On Twitter , Good Morning Football host Kyle Brandt described another type of tough guy you might've have seen on your timelines, newsfeeds or maybe even encountered in real life: the corona tough guy. If you haven't spotted him, he's the guy who insists we're all overreacting for social distancing, self-isolating or paying attention to the news. It's just the flu, he'll tell you, what's the big fucking deal?
Case in point: these spring breakers in Florida . "If I get corona, I get corona," one man told Reuters. "At the end of the day, I'm not gonna let it stop me from partying,"
Here are other examples:
My theory still 100% stands. The overreaction to the virus is to get people reliant on the government. Aaron Michael (@WisconsinAaron)
Sure, 97 people have died of the coronavirus so far. Less than die every day in car accidents. https://t.co/OL9OHAZqgA Clay Travis (@ClayTravis)
This is a very selfish way to look at things but if nobody under 42 is gonna take social distancing seriously neither am I. And by the way nobody is taking it seriously. Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente)
On one end of the corona tough guy spectrum, there are conspiracy theorists the folks who believe the coronavirus was built in a lab and used as a bioweapon. On the other end are the people who refuse to social distance amid a quarantine.
Ashley Merryman , an author and researcher in psychology, explained to me that for some of the latter group, and men in particular, the idea of social distancing might make them look weak. "It might be attached to their perception of their own masculinity," she said. Still, the basic tenet behind all corona tough guys is the same: The coronavirus isn't worth panicking over.
But opting not to social distance is reckless and unethical and now is not the time to indulge a corona tough guy. In the hands of a guy with hundreds of thousands of followers or just those of an average guy with a Facebook account and a few friends, voicing that it's "just the flu" amid a global health catastrophe is pretty damn irresponsible. And we have enough misinformation and #FakeNews to combat with as it is.
Mark Fenster, a professor of law at the University of Florida and author of Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture , explained to me the basic logic behind some of these dudes' decisions. In his eyes, these guys might be the type who are generally critical of the "consensus," meaning even cold, hard facts might not convince someone to social distance. (Merryman added the "Dunning-Kruger" effect might also be at play: "The less people know about things, the more certain they are right.")
So to those out there still partying, give it a rest. You're the guys in horror movies who tell us everything's fine when the killer's still on the looseand now more than ever, it's becoming harder to tell who the villain is.