What Fresh Hell Have We Brought Upon Ourselves?
18th June 2021
Besides the ‘comedy’ aspect that makes Cockburn wish for a revival of Puritan bans on mirth, the entire song and dance is absurd for other reasons. For well over half the country, ‘no lockdowns anymore’ has been the mantra for several months. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott opened his state 100 per cent all the way back in March. The Washington Post shrieked that Abbott’s decision was ‘reckless’ and ‘throwing a match on kindling.’ Yeah… about that. Florida’s Ron DeSantis banned local COVID restrictions in his state in May. Yet even now, Florida and Texas both have COVID death rates below the national average. South Dakota literally never had a lockdown or a mask mandate, and it still managed to have 25 per cent fewer deaths per capita than New York or New Jersey.
But The Late Late Show blunders in another direction as well. The government lockdowns may be over (for now), but the lockdown in the head will last far longer for millions of people. Last week, Stephen Colbert released his own musical number, ‘500 Vials,’ expressing the perpetual angst of COVIDholics who, despite already receiving a vaccine, don’t believe it will work unless everybody else also receives it. Why? Um…science.