I understand the sentiment of this piece and the many commenters, and I don't necessarily disagree.
BUT, what I am unsure of is what I would have done had I been "King" in America. Let me explain.
Suppose I was told that this virus was VERY deadly and might kill millions of Americans and billions around the world, unless I did something? I gather the heads of the government that had spent their professional lives dealing with viruses, and they said to me, we really don't know but we think this is what we should do but we are not sure. I agree to a plan, again, not knowing for sure but very concerned of millions dying. We will need the vast majority of Americans to "buy in" or our plan won't work.
Given the risk, I did what was done. Does that make me a bad person? I may be wrong, but I had to make a decision. AND, I could certainly with hindsight be determined wrong. Oh well, that is what faces leaders all the time. This was a HUGE decision.
Had I been more "honest" and said well we are not sure but let's go ahead and possibly wreck our economy, I doubt many people would have complied.
I am not a great writer, but I hope my point is coming across? Simply, we can all be armchair quarterbacks when we want to be.
I understand the sentiment of this piece and the many commenters, and I don't necessarily disagree.
BUT, what I am unsure of is what I would have done had I been "King" in America. Let me explain.
Suppose I was told that this virus was VERY deadly and might kill millions of Americans and billions around the world, unless I did something? I gather the heads of the government that had spent their professional lives dealing with viruses, and they said to me, we really don't know but we think this is what we should do but we are not sure. I agree to a plan, again, not knowing for sure but very concerned of millions dying. We will need the vast majority of Americans to "buy in" or our plan won't work.
Given the risk, I did what was done. Does that make me a bad person? I may be wrong, but I had to make a decision. AND, I could certainly with hindsight be determined wrong. Oh well, that is what faces leaders all the time. This was a HUGE decision.
Had I been more "honest" and said well we are not sure but let's go ahead and possibly wreck our economy, I doubt many people would have complied.
I am not a great writer, but I hope my point is coming across? Simply, we can all be armchair quarterbacks when we want to be.