The Straw Man of Hope In the Time of Pandemic

This topic seemed appropriate for when other people are doing Insecure Writer Support Group entries.  A few weeks ago, one of my Facebook "friends" linked to this blog post by author Nathan Bransford.  It's supposed to give people motivation to write during the quarantine.

But to me this is an example of a "straw man" post.  From yourdictionary.com comes this definition and an example:

Of the many types of logical fallacies, the straw man fallacy is particularly common in political debates and in discussions over controversial topics. The basic structure of the argument consists of Person A making a claim, Person B creating a distorted version of the claim (the "straw man"), and then Person B attacking this distorted version in order to refute Person A's original assertion.
 Often, the distorted interpretation is only remotely related to the original claim. The opposing argument may focus on just one aspect of the claim, take it out of context, or exaggerate it. The straw man argument, in this way, is an example of a red herring. It's meant to distract from the real issue being discussed and is not a logically valid argument. The best way to understand this phenomenon is with some straw man fallacy examples.
 The War on Christmas
Person A: The children's winter concert at the school should include non-Christmas songs too.
Person B: You won't be happy until Christmas songs are banned from being played on the radio!
 This example of a straw man argument is related to slippery slope reasoning. Person A may be requesting a more diverse or inclusive selection of songs at the children's winter concert. However, Person B interprets this request as a desire to remove all Christmas songs from public performance entirely. Whether or not Christmas songs are playing on the radio is not related to whether the children's concert will include songs from other traditions and holidays, like Hanukkah or Diwali. 

In this case, for people not feeling like writing during the pandemic, Bransford says that people are worried about what the publishing world would be like afterwards.  And then goes on to compare it to the financial collapse of 2008.  The idea is that publishing has survived before so it'll survive now.  Go on and write!

I just shook my head.  I don't give a shit about "the world after this one."  I'm worried about surviving this world right fucking now.  I'm not worried if Big Publishing and Big Literary Agents will survive; I'm worried about me and my family not getting sick and dying right now and in the weeks ahead.  That's the problem.

I mean, sure I can start writing something, but am I going to be alive to actually finish it?  Part of the horror of this pandemic is that because we don't have enough tests for people, there's no way to know who's sick and who isn't until they start showing symptoms.  And symptoms might not show for 10-14 days!  So you can start writing something thinking you're fine and healthy and then the next day fall ill and days after that you might be dead.

That's the reality of the situation.  It's not about the financial health of the publishing industry.  But that's a lot easier to defend because Big Publishing has survived the 2008 collapse, the Great Depression, and whatever in-between.  The author sets up a false fear to dispel with an easy argument.

I have done some writing as of the writing of this entry, but I'm not one of those people who relies on Big Publishing.  It's to my advantage to continue writing and self-publishing because especially now I need the money.  That's the motivation I need, though I know most people are not in that position.  Most people it's not going to matter much one way or another.  But I'd say if writing makes you feel good or helps you to deal with the horror, then go for it.

Though maybe some people are that much in denial that they're worrying about months or years from now instead of right this fucking minute.  I'm not.  I don't think you should be either.  Now if we're lucky by the time this posts in May we'll be on the downward slope of this thing and people are going back to work and things are getting back to normal.  Let's hope, though it's hard to say.  Which is the point.  To me it's pretty irresponsible to offer false hope to people.  That's certainly not something I do, which is probably why I don't have nearly as many readers.

Anyway, by the time any Phantom Readers read this I might be sick or dead.  That's the reality.  Sure, Big Publishing will survive, but will we?  That's harder to say.