The Kneejerk Left: Getting Called Out By Your Own

“I went to Yale and I worked for the New York Times, the people on the left hold themselves out as being science-driven, as being smarter, they think they’re smarter but they won’t look at facts that won’t meet their narratives… everyone needs to hear this counterargument, whether or not it’s right, you need to hear it because the damage we are doing to ourselves right now is so enormous.” – Alex Berenson, former New York Times reporter who covered the pharmaceutical industry

When you decide what truth is based on feelings, emotions, or social media consensus rather than examining the facts – all of the facts and without ideological bent or bias – you graduate to becoming useless to the truth.

The kneejerk reaction to everything the President has said to date on this the subject of COVID-19 has been based on political hatred and positioning. I can say that with high confidence because there are too many, as Donald Rumsfeld would say, “known unknowns and unknown unknowns” related to the issue. So, no one can speak with ultimate authority.

That said, and because this is an unusual event, some of the usual measures cannot stand as sacrosanct. The topic of the hydroxychloroquine cocktail and employing it to combat the COVID-19 virus is one of those instances where traditional “government-speed” process and measure must be altered.

So far the argument against the cocktail (hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, and zinc) has been that it hasn’t been subjected to the usual drug trials where COVID-19 is concerned. Yet, in the need for expedience not only should we look at cursory results (all positive) we must honestly look at the negatives or side effects, which many scientists and physicians when queried, have said are rare.

One thing is clear, however. Of all of the Lupus patients who are taking hydroxychloroquine, not one has developed COVID-19. In the need for expeditious examination, that needs to be an indicator.

Away from the medical sphere, we need to step into the economic sphere to address the incredible damage our collective kneejerk reaction has inflicted on our economy. And here is where I completely agree with Berenson. The absolute overreaction to this event – and the pig-headed mindset that one size fits all, where prevention and mitigation are concerned – defied the need to employ sound measures titrated to regional needs.

Yes, New York City and the immediate areas surrounding New York City needed a quarantine (or stay-at-home) order. Their hospitals are running at or over capacity and their basic treatment needs are wanting. But New York City isn’t the Florida Panhandle, isn’t New Mexico, isn’t Kansas, etc. What is required in New York City isn’t necessarily the appropriate action for other locations.

Should we all employ hyper-vigilant hygiene and appropriate distancing? Yes. That wouldn’t be a bad practice to maintain. But shutting down the national economy when it could have functioned to support the affected areas was, in a word, “unbrilliant.”

It’s time to use the models as malleable guides, not dictates as they have proven – when one examines them – grossly inaccurate. Let’s try what has appeared to work and get back to work, before the loudest mouths of the political class start insisting that Socialism is the only way out of this.

Because you know that’s coming.