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Notes -
Is it right to be this level of angry over lockdowns? At least at the beginning, it wasn't obviously wrong. At some level of lethality of the virus, it would be the best thing to do, I think, since the hit to the economy and everyone else is worth keeping large swathes of the populace alive—just COVID was well below that, and hence the lockdowns were pretty harmful, especially in the places that they were more intense, and way too long lasting after it became apparent it was not going to accomplish its aims, and was a cure far worse than the (literal) disease.
The thing about lockdowns, at least in the U.S., is that their continued existence after COVID was found to be non-lethal wasn’t merely a costly mistake, but a form of political imprisonment. This may sound dramatic; let me explain.
In May 2020, police were kicking kids out of playgrounds in my blue town while marches and protests in memory of George Floyd were not only allowed, but encouraged. Remember, The Science declared that “racism is a bigger public health issue than COVID”. This unmasked (heh) the true nature of the lockdowns: citizens were imprisoned unless they were to participate in Party-approved political functions. Note that I do not suggest that the lockdowns were concocted from the beginning in order to achieve this aim; no cabal of doctors got together and crafted this plan back in March. But the effect of the lockdowns was equivalent to political imprisonment.
That’s why I have more anger towards the lockdown and its proponents than I would harbor if they were merely another entry in the list of costly mistakes committed by our technocrat rulers. It is precisely because they were wielded as a political weapon that they ought be scorned as one.
It's use as a political weapon became even more overt with vaccine mandates, which were used to punish if not outright purge political dissidents.
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The lockdowns and other measures - American and Euro alike - were unjustified by the threat, were ineffective, and violated various principles that should have been considered too important to throw overboard in a panic. They were obviously wrong in multiple ways, many of which were indeed obvious as soon as the lockdowns began, and some of which were obvious even beforehand.
Not obvious: Covid was largely harmless.
Obvious as soon as the measures started: Their implementation has more holes than substance and you may as well not bother.
Obvious from the get-go: Liberal societies shouldn't suspend civil liberties based on nebulous suspicions.
That these measures were kept up for years, kept coming back even when it was evident they weren't accomplishing anything other than damage, and that people were vilified for not going along is more than enough food for a very high level of anger.
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At some level of lethality, explicit lockdowns won't be necessary because everyone will be voluntarily staying home for fear of infection. At levels below that, lockdowns won't work because people won't follow them due to the risk of death being low. It's only when the lethality is unknown but plausibly high that lockdowns can be justified, but once the lethality is known you'll end up in one of the first two situations.
And even then, lockdowns would not be justified unless quarantining was impossible.
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