Exhortations to “Keep Calm” Imply a Reason Not to Keep Calm

(Don Boudreaux)

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This sign – bearing the imprimatur of the CDC – is posted in men’s rooms at Dulles airport (and, I’m confident, also in women’s rooms at that airport). (I took this photo this morning at Dulles.)

So sad… and so annoying. Is it any wonder that so many people continue to behave as if Covid’s dangers are greater than those dangers really are when, in public restrooms, signs exhort individuals to “Keep calm”? The implication of this message is that a terrible danger lurks, ready to strike at any moment – a danger that warrants fear. But, brave traveller, in the face of this monster you must keep calm.