America’s Puritans Are Back

Of the many unpleasant truths about humanity that the Covid pandemic brought to light, one of the more astonishing was how many people seemed to have forgotten they were going to die. A more philosophical age might have been grateful for this reminder to consider, and do justice to, the things that make life worth living; a more religious one might have taken the opportunity to settle accounts with God. In our own time, which combines à la carte the blindest faith in scientific progress with nigh-medieval superstitions, many seemed to conclude that a confrontation with mortality could be staved off indefinitely through the right combination of paranoia and sanitary overkill. QR code menus, floor mats soaked in sanitiser, plexiglass barriers, outdoor masking — what mattered wasn’t efficacy, it was showing membership in team prudence.