This is the way the mandate ends, not with a bang but a whimper

Taking a break from my series analyzing "17 reasons" today -- good for me and likely for you, my ghostly reader. I will get back to the remaining reasons, perhaps in a bit less detail and with fewer digressions, as you may be seeing the overall point of the argument: traditional school rarely opts for models that clearly create more engagement and enthusiasm and longer-lasting learning. 

That is my vague transition to a post about processes and procedures that apply more broadly, starting with the elimination of mandatory masking on airplanes and publish transportation. The ruling has almost no connection to legal "reality" and was issued by a Trump acolyte who was confirmed by a Republican Senate despite the bar association labeling her as "not qualified." Yes, the ruling will be appealed and likely overturned.

But let's not ignore this: the mandate was going to expire in two weeks without such a decision and there are few people who think removing masks on planes and trains and taxis will cause huge disruptions. After all, anyone who has traveled in the past year or so (since vaccines) must have noted the wide flaunting of the rules, the poorly worn masks, the extended sipping of a drink to avoid putting that mask back on. 

There is a certain amount of "mask theater" (or "I won't wear a mask theater") that passes for political debate and identification in our bizarre times. It's not far from our universal "remove your shoes as you pass through security" rules, prompted by ONE botched attempt by a wanna-be terrorist to set off a shoe bomb. 

We also have amped up publicity about kidnapped children, despite kidnappings by non-relatives happening very rarely. The number of those kidnappings averages about 300-400 each year, though there are many more cases of missing children (95 percent of whom have "run away from home"). But overreacting to one case of something, while perhaps coming from best intentions, can lead to current obsessions with "our poor children being stolen away, forced to become gay or trans, pushed to feel guilty about themselves, and more. I know these fears are not the same nor equal in potential damage... but all those concerns grow out of not understanding risk. 

Humans are terrible at assessing risk, and always have been. But somehow we manage to hop into cars and drive many miles while living with the risk of an accident. We buy weapons for defending our homes when the chances of a home invasion are vanishingly small. 

I have vague hopes that the end of mask mandates may bring down the nation's political temperature a bit, but I would not bet on it. 

There is a reason horror movies and all sorts of thrillers are popular: many people love being scared. The psychology of that escapes me but perhaps has to do with NOT being the victim. Whew! THAT guy in the movie got attacked but I avoid it, or something. Maybe it's about getting the heart rate up from time to time or feeling superior to "victims" who suffer and die in literature and film and TV (and in the daily press) constantly.

The irony connected to all this fear, of course, is that we now live safer and healthier lives than at any time in human history. Technology has created standards that protect us in ways we are not aware of. Vehicles, for instance, are much safer. Driver education classes used to feature gory car crash video and stills, but they are not what saves most lives when people are in car crashes. The car is designed to protect us most of the time and we don't need to participate to enjoy that increased safety.

The reasoning behind the removal of mask mandates may be flawed, or even silly, but the results are OK for most people. That is at least partially due to the miracle vaccines that have essentially stopped vaccinated people from dying of Covid. 

All we had to do was get vaccinated and boosted. The rest is automatic.