Remember the good old days of Y2K?
Back then, a very close family friend and I were discussing the onset of the new millennium. I mentioned that many people thought that the year 2000 was the beginning of the twenty-first century but that it was actually the last year of the twentieth century.
"Well, that's a matter of opinion." came the reply.
I tried to explain that each century lasts for one hundred years, that the first century began at the start of the year 1 and ended at the conclusion of the year 100, the second century began with the start of the year 101 and ended at the conclusion of the year 200 and so on. The starts of the succeeding centuries were 201, 301, 401,....., 1801, 1901 and the then imminent year of 2001, and not the year 2000.
"Well, that's still a matter of opinion." came the reply.
I guess this would be an example of fixation.
This person was firmly fixated on the contradictory beliefs that the first century began with the year 1 and that the twenty-first century had to begin at the start of the year 2000. Perhaps someone, somewhere, at some long forgotten moment may have offered that mistaken view which then got taken up as an irrefutable gospel.
I gave up trying to bring enlightenment.
Today however, there are people out there espousing that face masks and social distancing are unnecessary intrusions into their personal lives because COVID-19 isn't really a serious medical threat, that there have been massive voter frauds committed throughout the United States, that no astronauts ever traveled to the moon and that the earth is flat.
Similar fixations.