By Doug Newman – email me here.
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“We will not walk in fear, one of another.
We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason”.
~ Edward R. Murrow

One of the favorite guilt trips of COVID crusaders, when they have exhausted all others is “Well, if you knew someone who had died of COVID you’d wear a mask too.”

And you’d also support lockdowns, cancelling events, shutting down the economy, social distancing and all the rest of the flu d’etat.

My question to these people is: why don’t you treat every potential cause of illness or death this aggressively?

In a recent week, I lost two friends to cancer. One was more of an acquaintance, but she always seemed like a nice person. The other one was someone I sat next to in fifth grade. And even though we could not have been more different people, we had some great times together in the years that followed.

As I write this, 218,000 Americans have died with COVID. However, if these CDC numbers are accurate, only 6 percent – or 13,080 – have died from COVID alone. That means that, if you are otherwise healthy, you have less than a one in 25,000 chance of dying from COVID. And for this the entire fabric of American society has been radically, and perhaps irreparably, altered.

I’ve been saying it since March: the risk exists and the deaths are tragic. But the fear is criminally overblown.

The American Cancer Society predicts that over 606,000 Americans will die from various forms of cancer in 2020. We’ve known for decades that, while not contagious, perhaps a majority of cancer is behaviorally induced. So, with this in mind why don’t we outlaw tobacco, alcohol, processed foods and let’s limit sun exposure to 2 hours a day. And as obesity is a leading risk factor for cancer, let’s mandate a 3-mile run for everyone 5 days a week with no health exceptions such as bad knees or being in a wheelchair.

Would you want to live in such a society? Would you want your life nanomanaged to such an extent?

If you would slam the brakes on society to fight COVID, why not take similarly drastic measures to fight cancer and, for that matter, anything else that could potentially be fatal?

If the media incessantly bombarded you with graphic images of the mangled bodies of the 100-plus people killed in auto accidents on an average day in America, a great hue and cry would no doubt go forth to outlaw left turns and set a maximum national speed limit of 10 miles per hour. Indeed, many would demand that cars be outlawed altogether.

Think of the lives it would save!

And think of the economic devastation as well as the drop in life expectancy because the poorer people are the shorter their lives.

And if the war on COVID has been so necessary, why haven’t we shut society down for 90 days every year during flu season?

And if you are wearing a mask out of benevolence to keep others from getting sick, why don’t you just wear one for the rest of your life? Contagious diseases have been with us since the dawn of time and will always be with us.

And where did you get the idea that the key to health was goose-stepping along with whatever orders the government happened to be barking at the moment? Whatever happened to diet, exercise, supplementation, as well as healthy rewarding friendships and relationships?

I have one more question for you mask people out there: why weren’t you wearing a mask in March, April, and May, when COVID did 90 percent of its damage? I think I know: it’s because mayors and governors weren’t mandating them. Most of these mandates only came about after the death counts had dropped to a small fraction of their late-April peak.

COVID did what viruses do. It came, it did damage, and it has largely faded away. The curve did what all curves do: it flattened itself.

Three things have not gone away: the ability of the powers that be to scare the smack out of people, the urge of so many people in the halls of government as well as behind the neighborhood lunch counter to control others, and the willingness of people to believe whatever they think sounds good.

Centuries ago, men feared witches, so they burned women. After World War I, we feared Germans, so we outlawed beer and all other alcohol. During World War II, we feared Japanese, so we put them in internment camps.

In these times, we fear terrorists, so we permit the groping of crotches as a condition of travel. And people fear a disease with a 99.99 percent survival rate, so they demand a full-frontal assault on personal and economic liberty as well as human dignity.

Times, technology, and terminology change. And so, do the actors on the stage. But human nature and – I’ll just say it – human stupidity don’t change.