One of the things I've noticed during the pandemic is how popular "up is down" logic becomes when it offers us something we all want. We know from first principles that more opening up means more cases, but clung onto any evidence that might not be the case.

This goes beyond the mass asymptomatic immunity people who have been mugged by reality - I remember not long ago the narrative around Florida etc seemed to be that maybe reopening was all fine, as if something we knew about how you catch a virus was suddenly wrong.

People not learning from their errors isn't exactly new but I've still been impressed at their capacity to spend a large part of this year stroking their chins and wondering if, this time, water will actually run uphill.

Made worse of course by the fact that there is seemingly very little consequence to being brazenly, dangerously wrong and then just continuing as if nothing happened - a particular disease of professional commentators but compounded by a lack of media introspection generally.