The stories were told, the experts were amplified, the bureaucrats were consulted, the politicians were obeyed, and what do we have? A virus that seems to behave roughly the same regardless of the human-led interventions designed to slow the spread, flatten the curve, skooch the goalpost, morph the narrative, erase previous understandings of virology, wreck as many economies as possible, cause misery and human suffering that would then be blamed on the victims, polarize what passes for science in 2020, make people who actually know each other wildly misrepresent each other’s views based on voting preference…
I could go on all day about the effects of these policies, but let’s take a moment to soberly reflect on what has occurred, because I think we need it.
Based on no hard evidence, a virus was blamed for several deaths, and spread was said to be extremely rapid. Now, it’s important to note that very few people ever (as far as I saw) suggested a fatality rate greater than 1% in the general population, and all of the early reports regarding COVID came from or were filtered through China, whose government-controlled media does not have the most stellar record of truth telling. Regardless, a NHS epidemiologist and computer modeler named Neil Ferguson said as many as 2,000,000 could die in the US! This was based, it seems, on getting 3.3 million and backing off by half because not everybody is gonna get it, after all, at least not in the first year. But he got that using sophisticated computers. He also said 500,000 would die in the UK if they didn’t scrap their previous pandemic plan and lock down. Funded by Bill and Melinda Gates, tied to the WHO and CDC in addition to the NHS. Oh, and he’s a long track record of being crashingly, spectacularly wrong. Here‘s an article about him. And I don’t forgive him with the “media only talked about worst-case scenarios; he never said it was going to happen like that!” defense; after the third or fourth time the responsible thing to do is not provide them worst-case panic headlines in the first place.
Backing up to a fundamental question for a moment; why does the response and people’s belief in it hinge so deeply on the words of politicians, who we used to all admit are the lowest form of life, the media, who are the most hysterical group of pearl-clutching vapid twits our society can currently come up with, government economists, who are notoriously wrong every time they open their mouths to forecast something, and the medical industry who collectively, conservatively, kills around 200,000 every year in the US alone due to mistakes and negligence. Not even going to touch the pharmaceutical companies whose products have killed thousands even with the normal “rigorous” testing and approval processes.
Moving on! After all that, the politicians and health policy bureaucrats who’d gone along with the scare, came up with something I’m sure in 50 or so years will be most charitably be called “a response that seemed like a good idea at the time”. Now, I’m not a fan of Mike Birbiglia politically, but he has a good line I think more people should take to heart, “what I should have said… was nothing” or in this case, done nothing. As numerous studies have now shown, human interventions did nothing to seriously alter the effects of the transmission of the plague, I mean, virus. But they have had an effect on substance abuse, spousal and child abuse, interpersonal violence, suicide, negligent behavior, sun exposure, good hygiene, proper nutrition, exercise, social interaction, the list goes on, how long I’m not sure. And then there’s the economic impact, which stretches throughout the supply chain, in all productive industries (manufacturing, industrial) and carries through all fields of service. And, as I pointed out here it’s pretty important that as many people be as productive with their time as possible. We won’t know for a long time the full effects of what we’re allowing to be done to us, and we still have time and a golden opportunity to duck the worst of it and come out freer and more prosperous on the other side. We just need to start seeing the truth that our leadership is incompetent at least, and malevolent at worst, then proceed from there and stop listening to them. I’m an anarchist but by their own rules they have absolutely no power to do what they’re doing; I remind you that there are no asterisks in the first amendment to allow for emergency override. And certainly not for an emergency that relies so much on one’s personal interpretation of events.
