Steven Pinker is a cognitive scientist at Harvard, and on Thursday he shared a very hot take via the Washington Post. Republicans are evangelicals, right? And evangelicals believe in an afterlife. And because they believe in an afterlife, they deliberately do things that will shorten their lives, like partially reopening some parts of the country that aren’t COVID-19 hotspots.
Just read it yourself:
Belief in an afterlife is a malignant delusion, since it devalues actual lives and discourages action that would make them longer, safer, and happier. Exhibit A: What’s really behind Republicans wanting a swift reopening? Evangelicals. https://t.co/ppo2bwiVGn
— Steven Pinker (@sapinker) May 21, 2020
You're better than this.
— Michael Garner (@MikeGarner9) May 22, 2020
This is incorrect.
— Alex VanNess (@thealexvanness) May 22, 2020
Uh. No
— Eat the "Experts" (@katearthsis) May 22, 2020
It's actually the opposite, but thanks for playing.
— Social Distance Champion (@realchrishynes) May 21, 2020
You're an elitist bigot who can't see past his unearned privilege.
If you're getting a paycheck while staying home, stfu about what's driving people to open back up.
— American ?? Purrl, RN (@AmericanPurrl) May 22, 2020
What's behind wanting reopening? I know restaurant and small biz owners who might lose their businesses because of this. Oh and the Governors that mandated Covid+ patients into nursing homes weren't the "evil" Republicans. What a ninny.
— Kel in Cali (@KinCali1) May 22, 2020
Steven doesn't care. HE's getting paid, so all the "little people" can get stuffed.
I wish the people who, according to him, are risking their lives by delivering his food, would stay home instead. You know, save themselves instead of this worthless waste of oxygen.
— American ?? Purrl, RN (@AmericanPurrl) May 22, 2020
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Of course he’s getting paid; don’t forget that Harvard, which is sitting on a $40 billion endowment, was granted $9 million in coronavirus relief funding from the government.
Sure, we can impugn motives of evangelicals in support of reopening the economy as discounting human life based on a belief in the afterlife. Alternatively, they could be under tremendous economic strain due to state mandates disallowing individual risk assessment/freedom.
— James The Lesser (@HiThere144) May 21, 2020
I'm sure it has nothing to do with people slipping in to poverty or for those that own businesses, losing them or those that slip in to depressions due to the above situations or watching their kids starve due to little or no income. Nah it's because they want people to die
— James Lawson (@maxxscape) May 21, 2020
I'm an atheist and I think people want to reopen because they need to pay rent and put food on their table. Maybe these are considerations Mr. Pinker has never had to deal with?
— Tammen Coady (@CoadyTammen) May 21, 2020
What’s behind rich intellectuals wanting to keep the country closed: the fact that they have no skin in the game with it being closed. Rich and protected in either case.
— _acs (@acs20074064) May 21, 2020
Believing that you know for certain what would make others happy is itself a malignant form of arrogance of the highest order and proof that you may not understand how happiness works.
— Chloé S. Valdary ? (@cvaldary) May 22, 2020
✍?uh✍?oh✍?pinker✍? pic.twitter.com/T6AvcSWjgZ
— Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) May 22, 2020
This is a surprisingly poor take.
— Rebecca Wynne (@BeccaWynne) May 21, 2020
He is a professor, so not very surprising at all.
— Iroquois Pliskin (@zigzagtshirt) May 21, 2020
Typical academic: guaranteed income with no regard to result or product.
— Joe (B) [for Bastard] (@Josef_Lemonovic) May 21, 2020
or they might want to save their businesses and feed their family – not everyone has a tenured job
— Glenn Amurgis (@gamurgis) May 21, 2020
This is a bad take
— Cheryl Metzger (@TheRealCherylM) May 21, 2020
This is a garbage take. Wanting the country to ‘re-open’ has nothing to do with one’s belief in an afterlife, but rather the desire to resume safely personal and business activities, while retaining effective measures to prevent a rebound in CoV preferably on a voluntary basis.
— M Stone (@M_Stone969) May 21, 2020
You really outdid yourself with this one, Pink.
— Edmund Smirk ? (@EdmundSmirk) May 21, 2020
That's not science Steve.
— Professor Arthur Fonzarrelli (@chuckdavenav) May 21, 2020
Yeah all those damn evangelicals in Sweden forcing them to not shut down I can't believe they give their religious right so much power
— Scott Galiger (@galiger49) May 21, 2020
There is something broken inside you.
— Lyndsey Fifield (@lyndseyfifield) May 22, 2020
As an admirer of yours this is disappointing to read. I have never met someone who devalues their life because they believe in an afterlife. Plus, is a life lived under lockdown away from danger a "happier" one?
— Jared Soncrant (@JaredSoncrant) May 21, 2020
Reductio Ad Pinkerium:
Atheism is a malignant delusion since it promotes totalitarian ideologies that undermine transparency in moments of crisis.
Exhibit A: What’s really behind the world’s slow response to COVID? China.https://t.co/QZjEFgz7Lc
— Forfare Davis (@Pseudoplotinus) May 21, 2020
When exactly did the Evangelicals come to my house and convince me that we should open the country back up?
Was it while I was asleep?
How did they get in?
— Craig Cochrane (@ccochrane64) May 21, 2020
Step away from the bong and get some fresh air, Steven.
— Jay Dubb (@JayDubbTX) May 21, 2020
Now we wish Elizabeth Warren had won the nomination so we’d all have free college and could all be intellectuals like Pinker.
Related:
The Atlantic reports on ‘Georgia’s Experiment in Human Sacrifice’ by partially reopening businesses https://t.co/jxUwsWBH7i
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 29, 2020
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