Wishing Covid Away

One thing Covid has taught me is that our elite discourse is filled with pampered people (I knew that, though not all the implications) who have never lacked for anything and who have managed to even avoid the minor personal tragedies that all of us, regardless of class, can face. Reality sucks sometimes, but "seeing other people wearing masks in Duane Reade" is hardly the stuff of tragedies.

This is why I find the tenor of discussion around Covid-19 restrictions genuinely bewildering. There basically aren’t any. The United States is powering through the Omicron wave with its usual enforced individualism. The hard restrictions on our activities are, for the most part, not mandated or enforced by the state, acting at the behest of liberals who refuse to go back to normal because they are addicted to panic and quarantine; the limits are imposed by the virus that isn’t going away. My kid’s school class went remote for a while because people had Covid-19. He’s back in school now even though his principal has Covid-19. As usual in the United States, the people who won the political argument are now complaining the loudest that they’re dissatisfied with the results, and, apparently, it’s all the fault of the losers.

Anyone else remember "we're losing the Iraq war because the hippies aren't clapping loudly enough"? Similar vibes.