The solid world exists, its laws do not change. Stones are hard, water is wet, objects unsupported fall towards the earth’s center.
Winston Smith (in the book 1984 by George Orwell)
As an amateur rock climber in my younger days, I can tell you from personal experience that climbers are highly aware of gravity. The entire sport is based on pitting the body and mind against gravity in a vertical environment.
Climbers will tell you that their sport is mental as much as it is physical. Physical training and preparation is very important, but during a climb it is planning, confidence, awareness, and determination that lead to success.
A climber can never forget the truth, the physical reality, of gravity. The climber may have strength, knowledge, experience, and good equipment, but gravity sets the rules. It can never be ignored. One cannot simply wish oneself to the top.
Coronavirus
A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates inside of living cells. Its presence can damage those cells and make the host organism very ill, but its primary function is to replicate itself as much as possible.
The spread of a virus can only be stopped by blocking its transmission (masks and social distancing) or by using a vaccine that teaches the cells how to fight that particular virus. If the virus is both dangerous and widespread, both methods should be used.
Like gravity, a virus is completely unaware of, and indifferent to, how people feel about it. A virus does not care about your comfort or your “rights.” It will simply infect, and possibly kill, whomever it can reach.
The Cold Equations
The August 1954 issue of Astounding Science Fiction contained a short story by Tom Godwin called “The Cold Equations.” It is now in the public domain and I recommend it to everyone. (A link to the story is below).
Without spoiling the story, I will just say that it dramatically illustrates just how futile it is to deny reality. Physics is physics and biology is biology and denial, stubbornness, innocence, ignorance, or wishful thinking will not, cannot, change the effects of gravity or of viral propagation.
Denying what IS (ie. reality) is nothing more than a futile attempt to ignore or postpone consequences. In the end, the truth will always come out. Reality has a way of asserting itself. Unfortunately for some, the consequence of their refusing to pay attention to the truth will be death.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes four. If that is granted, all else follows.
Winston Smith (in the book 1984 by George Orwell)
Sources
Tom Godwin, “The Cold Equations,” Astounding Science Fiction, August 1954.
Peter Wehner, “Trump’s Most Malicious Legacy,” The Atlantic, December 7, 2020.
Russell M. Nelson, Dallin H. Oaks, and Henry B. Eyring, “The First Presidency Urges Latter-day Saints to Wear Face Masks When Needed and Get Vaccinated Against COVID-19,” Newsroom, August 12, 2021.
Marie Fazio, “A Record-Setting Ascent of El Capitan,” The New York Times, November 9, 2020, updated July 16, 2021.
Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy, Princeton University Press, 2019. p.70.
Hannah Arendt, “Truth and Politics,” Originally published in The New Yorker, February 25, 1967.
Hannah Arendt, “Understanding and Politics,” Originally published in Partisan Review, XX/4, 1954.
A great way of saying what is, is. It doesn’t matter what you believe, what your opinion is, or really anything you believe, in the end reality is reality.
Joseph Smith commented once that “truth will cut its own way,” which makes the same point. As do the stories of anti-vaxers in the ER, given that the current wave Delta variant is driven by the unvaccinated.