The social decay and other disastrous effects that bureaucrats and (mostly Democratic) politicians brought on society must be answered for. “We didn’t know” isn’t an acceptable response.
Writing in the Atlantic, Emily Oster calls for “pandemic amnesty” because “we need to forgive one another for what we did and said when we were in the dark about COVID.” To start her piece, she cites the precautions she took in April 2020, right after the start of the pandemic. She claims they were misguided but that “we didn’t know.”
STUDENTS SUFFER LARGEST LEARNING LOSS IN 30 YEARS AFTER PANDEMIC SCHOOL CLOSURES
She then recaps some of the mistakes made during the pandemic, concluding that “we have to put these fights aside and declare a pandemic amnesty” and that “dwelling on the mistakes of history can lead to a repetitive doom loop.”
“Let’s acknowledge that we made complicated choices in the face of deep uncertainty, and then try to work together to build back and move forward,” Oster writes.
Sorry, no deal.
We may not have known much in April 2020, but we knew before the 2020 fall semester that children should be in schools. We knew children were not at serious risk from the virus and that if grocery store workers could be deemed essential, so should teachers. By the start of the 2021 academic year, we most certainly did know that children belonged in school, in person, with no restrictions. But some Democratic politicians still imposed virtual “learning” on children well into the spring of this year.
In New York City, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, politicians and bureaucrats were still putting restrictions on children just a few short months ago.
So no, “We didn’t know” is not going to fly. There is no amnesty.
What’s more, ignorance is not an excuse for the hypocrisy we saw throughout the pandemic. While people were prevented from seeing their elderly parents or grandparents, Democratic politicians vacationed or partied in violation of restrictions they supported or even imposed on people. Normal people couldn’t hold funerals for their deceased loved ones, but Democratic politicians could have packed crowds at theirs because politicians like the late Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) were “essential” and the peasants were not.
I get it. My dad wasn’t important. So it’s ok to limit his funeral to 10 people tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/9MCAlNrRK4
— brink (@brinkofill) July 30, 2020
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You can have your “pandemic amnesty” once you give everyone back the two years they lost with their loved ones or reverse the permanent learning loss that children suffered thanks to unscientific lockdowns and mandates.
Until then, there can only be accountability, which starts with making sure every politician who supported these policies ends up out of power and that all the pundits and bureaucrats who supported them lose their positions of power or influence.
