20 Things I Learned About Humanity During 'The Pandemic'

When the 'cure' is worse than the disease. A reflection.

On July 5th, 2021, I wrote a thread on Twitter (now X) entitled “20 Things I’ve Learned or Had Confirmed About Humanity During the Pandemic”. It went viral and was read by millions of people around the world.

In this article, I will reflect upon each of the 20 observations four years later.

My goal is to help you understand the people and circumstances around you better and to encourage you to think more critically. Hopefully, we can prevent this type of mass psychosis from happening again in our lifetimes, virus or no virus.

1) Most people would rather be in the majority than be right.

As social creatures, humans enjoy being part of a tribe. Families, friend groups, religious communities, political parties, and sports teams are all examples of such tribes. People can even become tribal over what type of phone or computer they use, or the diet they consume. It’s in our nature.

In the West, we like to believe that everybody is truly individual. But when put under pressure or exposed to a threat, we see how quickly people revert to herd mentality, groupthink, and ‘going along to get along’. It’s always difficult to go against the majority.

There are many situations where going along with the majority is the correct thing to do. After all, it would be foolhardy to be a contrarian at all times, simply for the sake of it. You wouldn’t survive for very long. However, tribalism and the innate desire to conform at all costs can lead to herd stupidity, mass psychosis, or even discrimination, violence, and genocide when taken to the extreme. History is replete with such examples.

Something that has struck me over the past decade is how unwilling most people are to openly go against the majority ‘approved’ opinion on any given subject, even when the majority opinion is objectively incorrect or immoral.

LESSON 1: Do not assume the majority position is always right, just because it is popular.