It was so painful. We’re still all traumatized. Let’s be honest about that. None of us are over it.

So there’s not a lot of appetite for raising an alarm, especially if it could be perceived subsequently as a false alarm.

Edit - thanks for the help in bypassing the paywall.

  • ihaveibs [he/him]
    ·
    2 months ago

    Shame is a universal aspect of human society and existence. Prior to class society, people used shaming rituals to prevent others from exhibiting dominant behaviors e.g. hoarding food in order to maintain communal society and prevent subjugation. I don't think shame is in and of itself a bad thing, it depends on who is wielding it.