During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen the rise of “Pandemic Patriots” wielding misinformation and grievance politics against measures to stop the virus. In both war and pandemics, battle plans change as we learn more. And these naysayers seize upon every change as a sign that the approach all along has been intentionally wrong or dishonest or even sinister.
Many of them simply refuse to believe the science or the government (under both Trump and Biden). They refuse to accept any limitations on their personal freedoms and refuse to participate in measures suggested by the best scientific data we have at hand.
The Pandemic Patriots ride a powerful tsunami of misinformation from a variety of “sources.” There always seems to be a cousin who knows a guy whose doctor told him to do his own research and not trust the CDC.
Conspiracy theories abound, many fueled by politicians and pundits. And yet some of the very same pundits and politicians obscure the fact that they too have taken the measures that they publicly criticize. Hypocrisy, too, is a virus, one that is deadly to those who swallow the misinformation being dispensed by others.
And if they believe in some international conspiracy, the Pandemic Patriots should consider that foreign adversaries now see how effectively misinformation can divide us against one another.
We must frame this pandemic as a war killing hundreds of thousands of our fellow Americans. We all know people who’ve gotten COVID and most know people who’ve died. The loss strikes hearts and homes all over this country.
But how callous has our politics become when unnecessary loss of life is a cost some are more than willing to have others bear? Have we become so detached from empathy for others?
“Every name…..is a lightning stroke to some heart, and breaks like thunder over some home, and falls a long black shadow upon some hearthstone.” –The Gettysburg Compiler on the killed and wounded at Gettysburg July 7, 1863.
The comparisons to war are not hyperbole. In the face of a long pandemic battle we have fractured upon fault lines created by a web of misdirection and misinformation. We should shudder at the lack of unity we’ve found in the face of adversity.
There is a question we must ask ourselves: Are we up to the great challenges of our times anymore? We may not like the answer.
This pandemic has asked every American to mobilize and sacrifice for the first time since World War II. And we may have proven we’re not up to the task to do for one another because phonies are pushing back for political gain.
During World War II everyone was called to do their part. The home front was mobilized. And while not directly under continual attack, the home front was a place where everyone had to sacrifice for the all-out war effort. People had black out curtains and ration stamps and had limited access to gas. Victory gardens grew produce for homes.
The Vietnam War had a draft, but politicians carefully carved out exemptions so that not all of America was touched by the sacrifices being made. The first Gulf War was over almost as quickly as it began.
And after 9/11 the real heavy lifting for what became a 20-year war was borne by the professional military. For those not connected to the military, there was no rationing, there were no massive disruptions, no military draft. We didn’t even raise taxes to pay for the war.
Now we face a war effort that has asked us to socially distance, agree to certain restrictions, wear masks and get vaccinated and boosted. To ease some of the burden the federal government responded with subsidies and money to try to help us through this. Federal and state governments rolled out emergency testing and vaccine stations and asked us to do our part. There were flaws, but the good easily outpaced the mistakes.
And when many refused to do their part, they enacted mandates to compel us to act for the common good. And what did they get in response? Litigation, litigation, litigation.
But the day-to-day things we’ve been asked to stop the spread are not just for ourselves. They are to slow the enemy’s march faced by our fighters on the front lines. The fighters in this battle are nurses, doctors and front-line health care workers at every level. They are being stretched thin by an exploding workload in this war.
They are the people at the bedside for loved ones who would otherwise have died alone. They are witnessing loss at an unfathomable rate. And while their efforts are undermined by phony Pandemic Patriots, these medical soldiers stand sentry night and day.
And we can’t help by wearing a mask, washing our hands and getting a shot? Why? Because it is an infringement on our rights? Because state politicians who know better are going to court to score political points? Are they too cowardly to ask us to do something we may not like for the common good?
Maybe you’ve forgotten that the rights you claim were paid for by people who sacrificed lives to secure them. And still you think being asked to wear a mask or get a shot is a bridge too far?
We hear the complaints that after two years “We’re just tired of it.” Certainly many tired of the Civil War after two years, or World War II two years after Pearl Harbor.
But this nation held strong, mobilized and, thus united, accomplished greatness.
In this pandemic, the front-line warriors are doing everything they can, using their knowledge and working hard to turn the tide. Researchers created vaccines and treatments and guidelines. But we repay them with scorn, mistrust and vilification. We question their motives and make experts the enemy while elevating the opinions of arm-chair patriots.
The Pandemic Patriots with their outrage at those who are fighting every day do a disservice to the nation, but this is not new.
During the Civil War, northern politicians who wanted a truce with the South were called Copperheads. The Copperheads had their own faction in Congress, their own newspapers to spread their ideas and vilify Lincoln. Sounds familiar.
And since so many people like to talk about the Founding Fathers, it is helpful to remember that General George Washington issued an order in 1777 that his troops be inoculated against smallpox.
“Finding the smallpox to be spreading much and fearing that no precaution can prevent it from running through the whole of our army, I have determined that troops shall be inoculated. This expedient may be attended with some inconveniences and some disadvantages, but yet I trust in its consequences will have the most happy effects.” — George Washington, in a letter to Dr. William Shippen, director of the medical department of the Continental Army, Feb. 6, 1777.
I think we could all agree that Washington qualifies as a true patriot.
