> I think that it’s almost more terrifying than the thing itself that more people aren’t mostly incredibly disturbed by the insane violations of privacy and speech.
Exactly this. I find myself very lucky to have avoided authoritarian measures by living in Japan, but I feel very sorry for my home country which multiplied freedom violations after violations. I find it very scary that nobody complained about it, despite the fact the lockdowns and curfews were stronger than any measures taken under Nazi German occupation. If the disease was actually very deadly I would understand, but in the covid case once the data were out after a few months, it was clear that elderly and obese persons were the only real at risk group. It thus make no sense to destroy economy, social, work and education lives of millions of people for this. And again, lot of countries dealt with it without heavy liberty privations and did fine (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan come to mind).
> I find it very scary that nobody complained about it, despite the fact the lockdowns and curfews were stronger than any measures taken under Nazi German occupation.
This isn't your main point, but I'd just like to point out that that comparison is... wrong, to put it mildly. Under Nazi Germany occupation, large populations were put into an effective prison, severely underfed, forced into labor, and, sometimes, just killed outright.
Even the most "authoritarian" actions taken are nothing like Nazi occupation.
I would like to understand how parent thinks our current situation is anything like Nazi Germany. It's bizarre.
I assume they are angry and feel wronged. Do they know the comparison is flawed but just want to make a point? Do they have superficial knowledge of the Holocaust? Do they think it could not happen to them?
Of course plenty of people complained about it and refused to give up their freedoms. Many states with Republican governors either refused to impose any mandates, or imposed very few that were never enforced. Democratic states, which generate a huge chunk of the money (and tax revenues), imposed draconian measures that essentially killed off thousands of small businesses and left millions unemployed. It's no coincidence that public schools in many of these states (CA notably; NY has succeeded in running public schools in-person for many students) completely abdicated their responsibility towards their students, shutting down in-person learning for the entire school year. Note that the 'follow the science' crowd is curiously silent on this: the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics emphatically argued against this injustice perpetrated on children to no avail.
The children who suffered from this, and stand to continue suffering because of this even after the pandemic ends for most adults, will bear the cost for generations to come. Not only will they inherit a heavily indebted country, they will also be woefully unequipped for it because of the major hole this abdication of responsibility has blown in a critical period of their lives. Two years is a huge amount of time in a young child's life, and the callous indifference to their future shown by Democratic politicians (who draw the majority of their support from teachers unions, among other public employee unions) is just sickening.
I sincerely hope that parents will wake up to the insidious damage public employee unions are doing, and move en masse to private schools or direct student funding for schools that they can choose, as a result of all this. Teachers unions have shown themselves to be completely unaccountable to the public and deserve their comeuppance.
Exactly this. I find myself very lucky to have avoided authoritarian measures by living in Japan, but I feel very sorry for my home country which multiplied freedom violations after violations. I find it very scary that nobody complained about it, despite the fact the lockdowns and curfews were stronger than any measures taken under Nazi German occupation. If the disease was actually very deadly I would understand, but in the covid case once the data were out after a few months, it was clear that elderly and obese persons were the only real at risk group. It thus make no sense to destroy economy, social, work and education lives of millions of people for this. And again, lot of countries dealt with it without heavy liberty privations and did fine (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan come to mind).