"With this last turn, we’ve reached the end of the progression, because it means the original theory behind a stern public health response..has been abandoned or subverted by every faction in our national debate."
nytimes.com/2020/06/06/opi…
nytimes.com/2020/06/06/opi…
"In each stage of the American response to the coronavirus..this delusion has been at work."
"In the first stage it was..portions of..public health establishment..who treated..virus as something to 'be spun or narrativized away,' trying to define..real contagion as xenophobia"
"In the first stage it was..portions of..public health establishment..who treated..virus as something to 'be spun or narrativized away,' trying to define..real contagion as xenophobia"
"By the time this effort at reality-denial collapsed, the baton of narrative delusion had been passed to President Donald Trump, who spent crucial weeks behaving as though the power of positive thinking could suffice to keep his glorious economy afloat."
"the next delusion belonged to..conservative supporters, who embraced..idea that..economic carnage was just..result of misguided government policy—even though many stay-at-home orders only happened after steep drops in dining and shopping and travel, not before"
"Now..amid..protests against police brutality,..baton of words-against-reality has been passed back to..public health establishment, many of whose leaders are tying themselves in ideological knots arguing that it is not only acceptable but essential..to encourage mass gatherings"
"The progression.., in which all sides have embraced delusions..signal[s]..there will be no further..attempt to fight..virus. Trump..won’t support it,..public health bureaucracy won’t be able to defend it, and we didn’t use..time..lockdowns bought to build..infrastructure"
