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The second most common critique I got about "How The Pandemic Will End" was that it was too "pessimistic", "negative", "doom & gloom", and variants thereof. (Also, one of the most common bits of praise was that it was strangely hopeful.) 1/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/how-will-coronavirus-end/608719/
I sympathize w/ people who are upset after reading because, well, I have to report/write the damn things. But my job is to offer realism not (false) optimism. And the virus doesn't care about one's can-do attitude. Which is why... 2/
Our Pandemic Summer has a whole section about the long road ahead, the need for psychological resilience, the value in recognizing people who already have it... 3/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/pandemic-summer-coronavirus-reopening-back-normal/609940/
...and the Stockdale Paradox--melding “the need for absolute, unwavering faith that you can prevail" with “the discipline to begin by confronting the brutal facts, whatever they are.” 4/
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/pandemic-summer-coronavirus-reopening-back-normal/609940/
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/pandemic-summer-coronavirus-reopening-back-normal/609940/
Stockdale also features in this great piece by @lizneeley about how to talk to other people about the hard truths around this pandemic. It's a guiding light for me in these times. 5/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/how-talk-about-coronavirus/609118/
See also this recent op/ed from Madeline Albright /End https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/opinion/madeleine-albright-coronavirus.html
