For better or worse, the past few years have really shaken my view of the world. It’s gone from, “well most people are the same deep down,” to… “Oh shit, about half of you don’t experience empathy and that’s a huge problem.”

It is quite one thing to not have guidance in a subject and not know what to do. It is another to have guidance about the thing you don’t know about from experts who have decades of real-life experience, then discount that evidence to avoid even the smallest concession to your comfort.

Like, look… You didn’t want to get the COVID vaccine, I get it. It’s very early medicine that didn’t get to go through a ton of trial and error. Mass hysteria + the already existing vaccine fears. It doesn’t make a very convincing picture.

For the record, I took the vaccine and have boosted four times since, I think.

What DOESN’T make any sense is the anti-mask sentiment. I kept hearing that they don’t work so why wear them. First of all, they do work but you wearing the mask mostly protects other people.

So that was an immediate turnoff for the “what’s in it for me” crowd that I mentioned. The ones that would rather avoid foggy glasses than keep their own germs to themselves. Who would rather horde ivermectin and hydroxy chloroquine (which created shortages for people who needed it legitimately) than consider what actual scientists tell them.

So, no, most people aren’t the same, I guess. So my character arc has gone a bit dark, I guess. Because I don’t know if you can teach adults empathy. Maybe we are 50% screwed? I don’t even know.