After 15 months of lockdowns, masking, social distancing, closed restaurants, closed bars, closed theaters, closed gyms, and cancelled sports events, do you suppose people might be just a bit frustrated and angry?

You would suppose that if you were used to dealing with actual people. But if you were an epidemiologist, a government bureaucrat, or a big-tech executive, you were unused to actual people. You had spent years dealing with petri dishes, Excel spreadsheets, and submissive assistants. So you would have no concept of a safety valve.

Boilers and pressure cookers need a safety valve to release excess steam and avoid a dangerous explosion. For angry, frustrated people, talk serves that purpose. But for 15 months, social media censored you if you even suggested that masks and lockdowns were counter-productive. Say a word against Saint Fauci, and you might lose your job or be graded down at school or college.

People with any knowledge of human nature would have seen the danger of shutting down all criticism, just as they saw the danger of tying down the safety valve on a pressure cooker. But the people in charge of the media and big tech lacked that knowledge.

So here we are. The media are finally admitting their error in censoring all mention of the Wuhan biolab. And the dammed-up talk comes pouring forth. The radio carries the voice of a physician claiming that not only was the virus “tinkered with,” but the new varieties of the virus may also be fabricated. Conspiracy theories galore will be forthcoming. All this is the predictable result of censorship.

Thanks so much, big tech and big government, for tying down the safety valve. The pressure cooker is about to blow. There will be steaming vegetables all over the ceiling. But take care, lest you be scalded.

•