That’s me on the left. As you can see my date on the right is a real doll! Actually, although I was pleased to have plans for Saturday night, my date was a bit stuck up with an inflated ego, and hardly said a word all evening. Menu items weren’t cheap, but she didn’t even touch her food. At least I could be certain this young blond didn’t have the Covid-19 virus. No one could enter the restaurant if they had a fever, and I’m sure her body-temperature was well under 98.6 degrees—even if she was full of hot air!
Seriously, the Open Hearth restaurant here in Greenville made the national news for their creative use of inflatable dolls to instigate safe seating and social-distancing without making the restaurant look half empty. In the words of the newsmagazine, The Week, “The Open Hearth restaurant in South Carolina opened its doors but with inflatable dolls seated at 50% of the tables, to create a convivial atmosphere while still instilling patrons sit 6 feet apart.” This clever idea reaped so much favorable publicity I couldn’t get a reservation for Friday although I called as soon as I could that afternoon at 4:00 PM. They were already booked. Luckily, I could get a reservation for two for the next night (with a real person).
For the record, the food was excellent, even if the new waiter wore her face-mask with her nose exposed, before dispensing with the mask altogether.
Governor McMaster eased up on South Carolina Covid-19 restrictions beginning on Memorial Day. Restaurants that previously were allowed only take-out and delivery, but no in-house seating, were now allowed to provide the complete dining experience. If the Governor expected patrons to practice social distancing, or wear a mask when close to strangers, he was mistaken. In stores and restaurants I observed most everyone acting like the Covid-19 epidemic was over months ago—even as daily high of new cases of Covid-19 spiked upwards right after Memorial Day.
Back in early March, when Covid-19 cases in South Carolina were almost non-existent. I wondered if everyone was over-reacting to the epidemic. The chart to the right reminds us it is better to over-react than under-react. But I can’t comprehend the logic that restrictions should be lifted just when the number of new cases is greater than ever. Governor McMaster what were you thinking? Have you drunk the same Kool-Aid as the President, and believe the epidemic will go away by simply saying it’s time to open–up the economy? I hate restrictions as much as anyone else. But this appears to be a complete denial of science and common sense. A microscopic virus doesn’t give a damn if you believe in it or not; it will infect you, make you sick, and possibly kill you—regardless of your personal political viewpoint.
Leadership has consequences, and the absence of good leadership has exacerbated problems throughout our history.
For example, back in the 80’s when Reagan reigned over the land, prayer in school was the hot-button political issue of the then current culture war. Quoting the California actor who got top billing in the White House, “God should have never been expelled from American classrooms in the first place.” Reagan never got the Constitutional Amendment he wanted, which would have nullified our First Amendment right of freedom of (and from) religion; but his rhetoric had consequences nonetheless.
At that time I was working at a state-supported adult inpatient alcoholism and drug addiction treatment center. Since many of our adult clients couldn’t leave our facility on Sunday to go to Church, the treatment director, who used to be a Baptist minister, invited a minister to our treatment center to provide voluntary Sunday morning services for our clients. At least they were voluntary before Reagan spouted off about prayer in school. Then Reagan set the tone. The next thing I knew our treatment director was saying all the clients at the state-supported facility were expected to show up for Sunday services, lest the minister have too few people to preach to. When I confronted the treatment director and reminded him separation of church and state was imbedded in the Constitution, he attempted to re-assure me by saying he would only allow ministers he deemed acceptable, to provide the Sunday services.
Likewise, when Trump refuses to wear a mask, calls doing so a political statement, and ridicules reporters who wear them; Trump sets the tone that wearing masks are an optional fashion choice—and not a necessary precaution that could save thousands of lives.
And when Trump declared we could all pray in Church by Easter, no wonder so many believed they were surely safe waiting until Memorial Day to congregate close together in public places. As a self-proclaimed Political Psychologist, I think I know why. The answer is conformity.
Who are you going to believe, your own eyes, or everyone else in the group? The questions were simple and the answers were obvious: Which of the three lines in the second box is the same length as the line in the first box? The correct answer, of course, is “C” and experimental subjects acting alone got the right answer 99% of the time. But when seven confederate actors all deliberately first chose an incorrect answer, the real subject wrongly went along
with the group about 40% of the time. According to the experimenter Solomon Asch, people behave as they perceive the world, not as it actually is. And his early 1950’s experiments demonstrated people’s perceptions conform to those around them.
Alan Funt wasn’t a professional Psychologist, but his classic TV show Candid Camera in the early 60’s beautifully illustrated the lengths ordinary people go to, to conform to the behavior of those around them. Some of his funniest episodes took place in an elevator. If everyone (all paid actors) stood in the elevator facing the rear, the naïve real subject would turn around backwards, too. Or sideways, if everyone else stood sideways. If the actors all took off their hats, so did the subject. If they then put them back on, so did the subject. It rarely mattered who the subject was. Non-conformists do exist, but they are rare.
I did my own haphazard unofficial experiment on conformity at the University of South Carolina in the 70’s, when the craze of streaking naked across campus came into vogue. One night I heard a dozen runners were about to streak a couple of miles across campus. I was a runner myself, and was curious as to how the crowd of onlookers would react to this non-conformist spectacle. So I joined them, wearing running shorts, as I wasn’t about to streak naked myself. No one said anything, but I soon felt out of sorts; like I didn’t belong. After about a mile I finally figured out why I felt so uncomfortable. In a small group of a dozen naked runners wearing shorts, I was the one who stuck out like a sore thumb. I was the only one with clothes on but I felt naked. In less than ten minutes the tide had turned. I felt as uncomfortable wearing clothes among naked runners, as someone naked would feel among those wearing clothes.
Whether we are conscious of it or not, we are all conformist slaves to fashion—even when such conformity defies common sense. I have lived in Greenville, SC for over fifty years, but I was raised as a child in Massachusetts. Every winter I can tell who was born in South Carolina. The temperature may be in the 30’s or even the 20’s, but the Carolina natives don’t wear heavy coats, hats, scarves, gloves, or even sweaters. They are more likely wearing T-shirts and shorts. Almost invariably the ones dressed for winter are originally from the North. It was even worse among high school students. My daughter refused to ride her bicycle to high school, about a mile away from our house, simply because NO ONE rode a bike to school. And in the winter, when it was freezing, no one wore a coat or sweater either. My teenage daughter, herself a Carolina native, insisted she wasn’t cold. Teenagers are the world’s greatest conformists. Would you jump off a cliff if all your friends did? The answer is yes.
So here’s the problem. Regardless of health consequences, wearing or not wearing a mask is a fashion statement. It shouldn’t be; but it is. If everyone, or at least almost everyone, is wearing a protective mask, then putting on a protective mask is easy. We tell ourselves we do it to be safe. We tell ourselves we do it to keep others safe. But the truth is, we do it, whether we are conscious of it or not, because those around us are doing it. Likewise, the same is true for those who refuse to wear a mask. They tell themselves they won’t get sick. They tell themselves they can’t give the virus to anyone else, because they don’t have it. But the truth is, they don’t wear a mask because the people they know don’t wear masks either. It’s that simple (and it’s that’s scary.)
So when Trump refused to wear a mask, he was arrogantly setting the stage for thousands more people to die. Most South Carolinians followed suit. Problem is, not wearing a mask isn’t like not wearing a seat belt. If I don’t wear a seatbelt, I am endangering no one other than myself. If you don’t wear a mask, you are endangering not just yourself, but me. My grown daughter who has studied different cultures says Asians wear masks more readily than Americans, because they are less selfish than we are. Perhaps, but I say, people are far more likely to simply wear what everyone else is wearing.
That ol’ devil, cognitive dissonance also plays its hand. We all strive for consistency between our thinking and our behavior, and more often than not, we change our thinking to fit our behavior, and not the other way around. So if we don’t wear a mask, because most people we know don’t wear masks, we erroneously pretend we don’t need to wear a mask.
This isn’t just a bunch of psychological theory. I’ve seen it here ever since Memorial Day. One block from my house the Del Norte Community Pool was holding their annual Memorial Day cookout. The place was jammed. I saw no masks, no social distancing, no one taking any precautions. Everyone was told the virus would go away as summer temperatures rose. It didn’t matter that the scientists didn’t know if this would be true about the Covid-19 virus, or not. No one wears a mask on a hot summer day.
Driving downtown, I saw dozens of high school graduates milling around in their caps and gowns. No masks, except for a few stray adults. A mask doesn’t look right with a cap and gown.
At the “No Justice—No Peace” rally protesting police brutality about half the 400 protestors were wearing masks and practicing social distancing. The other half didn’t.
About a week later I went to a restaurant in Travelers Rest, a small town close to Greenville, where we thought there would be outdoor seating. We entered wearing masks. No one else was wearing them, or social distancing either. Fortunately we were able to get a table far from anyone else.
Yesterday I went to the UPS store to mail a package. I had on a mask and gloves. I counted eight other people there, none with masks. I also saw everyone else was within three feet of a complete stranger. Since I was the only one wearing a mask I felt out of sorts. The mask-less lady behind the counter asked me what I was mailing. (It could be explosives! It could be drugs! It could be dangerous!) I told her I was returning a hand-bag. Then I commented it was strange that I was the only one there wearing a mask. She glared at me, as if to say, “Didn’t you get the memo; the epidemic is over.”
Only it’s not. The epidemic might be waning in New York, but in sunny South Carolina, the number of new cases are sharply rising. The State on-line news sums up the damage:
SC coronavirus cases soaring as health officials report almost 800 new cases
There have been more than 400 new cases reported in each of the last seven days, a concerning trend to state health officials. Of the 18,795 cases, 6,944 have come in the past 14 days. All 10 of the state’s top single-day totals have occurred since May 29.
SC Health officials estimate there will be 2,900 new cases this week and more than 3,200 are expected the following week from June 21-27.
State epidemiologist Linda Bell expressed alarm over South Carolina’s rapidly increasing coronavirus activity during a press conference Wednesday in which she urged people to take precautionary measures to help slow the spread of the disease.
“I have to say that today, I am more concerned about COVID-19 in South Carolina than I ever have been before,” Bell said.
And most of these cases were in my own home town of Greenville.
As a candidate for South Carolina House Seat 20, I asked my campaign manager if there was anything I could do to help reverse this dangerous trend. He suggested I write an article about the subject, and so I have. But what can I say that hasn’t been already said before by the voices of reason?
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Wash your hands frequently
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Social distance six feet
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Avoid crowds of strangers
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Avoid parties with friends
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Wear masks around others
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Wear gloves
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Heed the advice of medical experts
But I should add one important note from the Solomon Asch study done some seventy years ago. People are far less likely to mindlessly conform, if just one other person doesn’t conform to the group mentality. So if you are the only one wearing a mask, and feel awkwardly out of sorts; remember your wearing a mask will remind others the epidemic isn’t over. The outcry over racial injustice is justified, but this issue pushed the pandemic out of the picture, and in states like South Carolina it is just ramping up. Your wearing a mask will give another the courage to wear a mask, which will encourage another, and another. Don’t look to the President, or the Governor to demonstrate leadership by wearing a mask. You need to provide the leadership by making sure you wear a mask, even if no one else does.
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I am running as the Democratic candidate for House Seat 20 here in South Carolina. If you would like to look at my campaign webpage, go to stephendreyfus.com. If you would like to contribute to my campaign please write a check payable to the Dreyfus Election Fund and mail to the address below. Suggested contribution is $25. Thank you for your support.
Dreyfus Election Fund
Arthur State Bank
1410 N. Pleasantburg Drive
Greenville, SC 29607