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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 17h

* typo correction - "pejoratives".

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 17h

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All of which applies as much to 🇨🇦 Canada, as to our neighbours in the 🇺🇸 US.

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 17h

8/
Circa 2025

"We found that many American defaults such as optimism & personal choice which generally put us in good stead, did not serve us well during the pandemic":

#RuggedIndividualism

news.stanford.edu/stories/2025....

New paper examines how cultural differences impacted COVID mortality rates

A Stanford-led international team found that “cultural defaults” played a significant role in how the U.S. and some East Asian countries responded to the coronavirus pandemic.

news.stanford.edu

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 17h

7/
Circa 2022

"Overall, we demonstrate that an individualistic culture is less than conducive to fighting COVID-19. This inefficacy can potentially be attributed to a lack of stringent policy responses as well as social uncooperativeness":

#RuggedIndividualism

www.nature.com/articles/s41....

Individualism and the fight against COVID-19 - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications - Individualism and the fight against COVID-19

www.nature.com

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 17h

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And the result was -

Circa 2021

"Individualism was positively correlated with COVID-19 prevalence, mortality & case fatality rates; conversely, measures of collectivism were negatively correlated with these parameters":

#RuggedIndividualism

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC....

The relationship between measures of individualism and collectivism and the impact of COVID-19 across nations

The global COVID-19 pandemic has been characterized by marked variations in prevalence, mortality and case fatality across nations. The available evidence to date suggests that social factors signific...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 17h

5/
So no surprises here -

Circa 2021

"The group of Americans [& those from other countries] who refuse to wear masks are drawn from the 30% of Americans who refuse to be vaccinated":

#RuggedIndividualism

www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/life...

Temper Tantrums Over Wearing Masks

Can mask mandates put employees enforcing them in danger?

www.psychologytoday.com

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 17h

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Also, had I said that we mask because our eldest son & I have had #LongCOVID for 5+ years, he would have felt entitled to use the usual perjoratives.

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 17h

3/
And acknowledged that it was none of his business - tagging on that he just meant to be "friendly".

No, he didn't I've endured this level of verbal abuse throughout the pandemic.

None of it is friendly. And some of it has been really ugly.

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 17h

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I stepped in between them & picking my words carefully, said "When you get #Cancer & wear a mask, maybe it will be nobody else's business?".

Deeply embarrassed in front of his partner & other customers, he apologised to my partner.

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 17h

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Yesterday, at the grocery store checkout, a fit-looking man wearing a hunting cap asked my partner why he was wearing a mask - & muttered did he think #COVID was still going round?

My partner replied that it was none of his business.

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 18h

Courtesy of @elisaperego78.bsky.social, via X -

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 18h

Courtesy of @1goodtern.bsky.social, via X -

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Reposted by Tania J. Spencer

Long Covid SOS @longcovidsos.bsky.social · 8d

Covid infections are climbing again. the only way to prevent #LongCovid is to avoid catching Covid.

There is no cure for Long Covid and repeated infections can make LC worse. Protect yourself & others by reducing your risk of infection. 1/2

Longcovidsos.org

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 20h

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On the plus side, the #YukonNews is probably not at risk of political interference: only good journalism attracts that kind of attention.

Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 20h

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It certainly looks like this #CBC journalist only connected the dots after reading this 6-day old post on a local subreddit -

www.reddit.com/r/Yukon/s/Fj...

From the Yukon community on Reddit: Beware the potential for editorial interference in the Yukon News, which is owned by a US company

Explore this post and more from the Yukon community

www.reddit.com

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 20h

4/
Six days later, the #CBC catches up, & buries the fact that "Last year, CMG acquired Black Press, which owns over 80 publications across North America, including the #YukonNews in Whitehorse, Yukon", when that local angle is actually the lead of this story -

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Alaskan journalists resign from Homer News over what they call political overreach by state rep | CBC News

Journalists with the Homer News in Homer, Alaska have resigned saying the newspaper's parent company, Carpenter Media, unilaterally removed, edited and re-posted a story about Charlie Kirk after a pol...

www.cbc.ca

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 21h

Just to be clear, there is no "after the pandemic". There is only an #OngoingPandemic with #NEIS, because governments continue to ignore it.

Ironically, "because the economy" -

thetranscendedman @atranscendedman.bsky.social · 1d

Yale researchers analyzed data from 158 million US workers and found that even after the pandemic, COVID-19 continues to raise work absences by 13% and labor force exits by 13%.

The virus has created a new year-round baseline similar to flu season.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Enduring Outcomes of COVID-19 Work Absences on the US Labor Market

This cohort study examines the extent to which COVID-19 continues to generate work absences and decrease labor force participation beyond the pandemic period in the US.

jamanetwork.com

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 21h

9/
Apathy should not be our default setting. Least of all in challenging times that urgently require a strong proactive response.

Keep on reading, keep on masking, keep on caring.

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 21h

8/
We watch dystopian films about this, with Kevin Costner's character in Waterworld (1995) joined at the hip with a tomato plant, & we get what a good idea survival is, in a movie.

Just not in real life.

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 21h

7/
All of which ignores the fact that, once alerted to a risk, we can actually mitigate against that risk.

Doomscrolling is a pejorative term for being sensible in difficult times, for being highly motivated to survive them, & help others survive them too.

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 21h

6/
Oddly, doomscrolling gets more attention than the cause of that "doom" (risk). There are myriad articles warning that doom scrolling can be dangerous to our mental health because it "reinforces negative thoughts & feelings".

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 21h

5/
For example, ignoring climate change won't spare us the floods, wildfires, & soaring temperatures, etc. Neither will ignoring an #OngoingPandemic, in which it is important to avoid reinfections to avoid long term harm.

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 21h

4/
"When hard times happen in our lives or in the news, feeling bad about them is just facing facts".

But apparently most people just can't do that.

Even though, as Gabor Maté observed, "The attempt to escape from pain, is what creates more pain" -

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 21h

3/
So why do some people desire situational awareness, while others prefer to distract themselves from it?

And is "doomscrolling "the modern-day equivalent of scanning the landscape for predators"?

www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/danc...

Are You Doomscrolling or Just Scrolling?

Doomscrolling could be bad for your mental health, but are the fears about it overblown? Maybe it's unreasonable to expect people to react to bad news with a positive attitude.

www.psychologytoday.com

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Tania J. Spencer @taniaspencer.bsky.social · 21h

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In stark contrast, this post in the same group, got 15 likes, 2 shares, & one comment (according to Wayne this was "Bullshit!"), before comments were turned off .

And it doesn't matter how long the post stays up, it won't get more traction than that.

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