Perhaps the most important thing about the Chinese surveillance balloon episode is the completely over-the-top reaction to it among the political class, which, in turn, reminds us how the entrenched stupidity of our politics endangers us. I was reminded of this over the weekend when I read this column in the Times by Zeynep Tufekci. If by chance you’re not familiar with her, you should be. She was one of the most insightful and reliable sources of information throughout the pandemic despite not being an epidemiologist or a medical doctor.