With sick and disabled people physically and psychologically distanced from them, people who are well and non-disabled have detached themselves from the immorality of their own behavior. "Return to normal" frames indifference to suffering as a morally neutral position and public health as a matter of personal preference. But there is no neutrality in the individual actions that comprise public health; they either cause harm or prevent it. Segregating the "unfit" from the "fit" is not a matter of debate. It is an abomination and a core tenet of eugenics.
It is unbelievably dispiriting to see so many people passively embracing the quiet eugenics of "return to normal". Every time I see a friend's photo in a restaurant, every time I'm on a video call with a group of unmasked coworkers, every time I drive through the city and see everyone acting like it's 2019 it rubs my soul raw. I don't talk about it much anymore because after three years it's a bit boring, but it is a constant and debilitating emotional drain.
I'll end this bummer of a post with a tumblr screenshot that hasn't left my head for a moment since I first saw it.
