A Pandemic of False Binaries and disunity the Yuletide gift

As we head into another Covid Christmas, the season feels anything but festive.

More Omicron cases have turned up in MIQ. An Air NZ plane is stuck on the tarmac in Nelson because two passengers won’t wear masks. A mother rewards a nurse vaccinating her daughter with a death threat.

We all seem to be getting the same gift for Yuletide: disunity. That notion is confirmed by a recent report on social cohesion by Koi Tu, Auckland University’s Centre for Informed Futures.

“New Zealand is generally seen as a relatively cohesive society, but it is not immune to division, and there are warning signs,” the Report’s author said.

Shallow thinking

Covid-19 is to blame, as are the Christchurch terror attacks, and natural disasters, they said.

I would suggest another cause: shallow thinking.

Half-baked ideas have consequences. They affect how we behave. Moreover, poor arrangements of lazy notions can also be problematic. During this pandemic, we have often uncritically accepted what might be called false binaries.

The most glaring example is public health vs the economy. These two have often been presented as mutually exclusive by the media and politicians; a fact not gone unnoticed by outsiders.

Citing New Zealand as one of those countries which “…implemented nationwide lockdowns …” an Asian Development Bank (ADB) blog observes, “The fight against Covid-19 is often framed as a trade-off between public health and the economy.”

Reflect for realisation

Yet a little reflection will confirm that when the economy tanks, public health suffers. Chronic illnesses rise; mental health declines; people smoke more and eat poorly.

Other false binaries of our time? Science vs. wilful Ignorance; the majority vs. a minority; a Covid-wracked Auckland vs. everyone else, etcetera. Such contests are rarely fair. Perhaps this explains some of their attraction, and why they play out as they do.

If you are pro-vaccine, it can be tempting to denigrate the unvaccinated as selfish, idle, and spending too much time on Facebook swallowing “Fake News.”

If you are anti-vaccine, the vaccinated stereotype might be that they are government-controlled, conformist, unintelligent “sheeple.”

Perhaps a greyer truth might be that each group have different values.

They do not see the government the same way. You may disagree, but that does not permit you to disrespect one another.

The polarising effects

Such is the disease, what might be the cure?

Well, let us begin with some questions when presented with ungenerous comparisons.

Is this really true? Are there other options? False binaries help create polarisation.

As the Auckland District Heath Board says, “The trade-off between lost lives (i.e. public health) vs lost livelihoods (i.e. economy) is often erroneously viewed as an all-or-nothing choice.” Beware of the megaphone that says there is no alternative. And in personal relations, please remember that righteous indignation is a zero-sum game.

Don’t give the gift of division. The next time you are presented with a false binary or a proposition that stems from one, or you feel the urge to disparage someone who disagrees with you, reject it. This Christmas, rather than fight, let us unite.

Tim Wilson is Executive Director of Maxim Institute based in Auckland.