I agree whole-heartedly that the whole thing was a collective meme-happening.
I'm no fan of "conspiracy theories," instead, thinking that people all do what they perceive to be their best interest. I think Taylor Swift probably has more influence in such things than Bill Gates.
But to me, the more interesting thing is (as I have seen elsewhere) to lay the COVID-restriction graphs on top of the contemporaneous economic and CO2 graphs. It appears that the draconian "lock downs" achieved — for far too short a time — precisely what we need to do to get our climate and non-renewable resource hunger somewhat under control!
Yes, everyone was inconvenienced. Some more than others — small businesses, performing arts, personal services, etc. — but it seems a rather small price to pay for the mere survival of future generations.
If I were king of the world, I'd bring back the restrictions as a way of de-growthing the tremendous harm humans are having on their own habitat.
This is not mere conjecture, as you assert the COVID lock-downs were. But thanks to those lock-downs, we have the proof that such things are actually the only things that have EVER worked against CO2 and energy resource depletion!
Could the real lesson not be that "flattening the curve" of infections didn't work, but that "flattening the curve" of the Seneca Effect did? Wouldn't it be worth it to slide graciously down the back-side of a bell curve, rather than (as we presently seem to be doing) jumping off the impending poly-crisis cliff?
Your view that the pandemic played out as it did largely due to some kind of natural social dynamic is similar to that of Substack blogger Eugyppius. It would be comforting to accept this working theory as fact, since it is the least awful of the possible explanations. As for me, I just see far too many "coincidences" and evidence of foreknowledge to abandon myself to this as the overall cause.
I accepted the virus and the original action plan essentially as presented in its first stages in early 2020, although even then I had some doubt that everything was being laid out openly and handled wisely. I think the eye-opener for me was when the Black Lives Matter disruptions started while we were supposed to still be in lockdown with many "non-essential businesses" closed. People like US Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the protests were good and that they should continue, blowing past the fact that every other large gathering at that time was publicly denigrated as a "super-spreader" event. The WHO said that it was OK to break quarantine because "racism is a bigger public health threat than COVID."
To me that line seemed to reveal an underlying agenda that had very little to do with what most of us call "public health." Either the disease was far less fearsome than advertised, or authorities were giving the protests their tacit blessing because they feared they couldn't stop them and that to try and fail would reveal their weakness. Whichever of these explanations one chooses to accept, the takeaway is that the authorities are not being straightforward in their pronouncements and cannot be trusted.
And of course, even with COVID in the rear-view mirror, we have Bill Gates and the WHO assuring us that "Disease X" will be much worse, that it is coming soon, that THAT one will definitely get our attention, and we therefore need to submit NOW to all kinds of societal re-engineering. Forgive me for remaining skeptical.
I think COVID and the way in which it was handled created perhaps the gravest damage to the public trust in institutions in modern history, especially with respect to traditional medicine. Small wonder that the WEF's last conclave in January was themed "Restoring Trust."
I have been thinking that perhaps I would prefer that the story was concocted by Bill Gates alone. At least, he is a human being, no matter how evil you may see him. But think about this: if it was a collective phenomenon created by that huge entity we call "humankind," then we have zero control on it. "Humankind" is not even a human being, just like an ant colony is not an ant. And if we are ruled by an entity that's not human, then what....???
Roberto Speranza was not a member of M5S party, but LEU party.
Ops... thanks. I'll correct the text
I agree whole-heartedly that the whole thing was a collective meme-happening.
I'm no fan of "conspiracy theories," instead, thinking that people all do what they perceive to be their best interest. I think Taylor Swift probably has more influence in such things than Bill Gates.
But to me, the more interesting thing is (as I have seen elsewhere) to lay the COVID-restriction graphs on top of the contemporaneous economic and CO2 graphs. It appears that the draconian "lock downs" achieved — for far too short a time — precisely what we need to do to get our climate and non-renewable resource hunger somewhat under control!
Yes, everyone was inconvenienced. Some more than others — small businesses, performing arts, personal services, etc. — but it seems a rather small price to pay for the mere survival of future generations.
If I were king of the world, I'd bring back the restrictions as a way of de-growthing the tremendous harm humans are having on their own habitat.
This is not mere conjecture, as you assert the COVID lock-downs were. But thanks to those lock-downs, we have the proof that such things are actually the only things that have EVER worked against CO2 and energy resource depletion!
Could the real lesson not be that "flattening the curve" of infections didn't work, but that "flattening the curve" of the Seneca Effect did? Wouldn't it be worth it to slide graciously down the back-side of a bell curve, rather than (as we presently seem to be doing) jumping off the impending poly-crisis cliff?
Your view that the pandemic played out as it did largely due to some kind of natural social dynamic is similar to that of Substack blogger Eugyppius. It would be comforting to accept this working theory as fact, since it is the least awful of the possible explanations. As for me, I just see far too many "coincidences" and evidence of foreknowledge to abandon myself to this as the overall cause.
I accepted the virus and the original action plan essentially as presented in its first stages in early 2020, although even then I had some doubt that everything was being laid out openly and handled wisely. I think the eye-opener for me was when the Black Lives Matter disruptions started while we were supposed to still be in lockdown with many "non-essential businesses" closed. People like US Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the protests were good and that they should continue, blowing past the fact that every other large gathering at that time was publicly denigrated as a "super-spreader" event. The WHO said that it was OK to break quarantine because "racism is a bigger public health threat than COVID."
To me that line seemed to reveal an underlying agenda that had very little to do with what most of us call "public health." Either the disease was far less fearsome than advertised, or authorities were giving the protests their tacit blessing because they feared they couldn't stop them and that to try and fail would reveal their weakness. Whichever of these explanations one chooses to accept, the takeaway is that the authorities are not being straightforward in their pronouncements and cannot be trusted.
And of course, even with COVID in the rear-view mirror, we have Bill Gates and the WHO assuring us that "Disease X" will be much worse, that it is coming soon, that THAT one will definitely get our attention, and we therefore need to submit NOW to all kinds of societal re-engineering. Forgive me for remaining skeptical.
I think COVID and the way in which it was handled created perhaps the gravest damage to the public trust in institutions in modern history, especially with respect to traditional medicine. Small wonder that the WEF's last conclave in January was themed "Restoring Trust."
I have been thinking that perhaps I would prefer that the story was concocted by Bill Gates alone. At least, he is a human being, no matter how evil you may see him. But think about this: if it was a collective phenomenon created by that huge entity we call "humankind," then we have zero control on it. "Humankind" is not even a human being, just like an ant colony is not an ant. And if we are ruled by an entity that's not human, then what....???
Thank you for this retrospective on a very strange period that already seems to be fading in our collective memory...