[constantius]

Can people stop flagging dham's comment when they simply disagree?

FWIW, I think what you're saying here and in another comment, about this burning a century of good will, is true.

People turn it into a liberal vs right partisan issue, but that's a convenient simplification.

The people protesting the lockdowns, mandatory vaccination, ID checks everywhere were not politically homogenous: if you looked at who was vocal about it, there were people on the right, but the other half were wokes, hippies, liberals, leftists, socialists, antifascists.

What burned goodwill is the authoritarian measures, the weak arguments, the demonisation of those against it for political gain and status (Trudeau and Biden would routinely accuse those opposed to mandatory vaccination and lockdowns of various -isms in public speeches).

The pandemic was indeed a major public health issue, but the way this was managed made it about a fight against the erosion of rights and societal polarisation.