The United States and much of the western world, by utilizing the most draconian of tactics, is plunging many nations into potential economic and societal chaos as they attempt to stem the tide of the Chinese Coronavirus. Relying on dubious and error-prone projections, politicians and bureaucrats constitutionally or statutorily limited in their power, are now exercising near-dictatorial authority in their edicts, which are effectively suspending or terminating numerous freedoms under the guise of protecting their respective nations.
All Americans, not be just those with first-hand experience dealing with World War II and its aftermath or living in Eastern Europe under iron boot of the Soviet Union or escaping the Communist/socialist hellholes of Cuba, Southeast Asia or Venezuela, should view these actions with considerable trepidation.
When societies lose their freedom, it is not ordinarily because autocrats or tyrants have forcibly taken it away. It is usually the result of the population willingly surrendering their freedom in return for protection against an external threat. While the threat is oftentimes real, it is invariably exaggerated.
This is what we in the United States are experiencing. The general public has been stampeded by the fearmongering in the media into demanding action from the politicians at both the state and federal level. The politicians respond and do not pause to ask whether these actions will work -- just do something! They do not ask if the financial and societal cost to the nation is worth the unknown and perhaps nebulous return.
Any student of history and human nature would recognize that these are the classic symptoms of collective hysteria. Hysteria is contagious. This nation is turning itself inside out as we, thanks to the media, are exaggerating the threat and not stopping to ask if the cure is worse than the disease.
In times like these, it is to be expected that the citizenry will look to the government for guidance and assistance. When that happens in an environment of mass hysteria, then it is unsurprising that the state will take on or assume new power, as that is what has been demanded of it. This historically has been the process which leads to the rise of authoritarianism.
Over the past four weeks and with little or no legal basis, one state governor has outbid another in their dramatic responses to the Coronavirus outbreak. Invariably their actions revolve around the curtailing of individual freedom.
Arrest warrants are being issued for holding funeral services, fines are being levied for not maintaining proper distance, people are being arrested for holding gatherings of over ten people, fines and arrests are the order of the day for re-opening a business the state deems to be nonessential, and the national guard has been called out to enforce state borders and lockdowns. Pastors have been arrested for holding worship services, and in New York City the mayor has threatened to permanently close any church, synagogue or mosque that violates his lockdown order. The Second Amendment is under assault as 12 states either have ordered or are contemplating ordering all gun stores and retailers closed, thus depriving millions of their right buy a gun. Neighbors and ordinary citizens, in the best tradition of the Soviet Union and Communist China, are being encouraged to inform the authorities if anyone they know is not adhering to state lockdown rules. Stores, deemed essential by the state, are being told what in their inventory they can and cannot sell.
Doug Lynn
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the 2019-nCoV outbreak a global health emergency on January 30, 2020 when China’s death count was 213. How did they know? Regardless, the next day, President Trump declared the outbreak a public health emergency and restricted travel from China even as the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, cited “8,000 deaths in the U.S. this season” from influenza.
Even now, all across America… bars, restaurants, and small businesses are shuttered as no more than 10 people are allowed to gather together at any given time. But, American’s First Amendment Right to Free Assembly remains viable at Wal-Mart. No problem there. And grocery stores are also deemed “essential” around the country – even as “dead bodies are loaded into refrigerated trucks outside New York hospitals”.
Indeed, there have been many oddities during the Coronavirus outbreak. One peculiarity is how the same players consistently appear to advance the narrative; to wit, Bill Gates, John Hopkins University, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the World Health Organization (WHO). These show up almost everywhere Coronavirus tales are told and, perhaps unsurprisingly, participated in the October 2019 Event 201 Pandemic Exercise – a near-exact simulation which took place a mere few weeks before the current COVID-19 outbreak went viral globally.
Although Bill Gates acknowledged “it’s super painful”, he urged a “10-week nationwide lockdown” during a CNN Global Town Hall on March 26, 2020 and has since outlined three steps for the U.S. Government’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak to include lockdown, testing, and vaccination.
But wait… isn’t Bill Gates the computer software guy? Yet he is now advocating for a national lockdown and specific COVID-19 response measures. How did he get from there to here exactly? Because, at this point, would you be surprised if outer space aliens landed on earth tomorrow with the cure? I know I wouldn’t.
These frightening times have become surreal. And just as the photos of the dead bodies on the refrigeration truck were absolutely terrifying, endless headlines have increasingly generated more fear. One prevailing theme tells of how Coronavirus threatens young people and the stories quite often cite the ever-available John Hopkins data:
Now, contrast that presentation to the hysteria and emotionalism we’ve seen in the daily reporting of COVID-19. But, when you think about it, hasn’t hysteria and emotionalism been utilized throughout history to hasten the agendas of collectivism? In America, the most recent histrionics have been over climate change, identity politics, gun control, Orange Man bad, Russian election hacking, Judge Kavanaugh rape fantasies, Ukraine, impeachment, and… now… social distancing.
But where the former fell short, the last one has succeeded; a Hail Mary, as it were.
Overreaction to the novel virus has had the support of both Left and Right politicos as well as the mainstream and alternative media universes. And, as a result, Virginians can now be jailed for a year for attending church services with 10 people. Certainly, COVID-19 has provided new energy to Leftist schemes with brave new headlines in the New York Times such as “The Road to Coronavirus Hell Was Paved by Evangelicals”:
No comments:
Post a Comment