Therapeutic totalitarianism

 

Nicholas J. Kaster’s column today at American Thinker has a sobering analysis of the local and state governments’ endless mask mandates, lockdowns, and other joys of the never-ending pandemic:

We have entered the seventh month of coronavirus panic, with large parts of America still partly or wholly shut down. What began as a 15-day expedient designed to “flatten the curve,” has gradually become the norm in American life. The goalposts have continued to shift. First, the focus was on hospital overcrowding; then it moved to overall deaths; then it moved to number of positive cases; now it seems to be shifting to the availability of a vaccine. The real endgame appears to be the November election.

. . .

Many have seen parallels in this creeping authoritarianism to George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. And indeed, there are some: the obsessive mask conformity, the endless and often contradictory edicts by state governors and mayors, and the tiresome mantras celebrating obedience (e.g., “Alone together”).

But a closer analogy to our current predicament can be found in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Huxley’s novel, published in 1932, 17 years before Orwell’s, envisions a dystopia that is sated but soulless, where the people’s every earthly need is met, but at the cost of their liberty and humanity.

. . .

The idea of a riskless utopia is pure fantasy, of course, but the power that will accrete to the ruling class is very real.

Mr. Kaster’s column is here.

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Everyone Back to Work

Stephen Green, a/k/a Mr. Vodkapundit, has been posting a daily blog at PJ Media entitled "Insanity Wrap." For those of us who are feeling surrounded by insanity these days, it's a good way to have some fun while following the latest bit of crazy.  His installment today is the 13th, the full installment is here, and below is a segment from it:

The Pandemic Is Over, Everyone Back to Work

And:

Look, are we in a health crisis requiring business and school closures, social distancing, and all the rest, or are we not?

This is a simple question, and Insanity Wrap knows the answer: It depends.

If you’re a member of the new protected class of rioters, you are free to go about the vital business of destroying whatever is left of America’s economy and social fabric.

If you aren’t, then sit down and shut up and stay home and wear the damn mask, hater.

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Gov. DeWine slow-walks re-opening Ohio

WLWT5 reports (h/t Instapundit):

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine unveiled the first phase of his plan to reopen the state’s economy, laying out hard dates when certain businesses may resume.

The state's stay-at-home order, which was slated to expire May 1, will remain in place as the state begins to reopen, the governor said. The extent of the stay-at-home order was not provided.

The state will begin to reopen on May 1 with health care procedures. Manufacturing, distribution, construction and general business environments will follow on May 4, and all retailers can resume business on May 12.

Reopening dates for other businesses – including restaurants, gyms, bars and hair salons – were not provided, as the governor said additional monitoring needs to be done.

The full report is here.  May 1?  May 4?  May 12?  These dates seem arbitrary.  Why not re-open everything today?  And what "additional monitoring" is he thinking of? You can register your support of or displeasure with DeWine’s announcements:

Contact Gov. Mike DeWine: (614) 644-4357 or by email here

https://governor.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/governor/contact

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The COVID-19 Crisis Un-masked

image credit: michiganradio.org

Today’s Must Read: “Well, That Unraveled Fast” by Jeffrey A. Tucker at the American Institute for Economic Research, which begins:

Thinking back to February 28, 2020, and the New England Journal of Medicine. It published an article called “Covid-19 — Navigating the Uncharted” signed by Anthony S. Fauci (THE Fauci), Clifford Lane, and Robert R. Redfield.  

It reported an existing COVID-19 case fatality rate of 2% but further pointed out that infections show “a wide spectrum of disease severity.” “If one assumes that the number of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic cases is several times as high as the number of reported cases, the case fatality rate may be considerably less than 1%” or perhaps as high as the flu seasons of 1957 and 1968, but is nowhere near “a disease similar to SARS or MERS, which have had case fatality rates of 9 to 10% and 36%, respectively.” To be sure, they said, mitigating the disease could require “isolating ill persons (including voluntary isolation at home), school closures, and telecommuting where possible.”

Now, what precisely happened between February 28 and two weeks later? This will be studied for many years to find out precisely how governors and mayors, through a series of unscientific, panicked, unjustified, and morally egregious actions, crushed under foot the world’s strongest economy while the media cheered. We’ll be discussing the whys and whats for a generation. 

The point is that it is all unraveling as fast as it came. 

. . .

In this case, it made the U.S Constitution and human rights generally null and void for a full thirty days. And we had no choice but to comply. It was a grotesque experiment in totalitarianism. Families ripped apart, people’s businesses and jobs destroyed, essential surgeries delayed, despair spread throughout society. 

Now we know. Never again. 

Mr. Tucker’s full article is here. 

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