This is why banning group gathering is so incredibly dangerous. People do not emotionally bond through electronic means. The past twenty years provide all the evidence we need for this absolute truth. Meanwhile, the controllers have spent the past year developing the model that "Well, we'll just meet online..." In other words, they are destroying genuine human connection and replacing it with an emotionally destructive simulacrum.

The First amendment talks about Speech, yes. And that is absolutely important. But also - and equally absolutely important - the first amendment makes clear that gathering together in groups is a divinely sanctioned activity, and that there is never any justification for taking away the right of people to gather peacefully and voluntarily in any circumstance. Plagues are no exception. I argue it is in the times of greatest danger -- from whatever source -- that gathering together to find refuge in human companionship is the essence of human beauty. Meeting together in peace is the greatest balance we have against the evil desire to separate, destroy, and control us.

This past year has been an exercise in evil, and far too few see many of the contours of just why this was so tremendously wrong. Physical safety is a disastrous idol to worship. It brings out the worst in us, never the best.