“Frankly, I would call it forcible imprisoning of people in their homes against all of their constitutional rights.” Tesla Motors and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was very direct about how he views the imprisonment of millions of Americans.
The measures were originally justified with the goal of “flattening the curve”, i.e. spreading out infections enough to allow hospital capacity to keep up. As this goal has long been over-accomplished, the narrative has since shifted in places that want to keep the lockdowns in place, despite drastically corrected data.
“If somebody wants to stay in their house, that’s great and they should be able to,” Musk continued, “but to say that they cannot leave their house and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist. This is not democratic, this is not freedom, give people back their goddamn freedom.”
Musk’s sentiment is shared by a growing number of Americans, as the house-arrest-like lockdowns and restrictions keep getting extended without a clear end in sight, despite the fact that these measures slow down developing desperately needed herd-immunity and are therefore considered counterproductive by many experts.
While a growing number of Americans are wondering whether they will ever regain full freedom, it is encouraging to see influential people like Musk passionately voice what millions in our country think.