The irony is that mindless conformity creates even more isolation and even more vulnerability, even as we believe we’re escaping it through compliance.

In the Federalist, Stella Morabito writes in part,

…And what of today’s backdrop of the Wuhan virus? We seem to be living ever more in a masked dystopia, even after the proverbial curve was flattened.

How much of the hype about this flu is really about public safety? How much is it about cultivating the social isolation that breeds distrust, division, and malaise, all to be exploited for political purposes? Should we really believe that blue city mayors and blue state governors, the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, et al., are pushing the cataclysmic view of this flu only for our own safety?

Blatant double standards clarify that their hype is meant to continue our isolation, and is not for our own good. As far-left mayors and governors enforce social distancing for law-abiding citizens, they have pretty much smiled upon Antifa rioters as “peaceful protesters,” especially those who gather en masse for more than 60 nights in a row to provoke and attack federal officials protecting a federal court house in Portland.

Such officials are also content with forcing us apart from loved ones dying in the hospital, with prohibiting proper funerals for them while bigwigs get big funerals with no social distancing. At the recent funeral of Rep. John Lewis, former president Barack Obama even used angry rhetoric that isolates Americans further from one another.

Most underhanded is the apparent intent to make social isolation a “new normal” with no end in sight. Did certain officials string us along from the very beginning to believe the shutdowns were temporary? Or did they realize along the way that this was just another crisis too good “to go to waste”? To be used to consolidate their power and rid themselves of political opponents, like, say, President Trump and his supporters?

What better way to do that than through a bait-and-switch approach that keeps us locked down indefinitely, economically strapped, and demoralized with closings and continued isolation? We were told that the initial 45 days of shutdowns in March and April were to prevent overwhelming hospitals with Wuhan virus patients. Most of us sucked it up and complied with good faith and good will and at massive social and economic cost.

…Unprecedented censorship of medical information. Tech oligarchs seem committed to keeping us ignorant—and thus isolated—from medical information they deem inexpedient. Google, Twitter, and Facebook have all censored reports from numerous board-certified physicians on the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as a safe and effective treatment for the Wuhan virus in certain circumstances.

Why block Americans’ access to a second medical opinion? Well, it seems any good news on the virus front goes against the preferred narrative of certain power grabbers. Their stringent censorship will likely mean more deaths from the virus, with more loneliness, more deaths of despair.

The Mask Wars. Masks became a big thing after expert-in-chief Anthony Fauci did a 180 on his initial pronouncement that masks aren’t effective. Now he says you should wear goggles too. The media has scared and nudged busybodies to publicly accuse anyone who prefers to go maskless—even outdoors—of endangering the lives of others.

Masks also serve as an allegory for our times. Even if they are effective, mandatory face coverings put us all into a state of anonymity and isolation. They make real face-to-face conversations impossible.

…In this light, here’s a fascinating question to ponder: What exactly do they hate most about President Trump? Doubtless they hate him mostly because he seems immune to their social pressures.

That’s the bottom line. They can’t control him the way they do other Republican leaders who are so fearful of being called mean names. Worse for these power elites is that they can’t seem to isolate Trump’s supporters from him.

No matter what you think of Trump or his tweets, we should all meditate on the power of that sort of immunity from social pressures. We should find ways to develop it in ourselves. Because if tyrants had less ability to instill social isolation, they’d be less able to induce the fears that allow them to control people’s lives.

Read more here.