On Tuesday morning, The New York Times’ “Morning Newsletter” said that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, “Americans have accepted more harm to children in exchange for less harm to adults” in a piece titled, “No Way to Grow Up.” That is, of course, a true statement. Yet that admission left many conservatives frustrated for having warned of the damage that lockdowns were doing to kids for nearly two years, only to be met with ridicule and dismissive attitudes from leftist media and politicians.
“American children are starting 2022 in crisis,” NYT’s David Leonhardt opined in the newsletter, “I have long been aware that the pandemic was upending children’s lives. But until I spent time pulling together data and reading reports, I did not understand just how alarming the situation had become.”
In the newsletter, Leonhardt noted that due to lockdowns and other measures such as out-of-school learning via video calls, “children fell far behind in school during the first year of the pandemic and have not caught up.”
Additionally, the writer stated that mental health problems, adolescent suicide attempts, gun violence, and other behavioral issues amongst children have increased since the end of 2019.
Leonhardt acknowledged that large parts of society falsely believed children would inevitably suffer from the virus.
“For the past two years, large parts of American society have decided harming children was an unavoidable side effect of Covid-19,” Leonhardt wrote. “And that was probably true in the spring of 2020, when nearly all of society shut down to slow the spread of a deadly and mysterious virus.”
But, based on the new data and availability of the vaccine, Leonhardt stated that the U.S. was needlessly forcing children to suffer:
The widespread availability of vaccines since last spring also raises an ethical question: Should children suffer to protect unvaccinated adults — who are voluntarily accepting Covid risk for themselves and increasing everybody else’s risk, too? Right now, the United States is effectively saying yes.
Many communities “have accepted more harm to children in exchange for less harm to adults, often without acknowledging the dilemma or assessing which decisions lead to less overall harm,” Leonhardt concluded.
In his writing, Leonhardt revealed his own biases against rural communities and states like Florida, which have acknowledged the damage being done to children all along and fought to keep life as normal as possible for kids with in-school instruction, sports leagues, and more.
Blue states like New York, California, and other areas that have kept harsh COVID-19 measures ongoing have been the main drivers of the problems facing children. Leonhardt is either oblivious or willfully obtuse to that reality.
Leonhardt shared his column via Twitter, stating that he wasn’t sure “that many people fully grasp the depth” of the damage being done to children.” For that, he was promptly roasted by conservatives who reminded him that, in fact, many parents had understood the threat of it for quite some time.
“We do grasp the depth of it,” The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh rebutted. “We’ve been saying this for two years but people like you ignored us and now you’re pretending this was some kind of epiphany you had on your own.”
We do grasp the depth of it. We've been saying this for two years but people like you ignored us and now you're pretending this was some kind of epiphany you had on your own. https://t.co/ComJrrYrsu
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) January 4, 2022
“Many grasped it long ago,” CNN commentator Mary-Katharine Hamm rebutted.
“‘Kids are resilient” isn’t an answer,” Hamm said in reference to America’s Federation of Teachers Union president Randi Weingarten’s infamous defense of school closures and lockdowns.
“I got resilient kids, they went through some s*** bf a pandemic,” she tweeted. “My job then & now: ensure they endured as little damage as possible, not congratulate them for being resilient while making them suffer for my anxiety.”
Many grasped it long ago. “Kids are resilient” isn’t an answer. I got resilient kids, they went through some sh*t bf a pandemic. My job then & now: ensure they endured as little damage as possible, not congratulate them for being resilient while making them suffer for my anxiety. https://t.co/IPZysL2Fo8
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) January 4, 2022
“No, large parts of American society have been screaming about the harm of school closures and demanding schools reopen for almost 2 years,” author Helen Raleigh also added in response to Leonhardt’s Twitter thread. “The liberal media, politicians, health officials, and the worst of all, teachers unions, refused to listen and rejected to follow science.”
No, large parts of American society have been screaming about the harm of school closures and demanding schools reopen for almost 2 years. The liberal media, politicians, health officials, and the worst of all, teachers unions, refused to listen and rejected to follow science. https://t.co/Lsmz3zxCw1
— Helen Raleigh (@HRaleighspeaks) January 4, 2022
To be fair, Leonhardt had actually used his platform to write about the problems and difficulties COVID-19 measures were causing children in the past. But, nowhere in today’s column or Twitter thread does he acknowledge that leftist policies were the ones causing such harm to children in the first place.
Last week, The Daily Wire observed that numerous actors have begun backtracking on previously held beliefs regarding COVID-19. From Jen Rubin admitting COVID-19 is not as deadly as it first appeared, to Dr. Anthony Fauci saying we’re ‘overcounting’ come cases, it would appear there is a decided shift amongst liberals in America, a movement towards sounding more like those previously villainized as right-wing neanderthals for making similar comments just a few months ago.
This latest New York Times column is more evidence that the Left has been incorrect for quite some time regarding governmental policy response to the virus, and unable to admit that they are now adopting conservative positions on the subject.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.
Source: Dailywire
