Coronavirus to Prompt Worldwide Cultural Changes 冠状病毒将引发世界性文化变革
Mark C. Donfried 马克·C·唐弗里德
Not too long ago， smoking cigarettes was a very common habit within private houses， offices and public spaces. Older readers might even remember long-distance flights with people smoking in their seats， with the smell and health hazards of the smoke spreading throughout the cabin. Many nonsmokers had to suffer the serious health hazards of smoke in bars， restaurants， their offices and beyond. However， starting in the 1970s in the US and then accelerating in a massive way in the 1990s， movements to ban smoking in public spaces managed to get legislation passed in America and many other countries. The end result of these campaigns is that smokers in many places， such as in Europe， have to go to the balcony or outside of their office， restaurant or bar to smoke. Most hotels have completely forbidden smoking in their rooms and car rental companies have followed the same strategy. As a result， the culture of smoking has changed and become more sensitive to nonsmokers.
In recent decades， we have observed many other cultural behaviors that have significantly changed. For example， the #MeToo movement changed the culture of sexual advances in business and shone the light on sexual harassment and assault. The movement has totally changed the culture of sexual freedom， which had existed for decades. It only took a few Twitter posts and some well-reported court cases against leaders in the film industry to send a powerful message to the entire world that this culture has changed.
The ongoing coronavirus crisis， with its disastrous results in both health and financial terms， has taught us two important lessons about cultural change and our options for the future.
The first lesson is that it was easier than we thought to coordinate a globally united policy on social distancing and it did not take much to convince the entire world to march in the same direction. We all thought it would be impossible to unite the cultures of the world and come to a mutual understanding. However， looking at the reaction of countries all around the world， we have seen that， almost instantaneously， a mutual understanding was agreed upon and all of the obstacles and cultural differences fell like dominoes to allow for the new culture of social distancing.