The Never-ending Pandemic

This is Part 1 of Covid-19: Sceptics Have Reasons.

This I write to attest that I am not a monster; to affirm that I share the exact same concern as you: people’s lives. I hope that is demonstrated in the efforts made to read and share.

First, let me say, my sincerest condolences for any loss experienced over the past 18 months or so. I wish you strength and recovery.

I follow the crimes of capitalism and its agents in media and politics. When I noticed a novel virus being used as another tool in the hybrid war against China, I posted about it. When I noticed incidents and statistics being exaggerated and gamed for political gain, I wrote about it.

I’ll say this now: our response to Covid-19 is not only unprecedented but unnatural, inhumane and, as you may have noticed, ineffective. We have never reacted in such a way before. Not with Tuberculosis, Ebola, Swine Flu or MERS.

If you’re going to wholeheartedly accept fundamental changes to your life and the lives of your loved ones – restriction of movement, loss of income, loss of business, loss of schooling, mandatory masks, expedited vaccines, etc. – then you should at least do so after reading and critically analyzing, within context, the evidence serving as motivation for these changes. That’s democracy; that’s, at least, the right of taxpaying voters. Hearsay, secondhand accounts and media hysteria is not enough reason to trust anything at this scale. The proof for the severity of this virus, the integrity of the statistics and the efficacy of the countermeasures appears extremely thin.

The unspoken promise behind society’s extreme reaction to Covid-19 was that we, the people, would accept short-term curtails on our basic freedoms to grant respite to authorities to reinforce healthcare capacity, while experts study the new virus. Now, it appears, that this is forever; the excessive power and control over civilian life will never be relinquished by the people we handed it over to. We even reached the point where we, as a nation, applaud the corrupt ANC, even calling Ramaphosa a hero.

Everyday, at roughly the same time, the government reminds me to “stay safe”

But it is impossible to argue with fear. Fear short-circuits rational thinking and suppresses immunity. Fear sells.

You can’t stem the mass psychological operation, the billions pumped into keeping panic on the airwaves. People parrot the noise almost unconsciously now. And they follow any instruction, no matter how unintuitive and impractical; empty rituals in a worldwide cult. We shame people, children and old folks, for being human (socializing, celebrating, going outdoors, questioning) while most lack the privileges to #stayhomesavelives (remote working; safe, spacious, comfortable homes). I understand fear. But why do we not instead call to account our leaders? Why do we not question the unchecked power of corporations? Why do we not criticize the authorities, and their short-sighted, ineffective, poorly-backed policies or lack of transparency? Why do we always punch down instead of punching up?

It has been over a year of gaslighting. From my perspective, Covid-19 is real and novel but its severity is grossly exaggerated. Millions more will suffer and die from whatever is said to be done to prevent it, while those in charge profit handsomely.

Being uncritical of the hysteria, being unquestionably compliant, and even defensive, is to be silent – and possibly complicit – with what will too late be recognized as a crime against humanity. Look closely at the actual severity (1, 2) and impact; at the people pushing, and profiting from, humanity’s response; at the consequences short-term and long-term. This is an outrage.

If we did want to do anything in response to a novel coronavirus, it should have been to protect vulnerable groups (hard-hit countries did the opposite), encourage better hygiene and improve health and social services. That’s all. Perhaps the wave – prolonged by inconsistent exposure – would’ve ended a lot earlier. Humanity has never been able to proactively gauge the severity of or mitigate a new viral wave before. It is hubris to think we’re equipped now. It is naïve to believe that your wellbeing is the primary concern of the parties dictating public policy; their hypocrisy and abuse are on full display.

When people defend and justify the mainstream Covid-19 narrative to me, it’s always with hearsay and mainstream-media-fueled rhetoric.

It’s been over a year to “slow the spread.” At some point, we must ask: Will we return to normal? Can we? Or is this “The New Normal” – fear, panic, isolation? If that’s the case then:

Public health authorities must admit that their policies failed. We couldn’t slow the spread. And they didn’t increase our capacity to handle any potential influx of sickness.
We must ask: how much more information do we need to be sure that every new measure and policy is necessary and, more importantly, the lesser evil?

I can never understand the faith people have in for-profit media. The media serve an agenda. The media lies. The state lies.

The Patriot Act – and two decades of Middle-eastern war – were sold as solutions to terrorism. The state never gave up that power. The #resistance (of Trump) was sold as the solution for authoritarianism and public misery. Both Terror and Trump were false flags.

“[F]or ZeroCovid believers, we cannot rest until that level is zero. On paper, this approach may sound rather sensible. After all, surely we’d all rather live in a world without Covid? Yet having attended last week’s conference, I keep returning to a question that didn’t seem to particularly trouble the speakers: at what cost?”
Inside the Zero Covid campaign (Unherd)

We’re holding society up to an impossible standard. Look at ridiculous things we’ve been asked to do: shut down schools, constantly douse yourself and your children with chemicals, wear a mask during sex, wear two masks, see each other less, talk less, drive with our windows down. And we do it. Without a second thought. There’s also the pervasive, inhuman message: physical = bad, digital = good.

It’s not fair to ask you to stop doing what you’re doing to feel safe. But you should be brave enough to ask the basic questions: Why? How? For how long? Is it working?

You’ve heard the stories: people arrested for breaking curfew to buy food, increases in begging, arrests for improper use of masks, parents with children chased away from parks, a pregnant woman being arrested for anti-lockdown posts, protestors being beaten and harassed, people disputing hospital staff incorrectly labelling their loved one’s death as Covid, people avoiding hospitals out of fear and dying at home…

What is lost in the futile binary debates, such as “vaxxers vs anti-vaxxers,” are closer looks at the economic injustice, profiteering, and how vaccines are used as tools of imperialism. We tend to overlook systemic problems, and their solutions: better healthcare systems, food security, income equality, clean water, active lifestyles, liberation from the stress of debt, etc.

Follow the trajectory from where we are. We inhabit a society that has myriad obstacles to a decent standard of living. Masses struggle without access to nutritious food, clean water, basic healthcare, comfortable housing and active lifestyles. Likewise, we are saturated with fear, kept in constant fight or flight mode. Our minds are stressed, our bodies are strained. This is the problem. The solutions are unnatural; they skirt the problems for symptomatic relief. We turn first to corporate or technocentric options: masks, lockdowns, constant sanitizing and vaccines; instead of addressing the structural issues that leave people vulnerable to near-anything. This mechanistic view is short-sighted and undermines our humanity. How is any of this sustainable?

America went to war against Iraq with the (manufactured) consent of the public. Like the war on “terror,” so too now are the same financial interests waging war against humanity.

Question your, seemingly unshakeable, faith in the World Health Organization (WHO) (1, 2, 3), the efficacy of, and our compliance with, mass masking (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), lockdowns and looming obligatory vaccination (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). It is our right as human beings to question, despite what the warmongering New York Times or oligarch-worshipping Forbes says.

No one bothered to ask what should we do, what can we do. We keep blaming “stupid” or “selfish” people but where is the evidence from authorities that this must be done, that any of this is effective? Clearly, the measures have been great for the rich and devastating for the poor.

Why is all the collateral damage – far worse than the virus’ impact – not blamed on governments? Why do we always, so easily, blame civilians for not staying home (where they are likely unsafe, uncomfortable, hungry and miserable)?

It is alarming how authorities and the media have convinced you that this is your problem to solve. Is anything the public was forced into doing working? The more we test, the more we find. The cases rose and fell with all the masks, social distancing and lockdowns in place. Do we have any experience, history of success or evidence that it does work? Are the countermeasures natural, humane, sustainable, less harmful and rooted in science? (Shouldn’t we have checked?) When did the point change from slowing the spread to stopping death (from one virus) altogether?