The coronavirus didn't do this ... we did

It isn't true, as we continually hear, that the economic depression descending on us is "because of the virus." The descending depression is the result of irrational responses to the virus.

A month ago, given the images from Italy, strong reactions made sense. My students will verify that I opposed shutdowns from the beginning. We knew who the vulnerable were. We could have protected them without plunging into economic calamity. But in mid-March I understood why others supported stronger action.

That was a month ago. Impossible to understand now is why the shutdowns have persisted to the point that, as of this writing, some 26 million people -- about 15 percent of the American workforce -- have filed for unemployment benefits. The coronavirus didn't do this. We did it.

Some of us might recall Aristotle's golden mean: The virtuous path is often found between extremes. And so it is. Paths existed between unwisely doing nothing (which practically no one suggested) and simply locking down, the road advocated by a reckless media and pressured politicians. The latter path was mostly taken. The result in Siloam Springs is the unnecessary loss of hundreds of jobs.

No, Siloam Springs' restaurants did not need to be brought to death's door. No, the churches did not need to be completely shuttered. No, the gyms, barber shops and beauty salons did not need to be boarded up. No, many medical workers and almost all dental workers did not need to be furloughed. No, Arkansas' already-stressed private colleges did not need to be pushed into the abyss. No, an already-faltering education system did not need to set school kids loose to do God-knows-what for three months. No, a reportedly free people did not need to roll over and simply accept the edicts of people who see the world only through microscopes and graphs, or of power worshippers eager to control the rest of us. Can anyone imagine the World War II generation acting like this?

Today I tallied the ages of eight people listed in two editions of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as having died from the virus. The average age was 71 years. The average life expectancy in Arkansas is 74 years. This changes nothing from what we knew six weeks ago. So what is the cosmic reason the La-Z-Boy factory needed to close? What great purpose does Callahan's or Cathy's or Mazzio's empty parking lots serve? How is the world better with dental technicians unemployed and local shops teetering on the brink?

I think of the young people who watch as their purported guardians pile massive debt on their shoulders. In the past few weeks, the national debt has grown by $3 trillion and, incredibly, people who call themselves Christians don't even pause before taking part in this staggering inter-generational theft. And I think of a people with a history of speaking of itself as the best on earth, now providing the planet with an opportunity for moderation choked out instead by clichés about "unprecedented times."

No, the times aren't unprecedented, but the heart-breaking mindlessness is. The fault, dear fellow citizen, is not in the virus but in ourselves, that we have brought our economy, and therefore our society, to the cliff of ruin.

What's done is done. But dangerous days lie ahead. The reality of the situation has not fully settled in. When it does, the decision-makers who brought us here will be asked for an accounting. If they are smart, they will do everything they can, from this moment, to soften the gathering fury.

-- Preston Jones, a Siloam Springs resident, has published earlier essays on the response to the virus in the Herald-Leader and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The opinions expressed are those of the author.