(04-23-2021, 01:07 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: That being said, I do hope we have some social changes as a result. Wearing masks should be more normalized. More emphasis on ventilation, sick days, etc. And regular vaccinations should be more normal. Even without the pandemic, from the flu alone these would have been reasonable changes we should have made, but the pandemic has shone a light on this...even for me, I probably wouldn't have held this position a year ago.
Wearing masks should be normalized as it is elsewhere in the world...but I don't think that would ever happen here. In countries where it is - even for a small cold - I imagine it took decades for that to become normalized. Considering so many of our Western democracies were built on the principles of liberté - which has been greatly bastardized in North America through libertarianism and conservatism to support sheer selfishness - I don't see significant changes happening here for a long time. Marx tried to point out the flaws in our modern capitalist societies but never offered a solution, so we've ended up in this post-modern limbo. Democratic socialism seems to offer the best middle ground for now, but achieving anything like it has so far been a Sisyphean task in North America.
Maybe one day Deleuze and Guattari's philosophy will have an impact in our mindsets...until any true changes happen...I'll remain a pessimist.