Check out this stunning and brave tweet thread from New York Times writer David Leonhardt:
Yes, you read that right. Leaving the elite conclave of Washington, D.C., this brave man observed masses of roaming savages engaging in normal human interaction without always and constantly covering their faces.
What was wrong with these people?? Didn't they know that they have a statistically negligible probability of dying from this virus if they are young and healthy? Haven't they gotten the memo about living in fear??
Leonhardt continued:
What criminals! A husband and wife sitting together in a hotel lobby – probably six feet away from any other living soul for the entirety of the time – weren't wearing masks while enjoying a few beers!
The horror!
Leonhardt concludes by reminding Americans of how stupid and ignorant we are. Don't we follow #sCiEnCe???
Of course, like everyone these days, Leonhardt didn't provide specifics to his scientific assertions. I'm sure if he did, he would have included that Danish study that showed no benefit to widespread mask use in all contexts everywhere, or the actual infection-rate data from places that haven't had lockdowns and mask mandates vs. those who have.
You know, things that should at least make us pause before we rewrite the way all of human interaction occurs forever.
I'm sure he also meant to talk about how masks have become a political and religious symbol and the psychology behind such symbols. Oh well, he must have forgotten.
No, Leonhardt (ironically a German/Dutch name meaning "Lionheart") wants you to know how terrible and afraid and disturbed you should be that people are still making place-by-place and context-by-context decisions regarding their own health and safety.
Faced with a 99.98% chance of survival, we can't trust people to make such decisions without the government!
Or, more specifically, Leonhardt wants to let the elite establishment in places like D.C., New York, and Hollywood know those things, because if there's one thing such a tweet thread illustrates, it's how disconnected the media and our cultural betters are from the rest of America.
