Morning Briefing: A Few Thoughts About Liberal Hypocrisy

I just want to say a few brief things about various news stories this morning that do not necessarily warrant their own standalone posts:

— Misinformation is bad. That is true from the right or the left. To wit: Ivermectin, taken at the appropriate dosages for humans, is not usually lethal. It does not prevent or improve COVID-19 symptoms. Unless you have a parasitic disease, it’s useless but will almost certainly not kill you if taken at the prescribed dosages. Ivermectin also does not cause sterility in 85 percent of men. Horse paste, on the other hand, will f**k you up because it is for horses. My guess is that doctors are prescribing hundreds of thousands of Ivermectin pills to willfully stubborn humans so that they don’t resort to the far more dangerous horse paste.

— The death penalty is bad, and it is bad because it is unfairly applied disproportionately to people of color, to people without the means to afford a decent lawyer, and to people who live in certain states. It is also bad because we value life and human dignity, and reform is better than vengeance. That is true for both convicted murderers and anti-vaxxers.

— Amazon is bad! Really bad! Having many of your needs brought to your front door during a deadly pandemic is nice.

— Elon Musk is eccentric and maybe not a particularly good person. What he’s done for the advancement of electric cars is still a net positive for the planet.

— Karma is good! Murder is still bad!

— There are risks involved in going to the movie theaters during a pandemic. It is not an act of suicide, JFC.

— Vaccines are good! The pharmaceutical industry is still bad.

— Proof of vaccination is good! A surveillance state is still bad.

— Being a moral person is good! Being self-righteous about it is bad!

— Guns are bad! John Wick movies are good!

— Divorce is not a crime. Love and relationships are messy. Changing your mind about having kids is not a crime. Addiction is not a crime. It is a disease, and not a moral failing, and that is true even if you are famous for telling jokes for a living.

— Not everything is good or evil. There still are shades of grey. Keep the baby when you throw out the bathwater. Nuance is good. So is compassion.