The policies of Messrs. Newsom, Cuomo, Garcetti, Levin, and their supporters are all based in the current scientific understanding of COVID-19. Although there are many scientists who disagree with their understanding, and although the understanding of this virus is constantly changing due to new information, these leaders are insisting upon basing public policy on fears based in “science.” And their draconian policies are not only intellectually inconsistent (ten people are allowed to gather in a crowded liquor store but not in a church sanctuary that can hold 500 people), but far too reminiscent of the policies based on the science of the day that ultimately led to the persecution and death of millions.
Is there really a difference between isolating people because they have been exposed to COVID-19 for the benefit of the masses and isolating Jews into European ghettos? What is the qualitative difference between the State hiring people to report and enforce quarantining those who have been potentially exposed to the virus, and Nazi soldiers being conscripted to find the “sub-human” Jews and mark them with a yellow star? All are based in “science” and enacted to protect the nation. And all these practices are the definition of evil.
George Santayana famously said, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Some truths are eternal, but real science is always growing and evolving. To base public policy on “scientific truths” is to emulate the behavior of the slave owners, xenophobes, racists, and Nazis. Our political leaders need to remember history in order to avoid repeating it. The best intentions of creating safety through public policy based in science can all too easily morph into the horrors of the Holocaust.
If our leaders do not recognize the danger of the policies they are enacting based on today’s science (knowing that the most basic medical understandings of today may radically change tomorrow as new studies are reported) it is incumbent upon “we the people” to help them recognize the danger of their path through petitions to those policy makers, in the court system, and even through peaceful civil disobedience if absolutely necessary.
We all need to acknowledge and emulate the courage of the 100 pastors in Illinois and of the 700 pastors in California who on May 31 will be opening their church doors in peaceful defiance of Gov. Newsom’s stay-at-home orders.
https://pjmedia.com/culture/rabbi-michael-barclay/2020/05/21/science-is-starting-to-scare-me-n412181
Is there really a difference between isolating people because they have been exposed to COVID-19 for the benefit of the masses and isolating Jews into European ghettos? What is the qualitative difference between the State hiring people to report and enforce quarantining those who have been potentially exposed to the virus, and Nazi soldiers being conscripted to find the “sub-human” Jews and mark them with a yellow star? All are based in “science” and enacted to protect the nation. And all these practices are the definition of evil.
George Santayana famously said, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Some truths are eternal, but real science is always growing and evolving. To base public policy on “scientific truths” is to emulate the behavior of the slave owners, xenophobes, racists, and Nazis. Our political leaders need to remember history in order to avoid repeating it. The best intentions of creating safety through public policy based in science can all too easily morph into the horrors of the Holocaust.
If our leaders do not recognize the danger of the policies they are enacting based on today’s science (knowing that the most basic medical understandings of today may radically change tomorrow as new studies are reported) it is incumbent upon “we the people” to help them recognize the danger of their path through petitions to those policy makers, in the court system, and even through peaceful civil disobedience if absolutely necessary.
We all need to acknowledge and emulate the courage of the 100 pastors in Illinois and of the 700 pastors in California who on May 31 will be opening their church doors in peaceful defiance of Gov. Newsom’s stay-at-home orders.
https://pjmedia.com/culture/rabbi-michael-barclay/2020/05/21/science-is-starting-to-scare-me-n412181