Thread by @statomattic

A realization has been weighing on my mind lately: As we in America emerge from the pandemic, our traditional geographical/cultural alignments are, and will, prove a significant psychological hurdle we need to clear as we return to normal. Thread upcoming... (1/)

First off, others can continue to debate the wisdom of lockdown policies and mask mandates if they wish. Me, personally, I'm done with those serious debates. Not because I am tired of them (though I certainly am), but because they are no longer serious debates. It's over. (2/)

We have abundant data from a full year, and scientific consensus from before the Chinese snookered some and found convenient ideological allies in others: Lockdowns do not work. They only inflict harm. Mask mandates do not work. They only perpetuate power and fear. Period. (3/)

The data to this effect is by now so clear, so overwhelming, that debating it further is useless and boring. If you cling to the notion these policies work, whatever your noble or malign motivations, I simply don't care to argue about it anymore. Sorry, but you are wrong. (4/)

The terms "science denier" and "flat earther" are hurtful and mean, so I don't like to use them seriously, but the truth is that the stubborn belief in lockdowns and cloth masks is now approaching a flat-earth level of anti-scientific fervor. Which brings me to the problem (5/).

By and large, the most ardent lockdown advocates are clustered in our coastal cities, plus Chicago and a couple of other urban enclaves. It's a political thing and a class thing. The media. The academy. Tech. The people who consider themselves our elites - and are in ways. (6/)

These classes are the traditional drivers of our national conversation. They craft the media narratives. They produce our entertainment. They educate our finest, the next generation of elites themselves. The fact they control the conversation is central to their identity. (7/)

If the coastal and urban elites don't always consider the rest of America rubes, they do at least consider themselves better educated, and their privileged position to be meritorious. They'd be loathe to admit it because they prefer to project it on others, but it's truth. (8/)

This is not theoretical to me. I have lived it and I know it better than most.

I grew up in the suburbs of Boston. My parents were both professors. I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from an elite university.

I have spent much of my career interacting with athletes and trade workers..

I now live in the Midwest. In other words, I have gotten to know, well, people on both sides of the divide. And I can tell you this: While credentials do confer a certain power, they are a piss-poor barometer of judgment and smarts. You'll find brilliance and idiocy everywhere...