Covid Panic Porn And The American Left

Last month I gave blood at a local church. As I was leaving, I struggled with my raincoat and a very nice woman standing nearby said she’d like to help, “…but with Covid...”

I said “thanks” and felt sorry for her. She honestly believed that grabbing the sleeve of my twisted jacket might kill her.

As we walked out of the church, masked and 6-feet apart, she said the thing she missed most during the pandemic was singing in the church choir, 

“Oh, you’ll be singing again this Christmas,” I said, smiling under my grungy mask.

“I doubt it,” she sighed. “I’m not sure we’ll ever sing in choirs again. It’s so dangerous. It’s the most effective way to spread germs.”

I was dumbfounded. Harmonizing in church choirs is “so dangerous” that it may never come back? Who in the world believes that?

Then she told me what she did for a living: She works for a prominent Democrat. 

Yep, another good-hearted, well-intentioned leftie scared into nihilism by the mainstream media’s relentless hysteria.

That’s when it hit me. At the risk of generalizing, the most fearful people I know are liberals. The people most willing to sacrifice civil liberties to slow the spread of a survivable virus? Biden voters. Those fighting hardest to keep schools closed? Lefties. Those cheering on the governor and urging him not to open Virginia “too soon”? Democrats.

But here’s something refreshing: Witty leftist, Bill Maher, who occasionally tweaks his fellow Democrats on his HBO show, “Real Time,” pointed out the stunning ignorance of the left on Friday night.

Of course, he repeated the oft-told Trump Derangement Syndrome lie, that the former president urged people to ingest bleach. Other than that and a smattering of liberal drivel, he’s mostly on target:

“And the media? If it leads, it bleeds. And the more they can get you to stay inside and watch their panic porn the higher the ratings.”

I was delighted that he also picked up on this “The Atlantic” piece: “Beach Photos Give People the Wrong Idea”

“When articles about pandemic risk come with images of beachgoers, readers draw incorrect conclusions about how the coronavirus spreads.”

No kidding.

I was scolded by former colleagues at The Virginian-Pilot last spring when I criticized a newspaper photo that seemed to show a crowded Virginia Beach. I was on the beach around the time the photo was taken. Yes, from a certain angle, with a long lens, it might look like everyone was shoulder to shoulder. 

They weren’t.

Oh, and I also noted at the time that the best place for people during a pandemic is on a beach soaking up Vitamin D and building their immune systems. If someone like me knew that last spring, surely our physician governor did too when he banned sunbathing.

Then again, science had nothing to do with most of Gov. Ralph Northam’s restrictions.

In my experience liberals were the ones hiding under their beds while the rest of us went about our lives as best we could, exercising caution and common sense, despite stifling gubernatorial decrees that were arbitrary and capricious. 

I pity people who gave up a year of their lives due to exaggerated fears being spread by the media.

Shame on newspapers that reported on every rare case of “long Covid” and never wrote stories about the thousands of people who basically suffered a head cold. 

Shame on journalists who elevated Anthony Fauci to godlike status and never questioned his edicts or motives. 

Shame on newspapers and cable news stations that gleefully posted a daily tally of Covid “cases” without ever questioning what constituted a case or how many of those folks were actually sick.

Shame on the media for repeating over and over that masks prevent viral spread without ever speaking to experts who say they do not.

Shame on the media RIGHT NOW for not calling out Fauci for trying to keep fully vaccinated folks fearful and locked down when their chances of contracting or spreading Covid are virtually non-existent. 

Shame on our vaccinated president for wearing two masks even when he’s alone and outside. 

Biden’s not setting an example. He’s ginning up the fear.

Maher sees through it. Maybe others on the left will too.