Thursday, April 22, 2021

Johnson, hubris, greek methology and covid19




Earlier in April 2020 ... I was sadly lamenting the UK governments mismanagement of covid19 i.e. they were too slow to act and sent a very dangerous message playing down the risks in late Feb / early Mar ... with Johnson in his normal braggadocious manner claiming it was okay to still shake hands, even with confirmed coronavirus patients (i.e. "don't panic, business as normal"). 

Clearly and strategically this has backfired with PM being hospitalized and then moved to intensive care this week.

Discussing this with my husband Thomas, hubris was the word that came to mind



hubris
/ˈhjuːbrɪs/
noun
  1. excessive pride or self-confidence.
    "the self-assured hubris among economists was shaken in the late 1980s"
    Similar:
    arrogance
    conceit
    conceitedness
    haughtiness
    pride
    vanity
    self-importance
    self-conceit
    pomposity
    superciliousness
    feeling of superiority
    hauteur
    uppitiness
    big-headedness
    Opposite:
    modesty
    • (in Greek tragedy) excessive pride towards or defiance of the gods, leading to nemesis.






1 comment:

Dave Pitts said...

FYI ... this post was written and meant for Apr 2020 not April 2021, although I think the point still stands