Face masks and lab leaks are incompatible with progressive ideology

By J. Peder Zane for RealClearWire

During much of the COVID pandemic, progressives have threatened, humiliated and tried to censor those who questioned the effectiveness of face masks or wondered whether the virus might have leaked from a Chinese lab.

Demonstrating their trademark belief that they always have the truth, progressive politicians, activists, and journalists attacked those who opposed the mask mandates as enemies of science and labeled lab leak proponents as marginalized traders. “Conspiracy Theory.”

Now their worn-out narrative on Covid-19 is being further ripped apart by the dogma’s insistent enemy – reality. On Sunday we learned that the Department of Energy concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic was probably started by a leak of the virus from a Chinese lab. It comes on the heels of an official new study that found face masks offered no measurable protection to the public.

To be fair, any information on these matters is not the final word. DOE reportedly has “low confidence” in classified intelligence reports that inform its view; The FBI expressed “moderate confidence” in its 2021 determination that the lab leak could have caused the pandemic.

The conclusion of the mask study — based on a review of many other studies on masks by the respected Cochrane Review — is, as its lead author, Tom Jefferson of Oxford, says, more emphatic: “There’s no evidence that they make any difference. Full stop.” But other respected experts argue that the study is not conclusive.

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These developments — along with previous studies questioning the effectiveness of lockdowns — should prompt deep soul-searching for progressives who can err on matters of profound consequence. They won’t because of the anti-democratic impulses of the Left.

To begin with, the problem with progressives’ response to Covid is that they’ve gotten it wrong in a fog and veil, or they’ve used their power to push questionable policies. Such failures are a manifestation of the human condition. Rather, his liberal assault on the core values ​​of free and open debate – when allowed to work properly – allows us to identify, address and overcome those failures.

American democracy has flourished because of its optimistic humility about human understanding. We are driven by the recognition that knowledge is constantly evolving, that there is always a better way. Putting these ideas into action requires free speech and open inquiry, as well as the belief that good ideas can come from any Horatio Alger quarter, and that the best will triumph in the rough and tumble marketplace of ideas.

This approach is necessarily different; Humans are naturally resistant to change and resist giving in to others. Our country has failed when it turns its back on this vigorous freedom in the name of rigid ideologies and beliefs.

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Sadly, many of today’s progressives, who control most of the power, largely reject this truth-based tradition. They adopt a dogma based on well-informed faith – they are duty-bound to lead the unequipped masses to make good decisions – they portray themselves as secular popes who know the truth in every matter.

Because their authority rests on their expertise, progressives are incapable of admitting error. When His Policies Died – Lyndon B. Johnson said that his Great Society programs aimed “not only to alleviate the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and above all to prevent it” – which he inevitably blamed on a lack of resources or a resistant people. . Give them any intractable problem, from health care to education, and they will insist Knows what works; What holds them back is money, willpower and power.

When their failures are too cut and dry, they try to minimize the damage by rewriting history. For example, despite unequivocal evidence that Donald Trump did not conspire with Vladimir Putin to steal the 2016 election, he still suggests that he did. In response to these recent COVID revelations, I imagine progressives have done the best they can with the information they have, all the while purging our collective memory in ways that limit the range of facts and ideas they allow.

I have changed my mind about progressives as they have become more radical in recent years. I once despaired that Godot would arrive before the scales fell from his eyes. But at least that thought contained a ray of hope. Now I see they know what’s going on and don’t care. Like so many figures now on the ash heap of history, he chose theory over experience every time.

Syndicated with permission from RealClearWire.

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