Conservatives have pushed back against the publication’s call to “forgive one another for what we did…when we were in the dark about COVID.”
QUICK FACTS:
- News publication The Atlantic made headlines across a number of websites after publishing an article titled “Let’s Declare A Pandemic Amnesty.”
- The subheading asked readers to “forgive” those who pushed harsh lockdown and vaccine policy: “We need to forgive one another for what we did and said when we were in the dark about COVID,” the article read.
- The lengthy article delved into the personal story of the author’s lockdown precautions, even quoting her then-4-year-old son who reportedly yelled at people about “SOCIAL DISTANCING!”
- Outrage over the publication’s assertion that harmful policy enforcement was merely a mistake rippled across the internet as Breitbart, Townhall, Fox News, and even international publications took note of the Atlantic’s request for leniency.
- Conservatives responded with outrage, calling it a “tyrants” plea for amnesty after “COVID oppression.”
OUTRAGE BY CONSERVATIVES:
- Breitbart News’ John Nolte responded to “the far-left Atlantic … now begging for a COVID amnesty” by vowing, “That’s not going to happen. Ever.”
- Nolte went on to say, “Because I’ve needed both, I’m a big fan of forgiveness and second chances. Before that can happen, however, there must first be an admission of wrongdoing, an apology, accountability, and repentance.”
- At Townhall, Julio Rosas had a similar assessment, arguing that the author’s “reflection falls flat.”
- “The reason why there’s the sudden turn of wishing unvaccinated people to be treated as lepers to ‘please forgive and forget’ is because many of those who cheered on the authoritarian response have been proven over and over to be wrong,” Rosas said of the Atlantic piece.
- “It’s not that the reaction to the unknown is the issue. It was the reaction to the known. There should be consequences for those in charge who implemented absurd measures like banning outdoor dining,” the Townhall author went on. “People were labeled as conspiracy theorists for suggesting the virus originated out of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, a theory that has only gained credibility as time has gone on. The White House promised a winter of illness and death for the unvaccinated that never materialized. Mask mandates were put on toddlers in order to go to school. Businesses closed, never to reopen. Senior citizens died alone.”
BACKGROUND:
- The Atlantic made waves earlier this year when they asserted that the Catholic Rosary is now a radical symbol representing religious extremism, as American Faith previously reported.
- Daniel Panneton, a contributor for the Atlantic, claims that rosary beads used by Catholics to pray are now a representation of right-wing radicalism.
- “On this extremist fringe, rosary beads have been woven into a conspiratorial politics and absolutist gun culture,” Panneton said. “These armed radical traditionalists have taken up a spiritual notion that the rosary can be a weapon in the fight against evil and turned it into something dangerously literal.”
