Don’t compare COVID-19 to 9/11
Human communication is fraught with metaphor and simile; these are basic tools which help not only establish a shared frame of reference but allow us to view events from a more detached perspective (seeing the forest, if you will). As such they are crucial in language development. However, their use is not always helpful to providing a foundation from which we can approach or respond to the event(s) we’re analyzing. I don’t mean the notion of “mixed metaphors”, tho that is of course a thing; what I mean here is that too often inapt comparisons are made which detract from our ability to understand that with which are attempting to deal, which seems frequent in propaganda. Recently I have been hearing media, especially left-leaning media, making comparisons between COVID-19 and 9/11, particularly as relates to the death toll. I’ve also been seeing this happening more frequently in social media from friends and acquaintances who are also left-leaning. Ultimately it seems the point they’re...