The lockdowns have cost America more than the Coronavirus has and in so many ways. Suicides, failed private businesses, unemployment, depression, and addiction have plagued America thanks to the isolation and regulations enforced by various leaders of blue states across America.

The sad state of the economy is just one sign of the mistakes that were made in response to the virus. The real consequence is born by individuals across this nation who have watched their lives slowly slip between their fingers as politicians flagrantly disregard their own rules. To placate us, we’ve been treated to a “bread and circuses” kind of show where we receive checks from the government that does little to help and are treated to “viral” videos of everyone from politicians to healthcare workers dancing and/or celebrating in the streets for political reasons.

One comic artist named George Alexoplous, famous for creating art highly critical of authoritarian policies and leftist absurdism, released a comic on Monday that shows you just how hurtful and ridiculous the lockdowns have been.

The comic depicts an old man on life support in a hospital, clearly at the end of his life. His daughter weeps behind glass, telling him she’ll miss him and that her only wish was that she could have held his hand one last time. As she breaks down into sobs with one hand on the glass, a doctor and four nurses dance behind him as they do in their “viral” videos.

pic.twitter.com/nTgEUjNqae

— George Alexopoulos (@GPrime85) December 28, 2020

Alexopoulos’s comic perfectly sums up how society has treated this virus. The lockdowns that have proven to be utterly useless have prevented people from the most important part of their lives. A lockdown that was only supposed to last for 15 days has now taken up the better part of a year and destroyed so many lives as politicians patted themselves on the back. The age of the internet has caused the medical staff to become internet stars and what began as a way to blow off steam in such a serious time has now become a fashionable thing to do for internet clout.

They dance as Americans are restricted from seeing their dying family or even attend their funerals.

The wise thing to do would be to lift the lockdowns immediately. Numbers have recently shown that California and all its draconian lockdown rules have only caused the virus to thrive and cases to accelerate. Meanwhile, Florida and Texas, two states that have lifted the majority of the lockdown restrictions, both have lower caseloads to the point where combining their numbers together still doesn’t equal out to California’s.

(READ: Graph Showing Difference In Case Rates Between Florida and California Is a Wake-Up Call for America)

At this point, the intelligent thing to do is to refuse to be locked down any further. We need to become America again and reject what the authoritarians are calling the “new normal.” Remember that the “new normal” is a choice you can make.

(READ: Whether or Not There’s a “New Normal” Is Up to You)

If America is to stop this nonsense, get back to good, and retrieve its dignity and more, we need to reject the bread and circuses and reclaim our rightful place as free people.