We've Been Living in a Paradigm
Making sense of the pandemic years
We’ve been living in a Paradigm.
The Paradigm about a pandemic disease that swept across the world with unparalleled ferocity.
The Paradigm about a virus so deadly that it brought entire nations to their knees, causing untold suffering and death in its wake.
The Paradigm about how this was a virus unlike any other in modern history.
The Paradigm about how the virus was highly contagious and easily transmitted through the air, even from asymptomatic people, to countless others.
The Paradigm about how the death toll from this disease was staggering. Millions of people around the world lost their lives to this disease, with entire families and communities wiped out in a matter of weeks.
The Paradigm about how the hospitals would be overwhelmed, with doctors and nurses struggling to keep up with the sheer number of patients who required urgent medical attention.
The Paradigm about how forcing businesses to shut down, causing widespread unemployment and economic turmoil, was a necessary preventative measure in the face of the devastation this virus would cause.
The Paradigm about how closing schools, leaving millions of children without access to education, was imperative to prevent the spread of the disease.
The Paradigm about how we had to close borders, leaving families stranded and separated from their loved ones, to prevent the spread of the disease.
The Paradigm about how isolation, fear, censorship, propaganda and control were necessary.
The Paradigm about how unquestioning compliance was a prosocial virtue.
The Paradigm about how all those people questioning and not complying were conspiracy theorists.
The Paradigm about how even though we might have been wrong about most of everything, you should still trust us, because we are the experts.
You might have been a Paridigm Zealot.
Maybe just a Paradigm Disciple.
Perhaps just a Conformist.
A Denialist?
But here’s the thing…
Paradigms shift.
And this Paradigm is no different.