Surge Summary: Contrary to progressive pieties, New Zealand’s overheated, fear-driven response to the CVID-19 pandemic is not the way for leaders to responsibly guide a nation. It is an impractical approach to living and will hurt that nation, and all those nations which follow its example.
by Peter Heck
I have no idea who the anonymous man is who goes by “Brooklyn Dad Defiant” on social media, but apparently one of my Twitter friends follows him. As a result, I am treated every-so-often to the platform’s algorithmic promotion of this guy’s tweets onto my timeline. That’s how I happened to see this gem from the self-proclaimed “Feminist” “BLM” “GoJoe” “Resistance” fighter (language warning):
Although at first I was convinced it was a parody account, a few minutes perusing his timeline revealed the jarring reality that it’s not. Which means that statement on New Zealand is a painfully serious, and painfully misguided take from a guy that sadly represents the thinking of a shockingly significant portion of our population.
The idea that locking down a city of nearly 2 million people because 4 individuals were found to have this virus is not proportional and appropriate. It’s astoundingly foolish. Regardless of the scientific debate over the precise percentage of the population that must be attained in order to achieve “herd immunity,” the truth is that this kind of knee-jerk lockdown mentality guarantees that New Zealand will never reach it.
For 100 days this island nation has successfully kept the rest of the world out. They locked down their ports and shut down their airports, only allowing traveling nationals to return (and even those were then subject to a strict quarantine until found to be virus-free). That has kept the virus at bay, no doubt.
But has anyone paused to ask what precisely the long-term plan is there? Has anyone running their government articulated the endgame? Eradicating the virus from existence is highly unlikely, especially within the next several years. So has New Zealand decided a permanent house arrest is the way forward? And if so, is that the kind of intuitive, innovative leadership to be celebrated?
Sweden, by contrast, took a different path. Their country never locked down, endured the brunt of the virus, straining but not overwhelming their hospital system when the pandemic swept through and did its worst. Now the scourge has past, the country has reached what many scientists believe is now herd immunity and Swedes are outdoors, indoors, working, playing, and living.
Meanwhile in New Zealand people are being locked in their homes, fearful to come outside, fearful to breathe, fearful to work, fearful to live. They are locked off and isolated from the rest of the world.
I have never claimed to understand the complexities of the progressive mind, but surely they can’t all share this man’s view of what amounts to effective leadership, right? As much as I’d like to believe that, Joe Biden’s recent suggestions of three-month mask mandates and the potential for more aggressive lockdowns tells me a different story.
Freedom is a novel concept. Its embrace has been the exception throughout world history, not the rule. It’d be a real shame if progressives were successful in making that the case here.
The views here are those of the author and not necessarily Daily Surge.
This column was originally posted at
The Resurgent.
Image: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/; https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=118283&picture=face-of-fear
Surge Summary: Contrary to progressive pieties, New Zealand’s overheated, fear-driven response to the CVID-19 pandemic is not the way for leaders to responsibly guide a nation. It is an impractical approach to living and will hurt that nation, and all those nations which follow its example.
by Peter HeckI have no idea who the anonymous man is who goes by “Brooklyn Dad Defiant” on social media, but apparently one of my Twitter friends follows him. As a result, I am treated every-so-often to the platform’s algorithmic promotion of this guy’s tweets onto my timeline. That’s how I happened to see this gem from the self-proclaimed “Feminist” “BLM” “GoJoe” “Resistance” fighter (language warning):
Although at first I was convinced it was a parody account, a few minutes perusing his timeline revealed the jarring reality that it’s not. Which means that statement on New Zealand is a painfully serious, and painfully misguided take from a guy that sadly represents the thinking of a shockingly significant portion of our population.
The idea that locking down a city of nearly 2 million people because 4 individuals were found to have this virus is not proportional and appropriate. It’s astoundingly foolish. Regardless of the scientific debate over the precise percentage of the population that must be attained in order to achieve “herd immunity,” the truth is that this kind of knee-jerk lockdown mentality guarantees that New Zealand will never reach it.
For 100 days this island nation has successfully kept the rest of the world out. They locked down their ports and shut down their airports, only allowing traveling nationals to return (and even those were then subject to a strict quarantine until found to be virus-free). That has kept the virus at bay, no doubt.
But has anyone paused to ask what precisely the long-term plan is there? Has anyone running their government articulated the endgame? Eradicating the virus from existence is highly unlikely, especially within the next several years. So has New Zealand decided a permanent house arrest is the way forward? And if so, is that the kind of intuitive, innovative leadership to be celebrated?
Sweden, by contrast, took a different path. Their country never locked down, endured the brunt of the virus, straining but not overwhelming their hospital system when the pandemic swept through and did its worst. Now the scourge has past, the country has reached what many scientists believe is now herd immunity and Swedes are outdoors, indoors, working, playing, and living.Meanwhile in New Zealand people are being locked in their homes, fearful to come outside, fearful to breathe, fearful to work, fearful to live. They are locked off and isolated from the rest of the world.
I have never claimed to understand the complexities of the progressive mind, but surely they can’t all share this man’s view of what amounts to effective leadership, right? As much as I’d like to believe that, Joe Biden’s recent suggestions of three-month mask mandates and the potential for more aggressive lockdowns tells me a different story.
Freedom is a novel concept. Its embrace has been the exception throughout world history, not the rule. It’d be a real shame if progressives were successful in making that the case here.
The views here are those of the author and not necessarily Daily Surge.
This column was originally posted at The Resurgent.Image: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/; https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=118283&picture=face-of-fear
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