COVID-19 demonstrated how easily Americans accept lockdowns, masks, social distancing, and experimental vaccines for those not at risk of dying from the disease. What happened? How did Americans become so afraid of one another?

Emina Melonic explores this issue in her latest article, entitled Bleached New World, published by American Greatness. Melonic brings an interesting perspective as a Bosnian War survivor who came to the U.S. to earn her doctorate in comparative literature. Melonic makes a comparison between COVID-19 fear and totalitarianism. How and why did Americans so willingly give up “rugged individualism” to accept all the COVID-19 orders without question? What would happen today if the U.S. faced a major global threat, like war? Has COVID-19 changed us and can this cognitive dissonance be turned around?