Bad Advice

The time to make the case for Trusted Advisor status to someone who doesn't believe they have a reason to trust is not when that trust is of paramount importance. And the case shouldn't be made by casting aspersions on the untrusting party. I am, at once, both impressed and not surprised that we don't seem to understand this. While the overall number of people who have decided that the public health community is untrustworthy is small, it's both motivated and vocal.

Despite appearances, the only thing we have to fear is not coronavirus infectious disease 2019. Mainly because there will always be other things that frighten people, and people are free to choose what scares them the most at any given time. Attempting to steamroll people into setting their fears aside rarely works. Or, I suppose, it's more accurate to say that it rarely has what people claim is the desired effect. It clearly works on some level, otherwise the practice would have died out by now. Which raises the question of what the actual goal is. But I suppose that like people's greatest fears, it's different for everyone.