Here’s the Real Reason Some Downplay the Dangers of COVID

Those refusing masks and vaccines use false bravado and denial to avoid facing their own mortality

Image: KM-Photography, Shutterstock, standard license, purchased by author

‘FREEDOM OVER FEAR’

It’s a slogan you’ll see on placards at anti-vax and anti-mask rallies, held by those who insist COVID is a hoax or at least exaggerated as to the dangers it poses.

This, despite the fact it has killed at least 650,000 Americans as I write this and hospitalized many more over the past 20 months.

Those who strike this pose of defiance would have us believe they do so out of some courage the rest of us lack. We who mask and vaccinate, they say, are like scared children, afraid of our shadows. Meanwhile, they are brave enough to trust their immune systems, which they insist are turbocharged by vitamin supplements, fresh produce, essential oils, and a solid CrossFit routine.

But in fact, these are the folks who are possibly the most scared of COVID, even as they outwardly deny its dangers. At the very least, they are the ones least adept at managing the fear of death — which is why they feel the need to affect bravery in the face of its very real potentiality.

It seems counterintuitive. Why would people afraid of death take such a chance with…