Over the last few weeks, it has been interesting to hear the views of some normies on the coronavirus pandemic.

For the most part, normies have stressed the importance of safety guidelines being conscientiously adhered to. Upon enquiring as to why this should be so, they have unanimously given that unthinking response: because ‘science’ and the ‘medical experts’ say we must.

A blind faith in government authority

This unwavering trust in government action on coronavirus amounts to a blind faith. People are accepting what the government says, simply because that is what the government says. They are oblivious of advocates for lockdown measures, in actuality, having little to no concern for human life.

What it is especially striking, is not so much that most people have accepted government action and media warnings over coronavirus at face value. It goes further than this: people assume that the government or media would never lie to or mislead us for an ulterior motive.

This assumption is logically untenable, for every person alive has lied at some point. Further to that, ambitious people have a lust for acquiring political, cultural and economic power. In order to enable this, there are real reasons for such people to perpetrate wholesale deception on the populace.

What drives this blind faith

Given the aforementioned illogicality, there must be certain psychological needs giving rise to this blind faith. In my view, such are the human needs for truth and ultimate authority–with the inner solace each provide.

These needs are sought in substitution from human authorities, due to a dreadful dearth of religious belief. In the overwhelming majority of prior civilisations, they would have been sought out from God. To this extent, these psychological needs are being misdirected; yet their continued necessity in our secular society remains instructive.

What this blind faith reveals about human nature

In a Reasonable Faith, William Lane Craig cites the following from Richard Dawkins:

There is at bottom no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pointless indifference… We are machines for propagating DNA.

Humans, however, have proved utterly incapable of living with pointless indifference. Whether it be placed in God, government, science or elsewhere–virtually all people continue to place trust in perceived truths and sources of authority higher than their subjective selves.

Human concerns thus revolve around the question of what is worth placing one’s faith in. As such, our nature does not lend itself to questioning if faith should be placed in anything.