Brilliant and concise summation of the current (and lamentable!) state of affairs, Mr. deBoer. Here's to hoping the Orthodox Branch Covidians read your thoughtful and incisive missive and take your exceedingly wise words to heart!
There have always been people who worship at the alter of panic, stirring up drama and mayhem in their personal lives. Big, impactful events like this allow them to go public without shame. Plus it gives cover to people who don't foment drama in their personal lives, but who really love watching The Bachelor, to indulge in public drama and panic. I grow weary.
I would argue that the COVID dead enders have not lost altogether and still control the institutions.
The fact is that there was never any empiric rationale for NPIs since vaccines became widely available nearly a year ago.
But hysterics aligning with institutional prerogatives led to the public health governance we got from the CDC, NIH, and state and local DOHs.
The frail and incompetent institutions (along with ersatz elites) needed to *provide safety* to justify their existence and we have had a never ending show of COVID public health theater.
This has deranged many people and led to fully lost years for both children and adults.
The reason that policy has changed and things have loosened up is not because the institutions set themselves right of their own accord. It was because they were politically, and appropriately,
bullied into it.
So, while things seem to be going in the right direction, they could certainly regress with the next wave. And we now know clearly that we cannot count on basic competence from institutions even as it relates to their core missions. We have decided to make everything political, so everything is political.
Pretty much agree with you all the way here, Freddie, except that I think the expansions of tech/surveillance power that are being justified by both the realities of COVID and the extremes of the COVID mentality are far from trivial...even though - as you say about 9/11 - that's where we were headed anyway.
I have friends moving out of NYS because of covid hysteria, and other friends thinking about it.
The tide is turning, I see more and more liberals getting sick of it. But there is a set of people that are clinging to COVID theater like someone who is drowning, and many of those people just happen to be people who enjoy the authority that comes with executing COVID regulations. I'm not just talking about public health bureaucrats, but even my church where people are dying to keep the mask mandate going after it was declared unconstitutional.
'We're not back to normal yet. Put your mask over your nose,' I screamed at the Uber Eats delivery guy from the window as he placed food on my doorstep.
A tangent to your article, but your writing always pops out to me with sentences like "The purpose of these vaccines is to allow us to go about the work of being human beings.".... This sentiment is often too rare on the left** who can be too singularly obsessed with being the bomb throwers, the destroyers. "The world is shit, we destroy it before we can fix it." But like that great character Strelnikov in Dr Zhivago, they are the last people I would ask to create anything I would want to live in.
** I am Gen-X and it was alive and well back in the 80s/90s too when I was in university.
"so many are resigned to the idea that the system cannot be reformed from inside. But they are also not so deluded as to think that armed revolution could possibly succeed."
This describes me to a T but rather than allowing myself to sink into the pathologies you've described, I've disengaged from electoral politics (why follow if change isn't possible and it only makes me angry) and invested in preparing a world that maybe my children's children can change. I spend my time and effort building a union at my workplace and building solidarity and good will with other unions in my area. I am working towards a project that I will never see come to fruition, and that's ok.
The debate seems to lie at the center of the left/right debate.
You have some guy who is born healthy, tall, good looking, personable, conscientious with an IQ of 145 they are going to do very well. All of those traits being almost entirely genetic.
Then you have someone else who is born sickly, short, ugly, disagreeable, lazy and stupid. Again, all traits that are almost entirely genetic.
How much does one owe the other?
The same holds true with COVID. How much should the smart and healthy inconvenience themselves to save the stupid and sickly?
Thankfully the omicron wave seems to be receding fast, but at its peak thousands of people were dying from COVID-19 every day. Transmission rates, hospitalizations, and deaths were higher than any any previous point.
I agree that the online liberal scolds can be exhausting, but come on. Increased vigilance seems to have been warranted over the last couple of months.
Terrific article, especially the comparison with 9/11, when fear hijacked so many people’s brains and caused them to be senselessly cruel to each other. Here’s a story—see if it sounds familiar:
Shortly after 9/11, I flew home with my son, who was a very active toddler at the time. He weighed about 30 pounds, and his car seat (required by the airline) was an additional 30 pounds. We finally got to the gate, where I set down the heavy seat with relief. I unstrapped my son and started to follow him around as he raced around the gate area.
A gate agent started screaming (literally screaming) at me. How could I leave that car seat just sitting there?! It could be full of explosives! I pointed out that it had been through security, and had been x-rayed by the TSA, but to no avail. The gate agent told me that I could 1. Tie down my son in the seat, 2. Follow my son but carry the seat with me at all times, or 3. Leave the seat with a trusted person. When I protested that I was on my own, a kind lady nearby offered to watch the seat.
“You don’t know her!” yelled the gate agent. “She could be a terrorist!” The kind lady rolled her eyes, and then in a bright voice said to me, “Hey! It’s me! Your old friend from high school! I haven’t seen you in so long! Let me watch the seat for you, FRIEND!” I thanked her and started to head off after my son, who had been squirming in my arms during this conversation. The gate agent was enraged. She actually said, “Well, if the seat blows up, it will be your fault.”
The moral of the story, then and now, is that we cooler heads need to start speaking up when we hear people express these insane, outsized fears. The car seat did not carry explosives. My toddler and I were not terrorists. And if you’ve been vaccinated, Covid won’t hurt you. Heck, my parents’ octogenarian friends all have Covid, including a couple of very frail folks. Their symptoms? A sore throat and runny nose.
Brilliant and concise summation of the current (and lamentable!) state of affairs, Mr. deBoer. Here's to hoping the Orthodox Branch Covidians read your thoughtful and incisive missive and take your exceedingly wise words to heart!
There have always been people who worship at the alter of panic, stirring up drama and mayhem in their personal lives. Big, impactful events like this allow them to go public without shame. Plus it gives cover to people who don't foment drama in their personal lives, but who really love watching The Bachelor, to indulge in public drama and panic. I grow weary.
Great piece, once again.
I would argue that the COVID dead enders have not lost altogether and still control the institutions.
The fact is that there was never any empiric rationale for NPIs since vaccines became widely available nearly a year ago.
But hysterics aligning with institutional prerogatives led to the public health governance we got from the CDC, NIH, and state and local DOHs.
The frail and incompetent institutions (along with ersatz elites) needed to *provide safety* to justify their existence and we have had a never ending show of COVID public health theater.
This has deranged many people and led to fully lost years for both children and adults.
The reason that policy has changed and things have loosened up is not because the institutions set themselves right of their own accord. It was because they were politically, and appropriately,
bullied into it.
So, while things seem to be going in the right direction, they could certainly regress with the next wave. And we now know clearly that we cannot count on basic competence from institutions even as it relates to their core missions. We have decided to make everything political, so everything is political.
Copy editor hopefully starts next week 😤
I love how this blog and Slow Boring analyzed a similar problem in their own way today. Great stuff from both.
Pretty much agree with you all the way here, Freddie, except that I think the expansions of tech/surveillance power that are being justified by both the realities of COVID and the extremes of the COVID mentality are far from trivial...even though - as you say about 9/11 - that's where we were headed anyway.
I have friends moving out of NYS because of covid hysteria, and other friends thinking about it.
The tide is turning, I see more and more liberals getting sick of it. But there is a set of people that are clinging to COVID theater like someone who is drowning, and many of those people just happen to be people who enjoy the authority that comes with executing COVID regulations. I'm not just talking about public health bureaucrats, but even my church where people are dying to keep the mask mandate going after it was declared unconstitutional.
'We're not back to normal yet. Put your mask over your nose,' I screamed at the Uber Eats delivery guy from the window as he placed food on my doorstep.
A tangent to your article, but your writing always pops out to me with sentences like "The purpose of these vaccines is to allow us to go about the work of being human beings.".... This sentiment is often too rare on the left** who can be too singularly obsessed with being the bomb throwers, the destroyers. "The world is shit, we destroy it before we can fix it." But like that great character Strelnikov in Dr Zhivago, they are the last people I would ask to create anything I would want to live in.
** I am Gen-X and it was alive and well back in the 80s/90s too when I was in university.
Great piece. And I am glad you have found a copy editor.
"so many are resigned to the idea that the system cannot be reformed from inside. But they are also not so deluded as to think that armed revolution could possibly succeed."
This describes me to a T but rather than allowing myself to sink into the pathologies you've described, I've disengaged from electoral politics (why follow if change isn't possible and it only makes me angry) and invested in preparing a world that maybe my children's children can change. I spend my time and effort building a union at my workplace and building solidarity and good will with other unions in my area. I am working towards a project that I will never see come to fruition, and that's ok.
The debate seems to lie at the center of the left/right debate.
You have some guy who is born healthy, tall, good looking, personable, conscientious with an IQ of 145 they are going to do very well. All of those traits being almost entirely genetic.
Then you have someone else who is born sickly, short, ugly, disagreeable, lazy and stupid. Again, all traits that are almost entirely genetic.
How much does one owe the other?
The same holds true with COVID. How much should the smart and healthy inconvenience themselves to save the stupid and sickly?
The debate is the same as it always is.
Thankfully the omicron wave seems to be receding fast, but at its peak thousands of people were dying from COVID-19 every day. Transmission rates, hospitalizations, and deaths were higher than any any previous point.
I agree that the online liberal scolds can be exhausting, but come on. Increased vigilance seems to have been warranted over the last couple of months.
Terrific article, especially the comparison with 9/11, when fear hijacked so many people’s brains and caused them to be senselessly cruel to each other. Here’s a story—see if it sounds familiar:
Shortly after 9/11, I flew home with my son, who was a very active toddler at the time. He weighed about 30 pounds, and his car seat (required by the airline) was an additional 30 pounds. We finally got to the gate, where I set down the heavy seat with relief. I unstrapped my son and started to follow him around as he raced around the gate area.
A gate agent started screaming (literally screaming) at me. How could I leave that car seat just sitting there?! It could be full of explosives! I pointed out that it had been through security, and had been x-rayed by the TSA, but to no avail. The gate agent told me that I could 1. Tie down my son in the seat, 2. Follow my son but carry the seat with me at all times, or 3. Leave the seat with a trusted person. When I protested that I was on my own, a kind lady nearby offered to watch the seat.
“You don’t know her!” yelled the gate agent. “She could be a terrorist!” The kind lady rolled her eyes, and then in a bright voice said to me, “Hey! It’s me! Your old friend from high school! I haven’t seen you in so long! Let me watch the seat for you, FRIEND!” I thanked her and started to head off after my son, who had been squirming in my arms during this conversation. The gate agent was enraged. She actually said, “Well, if the seat blows up, it will be your fault.”
The moral of the story, then and now, is that we cooler heads need to start speaking up when we hear people express these insane, outsized fears. The car seat did not carry explosives. My toddler and I were not terrorists. And if you’ve been vaccinated, Covid won’t hurt you. Heck, my parents’ octogenarian friends all have Covid, including a couple of very frail folks. Their symptoms? A sore throat and runny nose.