Thinking Traps

Thinking Traps
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Thinking Traps
The outbreak of COVID-19 got the world by surprise since the world had not prepared for it. Since the government catered to its citizens, it had to employ measures that could help protect the world from this super infectious disease. Since some measures the government used in the past faced resistance, the government was therefore cautious about the processes it undertook. Even though different governments used various means, the U.S. government used thinking traps to affect the U.S. citizens' thinking in influencing their decisions during the pandemic. It is, therefore, critical to understand these thinking traps and how the impact they have been having on these citizens over the years. The U.S. government used thinking traps such as no alternative thinking, catastrophizing the incident, overgeneralization, false representation of law, fear, trapping people in the past, conspiracy theories, and fortune telling to manipulate the U.S. decisions during the pandemic.
The other thinking traps the U.S. government applied to its citizens was no alternative thinking. In most instances, when a new change is likely to be introduced, people will oppose it. Since people are generally resistant to change, they will likely look for other options they can embrace for that change. Since the U.S. government knew these individuals were likely to oppose these changes and suggest other measures that could require reevaluation, which could be tiring, the government employed a non-alterative thinking strategy. In this strategy, the government created a mindset that the methods it employs are the best and that no other method can replace the current method. For instance, when the U.S. government introduced lockdowns, it introduced them in such a way that there could be any other option that could be employed to control the rising COVID-19 case. This approach made most people believe in the government since they believed it had the best intentions for them. However, as time progressed, people started criticizing the move highlighting that the lockdown was not the only option. Other people have even highlighted that the lockdown caused more harm than good to the citizens.
The other thinking traps the U.S. government used was catastrophizing the whole incident. Since the U.S. government knew that some people could question their motives, they used the worst-case scenario for their citizens. For instance, they usually cover the number of people infected with the disease and others who have succumbed. Even though many people were recovering from the disease, the government put minimum coverage on these people. The government mainly used this approach to ensure that its citizens would refrain from concentrating on the measures that the government was employing and rather concentrate on the epidemic. The government's approach worked since, during this period, most people stopped concentrating on the policies in the country and only concentrated on the updates regarding the disease. This move allowed the government to continue employing its practices, some of which seemed unfair to its citizens, with minimum opposition. People thought COVID-19 was the worst epidemic ever to occur because the government should do whatever it could to ensure they were safe. However, after some time, the people started to notice that COVID-19 was not as deadly as the government portrayed it, a discovery that made them question and oppose some government policies.
The other thinking traps the government employed was overgeneralizing some information. In most instances, the U.S. government has been explaining the reason behind everything it was looking forward to doing. For instance, before performing any policy, the government would first explain to the general public every detail and why it was important. The main reason was that the government sought support from its citizens. However, most of the policies it employed did not give specific details regarding how the whole process will take place. For instance, in various scenarios, rather than the government explaining in detail how some measures could affect the people, it generalized the whole idea. For instance, despite the government instructing its citizens to have a COVID-19 vaccination, it only highlighted the main reason it could help individuals recover from the disease. However, similar to other processes where the government highlighted the side effects of some drugs, the government generalized the same idea. This has been one of the sources of criticism from some individuals who have highlighted that some people died due to COVID-19 vaccine complications (Yancy, 2020). However, rather than addressing this issue, the government was frequently overlooking it.
One common thinking strategy the U.S. government used was the false representation of the law. Most people have complained that the U.S. government violated most of their rights during the COVID-19 epidemic. For instance, one of the rights they enjoyed before this crisis was the right to have a free movement. However, after the outbreak, the government limited the movements of the U.S. lockdowns and social distancing in managing this condition (Li et al., 2021). For instance, there were lockdowns in the majority of states in America in...