Coronavirus diary from New York (3): The shame of just being a journalist – culture

Klaus Brinkbäumer was most recently editor-in-chief of “Spiegel” and now works as an author for “Die Zeit”, among others. You can reach him at [email protected] or on Twitter at @Brinkbaeumer. In his weekly column “Spiegelstrich” he will write a coronavirus diary over the coming weeks with brief observations from everyday life and reflections on the corona crisis.

– We humans, says the psychologist Daniel Kahneman, have trouble understanding a pandemic because we cannot grasp exponential growth; we would see what is there and not what will be there. So let’s imagine a lake attacked by a deadly alga that doubles itself every day: on the penultimate day, half the lake shimmers intact in the evening light. Shall we go swimming tomorrow?

– There are still five days until D-Day, as the day in New York is called when there won’t be enough beds and ventilators. Doubling: every three days.

– Corona language: Covidiotes. Covidivorce. Allegedly there will be more babies and more divorces after the quarantine months.

– Angela Merkel does not stage herself, just stands there and explains to the Germans why Easter has to be different this year.

In the midst of the pandemic, Donald Trump says, “I’m number 1 on Facebook.” His scientists advise the nation to wear masks, he says, “Oh, well, I won’t wear one.” Kahneman says: “The most important thing is honest, clear messages . “

– Catch-22: The free society has to debate what works and what doesn’t – the free society will only be saved if we trust experts, develop a strategy and have the discipline to collectively stick to the strategy.

– Jakob Augstein writes: “The most glaring experience of this crisis is how extremely susceptible so many people are to group think! And journalists too. That’s scary! ”I rarely like loud adjectives, but: more blatant than the loneliness of the dying? More blatant than the grief of the children who can no longer see their parents?