For the third anniversary of the pandemic, I share writing from 2020 and 2021. And meditate on our isolation, what it gave rise to - and how we come together again
Tara, you did an excellent job describing the last 2-3 years. I am glad you are "on the record" with this for future generations who can read and analyze what went wrong and why the world, especially the USA, with it's ideals of freedom and individual liberty, could have done what was done. 10 years ago, I would have thought this was a science fiction story.
I so appreciated this essay, Tara. Thank you. Your essay caused me to revisit my own experience of the last three years, something which I now realize I had pretty much pushed out of my mind. The hardest thing for me, personally, was not being allowed to be with my dad (who had dementia) as he lay dying in his locked-down assisted-living facility (where he lived with my mom who was also suffering from dementia); and then, after my dad died, the hardest thing was having to explain to my mom over and over again, through a closed window, and also over the phone, that her husband (my dad) was dead and that she was no longer allowed to hug us or to rock on the front porch of her facility (an activity which, up until the lock-down, she had enjoyed on a daily basis). Trying to visit her through the glass of a closed window, or talking to her over the phone, always ended up making me cry. I wanted to hug her and to be there for her to provide the emotional support she needed, most especially because she no longer had her husband there at her side, but the lock-down prevented me from doing so. I never cared so much about my own isolation (being a natural-born hermit), but I cried buckets over my mom's disconnection from me and all the rest of our family. The way we handled our elderly loved ones who were living in nursing homes or assisted-living facilities, at that time, was one of the cruelest things I've ever witnessed in my life.
Your comment is heart-wrenching, the more so because it is a story I've heard many times now. My own mother died of a condition not the same but parallel to dementia, in a care home, a couple years before we 'locked down.' Prior to that, my dad had visited her every day, helped feed her, brush her teeth, read books. The though has crossed my mind many times that if she had to go in that way, I'm glad it was 'before' covid, not during. And after that thought comes the next one: how horrible that I even have to make that calculation, at all. Your word 'cruel' is apt. I would add to it: contempt. So many 'covid policies' treated the lives and livelihoods of real people with contempt for their humanity.
I subscribed this morning (by way of Jamil Jivani) and have been reading some of your posts. There is a therapeutic or calming element to your writing. Thoughtful reflection is in short supply. Keep going, grateful to be on board.
Thank you for the courage to listen to your gut Tara.
"You were not supposed to ask why suddenly, for the first time ever, there was complete scientific consensus on everything."
For the first time ever? How about climate change Tara? I would say that it would qualify as the first time ever the narrative illustrated a "complete scientific consensus on everything", wouldn't you?
Here's another thought for you Tara, is Putin really the boogey-man? He is constantly vilified in the press for his invasion of Ukraine but there is no context given to the backstory since 2014, nor is there any illustration of the Americans meddling: from their provocations involving the NATO invitations to former Soviet countries bordering RUS to their scuttling potential peace deals in the conflict more than once in 2022 (we all know that there is only profit to be made during war).
Heard of AUKAS? Or the new deal to arm AUS with American naval ships to prepare for a coming war with China? The US has surrounded China with military installations and we are to believe that it is China and Russia that are provoking the US, not American sabre rattling creating an insecure geopolitical (nuclear?) situation.
I find it interesting that if either China or RUS set up on the American's doorstep the US would be rightfully up in arms against them immediately, but that is a unilateral perspective in the USA. Maybe Putin needs to bring back a Soviet block of countries, including China, in order to hold American hegemony in check?
I think Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection fits in this category as well but I would add that, in all 3 cases, there have been dissenting voices. It's just that the "committed believers" would not allow any reasonable discussion that conflicted with their dogma.
Thank you Tara. Thank you for being one of the few to acknowledge that we went through something, something that broke most of us on the inside. I didn't think I could read this piece as I am still healing from the pain of the last three years, but your conclusion -- that human connection will see us through this -- gave me hope and optimism and made me glad that I took a deep breath and read this essay despite the scars this upheaval has etched.
And you give us faith that journalism is not dead, that asking (hard) questions still matters, and that reporting so we the people can decide what to think remains the bedrock of a functioning free society.
I am very grateful to have found your writing and podcasts during this time. Yours was a voice of rationality and civility that many of us needed. Thank you Tara!
Funny. I knew it was most likely a lab leak from early in 2020, before March. I knew that it had started earlier in 2019 than the Chinese were admitting, and it came back to Canada in the fall of 2019 with serving Canadian Forces returning from a cosy ‘China-Canada War Games competition-showing signs of a strange pneumonia-and rather than being quarantined, sent to their homes across the country. Because China was not admitting it existed and denied it was human-human all through 2019,and was bullying the world into ignoring Taiwan who knew it was human-human and announced it December 31, 2019. I knew that the strain first showing up in Italy not being the same variant as that coming out of Wuhan was still originally from China, but had travelled much earlier through the expansive China-Italy ‘Belt and Roads’ alliance, having time to mutate. How did I know this? I gave up on msm long ago, recognizing they stank of bias and of being bought off, and go with independent sources. Plus I understand how human fear,greed and power hunger drives world leadership. Having been around the block and not born yesterday I understand corruption in academe and politics, and have studied epidemiology. I find the great ‘I Am’ aka God, in reality. So much much of what you speak of here was all smoke and mirrors, and not questioned nearly fast or aggressively enough; while that wasn’t happening, I was doing the math daily with the published statistics, until they stopped publishing them, because too many of us were doing it, and continuing to shout about it, wearing the blacklisting, the FB jail time, the name-calling and derision,as badges and medals, until the truth finally caught up to and vanquished at least some of the lies. Now to do the same for the climate grift.
Love your column, your tenacity, your ability to bring thinking and accomplished people into your sphere of problem solving is remarkable and for me rewarding....ilI look forward to your arrival in my email!!!
What a wonderful column. It closely mirrors my emotional evolution over the past two years. Reading about how other countries navigated the pandemic, clearly others like Sweden, took a different tact that was more responsive to our collective social needs and the risks disproportion for different ages and health situations. Hopefully we can learn for the next time. I don’t criticize our health experts - they did the best they could given our evolving understanding of the virus. But hopefully next time our responses will be less focused on physical health and take a more wholistic approach to all aspects of our humanity.
Love your column, your tenacity, your ability to bring thinking and accomplished people into your sphere of problem solving is remarkable and for me rewarding....ilI look forward to your arrival in my email!!!
And I'm grateful to follow someone as articulate and thoughtful as you. Keep your Substack going, Tara, and thank you.
Tara, you did an excellent job describing the last 2-3 years. I am glad you are "on the record" with this for future generations who can read and analyze what went wrong and why the world, especially the USA, with it's ideals of freedom and individual liberty, could have done what was done. 10 years ago, I would have thought this was a science fiction story.
I so appreciated this essay, Tara. Thank you. Your essay caused me to revisit my own experience of the last three years, something which I now realize I had pretty much pushed out of my mind. The hardest thing for me, personally, was not being allowed to be with my dad (who had dementia) as he lay dying in his locked-down assisted-living facility (where he lived with my mom who was also suffering from dementia); and then, after my dad died, the hardest thing was having to explain to my mom over and over again, through a closed window, and also over the phone, that her husband (my dad) was dead and that she was no longer allowed to hug us or to rock on the front porch of her facility (an activity which, up until the lock-down, she had enjoyed on a daily basis). Trying to visit her through the glass of a closed window, or talking to her over the phone, always ended up making me cry. I wanted to hug her and to be there for her to provide the emotional support she needed, most especially because she no longer had her husband there at her side, but the lock-down prevented me from doing so. I never cared so much about my own isolation (being a natural-born hermit), but I cried buckets over my mom's disconnection from me and all the rest of our family. The way we handled our elderly loved ones who were living in nursing homes or assisted-living facilities, at that time, was one of the cruelest things I've ever witnessed in my life.
Your comment is heart-wrenching, the more so because it is a story I've heard many times now. My own mother died of a condition not the same but parallel to dementia, in a care home, a couple years before we 'locked down.' Prior to that, my dad had visited her every day, helped feed her, brush her teeth, read books. The though has crossed my mind many times that if she had to go in that way, I'm glad it was 'before' covid, not during. And after that thought comes the next one: how horrible that I even have to make that calculation, at all. Your word 'cruel' is apt. I would add to it: contempt. So many 'covid policies' treated the lives and livelihoods of real people with contempt for their humanity.
I subscribed this morning (by way of Jamil Jivani) and have been reading some of your posts. There is a therapeutic or calming element to your writing. Thoughtful reflection is in short supply. Keep going, grateful to be on board.
Thank you for the courage to listen to your gut Tara.
"You were not supposed to ask why suddenly, for the first time ever, there was complete scientific consensus on everything."
For the first time ever? How about climate change Tara? I would say that it would qualify as the first time ever the narrative illustrated a "complete scientific consensus on everything", wouldn't you?
Here's another thought for you Tara, is Putin really the boogey-man? He is constantly vilified in the press for his invasion of Ukraine but there is no context given to the backstory since 2014, nor is there any illustration of the Americans meddling: from their provocations involving the NATO invitations to former Soviet countries bordering RUS to their scuttling potential peace deals in the conflict more than once in 2022 (we all know that there is only profit to be made during war).
Heard of AUKAS? Or the new deal to arm AUS with American naval ships to prepare for a coming war with China? The US has surrounded China with military installations and we are to believe that it is China and Russia that are provoking the US, not American sabre rattling creating an insecure geopolitical (nuclear?) situation.
I find it interesting that if either China or RUS set up on the American's doorstep the US would be rightfully up in arms against them immediately, but that is a unilateral perspective in the USA. Maybe Putin needs to bring back a Soviet block of countries, including China, in order to hold American hegemony in check?
I think Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection fits in this category as well but I would add that, in all 3 cases, there have been dissenting voices. It's just that the "committed believers" would not allow any reasonable discussion that conflicted with their dogma.
Thank you Tara. Thank you for being one of the few to acknowledge that we went through something, something that broke most of us on the inside. I didn't think I could read this piece as I am still healing from the pain of the last three years, but your conclusion -- that human connection will see us through this -- gave me hope and optimism and made me glad that I took a deep breath and read this essay despite the scars this upheaval has etched.
And you give us faith that journalism is not dead, that asking (hard) questions still matters, and that reporting so we the people can decide what to think remains the bedrock of a functioning free society.
I am very grateful to have found your writing and podcasts during this time. Yours was a voice of rationality and civility that many of us needed. Thank you Tara!
Funny. I knew it was most likely a lab leak from early in 2020, before March. I knew that it had started earlier in 2019 than the Chinese were admitting, and it came back to Canada in the fall of 2019 with serving Canadian Forces returning from a cosy ‘China-Canada War Games competition-showing signs of a strange pneumonia-and rather than being quarantined, sent to their homes across the country. Because China was not admitting it existed and denied it was human-human all through 2019,and was bullying the world into ignoring Taiwan who knew it was human-human and announced it December 31, 2019. I knew that the strain first showing up in Italy not being the same variant as that coming out of Wuhan was still originally from China, but had travelled much earlier through the expansive China-Italy ‘Belt and Roads’ alliance, having time to mutate. How did I know this? I gave up on msm long ago, recognizing they stank of bias and of being bought off, and go with independent sources. Plus I understand how human fear,greed and power hunger drives world leadership. Having been around the block and not born yesterday I understand corruption in academe and politics, and have studied epidemiology. I find the great ‘I Am’ aka God, in reality. So much much of what you speak of here was all smoke and mirrors, and not questioned nearly fast or aggressively enough; while that wasn’t happening, I was doing the math daily with the published statistics, until they stopped publishing them, because too many of us were doing it, and continuing to shout about it, wearing the blacklisting, the FB jail time, the name-calling and derision,as badges and medals, until the truth finally caught up to and vanquished at least some of the lies. Now to do the same for the climate grift.
Bravo! Very inspired and intimate at the same time! Great piece of work!
Love your column, your tenacity, your ability to bring thinking and accomplished people into your sphere of problem solving is remarkable and for me rewarding....ilI look forward to your arrival in my email!!!
What a wonderful column. It closely mirrors my emotional evolution over the past two years. Reading about how other countries navigated the pandemic, clearly others like Sweden, took a different tact that was more responsive to our collective social needs and the risks disproportion for different ages and health situations. Hopefully we can learn for the next time. I don’t criticize our health experts - they did the best they could given our evolving understanding of the virus. But hopefully next time our responses will be less focused on physical health and take a more wholistic approach to all aspects of our humanity.
Thanks, Tara, for the openness and honesty of this piece. You brought the experience of many of us to life here. Well done!
This is well considered and nicely written.
Love your column, your tenacity, your ability to bring thinking and accomplished people into your sphere of problem solving is remarkable and for me rewarding....ilI look forward to your arrival in my email!!!