16 LISTENER MARCH 14 2020
THE NEED TO “DO SOMETHING”
But the need to actively “do something”
in the face of fear is no surprise to Victoria
University head of psychology and Listener
columnist Professor Marc Wilson.
Some people, Wilson says, will react to
a threat like Covid-19 by downplaying the
risk. “Another way is to reduce that fear by
doing something in order to gain a feeling
of control. That might be buying up all
the toilet paper in Hawai‘i or rocking up
to church for the first time in ages. When
wars break out, more people go to church,
because praying makes some of us feel like
we’re interceding.”
In any year, 10-20% of New Zealand’s
population contract influenza and, on aver-
age, 500 people die from it, yet it attractslittle media attention. By contrast, one
person has Covid-19 in New Zealand and
there have been no fatalities here, yet the
coverage of the illness’ global progression
has been inescapable.
Partly, that is because of frequent warn-
ings that one day a virus will start the kind of
pandemic that could cut a swathe through
the world’s population. Nobel prize-winner
Joshua Lederberg once warned that “the
survival of humanity is not preordained”.
The single biggest threat to our continued
dominance of the planet, said Lederberg,COVID
“Drought and coronavirus
are going to deal the
New Zealand economya sharp blow over the
first half of 2020.”1
3
7
2
6