At this point in the pandemic, we are no longer looking at the human race vs. the virus.

We have vaccines that, while they don’t eliminate the virus, provide some measure of protection from the more serious complications of COVID-19. We have therapeutics. We have a wealth of knowledge we didn’t have in the beginning of this mess. We have masks, we have (useless) ongoing bureaucratic mitigation efforts…the list goes on and on. We are about as equipped to face a viral pandemic as any society could be. With over two years behind us, it’s time to move on from this constant state of panic and accept that we now need to learn to live with COVID instead of focusing on dying from COVID.

No, the biggest problem is no longer the virus, but what the virus has revealed about us.

Our biggest battle right now is an “us vs. them” battle and it’s playing out on national television every day, right in front of our very eyes. Every day we see reports of the political class partying, traveling, vacationing to that maskless hellhole ruled by Literally Hitler™ Florida, even as they crack down on mandates in their own states. We’ve seen the mayor of Washington, D.C., institute mask mandates and then head out to party with maskless friends. We’ve seen the mayor of Austin demand people stay home and distanced for Thanksgiving, even though he was recording the message from a Mexican resort where he was attending a wedding celebration. And of course, we can never forget – we should never forget – the infamous French Laundry incident with California Governor Gavin Newsom. Newsom has also extended the “state of emergency” in California (moving into the state’s third straight year of one-man rule) yet again, even as he’s on a book tour across the country and even as California is set to host the Super Bowl in Los Angeles.

Leaders of the free world have been meeting in places like the G20 Summit, shaking hands, partying, and hobnobbing while they scold their own citizens for daring to meet with friends and family for holidays. Celebrities have been attending red carpet events while they take to their social media to shame those of us who want to keep our schools and businesses open.

Employees are still required to wear masks, even in places where people are allowed to take them off. It is disturbing to see the rich and influential living it up, faces exposed, having the time of their lives while their servants remain muzzled and anonymous. Hollywood used to make movies about this sort of thing; now they are the purveyors. We are seeing the deliberate cementing of class divisions in a nation that was founded on the notion that class status is malleable and fluid.

Take Ms.Gayle King of the “CBS Morning News.” King was interviewing a guest recently about – what else – quarantining and safety during the Omicron surge. During the segment, she told a TOTALLY RELATABLE™ and DOWN-TO-EARTH™ story about how her daughter recently gave birth and is planning on renting an Airbnb for potential nannies to quarantine at before they come into the home.

How has Omicron changed the game for you, Bryan? Because my favorite daughter Kirby just had a little baby and she’s looking for childcare and one of the things that she told me last night is they’re going to look for Airbnb to quarantine someone before they bring them into the house because Omicron is so off the charts. I actually thought that’s a really great idea.

I’m not one to criticize any new parent when it comes to what they’re willing to risk with a newborn. I remember what it was like, and in the beginning, you can barely rest for all the times you jolt awake to check to see if the baby is still breathing. I can’t say that I wouldn’t be equally paranoid about COVID, even if the risk to children is minimal. King’s daughter is obviously extremely affluent and can throw money at the problem.

And that’s my point. These people live in cozy, well-appointed bubbles. King was so casual about the idea of renting an Airbnb in which to quarantine visitors before they enter your home. As if it’s nothing, as if it’s free. In her world, that is the equivalent of the change she might find in the sofa. In the real world, the idea of renting a home for a week to 14 days every time someone wants to come over is a bit…out of reach.

It shouldn’t surprise us. These are the same clueless rich people who still think it’s a good idea to shutter businesses and schools for “safety.” While we have to deal with the very real-world problems of figuring out how to pay our bills and find care for our children, they continue life as usual behind their gates, or in the luxury suites of exotic resorts in foreign lands. Nothing for them has changed, save that they do more work from home — and who doesn’t like that?

They project their bourgeois attitude onto the rest of us, and then shame us for not being wealthy enough to shut ourselves away for years on end without consequence.

King’s brief exchange on this matter lights up the dark corners of the social justice crowd. It is all lip service. For most people, King included, it’s not even nefarious. It’s simply ignorance. Gayle King has been living in privilege for so long, and now lives in a coastal bubble, that she cannot fathom the modest, paycheck-to-paycheck lives that most of her audience is living. The idea of shelling out thousands of dollars to quarantine visitors on the tail end of this pandemic rolled off her tongue so easily, one wonders if there’s any hope of her ever really getting it, and that’s a problem, when it is the upper and political classes controlling the conversation at this point.

This pandemic has nothing to do with health anymore. We are witnessing the rise of the American bourgeoisie and their goal is to close the doors of influence behind them and watch the rest of us suffer as they throw cake from their high-rise balconies.

CBS's Gayle King says it would be "a great idea" if AirBnB was used as a place for people to quarantine *before* staying with family, friends, etc. b/c of omicron.

Problem with that is….WHO has the extra money these days to spend to camp out somewhere so they test negative? pic.twitter.com/dmlTXPxNKt

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 19, 2022