Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), said she agrees with calls for a “pandemic amnesty” in which people need to forgive and forget the actions taken by public officials and commenters during the COVID pandemic.
Weingarten was referring to a column by The Atlantic’s Emily Oster, in which she made a public plea for the idea.
If you can possibly believe the gall, those who shut down society, made parents and grandparents die alone, disastrously shut down the schools, and called you a murderer want to be absolved of all that by pleading ignorance.
“We need to forgive one another for what we did and said when we were in the dark about COVID,” Oster argued.
The piece is filled with astonishing claims, like “not knowing” that a bandana wouldn’t stop an airborne virus. It was all just a big mistake, you see – they didn’t know any better:
In April 2020, no one got the coronavirus from passing someone else hiking. Outdoor transmission was vanishingly rare. Our cloth masks made out of old bandanas wouldn’t have done anything, anyway. But the thing is: We didn’t know.
The author notes that such a tactic would involve both sides of the aisle – advocates for shutdowns and those who said such draconian measures were unnecessary.
My latest in @TheAtlantic https://t.co/w6GIOEMhZv
— ProfEmilyOster (@ProfEmilyOster) October 31, 2022
RELATED: White House Falsely Claims Democrats Re-Opened Schools During COVID ‘In Spite of Republicans’
Randi Weingarten Would Like to See a Pandemic Amnesty
Weingarten, one of the more prominent faces of incompetent leadership that harmed the education, social well-being, and the lives of our children, agrees that there should be a “pandemic amnesty.”
“I agree with [Oster] on this,” she tweeted, sharing the column.
Weingarten has been described by the Wall Street Journal as one of the “chief disrupters” who advocated for school closures “as long as she possibly could.”
I agree with @ProfEmilyOster on this https://t.co/lXLjxRcj0E
— Randi Weingarten ???????? (@rweingarten) October 31, 2022
Critics were quick to point out that a “pandemic amnesty” would absolve Weingarten of her failures.
“Of course you do [agree with Oster],” replied radio host Clay Travis. “Because you were 100% wrong on school shutdowns and refuse to apologize for it.”
“If you had any decency at all, you’d resign for presiding over the greatest American education failure of our lives,” added Travis.
Of course you do. Because you were 100% wrong on school shutdowns and refuse to apologize for it. If you had any decency at all, you’d resign for presiding over the greatest American education failure of our lives. https://t.co/9Nj0UpRfUW
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 31, 2022
Actor Nick Searcy suggested Weingarten had ruined “more children’s lives than the Grinch.”
This bish ruined more children’s lives than the Grinch. Of course she agrees with having no consequences for her stupid lies. @rweingarten https://t.co/9kpYEzjOZv
— Nick Searcy, INTERNATIONAL FILM & TELEVISION STAR (@yesnicksearcy) October 31, 2022
Republican strategist Matt Whitlock blasted the AFT President as “the grim reaper of COVID school lockdowns.”
I’m dying over this.
The grim reaper of COVID school lockdowns won’t admit she did anything wrong.
NEVERTHELESS she’d like a pandemic amnesty. https://t.co/x85BKBxD8a pic.twitter.com/GfMsyBIJVP
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) October 31, 2022
RELATED: COVID School Shutdowns Caused Historic Learning Losses for Kids, Government Report Shows
Here’s the Problem
The problem with granting a “pandemic amnesty”?
Shutdown advocates were quick to accuse lockdown opponents of wanting to murder children and the elderly when the pandemic was raging, so there was no “amnesty” on their end.
Declaring amnesty for the tyrants who ignored science and basic commonsense – and indeed basic human decency for those who had to watch loved ones pass away from behind glass – during that time doesn’t allow for them to learn from the mistakes of the past.
From @Michaelbd: As I wrote on the home page today, we really really really do not need to provide an amnesty for the Covid era.
Randi Weingarten should be exhibit A. https://t.co/HzDNW34fHG
— National Review (@NRO) November 1, 2022
In her article, Oster points out that there is a near “universal consensus” emerging that “schools in the U.S. were closed for too long.”
Weingarten and teachers unions advocated hard for school closures.
A recent study shows young students over the past two years had significant declines in both reading and math scores, in part due to in-school learning being eliminated for them.
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“The results of a national test showed just how devastating the last two years have been for 9-year-old schoolchildren, especially the most vulnerable,” the New York Times wrote.
“The Pandemic Erased Two Decades of Progress in Math and Reading”
NO! Democrat lockdown policies erased decades of educational progress, not the pandemic!
It was less than a year ago that Democrats were still considering remote learning for 2021-22!https://t.co/Emc6cQ1uUL
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) September 1, 2022
If you have the misfortune of living in the wrong area, these people forced you to not earn a living. Forced your children to stay home while their education and social skills eroded. Prevented you from seeing your parents and grandparents. Kept you from family functions, and living your life.
And they forced the elderly who contracted the virus to die alone.
No, lockdown proponents like Randi Weingarten do not deserve “pandemic amnesty.” They deserve to be scorned and shamed publicly from now until the end of time.
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