The Pandemic of Irrationality

News Item: A county hospital in upstate New York announced that it will have to stop delivering babies because six staffers resigned and seven more are considering resigning because they don’t want to comply with the hospital’s Covid-19 mandate.

The chief reason why freedom of speech is thought to be desirable is that in the clash of opinions and claims, truth will win out. In situations where there are rational positions to be taken on both sides or where the facts are ambiguous, falsehood may temporarily prevail, but cases where all but an insignificant number of people should readily grasp that the evidence in favor of one proposition and against an opposing one is overwhelming should be quickly resolved.

Presently, we are experiencing a pandemic of irrationality. It’s impossible to predict how long it will last, how much suffering it will produce, or how many deaths it will cause. No cure or vaccine for it has yet been found.