I am surprised by how long Covid problems last. I am surprised to see how long phenomena, especially those that relate to living things and even more so to people, last and re-ignite. Conditions that supported rage or fear or enthusiasm can re-occur after seemingly departing from the scene.
I must be naive or poorly aware of how life and how people's opinions arise. I tend to think of decisions, facing decisions, making a choice of what to do and how to act and then acting on the decision. I am becoming more aware that reasoning, imagination and physical situations can and do re-awaken ideas and guesses that came to mind previously. I read in "The Geography of Thought" that Richard Nisbett found Eastern nations using a more or less circular model of history and humans while Western nations had more linear ideas of periods and fashions going off in a line, not curving back and repeating.
Often models are just approximations and maybe don't fit the data tightly but I see the wisdom of expecting a first wave of ideas or actions or comments or expressions of opinion to be followed later by repeats, by 2nd or third generations of ideas or expressions that are along the same track. I can see that events do not repeat themselves exactly but I do get a feeling of repetition sometimes when I hear or read about events or comments.
I was impressed by the ardor expressed against getting vaccinated. I was maybe even more surprised to learn that vaccinations were doubted in the late 1700's. I read that people today wanted to know what was in the vaccine while I just assumed that anyone who knew enough to answer would use words I didn't know. I read that people shied away from getting jabbed because they judged current vaccines had been created too quickly to have been tested and evaluated properly. I thought the process was all ironed out. I realize there are always chances for errors, plots, and mishaps but I am still surprised how issues that I thought were settled re-emerge.
