EPISODE · Jan 29, 2026 · 16 MIN
How Plague Trained Us
from Celebrate Creativity · host George Bartley
Send us Fan MailGEORGE:Today: How Plague Trained UsHow plague trained Elizabethan culture—audiences included—toward certain fears and reflexes…and how COVID trained us in remarkably similar ways.GEORGE:Quick reminder: my Shakespeare can look back from the present day—films, scholarship, modern claims—but he cannot predict the future. No prophecy.WILL:Memory, yes.Foresight, no.GEORGE:Now, When I say “habits of mind,” I mean the reflexes that become automatic:how you interpret a coughhow you feel about crowdswhat you do with your handswhat you believe when you’re afraidwhat you do to feel safewho you trust, and how quickly you withdraw trustWILL:An epidemic trains a person the way war trains a person—not by speeches, but by repeated fear.GEORGE:Exactly. Repetition makes instinct.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.
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Send us Fan Mail GEORGE: Today: How Plague Trained Us How plague trained Elizabethan culture—audiences included— toward certain fears and reflexes… and how COVID trained us in remarkably similar ways. GEORGE: Quick reminder: my Shakespeare can look back from the present day—films, scholarship, modern claims— but he cannot predict the future. No prophecy. WILL: Memory, yes. Foresight, no. GEORGE: Now, When I say “habits of mind,” I mean the reflexes that become automatic: how you interpret...
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How Plague Trained Us
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