Jon Reisman

I watched the Fauci Fifth Amendment Fiasco and came away concerned that we are descending into the Orwellian public ritual of the two minutes hate. In 1984, Big Brother organizes mandatory daily rage rituals where Party enemy Emmanuel Goldstein is pilloried and hated. Orwell’s dystopian allusions to fascism, socialism, communism, and antisemitism are impossible to miss and frighteningly relevant. Winston Smith is everyman, and Fauci went from being Big Brother to Goldstein. It’s not a pleasant journey, either for Fauci or Winston. 

It’s not that Fauci didn’t richly deserve some comeuppance and accountability for the damages his Covid dishonesty and elitist hubris did to the country. It’s not that an apology and honest examination of what occurred would not be helpful. It’s not even that letting out the anger and rage isn’t somewhat cleansing and therapeutic. It’s that little to none of that actually occurred, or was, or will be a consequence of the hearing/political theatre. 

Fauci is 85 and is in possession of a Presidential pardon of auto-pen provenance. He is not going to jail or the poorhouse, and he is not going to apologize or issue any kind of mea culpa. He has severely damaged the trust that is essential for public health policy. My personal belief is that eroding public trust and confidence in the public health bureaucracy is both deserved and dangerous. Deserved because of the malice, hubris, and dishonesty Fauci and his supporters demonstrated; dangerous because the next public health emergency, whether caused by nature, nattering nabobs of negativity, or some combination of both, will take place with the systemic wounds and damages of Covid largely unrecognized and unaddressed. The loss of trust shakes both the foundation and the façade of public health policy. The likely consequence is more death and dysfunction. The Fauci Ouchy will extend years beyond the booster shots.

I understand the ritual satisfaction of the two minutes hate, as well as the sense of tribal belonging it stimulates. I loathe Fauci for what he did, but it’s a dead end. There’s no accountability or “justice” at the end of this. I imagine there are many Americans who want to hold Trump voters accountable for the actions of our 45th and 47th President. Good luck with that.

 I conclude with this quote from Macbeth:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

Jon Reisman is an economist and policy analyst who retired from the University of Maine at Machias after 38 years. He resides on Cathance Lake in Cooper, where he is a Statler and Waldorf intern. Mr. Reisman’s views are his own, and he welcomes comments as letters to the editor here or to him directly via email at jreisman@maine.edu.