One of those cable news COVID “experts” constantly harping about “the science” appears to have inadvertently stumbled upon an ancient concept once quaintly known as “personal responsibility.”
Perhaps all isn’t lost after all.
Writing for the Washington Post on Wednesday, Leana Wen, frequently seen on CNN demanding more masks and vaccine passports for grocery stores, said pandemic hysterics don’t have to be hopeless just because everyone won’t do as they say. They in fact have options.
“It’s a sad indictment of our society that children are paying the price for irresponsible adults and reckless policymakers,” she wrote with the obligatory condescension of a COVID “expert.” “As a result, parents like me who have kids too young to be vaccinated must take matters into our own hands to reduce risk.”
Wait, you mean to tell me we’ve had the power to take care of ourselves all along?!
“You don’t need to be helped any longer. You’ve always had the power to go back to Kansas.” — Glinda, the Good Witch
To be sure, self-reliance is always a last resort for Democrats, if it ever comes up at all. Now is one of those rare moments it seems they’ve realized not everyone is interested in being told what to do, nor are they preoccupied with the affairs of people they don’t know and aren’t responsible for.
This has been the case since the beginning of the pandemic more than a year ago, though, for a time, it felt like the right thing to do to be extra cautious and demonstrate a heightened awareness and sensitivity. Thousands of people were dying, and we weren’t yet sure how this would turn out.
But since that time, we’ve learned a lot, like who is most susceptible to succumbing to the new coronavirus, and how to more effectively treat it. The days of deferring to the most panic-stricken and controlling are over. They have been for months.
Like Wen said, everyone has the ability to “take matters into our own hands.” You feel like it’s safest to stay home? Stay home. You feel better in a mask? Wear as many as your capacity to breathe can handle. You’re comfortable with the vaccines? Get one. Get two!
Others willing to take more risks can roll the dice. If the outcome is less than ideal, so be it. Some people have a lot of unprotected sex. The best anyone can do is tell them there may be severe consequences. We don’t tell them to walk around in public with a condom permanently affixed to their genitals. We don’t demand that they avoid any situation at all that might make them act on their impulses.
It’s not complicated, and if all Democrats would accept what Wen has, they could relax a little and stop making the rest of our lives miserable.
