The Great Coronavirus Panic of 2020
Exclusive: Sean Harshey hammers the left for politicizing a public health emergency
By Sean HarsheyPublished April 30, 2020 at 7:16pm
In the hysterical panic and insane self-destruction that overtook most Americans beginning in March 2020 regarding the Chinese coronavirus, there were always a core of people who kept their sanity and tried to encourage everyone to be rational.
It seemed that about 10% of the American population fell into this category.
This group objected to government overreach on both constitutional grounds and on the fact that such drastic measures had never been proposed for previous outbreaks of SARS, MERS, H1N1 or even the Ebola virus, all of which were either far deadlier or more widespread.
The fact the hysteria was being led by government bureaucrats along with liberals coming off a stinging defeat just a few days before in their attempt to remove President Trump through impeachment was hard to ignore.
There was another group – probably also around 10% – who were not inclined to panic, but who started to be swept into the hysteria.
The people in this group collected themselves, though, noticing quickly that the whole thing made no sense on several levels.
This group was convinced to stay rooted in reality by inconsistencies hashed out by commentators everywhere.
For example: Experts claimed the virus was not communicable and posed no threat to Americans just days before changing their stories and telling everyone millions were about to die; constantly changing models by anonymous experts were cited daily with dramatically different predictions;
the same activities were said to be dangerous or safe depending on completely arbitrary determinations, such as small shops being ordered closed while large retailers were deemed "essential" and allowed to continue selling the same type of items in big box stores; and, of course, the wide range of disparities in how states and nations were handling the impending epidemic.
If the only way to avoid catastrophic loss of life was to destroy the economy and lock everyone in their homes, why were Japan, Sweden, South Korea and American states like South Dakota refusing to do so?
It obviously was debatable, and the crushing costs in economic terms and personal freedoms of a shutdown/lockdown pushed the risk/reward analysis toward not being worth the costs.
So, approximately 20% of the American population resisted the various draconian government actions from the beginning or nearly the beginning.
Another group, perhaps 50% of the population, trusted our leaders, complied with the various demands and prepared for the worst.
They sat at home, closed their businesses, stayed 6 feet away from people, wore masks and did what politicians and experts told them they needed to do.
They watched the daily briefings, paid attention to the statistics and waited for the disaster to strike.
The remaining 30% of Americans eagerly embraced the shutdowns, spent time on social media chastising their neighbors for acts of noncompliance or for refusing to panic and demanded everyone defer to the "experts" in everything.
People in this group also berated and mocked those states and localities taking a more measured approach and discussing timetables for reopening.
This segment of Americans now demands everything remain shut and everyone be confined to their homes until some unknown time in the future when a vaccine is developed, if that time ever comes.
They also advocate mandatory vaccination as a precondition to returning to society, mandatory tracking for "contact tracing" and other Orwellian submission to government authorities.
This group is probably responsible for much of the toilet paper hoarding in the first few weeks of the lockdown, too, but that is just a guess based on other generally irrational behavior.
As days have turned into weeks and every expert prediction has proven wrong, Americans in the largest group – those who trusted the experts and politicians and complied with the initial demands – have begun joining those calling for an end to the madness.
They see major media covering COVID-19 precisely as they did the Russian collusion hoax, the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, the Stormy Daniels matter and impeachment:
with shocking animosity toward President Trump, deference to Democratic leaders and bureaucrats and a complete disregard or outright ignoring of facts conflicting with the scripted leftist narrative.
Real damage has been done, and continues, in spite of the virus having dramatically less impact on the health care system than predicted.
Despite this, people opposing the president have simply shifted their justification for continuing the destruction and government controls and grown louder in their demands.
The sides supporting and opposing continued shutdown have mostly formed up on the same political lines as with every other political debate.
The left has politicized a public health emergency and desperately wants to continue the crisis for political gain.
Evidence of this can be seen on cable news shows and news websites where the same commentators critical of the president have simply continued their nonstop attacks, ridicule and misrepresentations under a new pretext.
We can also see it with our liberal friends and neighbors who uniformly support economic shutdown and blame the president.
It is more obvious every day coronavirus is simply an excuse to assert control, attack conservatives and damage President Trump.
Evidence can also be seen in the growing protests at state capitols and in citizens openly defying government shutdown orders to reopen their businesses or move freely in public despite stay-at-home orders.
Good people who initially trusted authorities and experts are increasingly realizing they have either been duped or are being manipulated and controlled for political advantage.
Liberal politicians appear to see that an increasing number of Americans will not allow this outrage to continue, so they are adapting by agreeing to return freedoms in small bits in an effort to appease their increasingly agitated citizenry.
But they are also warning of a second wave and reserving for themselves the right of future lockdowns and economic shutdowns.
The Great Coronavirus Panic of 2020 is a significant event in American history and may just foreshadow a larger political and cultural showdown.
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