This is North Brother Island, where Mary Mallon (‘Typhoid Mary’) was held for 26 years to prevent her…

This is North Brother Island, where Mary Mallon (‘Typhoid Mary’) was held for 26 years to prevent her spreading typhoid. She was locked up, to protect everybody else. There are a few interesting things to learn here I think, about ‘lockdowns’. /1 https://t.co/4SvdLu9vRv

What was done to Mary has been controversial ever since. How do you balance individual health and freedom against collective health and freedom? In Mary’s case, it was clearly a time when collective health and freedom were prioritised. /2 https://t.co/mnJfePzQTA

Though important to note she was still cared for, fed and housed etc. But a not very satisfactory solution, and her lower class background a great driver or prejudice against her in the decision to isolate her for much of her adult life. /3

Fast forward to today, with Covid lockdowns. I think we’re seeing something superficially more enlightened, but on close examination disgustingly, inexcusably worse. The freedoms being denied people under lockdowns are social freedoms, not individual freedoms. /4

The freedom to go out and socialise, to go to restaurants and movies, to go to work, to travel. All social freedoms, not individual. People were free to do whatever they liked in their own homes, individually, during lockdowns. Individual freedoms weren’t touched. /5

The greatest opponents of these lockdowns, the political libertarians, also believe that society doesn’t exist. It’s rank hypocrisy, all of that freedom is created by society, which they don’t even believe in. I’ve Tweeted before how they’re really free-loaders,…/6 https://t.co/UWdT6Y1BXC

…living off the fat of collective effort. The let them eat cake crowd, accustomed to privilege and thinking it happens magically, or by their own genius. Lockdowns were the real test of their political philosophy, the stripping away of social things, leaving just individuals. /7

It should have been a libertarian carnival, a huge celebration of the removal of the society they despise. Of course it wasn’t because their beliefs are bullshit, and they’re bad faith actors. They only ever meant THEIR individual freedom, not yours or mine. /8

In reality, lockdowns were a humane, vast improvement on Typhoid Mary’s experience. It was society saying yes we need to restrict movement, to contain this terrible disease. But we’ll all do it together, we won’t just isolate the vulnerable, the infected, and the marginalised. /9

All of us will chip in, will make some sacrifices, to bring this disease under control. Even the uninfected, because that’s not only fair, but this impacts all of us. We all have to carry the weight. The libertarians fumed for 18 months, while we did this. And plotted. /10

Their counter-attack was the singling out of specific localities as responsible, locking them down while everybody else lived normally. No individual freedom for them. This is the nonsense these BS beliefs lead to repeatedly, when they fail the reality test. /11 https://t.co/rdMuP6FDMw

Make everybody ‘personally responsible’ for everything, then when society breaks blame the individuals who happen to cop the brunt of the breakdown. Send in the police, and the army, in a real show of ‘freedom’ in action. /12 https://t.co/ky3s4mQ0XO

Lockdowns were a community acting to save a community. Not a State oppressing individuals. The spoiled rich private school kids who mostly lead these libertarian movements can barely boil an egg, but are brought up being told by mummy and daddy how the State is stealing…/13

…their money, forcing them to downsize to the 1-series BMW as a third car. All their freedom rubbish is…rubbish. It just means their freedom to do whatever they like. All of the actual work will be done by you and me, not them. They couldn’t run a cake stall in reality. /14

Lockdowns never ended. They can’t, a circulating lethal virus destroys society. They were privatised. Now everybody is Typhoid Mary, but they have to lock themselves up, for their own safety. The only possible outcome of these idiot beliefs. /end