An interesting article about "disaster sociology", which argues that ordinary people usually *don´t* panic when faced with major disasters. Rather, it´s the *elites* which panic, since they fear losing control of the people in a crisis situation.
Pandemics are an exception, but only partially: "plague riots" are directed against the government responses to pandemics, not the pandemics themselves. People fight the repressive and incomprehensible actions of the authorities. They don´t "irrationally" panic. The solution even during a potentially disastrous pandemic is therefore more transparency, allowing the public to fear, while the leaders keep their heads cool and take the necessary action against the *actual disease* rather than against the (supposed) panic.
Yes, this is about a certain very recent global bug...
Note also that Donald Trump wasn´t the only US politician who tried to downplay the COVID pandemic in order not to cause pandemic. The Democrats and the media (but I´m repeating myself) did exactly the same thing (yes, I´m old enough to actually remember this).
I have no idea whether the disaster sociologists or medical historians are right (I admit that it sounds counter-intuitive), but it´s nevertheless a good contribution.
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