I mentioned in a previous post that some people think we ought to practice social distancing not just while the epidemic runs its course, but from now on.
In a world in which more people than ever before think that when you die, you’re nothing but worm food, it’s hard to resist the idea that this sort of hysteria is connected with other common ones.
Fear of death, of course. Fixation on control of self. Fixation on control of others. Avoidance of things that threaten such control, such as marrying and having children. Obsession with bodily satisfaction, bodily beauty, and bodily perfection.
Not to mention abortion, suicide, and all that sort of thing. Sometimes even things that seem opposites grow from the same root.