Inside this week's issue: ‘Virus vigilantes’

Take an exclusive look at the latest issue of The Week [View this email in your browser]( Dear newsletter reader, We thought you'd appreciate this special preview from the latest issue of The Week magazine, where you’ll find everything you need to know about the most important stories in news, business, technology, and culture. Today's preview comes from the Talking Points section. If you like what you read you can [try 6 Risk-Free issues of The Week](. 'Virus vigilantes': Shaming the noncompliant When William Zordani and his large family recently took their golden retriever for a walk near their home in a leafy suburb of Chicago, said Douglas Belkin at The Wall Street Journal, they had no idea they were being watched. Later, Zordani found that a fellow citizen had posted a photo of his family walking the dog to his town's Facebook page, along with angry complaints from "virus vigilantes," such as "Why are people so stupid?" One commenter said she'd notified the mayor. Such quarantine "shunning and shaming" is breaking out across the country, as people take to social media to post photos and attack those who fail to wear masks or practice social distancing. Hundreds of people have called the cops on their neighbors. People who've been infected and recovered encounter glares and nasty comments if they go out in public. "I think a lot of people are really scared," Zordani said, "and the only way they can get some sense of security is to try to police other people." Targets of "the public shaming frenzy" have included "drunk spring breakers, coughing commuters," and even kids on bicycles or skateboards, said Amelia Tait at The Guardian. The hashtag #covidiot, officially defined as "someone who ignores the warnings regarding public health or safety," is trending on Twitter. "Death threats have been sent in the hundreds, if not thousands." But does shaming actually work? Psychology professor June Tangney of George Mason University, co-author of a book called Shame and Guilt, says making people feel defensive usually backfires, and deepens their rebelliousness. "By shaming people, we're actually encouraging the opposite," Tangney says. "Mob action" won't help us fight this pandemic, said the Salt Lake City Deseret News in an editorial. Vigilantism "divides communities at a time when people need to rally together." Still, you can certainly understand the impulse, said Jennifer Weiner at The New York Times. The other day, I saw a man cough wetly into the air, without even attempting to cover his mouth, and then spit on the sidewalk and stroll away. I was enraged, just as I am when I see people crowding back onto Florida beaches, or defiant churchgoers blithely insisting God will protect them. I know that this anger is "a way of exerting a tiny measure of control" at a time when a global pandemic has left us feeling none. But anger won't give us back the much safer world we've lost. [Try 6 Risk-Free issues of The Week]( Copyright © 2020 The Week Publications, Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up for newsletters from The Week. Our mailing address is: The Week Publications, Inc 155 E 44th St Fl 22New York, NY 10017-4100 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](.