So we apparently just passed two years since “Two weeks to flatten the curve”. Cool. Of course we never accomplished that laudable goal; never even came close, never had a chance, but whatever, MASKS WORK!! Beginning on April 2, 2020 I wrote my very first post on this topic entitled “REMAIN CALM, ALL IS WELL”. For those who don’t know, that was an homage to Kevin Bacon in the Blues Brothers (Google it) and while if you’ve seen the movie you might appreciate the humor in this title, find the clip, the visual is a spot on depiction of what was going on here (and sadly what continued for many people even now). Even back then, people like me, you know, stupid, selfish, science-denying grandma-killers, were trying to get people to look at the actual SCIENCE AND DATA that was already evident. Data that said this was not the apocalypse we were told was coming, and never would be.
I have written well over 100 pieces on the coronavirus now based on maybe 2,000 hours of reading and research and I have been asked many times why I continue to write these posts in the face of all the flack I’ve gotten. My reasons for writing them are manifold. One, I’ve been trying to simply explain the actual facts as they are known so maybe some people might rethink living a life of fear or even abject terror because of what they “know” about COVID from all the PANIC PORN they have absorbed during the past two years. My thought is that if I can talk one person off the ledge and get them to understand that their panic is unfounded (by the actual SCIENCE AND DATA), then I have contributed something good to the world. During this pursuit I’ve been fascinated by how many people don’t even realize the water in which they’re swimming and who claim they are not living in fear when, in fact, by the very definition of their actions (wearing masks, washing their mail, not seeing family, making their own children "quarantine" when they come home from college, vilifying others who don’t do what they “know” you should be doing), they are. It's OK to be afraid, but at least admit it. It is, however, not OK to live in fear. Second, I believe the harm done to society, and especially to our kids, by the actions we have taken, has been grossly disproportionate to the actual (by the data) threat. This assertion has since been supported by a myriad of data, and we have in fact done MUCH MORE damage to society and perhaps even the species than a bothersome little virus could have ever done. Good job! Third, I see a society-changing normalization of complicity and obedience that threatens, in my opinion, the very fabric of our Constitutional Democracy and I am very concerned about the country we are leaving to our children.
I fully recognize that many don’t share my opinions and that’s fine. They’re wrong, but it’s still fine. What is not fine is how many people simply deny the actual SCIENCE AND DATA I present, and then the ensuing accusations that I am some kind of crackpot QAnon, conspiracy theory loving, nazi, racist, kook because I am brazen enough to disagree with the likes of Anthony Fauci; a tiny little man in every single way possible. I have also been “warned” or at the very least counseled, many times of how I am probably losing “business” by writing these posts, but that doesn’t really matter to me. It is my own personal internal compass that compels me to stand up to bullies and liars. I personally don’t like the government dictating to people that they cannot congregate at their church or synagogue (that’d be an absolute attack on the First Amendment), while at the same time saying liquor stores, pot shops, and strip clubs can remain open. Especially when these actions are “required” based on the “science” that I have spent the last two years showing you, by the facts, has been a lie, or at the very least based on significantly weak evidence or just flat out stupidity (I’m looking at you Governor Murphy, but you are certainly not alone). I believe, silly though it may be, that people deserve the truth and informed consent (wait til the facts of the vax start to emerge). But that’s just me.
So there are several sayings I could use to encapsulate my position. If any of them resonate with you, good. If you think I am some kind of crackpot, then as Oscar Madison would say, “Look at this, another birthday present I won’t be getting.” I came up with three genres of explanation.
THE THEATRICAL
Loki in the Avengers (the scene in Germany)
“Kneel before me. I said... kneel! Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.” Apparently chillingly accurate. When I argued with many about the mask mandates early on, my concern was not only that there was NO actual science to support them, but they were the “tip of the spear” which would only get plunged deeper into the heart of America. Can you say vaccine mandates? But perhaps you’ll like…
THE POLITICAL
From a letter by Thomas Jefferson
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” Many will get their knickers in a bunch over this quote and think it is a call to “insurrection” or some other such nonsense. But of course they would be wrong. The elucidating sentence comes two lines earlier when Jefferson says “And what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?” We as a nation embarrassingly, shamefully, fell in line and did EXACTLY as we were told largely by unelected bureaucrats. We did not resist. In what would have been unthinkable just over two years ago, we surrendered our Constitutional rights in the blink of an eye for the false promise of some kind of safety. Worse yet, those who actually believe they “know” something about this pandemic because Fauci, or Biden, or some PANIC PORN purveying infantile talking head told them so, vilified their friends and neighbors; even family members, for not getting in lockstep. We actually heard the mayors of our two largest cities encourage their constituents to rat out their “noncompliant” neighbors ala communist China, and many applauded. Perhaps Loki was right. And yes, I have read the entire letter (and a great deal of Jefferson’s writings) and am aware of all the revisionist history as to what Jefferson “meant” so no need to “educate” me with what others think they “know” about Jefferson. But for those who don’t have the stomach for such confrontational scenarios, there’s my personal favorite...
THE LITERARY
From the novel “Ah, But Your Land is Beautiful by Alan Paton
"I've come to see a man who resigns his job because he doesn't wish to obey an order that will prevent children from playing with one another.”
"I resigned because I think it is time to go out and fight everything that separates people from one another. Do I look like a knight in shining armor?"
"Yes, you look like a knight in shining armor, but you are going to get wounded. Do you know that?"
"I expect that may happen."
"Well, you expect correctly. People don't like what you are doing, but I am thinking of joining with you in the battle."
"You're going to wear the shining armor, too."
"Yes, and I'm going to get wounded, too. Not only by the government, but also by my own people as well."
"Are you worried about the wounds?"
"I don't worry about the wounds. When I get up there, which is my intention, the Holy One will say to me, 'Where are your wounds?' and if I say, 'I haven't any,' he will say, 'Was there nothing worth fighting for?' I couldn't answer that question."
I believe there is something worth fighting for. I have written repeatedly about what I’m sure will come to be recognized as one of the darkest periods in American history in the unthinkable way we have treated our children (and continue to do so) during this event. And while I may have lost business, lost friends (actually not necessarily a bad thing at the end of the day), and even strained family relationships, my moral compass does not allow me to sit idly by while the country and the world I will leave to my children becomes almost unrecognizable.
If you’re OK with a country that can tell people what they can say and what they cannot, who can work and who cannot, in which direction you must walk down a store aisle (where’s the data on how many lives that saved by the way?), when and if and how you can practice your religious faith, what you must wear and what chemicals you must inject into your body, that is certainly your right; I am not OK with that, and I have spent the last two years showing you through the actual data, through the actual facts, that we are being led by idiots and liars and we should all take great caution in obeying their dictates or even heeding their advice. They have been right about ALMOST NOTHING over the last two years; that is a verifiable fact.
So if I have helped keep you off the ledge, or even helped you realize that you’re not alone in your concerns, I have accomplished my goal. If what I have written pisses you off, well you’re probably not reading this anyway. As we emerge from this nightmare, my aim will be largely to encourage us not to just go back to life as usual (whatever that might look like); but not to forget (or forgive) those who did this to us. They must be held accountable and we must ensure that this never happens again. In my humble opinion. As always, you do you.
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