The pandemic has made public a form of necessary punitive-justice-through-scission that has previously been pervasively experienced only in the private dimension of liberal society around liberals' careerism and moral sanctimony1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
After Djokovic was released from detention and his visa cancellation quashed, the entire conversation has become about the immigration minister's 'god-like powers'. It's never been more clear what the COVID world is becoming.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The detention of the World #1 and history's greatest tennis player and philosopher of the sport is an expression of a perverted form of meritocracy that has been emerging in liberal societies that has now crystallized in this depressingly unsurprising global political farce.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
An article in the NY Times argues for the legitimacy of forced compliance with vaccine mandates and, in so doing, seems to express a fundamental change in Western Liberalism's religious orientation.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On the one hand, the development of the Omicron narrative indicates concealment that points to important considerations for fighting the virus. On the other hand, its speed of change points to the need for a new (or old) praxis for action.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
What began as a typical excuse to moralize about China's repressive response to the virus, has turned into the performative meaning of being for overly regulated and hopeless liberal societies that had lost their traditional political and moral authority.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
As COVID-19 endlessly drags on, an uncanny analogy has begun to take shape. And rather than being an extreme ideology restricted to neocons and neoliberals, it now counts a large segment of the progressive left as its most faithful adherents.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
There is indisputably a new pathogen circulating the globe. But the real and lasting damage doesn't come from the virus itself, but the people responding to it.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A recent headline in the New York Times initially warning shoppers about the risks from unvaccinated workers was subsequently changed and articles extolling shopping on Black Friday were added to the front page.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It's almost vanished beyond the horizon of acceptable thought now that vast percentages of the Western world have been double or tripple vaxxed. But rejecting gratuitous displays of forced compliance isn't dead just yet.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Moral hypocrisy is fundamental to the sociology of human-being. But nowhere and in no time has it been more pronounced than in the liberal West during COVID-19.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx