"Denialism"

If you want to understand why some people aren't taking the Pestilence as seriously as they might, well...

Remember the story of The Boy Who Cried Godzilla?

Day in, day out, for fifty years and more, he'd cry "Godzilla!"  And yet, somehow, Godzilla never showed up.  Sometimes it was an iguana, sometimes a beetle, and often nothing at all.

Then, one day, a perfectly ordinary wolf showed up to menace the flock.  "Godzilla!" he cried.  "Pay no attention," pointing to the wolf, "to the chihuahua!  Godzilla is upon us!"

And when he could no longer ignore the chihuahua, excuse me, wolf, ravaging the flock, he finally cried "Wolf!  Real live wolf!  For real this time!  It's the biggest wolf in the history of ever!"

Strangely, no one believed him.  Because they were all deniers, you see.  After all those years of denying Godzilla, denying a wolf was nothing to them.

If only they'd listened!  Maybe now they'll take Godzilla seriously!