Not surprisingly, teachers’ union president Randi Weingarten agreed wholeheartedly with Emily Oster’s piece in The Atlantic, “Let’s Declare a Pandemic Amnesty.” Obviously, we didn’t know then what we know now, and there might have been some overreach in closing schools and forcing 2-year-olds to wear masks, making kindergarteners eat lunch outside in the cold in spaced circles, and threatening to have people fired from private businesses if they weren’t up-to-date on vaccinations. And that’s just a start. But can’t we just forgive and forget? The Dispatch’s David French is in a forgiving mood and reminds us that we knew so little at the beginning of the pandemic.
This is an excellent piece from someone who was, in fact, quite right about many aspects of COVID policy (including opening schools, for example). Critics are forgetting the focus of this piece is that period when we knew so little. There *should* be grace. https://t.co/LY7pbtmO6S
— David French (@DavidAFrench) October 31, 2022
Or – just a crazy thought – maybe the people who were actually negatively affected by the lockdowners should be the ones left to offer grace and not pajama class keyboard tappers who demanded the unvaccinated be ostracized. The people whose parents died alone or were fired…
— J (@ARaised_Eyebrow) October 31, 2022
Or…we could continue to enable the worst people on the planet.https://t.co/HIuHpYDSzr
— J (@ARaised_Eyebrow) October 31, 2022
“The conservative case for not holding people accountable after their politically-motivated totalitarianism destroyed millions of lives and small businesses.” pic.twitter.com/MZF4IcSj1p
— Aurelian of Rome ☪️ (@AurelianofRome) October 31, 2022
Recommended
— NevilleTheCat (@FearTheFloof) October 31, 2022
It’s cute how everyone who was incredibly wrong and hurt millions of kids wants us to just forget and move on.
Yeah, not going to happen.
— 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗠𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 🐊 (@txsalth2o) October 31, 2022
I mean the woman who literally wrote the CDC policy that kept schools closed and got her $190 billion in taxpayer funds agrees with you https://t.co/3NKNisy0An
— 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗠𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 🐊 (@txsalth2o) October 31, 2022
I'll give them grace when they give me two years of my life back.
— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) October 31, 2022
If the lockdowners truly knew so little, why did they pretend to have all the answers and push to censor and discredit anyone who dissented?
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) October 31, 2022
Yep. Those who now say “hey we were just winging it” sure didn’t have any grace for anyone who wasn’t in total lockstep on everything.
— Scott W. Hunter (@SWHesq) October 31, 2022
Excellent point.
The problem isn’t Oster. And I’ve seen conservatives noting as much.
The problem is who her proposal, well intentioned as it may be, will benefit: people who did not in fact act in good faith and now want to escape accountability. @rweingarten, for instance. https://t.co/hS4zcFRuEB
— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) October 31, 2022
I believe in grace and forgiveness. To earn them, though, you must show humility and repentence. To be honest, I have seen neither.
— Chris Oldman (@ChrisOldman4) October 31, 2022
That period when we knew so little….ignored known public health risks, dismantled the Bill of Rights, did catastrophic damage, lined the pockets of government bureaucrats and pharma CEOs, and silenced all the people who turned out to be right.
You mean THAT period?
— Ann Bauer (@annbauerwriter) October 31, 2022
Allowing loved ones to die alone and scared, surrounded by plastic sheets in an environment resembling movies like E.T. and Outbreak is unforgivable.
Covid wasn't Ebola. It wasn't the Black Plague, yet these opportunistic regime politicians used it as a shameless power grab.
— ArthurinCali (@ArthurinCali) October 31, 2022
What grace was shown to those (still) excluded from jobs and military careers, family gatherings, dying loved ones' bedsides, and ICU beds in the vengeful fantasies of those who felt justified in publicly condemning others to death for non-compliance?
— Lisa Rothstein #FightForFreelancers #NOPROAct (@davincidiva) October 31, 2022
That period of confusion was about 90 days. California is still in a State of Emergency!
— LittleKnownLaw (@BabyWinsACigar) October 31, 2022
I mean, FFS!
Biden just used COVID as an excuse to use our money to pay for loan forgiveness!
They're still using COVID as an excuse to push their dumb policies.
No grace for these insane kooks. https://t.co/cs3d2szYdU
— Heimish Conservative (@HeimishCon) October 31, 2022
There should be apologies first. So many apologies. Then grace. But also remove the people that failed from power.
— Nick 🏴 (@liminalspaceman) October 31, 2022
It’s not the credibility of the author I take issue with, simply the premise. There should be grace for individuals in our lives with whom we disagreed, but absolutely none for public figures in media and government who ruthlessly destroyed basic freedoms and crushed dissent
— Jose Moriano (@FreeJoseMoriano) October 31, 2022
I’ll give grace through the end of April. After that we had a lot of data and every rational person knew we were overreacting.
— Terran Spock (@SpockTerran) October 31, 2022
I don't need forgiveness. She does. I never told someone to do something they had reservations about. She did. I never called for mandates. She did. 🤷🏻♀️ She's just the beginning of a campaign to get forgiveness for what they did so they can do it again next time.
— Sour Patch Lyds (@sourpatchlyds) October 31, 2022
The “period where we knew so little” was about 6 months. After that it was pure malice.
— Erich Hawbaker (@GrayChevyVan) October 31, 2022
No, there were plenty of situations where it was incredibly obvious the policy made no sense like beaches and parks.
— Mr. Pockets (@dreamy_pockets) October 31, 2022
Tell my child w/a disability who regressed after 15 months of being locked out of school/services & who was at a disadvantage prior to 2020. I dare you to tell my child about grace.
— Renegade Punctuation (@Punctuationamok) October 31, 2022
Did you show us *grace* when we had legitimate questions or concerns?
No, you did not.
This isn’t a “great piece”. It’s a pathetic attempt to memory hole the devastation caused by these orchestrated moves that ruined lives. You can’t just “oops” your way out of that
— Matthew SF (@matthewsf27) October 31, 2022
No grace without contrition. And contrition means admitting not only were you wrong, that you were so wrong that you should never be in a position of power or influence again. When these people exit the public sphere in shame – maybe some grace.
— Zach Ward (@UnrealZachWard) October 31, 2022
Too little too late. There should have been grace over the last few years. Instead we got mandates, no exceptions for disabled or other kids who can't mask, missed milestones, the list goes on. There was no grace when many of us and our kids needed it. This piece is insulting.
— Nohea (@makalu800) October 31, 2022
Sorry David..no dice. It was so easy to be right on things. Those who were so so wrong did a lot of damage..I don’t want them punished but I want them to sit out every decision for ever…
— jim iuorio (@jimiuorio) October 31, 2022
When those that were wrong ask for forgiveness, it can be offered. But, most have not and will not do so
— Chris (@ChrisMears00) October 31, 2022
Scandinavian countries (and others in Europe) knew just as little in 2020 yet they focused on the data, and prioritised children over politics. There should be a big dose of humility to go along with that grace…
— CuriousM (@MissCuriousM) October 31, 2022
https://twitter.com/MacgregorDevlin/status/1587218040311238657
I still do not have my job.
— Oregon Sasquatch (@sleightHanded) October 31, 2022
David, you said it was a “moral crime” and evidence of the “darkness” on the right for people to question vaccines and masks. You mocked those who opposed mandates. You accused them of spreading disease and costing lives.
I’m not surprised you’re a fan of this article. pic.twitter.com/wutS9pmWUr
— Megan Basham (@megbasham) October 31, 2022
"The period where we knew so little" was brief. After that, egregious damage was done, people who were correct were shunned and ignored by sanctimonious & elitist zealots, lives were destroyed, and a bunch of people still died needlessly.
"Grace".
My ass.
— Clifton Duncan. (@cliftonaduncan) October 31, 2022
As so many have said, with grace comes contrition, and we’re not seeing a lot of that. People turned into mobs chasing people out of stores for not wearing a cloth mask that we were eventually told was “little more than facial decoration.” Anyone claiming to “know” the science outside of Anthony “I Am The Science” Fauci was deemed a conspiracy theorist. And don’t even get us started on Canada.
***
Related:
Atlantic piece suggests we ‘declare a pandemic amnesty’ and just forgive everyone who got COVID wrong https://t.co/or0na5TR7F
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) October 31, 2022
