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Emily Oster, in a now much-criticised article written for The Atlantic, had the gall to ask for a ‘pandemic amnesty’, whereby all the cruel and idiotic actions committed in the name of Covid would be forgotten, or at least consigned to the filing cabinet under ‘things we did because we didn’t know / were in fear’. She does not even have the humility to ask for a pardon, which would imply that people like her feel remorse – instead, she asks for an amnesty, which implies instead a ‘not my fault, Guv’, attitude, and a hasty sweeping under the carpet of the uncomfortable truth. She even has the audacity to suggest that forgiveness is due on both sides. She needs to think again.
What Emily Oster, and others of her ilk, have failed to understand is that their actions and language during the so-called ‘crisis’ were reflective of their personalities, and that they revealed more about themselves as people than they might have hoped. The masks these types had hitherto a habit of wearing, portraying kindness, generosity, and caring, slipped all too easily once the selfish fear they felt kicked in, and revealed their inner bullies, in all their ugly glory. Gone was the #bekind trend of their pre-Covid lives, and ushered hurriedly in was the #stayawayfrommeincaseyouhaveityoudisgustingvectorofdisease mindset, which was assertive in the extreme. Bolstered by the fear porn of the mainstream media, facts and reality seemed to bend round these people, like light bending round something hugely dense.
Despite masses of evidence to the contrary, like followers of Jim Jones, millions bought into the narrative, no matter how illogical, and often totally stupid it sounded. You must walk one-way round the supermarket, who have closed all but one of their entrance doors, and wear a mask and latex gloves while buying your shopping. Ok, no problem. You may only leave your house once a day for a short burst of exercise, and must not let your child use the playground to get some fresh air. Sure, whatever. You must not see your dying relative, who will now die all alone in a strange hospital, with only the fully masked and PPE-covered nurses who look like something out of a sci-fi movie as their final memory of human contact. Of course! Your child’s education must be decimated by closing the schools and not allowing any socialisation, while they slowly go mad cooped up in their bedroom in front of a screen for months on end, causing lasting impact on their mental health and learning outcomes. Absolutely!
And so the madness went on.
With each passing week, those of us still able to critically think for ourselves became more and more despondent and frustrated with the complicity we witnessed from those under the spell, those willingly drinking the Koolaid and even often begging for more restrictions, playing right into the hands of the tyrannical maniacs in charge of rolling this despotism out. The scene described by Emily Oster in the first paragraph of her article, in which her 4-year-old screamed ‘SOCIAL DISTANCING’ at another child who he perceived had got too close is particularly horrifying, and perfectly illustrates the lunacy of people like her. To teach a child such crippling fear towards another child, indeed towards a human being, is nothing short of abuse. The damage that has been done to children throughout this nightmare is becoming all too apparent, with rampant rises in child mental health referrals, which is no wonder. Children who live with persistent fear, such as with an abusive parent, show significant brain development differences, brought about by the repetitive activation of the ‘fight or flight’ response, when the brain uses its more primitive parts. This leaves children at the mercy of this altered brain activity, and means they become more reactive, and struggle to think clearly. We now have an entire cohort of children, of all ages, who have had two years of this permanent state of fear. Remember the ‘don’t kill granny’ command?
Tragically but inevitably, the more people complied, the more emboldened the tyrants became. One can only imagine the laughter of those in charge as they competed with each other, seeing who could come up with the most ludicrous and absurd rule to impose on the gullible public. And most mainstream journalists simply parroted the lines, without any investigation, happy to do the bidding of their masters, while keeping the public in a state of perpetual fear. In an earlier article (https://www.criticallythinking.co.uk/post/how-to-validate-propaganda-and-alienate-people-a-guide-for-the-perpetually-obedient) I highlighted the disturbing smugness with which these ‘journalists’ operated, using psychological techniques to turn people against each other, and to perpetuate the notion that this was in some way a class issue, i.e. if you were a middle to upper class intelligent person who shopped at Waitrose, you would follow the rules, whereas the plebs who shopped at Asda were the fools who would not.
Piers Morgan was particularly vile with his remarks about those who refused, or even questioned the vaccine. In one of his tweets, he wrote "Those who refuse to be vaccinated, with no medical reason not to, should be refused NHS care if they then catch covid”. The equally charmless Nick Ferrari, of LBC fame, espoused his tantrum-laden opinion that all people refusing to take the vaccine should be fined, with an incremental amount each week that they refuse. The author, Julie Powell, who sadly passed away just this week, had previously tweeted that “COVID does kill some of the right people. The anti-vaxxers / maskers are dying in legions”, a statement with no basis in truth whatsoever. These are just a few of the vitriolic, nasty messages that people who chose not to take the experimental vaccine faced, from high profile people, so it is no surprise that this filtered down through the social system, and gave Jo Public the confidence to scream and shout at neighbours and fellow citizens who they perceived were not ‘following the rules’.
Conversely, those of us who were questioning the official line were, for the most part, enormously respectful in our communications, simply and rationally trying to point out that there seemed to be a mass hysteria happening, and that, a small amount of research into facts and figures would reveal that the stories being peddled by mainstream media and government were demonstrably untrue. For this, we were unfriended, ostracised, censored, and defamed. Many who spoke out were eminent people, scientists, professionals of many years standing, experts in their fields of medicine and science, but these qualifications were no shield against the mantras and doctrine the public at large were primed and ready to accept. Those demanding two-metres between themselves and other humans, those willing to sacrifice what turned into years of time without seeing friends and family, those who saw no problem with forsaking children’s education and social development, and those who were too short-sighted to listen to the warnings of the ruination of the economy, and of the crisis of excess mortality (non-Covid related) that was likely to arise from turning the NHS into a Covid only service, were all responsible for the continuation of the ‘rules’, and for allowing the Tyrants to prosper. The situation became something reminiscent of the most frenzied of witch trials. The compliant played the part of the girls in Salem, afflicted with strange convulsions, screaming at those around them, and accusing anyone who would not toe the line of being a witch who was putting everyone else in danger.
And so, after over two years of this bullying, I’m afraid, Emily & Co, we, the non-compliant, rational, critical thinkers, are not much in the mood to give you your impertinently requested amnesty. I’m afraid we have no interest in letting you off the hook, for the vitriolic language we have had thrown at us, nor the sniggering and finger pointing directed at us, nor the childish and lazy name calling to which you subjected us. To see so many of these people back-pedalling now that a huge amount of information contrary to the narrative is coming to light, wishing to distance themselves from their previous words, and slip their masks neatly back on, is sickening. Own your mistakes. You backed the wrong horse, live with it, and do not have the temerity to expect those who suffered your impudence to make it easier for you.
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