To a Hammer, COVID-19’s a Nail

Perhaps you’ve heard the old saying, “To a hammer, everything’s a nail.” It describes the cognitive bias we can have in how we see the world. It’s a self-centered way of viewing things. Being a typical claw hammer, nail driving and pulling would be all I would do. Give me a screw that’s half screwed-in, and I’m either going to pound it in the rest of the way or pull it out with my claw. After all, I’m not a screwdriver; I’m a hammer.

Well, I notice that this whole thing seems to apply somewhat to our various responses to COVID-19. Let me count the ways in which I could imagine people spinning things into their own point of view–to their own advantage–whether good or bad. You’ll need to be responsible with the following list, because I’m not saying that every person does these things. Rather, I’m simply talking about the possibility that people of these types might have this “hammer” mentality. So here’s my list, in no particular order.

1. If I were a healthy-eating advocate, I might see the COVID-19 scare as an opportunity to influence others to eat well for immunity’s sake.
2. If I were a big-government advocate, I might use the scare to build the government as big as I can in the name of saving as many as possible.
3. If I were a small-government advocate, I might list the ways in which the big-government folks are cheating during this crisis.
4. If I were a States’ Rights advocate, I might use it to draw attention to how the Federal Government continues to encroach upon the states.
5. If I were a “Prosperity Gospel” preacher, I might use the bailout money as a proof that my doctrine is right, and that God is actually blessing the faithful donors in my flock.
6. If I were a president, I might use the situation to appear as heroic as possible.
7. If I were an opponent of the president, I might use the situation to blame the president for as much as possible.
8. If I were an end-of-the-world preacher, I might use COVID-19 to convince people that God is now bringing the world to an end.
9. If I were a “Police State” advocate, I might use the opportunity to increase my powers over people’s lives.
10. If I were a seller, I might use the scarcity of certain goods as an opportunity for price gouging.
11. If I were a debt-based banker, I might use the opportunity to buy up as much new debt as possible.
12. If I were in the stock market, I might use the opportunity to buy up failing stocks for pennies on the dollar.
13. If I were a one-world government advocate, I might use the shakeup to influence people to buy into a global government.
14. If I had health-vulnerable people in my family, I might insist that everybody go all out in following the social distancing guidelines.
15. If my family were all healthy, I might insist that the guidelines are overkill.
16. If I were a Member of Congress, I might use the massive relief spending as an opportunity to slip in some pork-barrel projects.
17. If I were an opponent of homeschooling, I might use the opportunity to argue that homeschooling is not effective enough, and that everyone should be forced into public schools.
18. If I were a mayor or governor, I might use the opportunity to give lots of press conferences, for the purpose of increasing my public exposure.
19. If I were a worrier, I might use this virus as an opportunity to obsess.
20. If I were in the media, I might use this opportunity to increase viewership and ad revenues.
21. If I were an anarchist, I might use this opportunity to rail about the evils of all government.
22. If I were a political party member, I might use this opportunity to complain to my base about the evils of the other party.

I could go on and on, of course, but I think you get the idea. And while I’m particularly concerned about the bad things people might do, I did indeed put a couple of good things on the list above. And had I had more room to spare, I could have added several items about how people could use the extra at-home time for any of a number of good things, such as study, projects, and family bonding, just to name just a few.

One question I want to raise, then is this: What kind of hammer are you? What’s your knee-jerk reaction to this present crisis? I think it can be helpful to look at ourselves objectively in this regard. And I’d like to suggest that we ought to avoid being a “hammer”—that is, a one-subject thinker. It’s easy to obsess, and especially under stress. So we have to make ourselves think about a wider array of things in order to avoid the “hammer” mentality. I hope you’ll spend a few minutes today contemplating this question–if it’s not already obvious to you what your COVID-19 response is like.

Another needful question, of course, is this: How are unscrupulous opportunists using COVID-19 to advance their bad agendas? No matter how busy or concerned we are about health issues, we dare not lose sight of how tyrants and scoundrels are trying to use the situation to undermine what is good and just in our society. And I hope you’ll spend at least a few minutes pondering this today, too.