Mark Hughes Cobb|The Tuscaloosa News
If you shut it, they will go.
The same theory that suggests folks will drink less if you close bars at a certain hour, or day, seems to believe that if an entity discourages students from gathering at one place, they will all then willfully, quietly disperse and plod on back to dorm, apartment or house -- alone --to study, work on long-term projects, and ponderthe nature of life, probe the meaning of consciousness, and reflect on their blessings.
Then there's another theory that says those theorizers have never even walked on the street past anyone 18 to 22, even when they werethemselves 18 to 22, having been born prematurely 64,and cannot at allremember being young, dumb, and full of come-ons to play beer pong.
Then on the third hand there are those who feel like canaries flip-flopping dead one after one in this labyrinthine coal mine of a pandemic, tweeting feverishly: "Of course this won't work. You're counting on young people to use sound judgment."
Kids come to college to
A) Practice bad judgment
and
B) Learn the consequences, ultimately, of such folly, burn that craziness out of their systems and prepare to launch, chastised and chastened,into the free-floating momentumof boring, whimsy-proof adult lives.
Ha. No.
They keep on doing pretty much what they learned in college, only with co-workers and a little more money, right up until that first knee-crack in the a.m., the overdraft from a long weekend, or a hangover that won't fade, after which they kinda-sorta start to think about how this body's the only one they'll ever have, so maybe tidy it up once in a while?
Though we must lay down rules andconsequences, because yes, there are reckless idiots among us who seem not only insensitive to but blithely unaware of the humanity of others,blaming and shaming just don't work.
Blaming and shaming not only shoves the blamed and shamed toward another spot, possibly less well-ventilated, less clean, but dims the likelihood they'll report eventual whereabouts, or be honest about what precautions they've taken.
Setting up kids like thisturns into a"Nyah, nyah, you can't catch me" game. Although in this case "Nyer nyer nyer, I won't catch it" applies, too.
Yes, the University of Alabama, the city of Tuscaloosa and others must try to make sane and sensible guidelines stick, recognizing the reality of this airborne nightmare, and seeing that some will indeed act responsibly. And mitigating liability is a thing, too; can't really fault that protective instinct.
But, as the canaries have been squeaking while fluttering pathetically to the dust, everyone knew kids -- a significant number-- would ignore advice, because duh. Human nature times youth times peer pressure = Kegger.
Does "everyone" include administrators, public officials and healthcare folks? Certainly there were optimistic projections predicated on everyone acting smart, which was the first flaw. Even folks who pass standardizedtests don't necessarily qualify as capable.
For months now, we've seen Walmart shriekers absolutely livid about the dadgum gubmint coming for their precious, utterly free and pure-amurrican nasal cavities. The gubmint will stormdown your shed door next, Jethro,right after they've finished melting down all those guns confiscated in the Clinton and Obama years.
Even grown Americans can't be trusted to follow sound advice, because while silly scientists and epidemiologists at the WHO and CDC spendtheir entire educated lives studying, thatcan't stand a nanosecond against the witheringassault ofsomeone's cousin-wife who "did research," inhaling YouTube videos constructed by debate-team rejects, smelling their breath inside a mask and finding it old-fish ghastly, and furiously forwarding on misspelled memes from a schoolmate who boasts he can still squeeze into his Members Only jacketand thinks Applebee's means For Date Night Only.
And that's grown folks. College-aged kids -- traditional aged, not counting those returning to school, or in master's or doctoral degree programs -- are still livingfluid,formative years, socially and physiologically. To understand consequences requires abstract thought, a capacity that's still developing in young adults -- and judging by anti-maskers, a capacity that may never actually arrive, for some.
Kids know actions can and will ripple forward for the rest of their lives, for good, ill or somewhere in the vast in-between. They know it, logically.They just don't feel it.
In a National Public Radio story, Anna Song, assistant professor of psychological sciences at the University of California, Merced, spoke from studies of young adults and their decision-making when it comes to risk behaviors: smoking, sex, gambling or unhealthy eating. Blame-and-shame sets updominoesto topple.
"It breaks my heart to see this," Song said. "It's like asking people to go on a diet, putting them in a candy store and saying 'Good luck.' And then if they break that diet, we say, 'Why'd you break the diet? And, you know, we're going to punish you for it.' "
During the phase of life when feeling indestructible, young folks don't fear the reaper, or even truly believe in the grim. Daring to socialize, to learn how to interact with others, absent the daily supervision of parents, outside more regimented school years, is as inextricable from the college experience as your nerves from your skin.
"Peer networks and having connections with other people is absolutely critical in terms of development for young people, There is a lot going on in the brain to reward those kinds of interactions," Song said.
Reward. That's the key word. We balance Rs every day: Is the reward worth the risk? Snap judgments, second by second: Is possibly getting to work a few minutes sooner worth the risk of jetting out in front of this rapidly oncoming traffic (the answer, if I'm amidst that onrushing stream of cars, is always yes)?
Is the chance of getting to know that person worth the potential rejection, a dash of public humiliation? Can I make a new bridge to somewhere out of this solo spot, if I try an entirely new twist, or should I stick with the lick that I know works?
Aside from the car thing, these chances don't tend toward the deadly. We are not wired to stay constantly on alert, to be always avoiding, never approaching.
So we need options. We need relief. Masked up, sure, but going to the grocery store, and NOT only during early morning hours. Picking up food curbside and waiting in the car, maybe with mask off, for a moment. Sending kids to school with the knowledge we've prepared them well as possible, taught them not only how to behave, but how to reason, how to understand consequences, how to react to danger, how to judge risk vs. reward, how to prepare for the future, and not get dazzled by the shiny, elusive now.
We need shows. We needlive music. We need movies, even though the Hollywood 16 and others have re-opened, nobody much is going: Christopher Nolan's "Tenet," in early weeks, drew U.S. numbers that would in ordinary times tear open a sinkhole under the Warner Bros. studio.
As yet, in large part because many won't accept a smidgen of discomfort for the good of all, won't accept the mantle ofordinary, everyday heroes, all of us must weigh every once-ordinary enjoyment as a risk.
When I was a kidreading about adrenaline rushes, ordinary humans caught inextreme situations heaving cars off kids, I wondered: "Why can't we be adrenalizedall the time? Why can't I be Superman?"
Short answer: We'd burn up on rocket fuel.Same reason the speedometer on your car might show 160, but we mostly driveat 25 or 45 or70.
The COVID-19 threat waves tall grasses, anddire and tiring as these seven months have proven to be, we dare not entirely let down our guard, yet. We're burning up, and burning out, on constant adrenaline.There's too much tiger in the wind.
Reach Tusk Editor Mark Hughes Cobb atmark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.comor 205-722-0201.
Original post:
MARK HUGHES COBB: Risk and reward, blame and shame, tigers and the wind - Tuscaloosa Magazine
