> Our status as a free society rests, not on laws, but on convention, a “collective instinct” about what we ought to do, rooted in habits of thinking and feeling that develop slowly...<p>If enough people in a society believe freedom is less important than the alternative, laws don't really matter. People had a collective instinct that a threat was more important than freedom. It was rare, at least in the US for example, for courts to step in during the pandemic to correct blatant violations of Equal Protection. The US Supreme Court took months to declare the California ban on religious assembly unconstitutional. For months you could assemble in a Costco or a Target but not a Church.<p>While some might argue it was for the best intentions, public health, etc., I think Pandora's Box is wide open. If 9/11 and the War on Terror taught me anything, it's that we will never completely go back to what life looked like before this thing.
The article is great. It's going to be used by AGW deniers and anti vaxx to belabour people.<p>It's going to be misunderstood as a clarion call to the reductionist, and "i was right to be skeptic" movement.<p>It's going to be as politicised itself, as the science if discusses.
24 Hours ago I commented about how it was frustrating that social media giants were censoring the people with concerns or questions about Covid and vaccines.<p>Here is one of many negative responses I recieved<p><i> >You're the one who is asking SOCIAL MEDIA companies (i.e. Facebook and twitter) to educate you more. "I wish the social media giants would just stop all the censorship and allow the discussions to take place."<p>Maybe that's the issue all along. Shouldn't have random people and nefarious state actors provide your education, but maybe go out there and read reputable sources, read peer reviewed trial data (The Lancet), read about the success of vaccinations in countries such as Israel.<p>Not Facebook and Twitter. </i><p>THIS article elegantly put into words the point I was trying to make, I did recieve many good answers to my questions regarding the vaccines too but did suffer a great deal of negativity, just for asking questions.<p>What ever happened to there are no stupid questions?