I realised this some time ago when I couldn't get through to my left wing friends about ivermectin.
Each time I had a new piece of evidence - the Japanese Journal of Antibiotics paper, the Andrew Hill/Tess Lawrie video, even my own experience of recovering from Covid in 24 hrs where they were struggling for weeks - it made no impact.
So I started wondering what I could do, and changed tack: the drug companies run the system and stood to lose hundreds of billions if the emergency use authorisation was not granted, and the emergency use authorisation was only legally possible if there were no alternative existing treatments, so alternative existing treatments had to be shut down.
Bingo! They got it. It was evil capitalists, putting profit before people.
That 'in' allowed me to make further inroads and most of them are now highly sceptical about it all.
Most I know (and many for a very long time) are quite able to resist any attempt to present a few facts. It’s like the tribal allegiance to pro sports. Critical thinking is just absent.
Don't get me wrong, I have family members - admittedly quite distant ones - who won't even talk about it. Not all of my lefty friends have come round, but some have. Plus I take it very slow and back off if I meet resistance. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, as my late grandmother used to say.
I don't have any people left to convert .... they have all gotten it now with facts I have sent them since mid 2020. By fall of 2021 they all had come around.
Good work- unfortunately those I sought to convince were already so controlled by fear and frankly much more fascistic then I could have possibly realized that I just had to endure their denials and occasional name-calling and then give up on them. I've seen zero growth in awareness in everyone close to me--- and naturally they're still in the Trump is the greatest evil since HItler camp. Keep waiting for nervous breakdowns but it hasn't happened yet.
I wish my liberal acquaintances were able to see what happened. My dear friend has not even admitted that her stroke may have been caused by the vaccine.
I know people who are proud owners of brain blinders. As soon as they hear something they disagree with, on go the blinders...it’s that vacant look coming in from behind the eyes.
Or they literally just say “No, I don’t believe that!” and case closed in their minds. I’ve known a number of otherwise intelligent and rational people like that. They choose a tribal affiliation and would rather die than even question tribal narrative.
Somehow they equate it as a personal attack against them. They identify with the object of their adoration. It's quite a PR trick. Similar to the marketing PR for marxism.
I think the fact that people will ignore their own direct experience (like adverse events or frequent repeat infections) by continuing to get boosters or wear masks etc.. in order to "follow" the science is a key marker for non-thinking.
Like many unvaxxed, I got covid once (2 years ago) and have had only minor sniffles since. No side effects, no issues, no masking.
Sure, it was by test and I know well of the flaws of pcr testing and the debate around this. I will say the infection was unlike any flu or cold I have ever had in my entire life. But I get the gist from your tone you don't believe in the existence of a novel virus or viruses in general and that's totally cool. I'm not claiming to know other than using the test and my experience There's far too many people claiming to know 100 percent one way or the other but frankly I don't care about the virus/no virus issue as much as the authoritarian impositions enacted.
If the results of the test do not change your behavior there’s certainly no reason to take (and im thinking generally as a position about the piece). Most conservatives had listened and determined that the test was not telling you what they claimed it does. And this ability to discern real or useful data from the stuff that leads you astray is a key differential... or do we Cons and Dems have our own data and lived experiences?
Good alternate drs can treat patients based on symptoms and experience with other covid patients. My dr knew I wouldn’t take the test that doesn’t test and treated me energetically. So it took a little longer. Have natural immunity now.
Why wouldn’t you buy it? Exactly my experience, except I got it 3 instead of 2 years ago. Very ill w/bizarre symptoms, tested my antibodies for 18 mos. which remained sky high. Haven’t had even the faintest whiff since. Just my experience. It’s all relevant.
people need to reflect and review apply point counter point avoid dogma and belief that is not logic reason experience harmony based. Yet I do believe in cosmic intelligent design as guiding all matters in our universe. This still needs more proof and its coming ... or we are no more - unlikely.
I am being routinely named called by veterinary colleagues. When I share legitimate research papers about the vaccines, I am told( by a professional DOCTOR colleague) that they are 'dogshit' studies and I am a moron. This person went so far as to call me Deputy Dipshit in a public forum, knowing I am doctor. One of his online henchmen sold a veterinary practice and moved because the staff refused to get vaccinated. This vet said the staff was going to kill her special needs son by not being vaxxed.
The hysteria is over the top. I cannot believe it is STILL going on.
I believed the 'experts' at first, but no longer....and likely, never again to the same extent.
Take comfort in the knowledge that they have permanently damaged their immune systems, and the likelihood that they will experience a fatal cardiac event in the near future is not small.
I try not to take pleasure in others' misfortune, but people such as the ones you've described have thoroughly earned it.
I also feel bad for taking pleasure in others mistakes/misfortunes (regarding the vaxx, it rarely happens about anything else) and I do my best to surpass those feelings.
But, and it’s a big ‘but’....these are the same people who have boasted about their moral superiority for getting the shots and denigrated everyone who even had questions about them.
They wanted the unvaccinated fired from their jobs and removed from society. Many advocated putting the unvaxxed in camps and some even encouraged worse penalties, including death, for refusing the “vaccine”.
And if the Supreme Court hadn’t slowed them down, the repression would have gotten much, much worse.....
Most of them have learned nothing, either about themselves or their failed policies, and they would do it all over again.
And that’s why I don’t feel as bad as I should about a little Schadenfreude.....
They're insufferable, and frankly, anyone who sought to discriminate over an unproven & experimental drug (because that was true for anyone who even did no research), and never faced up to it and apologized, lost all of my empathy/sympathy. I don't wish them permanent harm, but I do wish them a serious scare to receive a wake-up call and regain some humanity. They're the types that latch onto whatever preserves them and boosts their egos at the expense of others.
They openly and publicly wished a lot worse than permanent harm on most of us, and they deliberately inflicted it on a great many. Because of that, a single note from the world's smallest violin would be asking too much from me if/when I find out they've become statistics.
My comment was directed at the enablers not the perpetrators, and specifically not just the masses who fearfully obeyed but sought to enforce out of some desperate need for cohesion or meaning or something along those lines. Complete lack of self-awareness and closet fascists as it turns out.
That was my point exactly. One of my then-employer's Covid policies prevented me from attending my grandma's funeral, and I know I was relatively lucky compared to many people.
If you ever find yourself looking for a wide-awake and excellent veterinary practice in rural Texas, let me know. My veterinarian (at this practice) has been a life-saver. Literally and figuratively.
We're a few days removed from your comment, but as you can see from the following linked editorial the "you're crazy" accusations are still coming from all sides, including ostensibly 'conservative' publications.
Democrats also believe the 2020 election wasn't stolen, that Biden is calling the shots in the WH, that there's a climate emergency, that the jabs are safe & effective, and that men can have babies.
The hottest temperatures since the 1800’s were in the first half of the 20th century. The Dust Bowl Years. All the carbon in all the plants, trees, animals, sea life and people is from atmospheric CO2. There’s science, and then there’s “The Science”.
You said it yourself. Data that began 100 years ago isn’t adequate for the conclusions drawn. So models fill it in. Most of climate science is modeling based on assumptions. Models are predictive not descriptive - again not based on data but on assumptions. It’s no surprise that they have failed to predict reality. A scientist actually interested in pursuing knowledge would not rely on extrapolations based on inadequate information.
The climate “experts” lost me completely (not that I really believed them prior to this) when they got caught falsifying data.
From Forbes Nov 23, 2011
Climategate 2.0: New E-Mails Rock The Global Warming Debate
“Three themes are emerging from the newly released emails: (1) prominent scientists central to the global warming debate are taking measures to conceal rather than disseminate underlying data and discussions; (2) these scientists view global warming as a political “cause” rather than a balanced scientific inquiry and (3) many of these scientists frankly admit to each other that much of the science is weak and dependent on deliberate manipulation of facts and data.”
This isn’t the first time that they were caught lying.
Rhetorical question, why would anyone believe ANYTHING that these people say going forward?
They have proven that they are willing to lie, cheat and steal in order to push their agenda...... yet they are still treated as credible sources.
Carbon dioxide isn’t dirty, yet it’s become the designated villain. The theories that underpin the villainy of c02 have been undermined by scientists numerous times, yet the bogeyman is still out there scaring people. This is a political and not a scientific fight. The science behind climate change is demonstrably bunk, but it will take time before the grifters and power brokers let go of it. Fear is useful.
Personally think the best avenue, as illustrated above on this topic, is to point out $$. Academics who go along with the standard climate narrative ALWAYS get their funding for research in that area and anyone who seeks to dispute that narrative will not get funded and will typically be ostracized and potentially forced out of their jobs if they're vocal about it. Institutionally science is 100% politics & money now and it's been that way for years.
Thankfully, the men can have babies thing is a big step too far for many of those who believe all sorts of horseshit. That's not in the repetitive propaganda can become 'fact' realm, but rather more in the easily manipulable and unstable people who can be suckered into believing virtually anything realm.
Kind of looks like IQ might one of the mysterious ingredients, that if missing, causes the final outcome to turn Democrat as opposed to Constitutionalist.
I think it's mostly laziness and presumptuousness that is bolstered by the fact that we now have nothing but propaganda thinly disguised as news. It didn't used to be nearly as bad but always left-leaning, and those firmly on the left don't see that because it's always been part of the air they breathe. You actually have to question and research to get other explanations. Hence the saying, "no one who does their research becomes a democrat."
Tony Heller has produced a number of interesting videos that were on YT. He posted up temperature trend charts from a variety of hard copy periodicals from the 1970's...when the "big scare" was the coming Ice Age. These charts show the highest prior temperatures were during the Dust Bowl Years. He then overlaid these charts with todays charts for the same mid-1800-Present period. The high temperatures during the Dust Bowl Years were not evident on the newest charts.
The pandemic has revealed the depths of the partisan divide like nothing else could have. People who wake up in the morning and turn on the “news” or who turn on the “news” in the evening have completely turned over the deepest reaches of their subconscious to be programmed. The people in the news seem so sincere and trustworthy and the news highlights seem so innocently chosen and presented. This happens to republicans and democrats.
I was a mainstream republican for years until I realized what was going on when Trump ran (that’s a whole other story).
After you turn *off* the tv or other source of corporate news for a few months, it’s almost enough to make you ill to your stomach to try and watch or listen to any corporate media, including supposedly neutral media like NPR again. They are all manipulative, brainwashing tools of the elite. Democrats are easily brainwashed with the “for the good of the whole” narrative and they are used badly, as evidenced by their continued masking and boosters. Conservatives are brainwashed by the “freedom” and patriotism narrative to be used badly in different but similar ways.
Wars, spending, emergency powers, inflation, failing education… they continue under both parties and instead of people holding their own party accountable for the failures, they just blame the “other party”. Divide and conquer. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
This makes complete sense. The single most significant thing that propelled me on my own journey of "seeing what I was seeing" was the unwavering tribalism I saw within a small corner of the art world that I once inhabited. While I noticed this tribalism for years, by 2020 I knew that something was terribly wrong, but what was most alarming was the ideology that seemed to coalesce around the "something wrong". I so appreciate your writing, John Leake. It helps me to organize my own thoughts and to make sense of things.
The thing about COVID that really shocked me was the realization that many people actually WANTED to be afraid. They aggressively rejected anything that even vaguely resembled "good news" about the virus. I literally lost friends by trying to convince people they were NOT going to die.
I think that underlying this fear, and all that goes along with it, is a newfound purpose and a reason for being. That’s difficult for an outsider to overcome, especially when an outsider is perceived as a threat to purpose. Just my thoughts.
This is an interesting comment, but not sure I agree. I don't normally 'buy into' pandemics, but after a lot of reading determined that an element of covid would be challenging for me. I managed to avoid the early strains, mostly thanks to Australia's lockdowns. When I eventually got an omicron strain I handled it like any flu, but then at 5 days the kicker came - a bit of a cytokine storm. I managed to settle that down, and immunity kicked in shortly after. But I consider my views on the earlier strains was correct. I would not in any circumstances listen to someone who tried to give me a blanket 'it's nothing'. I would've walked away. I also considered the vaccines would be a terrible risk.
The heartbreaking thing is that we had the means to treat this virus, however it came about, all along. Most of the deaths in the US happened in our hospitals because of dangerous protocols - Remdesivir was routinely given, which carries an FDA warning label for causing kidney failure. Ventilators were used at a high flow capacity which damages the lungs - very few get off once on. I have friends who had to either fight for their own lives to not be put on these protocols or for the lives of their loved ones. And all along, the doctors, not just in the US, but around the world who were using repurposed meds to treat their patients, were being vilified and in many cases threatened with loss of their licenses. They're still being threatened. To be clear, I would never make light of covid because people's health situations aren't ever the same, but we had the means to offer early, inexpensive treatment that could've saved millions.
I knew the medical world was somewhat captured by pharma, I knew our regulators were mostly captured such that inadequately tested drugs were often released, but I was completely naive to the satanic power that could ban helpful drugs, and completely naive to the compliance of the health professionals such that all but a few would obey such deadly directives. I naively thought that doctors would be 'free to treat'. I thought that if early treatments were efficacious the doctors would've used them. I thought that if the doctors were saying 'no early treatment helps', then no early treatment helps.
Perhaps I could've thought that through. All doctors make deadly/injurious mistakes, all doctors need to be beholden to their professional bodies that will cover/get them off the hook. If they go outside the protocols, and someone gets hurt, they may not get protection. So it's a brave doctor who steps off the approved protocols.
I was much as you've described, and definitely naive to the satanic power of pharma and its regulators. Actually, I didn't give much thought to Satanic power. I do now. Another huge wake-up call.
In the US, doctors are mostly not free to treat because they're largely employees of large hospital corporations which are beholden to pharma, FDA, CDC, etc. That's the sad reality. Those who offered early treatment risked everything. Many are still fighting to hold on to their licenses and affiliations. Some of these are the best of the best doctors. It’s mind boggling to anyone trying to think logically.
I think in your case, if you didn’t have access to early treatment, how could you possibly know? You’re so right about the protections and the risks for doctors. What a tough spot to be in. Somehow in 2020, I found the Frontline Covid Critical Care Doctors (FLCCC). Again, top doctors in their fields. They were pioneering early treatment with available and out of patent meds. If you don’t know about them, they’re worth following. They do weekly webinars (free) and cover great topics. Also, Dr. Peter McCullough is excellent and top of his field. I was fortunate to have access to their information. There are many others now in other parts of the world.
We must have come from a similar place - I'd never used the word 'satanic' in everyday use. Your sentence "It's mind boggling to anyone trying to think logically" was me as the mandates came in - nothing made sense - on suddenly finding the "satanic" word, all of my cognitive dissonance fell away - that's what it was - explained everything. No mistaken logic, just really bad power.
I'm aware of FLCCC and McCullough is one of my few paid substack subscriptions. I became aware of caring doctors in Australia in a lot of trouble. One particular Doctor was interviewed and he had a kind, caring voice with the ethics I would've expected every Australian to hold, that seemed to vanish in the pandemic. He was hounded and threatened, had his patients' files taken - so much intimidation.
I avoided the early strains as best I could because I believed there was a good chance that the virus was a bioweapon. I still feel that way. I never "locked down", although most small businesses in my county were closed. My area came back to life as normal at the end of May 2020. I'm in a tiny town, but we have a huge influx of visitors throughout the year, and the pandemic only brought more people here trying to escape the city. While I don't love being in crowds, our immune systems depend on being regularly challenged in order to protect us. This is actual science. The lockdowns did the opposite. Still, I would never encourage a person to seek out covid. Instead I advocate for having early treatment meds on hand to use at the first sign of illness. Given early, they work amazingly well. I experienced this three times. That and good vitamin D levels, fresh air and sunshine, community, healthy food . . . common sense stuff.
We're very much in agreement on covid. There is a line though that I think is out of context, being "our immune systems depend on being regularly challenged..." I don't agree with that, certainly not in respect of viruses. I reason that disperse humans over hundreds of thousands of years have spent long periods in great isolation from each other, with no need for new viral challenges to stay strong and healthy. We're probably challenged every day by all sorts of small natural microbes and that's enough to keep it active. Thus, I don't agree that the lockdowns were damaging for health, here at least. To the contrary, lots of young lives benefited. There was a massive drop in, for example, young children being treated in hospital for ear infections, bronchitis, croup - this has to be for their benefit. I don't actually think humans have evolved to live on top of each other passing mutating infections back and forth. I think our bodies benefit from 'clean time'. There was a drop in every cause of death, except perhaps diabetes - that was the only group the lockdowns didn't seem to help.
Well, I'm going off of what I've heard and read from several immunologists on the importance of children's young immune systems being challenged in order to build immunity. Other than repeating what I've read, I have no scientific knowledge. Definitely wasn't trying to imply bathing in a sea of viruses, but normal daily exposure to common viruses.
Of course this is speaking in the context of now. Years ago things were much different with few options to treat. It’s true that people stayed in their tribes or groups mostly isolated from one another. So, yes, definitely the daily challenges of viruses, germs, microbes.
Speaking of microbes, do you know about the work of researcher Dr. Sabine Hazan? She’s a gastroenterologist and does a lot of research on the gut microbiome. It’s fascinating. If you’re on twitter (X), I highly recommend following her there. She recently published an article about Ivermectin increasing a particular good bacteria in gut. I believe she thinks that much of our immunity is dependent on the balance of the microbiome. I need to go back and read, but that’s the gist of it I think.
I’m not sure if C.W. Smith is in the US, but I get the feeling that he’s read some of the articles from doctors and scientists that I’ve read about the lockdowns causing more harm than good. I haven’t studied these, and can’t quote anything, but the findings in the US seem to be exactly that. We have much more illness now than before 2021. Of course there are many things at play, but I think at least in the US, the findings are that the lockdowns didn’t help.
That said, geography does play a role, so for various reasons, your country’s experience has been different. Speaking of your beautiful country, I do hope that there are many people there who feel as you do, and that things will change because of that. I follow a few artists from Australia on YouTube and Ig. I don’t get any sense that they’re aware of what you’ve mentioned. I keep hoping they’ll say at least a little something that will let me know that they do.
Yes, I'm in the US, and I'm rather puzzled by the point of disagreement here, and why Madeleine Love took exception to my stating opinions that she later claimed to agree with. I don't understand her perspective because she seems to want to argue both for and against the lockdown philosophy simultaneously, and I see that as being self-defeating and counterproductive.
The lockdowns didn't save you from anything. They made everything about the pandemic a hundred times worse, and on a global scale. They had nothing to do with science, medicine, or public health. They were a crime against humanity.
You're probably addressing your comment to the wrong audience because I worked alongside 6.5 million other Victorians in lockdown to eliminate Covid-19, such that we could rejoin the rest of Australia in Covid Zero, living completely ordinary lives, albeit without international travel. We also reduced (for a time) many infectious diseases that resulted in many lives saved for people from age 35 up, and also for young children. I think it was very disappointing that the rest of the world didn't go along with us to eliminate covid-19. (NB: We have no rabies in Australia, nor many other diseases, so such management should not have been impossible.)
The rot set in, however, with the mandated vaccines, with many apparently killed, as well as many more injured. And Covid-19 killed and sickened many as well to long term harm - something that should've been completely avoidable.
It's an incredibly sad situation about the mandates of the vaccines, and the damage they've done. I can't tell you how often I feel heartbroken for those who are suffering and those who've died, and their families. I respect your own experience. Australia is much different than the US. We have open borders for one, which makes any attempt to lockdown ludicrous. Still, I don't agree that lockdowns are the answer, but I do believe fully in protecting the vulnerable. And I know first hand just how effective having optimal vitamin D levels and early treatment is. And this is true for all viruses. It's not in big pharma's best interest for people to have early treatment at their fingertips that actually works.
Hi Tami, Thanks for your three considered comments. Don't mind my comment above too much. It was a little reactionary to C.W.Smith's.
I understand all countries are different, geography is of course a big thing, and if anything, the pandemic has led me to understand and appreciate the American people and values a lot more. We've never done 'freedom' in Australia as a value - people recoil against it. But now I see how strong and important it is in times like this when govt has gone rogue. Our government has previously served us (the predominant middle class, at least) and many people who have vaccine-belief (and survived the injections) probably still think it has. I wanted to escape to America (well, Florida, after it spoke out against the vaxs), and would've if I could've.
Given the world didn't or couldn't go along with us the value of lockdowns as a tool is questionable. And they're costly - not every country had the wealth, and we now have massive new debt on their behalf - part of the wealth transfer. I was aware of this but it didn't really enter the public discussion and it should've. We had an Australia-wide 6 week lockdown in March-May 2020 and we paid people a lot of money to stay home, and for the most part people seemed very happy - fun, new, different - working families had time together, and the death rates in the working age people dropped. They liked working at home - companies had trouble getting them to come back in :) Delivery drivers moving everything around enjoyed the low stress empty roads.
And then when it (reportedly) escaped in Victoria and we locked down for 4+ months - that was big. And from that experience I know there's no such thing as "protecting the vulnerable". All my study since says "We cough, they die". This was as true for seasonal flu as it was for covid. The vulnerable have carers, and the carers live in the community. It's a very underpaid profession and the carers tend to live in more crowded housing situations themselves. I think the public could've benefited from more discussion on the inescapability of death in the very frail, rather than have these sad deaths held up as the reason to eliminate.
It was my impression that our government was going to leave us open, like the UK, and then murder all the elderly in the hospitals/aged care homes (as it seems to me). I thought it was we-the-people who forced the lockdowns, although we may have been nudged by other global interests - hard to say - the big money lenders certainly won.
Don’t be discouraged by the Big Govt, Big Pharma, Big Tech, bought off FNM…get that latest UNTESTED, INEFFECTIVE, INJURIOUS, DEADLY experimental jab. You go girl!
This fact of political-ideological-philosophical leaning being reflected in attitude about cv19... and I would suggest, about climate change, understanding of economics, biological gender, race, ... ... may be an indication that one particular partisanship leaning likes to ignore reality, and the other prefers to make life decisions and act based on looking at actual real life experience and the real-life results of such action -
I agree. Something I’ve noticed after spending years around far left leaning people is that they tend to speak and behave as a collective. They appear to be 100% aligned. Maybe this is over generalizing, but it’s what I’ve experienced. In recent years I’ve been surrounded by more conservatives, and to my surprise, they have wide-ranging points of view and don’t agree on everything, and surely don’t act as a collective. I find this refreshing. Who would’ve thought living in rural Texas as compared to living in Austin would bring more diversity of thought, along with a willingness for conversation?
Yeah, it really is more of a collectivist vs. individualist divide and unfortunately it's what makes the illiberal "left" more potent and dangerous because the individualist is more wary of the mob mentality. This is pretty general, of course, but the fear and aversion to standing out amidst the crowd or herd seems to be what keeps people locked up and closed off because they're so dependent on affirmation of their views and belonging no matter what.
Well said. I know this tendency toward collectivism has always existed, due to a very real fear of death, but watching it unfold in recent years has been stunning. I want to understand more about the 20-30% who saw thru the propaganda early on. I think what you've said about "being dependent on affirmation and belonging no matter what" is at the core of collectivism, but of course it's couched as doing what's right for the greater good. Another interesting rabbit trail is the parallel between collectivism vs. individualism and globalism vs. independence. Makes me wonder if some people have an inherent sense of independence. I think I read something about this months ago, on how some prioritize safety above all else, and others prioritize freedom. I'm on Team Freedom.
..And for those so inclined to be interested in the historical context of why and how collectivist ideas evolved, here a fascinating read of insights to the topic :
Leonard Peikoff's 'The Cause of Hitler's Germany'
From Plato and Aristoteles, to Augustine, Luther, Kant and Hegel... Marx.. and others, he outlines the philosophical history/the path and progression of the perversion of morality - from Aristoteles' using reason, evidence, reality to understand reality, and the respect for the individual, to Hegel/Kant/... anti-reason and valuing feelings and faith above facts, and the collectivist ideas of state-above-all- and the-individual-counts-for-nothing - and how it, almost inevitably, led Germany to become what it did at the time -
Most interesting, however, to consider the parallels to that historical path we see in the ideas and actions and policies of today's leftideologically possessed collectivist-postmodern-political-correctness and the ideas propagandized by the Liberals/Democrats/Democratic-socialists in NA as well as in Europe, and AntiFa, BLM... and their violent actions and methods !! -
That is the scary part, to see the left playing it out all over again in the midst of our Western societies !
a must read, I would suggest, to understand much of the politics of the last century and of today !
Thank you . . . very interesting and not surprising. The parallels to what was seen in the lead up to Nazi Germany before things escalated, to the "othering" of people in the last few years are incredible. The behaviors always start out small, but with the same ostracizing of others. It blew my mind how quickly it took hold for those who chose not to get the shots. Personally, I've never seen anything like it in the US, at least not in my lifetime. I'll definitely read, and thank you for the link. I read recently that tyranny can't exist without collectivism. I wish more people were aware of this. The irony is that individualism has human rights at its core. Somehow the left has completely missed this, and they've aligned themselves with out-of-control centralized government and technocracy.
"...tyranny can't exist without collectivism. I wish more people were aware of this. The irony is that individualism has human rights at its core. Somehow the left has completely missed this, ..." exactly ! and, as Ayn Rand has pointed out, '.. the smallest minority [ which the collectivist ideologues claim to protect] is indeed the individual..' -
My experience too. I’m mystified at how such cohesion gets set in D pals and not at all in R pals. Do they really all think the same, or just have to speak the same?
Increasingly, my experience of those who still firmly identify with the left are totally incapable of a serious one-on-one conversation over issues because they've cut themselves off from thinking things through and really have allowed themselves to be brainwashed at least to some degree. It's typically emotional reaction without reflection.
Its that they load a moral value onto everything that never includes the value of freedom, so one knows what one is meant to think. It takes talking, thus, to work through the various moral values of a situation.
So tons of cogdis-if numbers don’t impress or dissuade from bad things-what does OR how to get compliers (which truly set this clown psychop shit show in action) to open their obviously closed, myopic, small minds? Solutions are needed for the impenetrable. However, according to prognostications by Dr Geert Van Bossche (Kirsch interview 12/15) with a new virulent covid, those jabbed statistically could see 20-40% morbidity could prove persuasive but most will #ABV even in the face of massive loss of life. Again, the very same people injured and dying asking for $$$, will be first in line for the next scamdemic-lessons never learned.
I find it all very sad and disheartening. I really do agree with John Leake that for them it’s not about data. To us it’s illogical, but I don’t think logic is the motivation for those who’ve traded thinking for tribalism and ideology. In many respects I feel like we’re in the dark ages.
I agree. Those who've orchestrated the manipulation clearly knew what they were doing. They would've had to have been highly trained, educated and well-supported to have pulled this off. And I'm betting they also knew the percentage of the world's population that would follow along.
Data means NOTHING to a Death Cult; whether it be a belief in The Occult, or a firm commitment to The Noble Lie, these Borg are conditioned to devalue even their own lives, they are as maggots. Like Sam Altman, as per Elon, "not really sure his loyalty is to Humanity..."
Indeed. I took the test once when I was very sick. If only to get treatment but as you might have guessed my family doctor was useless here ("you didn't get vaccinated"). I went to an FLCCC doc, got meds and recovered nicely. Haven't taken a test since.
The idea that, in the year 2023, covidianism and Democratic partisan identity are both aspects of an underlying tribalism is confounded to some extent by the fact that some of us, at least, have been turned into Republican voters by observing that that party was less comprehensively horrible on covid. We *have been persuaded* by the data in making our political choice.
I realised this some time ago when I couldn't get through to my left wing friends about ivermectin.
Each time I had a new piece of evidence - the Japanese Journal of Antibiotics paper, the Andrew Hill/Tess Lawrie video, even my own experience of recovering from Covid in 24 hrs where they were struggling for weeks - it made no impact.
So I started wondering what I could do, and changed tack: the drug companies run the system and stood to lose hundreds of billions if the emergency use authorisation was not granted, and the emergency use authorisation was only legally possible if there were no alternative existing treatments, so alternative existing treatments had to be shut down.
Bingo! They got it. It was evil capitalists, putting profit before people.
That 'in' allowed me to make further inroads and most of them are now highly sceptical about it all.
Smart. You tapped into one of their core beliefs and spoke their language. We need more of exactly this, which unites rather than divides.
Your friends are remarkably flexible.
Most I know (and many for a very long time) are quite able to resist any attempt to present a few facts. It’s like the tribal allegiance to pro sports. Critical thinking is just absent.
Don't get me wrong, I have family members - admittedly quite distant ones - who won't even talk about it. Not all of my lefty friends have come round, but some have. Plus I take it very slow and back off if I meet resistance. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, as my late grandmother used to say.
I commend your patience. It's probably more than I could have mustered.
I don't have any people left to convert .... they have all gotten it now with facts I have sent them since mid 2020. By fall of 2021 they all had come around.
They didn't lose rational capacity then.
Ppl I know only believe MSM who has thoroughly brainwashed them without them knowing. Also, its very political for them.
Yes, many of my friends too. But as I say, this tack worked.
I fail often but just keep trying. I'll try your method.
Good work- unfortunately those I sought to convince were already so controlled by fear and frankly much more fascistic then I could have possibly realized that I just had to endure their denials and occasional name-calling and then give up on them. I've seen zero growth in awareness in everyone close to me--- and naturally they're still in the Trump is the greatest evil since HItler camp. Keep waiting for nervous breakdowns but it hasn't happened yet.
Yes, it has. You're watching it happen. In slow motion.
I wish my liberal acquaintances were able to see what happened. My dear friend has not even admitted that her stroke may have been caused by the vaccine.
glad it worked for u. didn’t for me, but few came around.
Ditto.
I know people who are proud owners of brain blinders. As soon as they hear something they disagree with, on go the blinders...it’s that vacant look coming in from behind the eyes.
Or they literally just say “No, I don’t believe that!” and case closed in their minds. I’ve known a number of otherwise intelligent and rational people like that. They choose a tribal affiliation and would rather die than even question tribal narrative.
Somehow they equate it as a personal attack against them. They identify with the object of their adoration. It's quite a PR trick. Similar to the marketing PR for marxism.
I think the fact that people will ignore their own direct experience (like adverse events or frequent repeat infections) by continuing to get boosters or wear masks etc.. in order to "follow" the science is a key marker for non-thinking.
Like many unvaxxed, I got covid once (2 years ago) and have had only minor sniffles since. No side effects, no issues, no masking.
I believe in my direct experience.
And you know for a fact that you got covid? How? PCR test?
Sorry, not buying your claim.
Sure, it was by test and I know well of the flaws of pcr testing and the debate around this. I will say the infection was unlike any flu or cold I have ever had in my entire life. But I get the gist from your tone you don't believe in the existence of a novel virus or viruses in general and that's totally cool. I'm not claiming to know other than using the test and my experience There's far too many people claiming to know 100 percent one way or the other but frankly I don't care about the virus/no virus issue as much as the authoritarian impositions enacted.
That’s a pretty dang spot on reply, thanks. Yes it’s a world of confusion.
If the results of the test do not change your behavior there’s certainly no reason to take (and im thinking generally as a position about the piece). Most conservatives had listened and determined that the test was not telling you what they claimed it does. And this ability to discern real or useful data from the stuff that leads you astray is a key differential... or do we Cons and Dems have our own data and lived experiences?
Good alternate drs can treat patients based on symptoms and experience with other covid patients. My dr knew I wouldn’t take the test that doesn’t test and treated me energetically. So it took a little longer. Have natural immunity now.
Why wouldn’t you buy it? Exactly my experience, except I got it 3 instead of 2 years ago. Very ill w/bizarre symptoms, tested my antibodies for 18 mos. which remained sky high. Haven’t had even the faintest whiff since. Just my experience. It’s all relevant.
people need to reflect and review apply point counter point avoid dogma and belief that is not logic reason experience harmony based. Yet I do believe in cosmic intelligent design as guiding all matters in our universe. This still needs more proof and its coming ... or we are no more - unlikely.
I am being routinely named called by veterinary colleagues. When I share legitimate research papers about the vaccines, I am told( by a professional DOCTOR colleague) that they are 'dogshit' studies and I am a moron. This person went so far as to call me Deputy Dipshit in a public forum, knowing I am doctor. One of his online henchmen sold a veterinary practice and moved because the staff refused to get vaccinated. This vet said the staff was going to kill her special needs son by not being vaxxed.
The hysteria is over the top. I cannot believe it is STILL going on.
I believed the 'experts' at first, but no longer....and likely, never again to the same extent.
Take comfort in the knowledge that they have permanently damaged their immune systems, and the likelihood that they will experience a fatal cardiac event in the near future is not small.
I try not to take pleasure in others' misfortune, but people such as the ones you've described have thoroughly earned it.
I also feel bad for taking pleasure in others mistakes/misfortunes (regarding the vaxx, it rarely happens about anything else) and I do my best to surpass those feelings.
But, and it’s a big ‘but’....these are the same people who have boasted about their moral superiority for getting the shots and denigrated everyone who even had questions about them.
They wanted the unvaccinated fired from their jobs and removed from society. Many advocated putting the unvaxxed in camps and some even encouraged worse penalties, including death, for refusing the “vaccine”.
And if the Supreme Court hadn’t slowed them down, the repression would have gotten much, much worse.....
Most of them have learned nothing, either about themselves or their failed policies, and they would do it all over again.
And that’s why I don’t feel as bad as I should about a little Schadenfreude.....
They're insufferable, and frankly, anyone who sought to discriminate over an unproven & experimental drug (because that was true for anyone who even did no research), and never faced up to it and apologized, lost all of my empathy/sympathy. I don't wish them permanent harm, but I do wish them a serious scare to receive a wake-up call and regain some humanity. They're the types that latch onto whatever preserves them and boosts their egos at the expense of others.
They openly and publicly wished a lot worse than permanent harm on most of us, and they deliberately inflicted it on a great many. Because of that, a single note from the world's smallest violin would be asking too much from me if/when I find out they've become statistics.
My comment was directed at the enablers not the perpetrators, and specifically not just the masses who fearfully obeyed but sought to enforce out of some desperate need for cohesion or meaning or something along those lines. Complete lack of self-awareness and closet fascists as it turns out.
That was my point exactly. One of my then-employer's Covid policies prevented me from attending my grandma's funeral, and I know I was relatively lucky compared to many people.
At core isn’t it funny though? “Yay, I got a shot! Look at me!” Absurd.
VERY SORRY...THANK YOU for continuing to stand COURAGEOUSLY for TRUTH even while being persecuted.
If you ever find yourself looking for a wide-awake and excellent veterinary practice in rural Texas, let me know. My veterinarian (at this practice) has been a life-saver. Literally and figuratively.
Good for the staff for refusing! But that's one diehard vet to actually sell his practice and move!
We're a few days removed from your comment, but as you can see from the following linked editorial the "you're crazy" accusations are still coming from all sides, including ostensibly 'conservative' publications.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/rumors-that-matthew-perry-death-was-from-covid-19-vaccines-were-conspiracy-theory-nonsense
Democrats also believe the 2020 election wasn't stolen, that Biden is calling the shots in the WH, that there's a climate emergency, that the jabs are safe & effective, and that men can have babies.
The science since the mid 1800s has acknowledged that burning fossil fuels is warming Earth.
The hottest temperatures since the 1800’s were in the first half of the 20th century. The Dust Bowl Years. All the carbon in all the plants, trees, animals, sea life and people is from atmospheric CO2. There’s science, and then there’s “The Science”.
You said it yourself. Data that began 100 years ago isn’t adequate for the conclusions drawn. So models fill it in. Most of climate science is modeling based on assumptions. Models are predictive not descriptive - again not based on data but on assumptions. It’s no surprise that they have failed to predict reality. A scientist actually interested in pursuing knowledge would not rely on extrapolations based on inadequate information.
But pursuing knowledge and determining truth has never been the point, which is why they don't even attempt to do it.
The climate “experts” lost me completely (not that I really believed them prior to this) when they got caught falsifying data.
From Forbes Nov 23, 2011
Climategate 2.0: New E-Mails Rock The Global Warming Debate
“Three themes are emerging from the newly released emails: (1) prominent scientists central to the global warming debate are taking measures to conceal rather than disseminate underlying data and discussions; (2) these scientists view global warming as a political “cause” rather than a balanced scientific inquiry and (3) many of these scientists frankly admit to each other that much of the science is weak and dependent on deliberate manipulation of facts and data.”
This isn’t the first time that they were caught lying.
Rhetorical question, why would anyone believe ANYTHING that these people say going forward?
They have proven that they are willing to lie, cheat and steal in order to push their agenda...... yet they are still treated as credible sources.
Talk about corruption......
Carbon dioxide isn’t dirty, yet it’s become the designated villain. The theories that underpin the villainy of c02 have been undermined by scientists numerous times, yet the bogeyman is still out there scaring people. This is a political and not a scientific fight. The science behind climate change is demonstrably bunk, but it will take time before the grifters and power brokers let go of it. Fear is useful.
Personally think the best avenue, as illustrated above on this topic, is to point out $$. Academics who go along with the standard climate narrative ALWAYS get their funding for research in that area and anyone who seeks to dispute that narrative will not get funded and will typically be ostracized and potentially forced out of their jobs if they're vocal about it. Institutionally science is 100% politics & money now and it's been that way for years.
Thankfully, the men can have babies thing is a big step too far for many of those who believe all sorts of horseshit. That's not in the repetitive propaganda can become 'fact' realm, but rather more in the easily manipulable and unstable people who can be suckered into believing virtually anything realm.
Kind of looks like IQ might one of the mysterious ingredients, that if missing, causes the final outcome to turn Democrat as opposed to Constitutionalist.
I think it's mostly laziness and presumptuousness that is bolstered by the fact that we now have nothing but propaganda thinly disguised as news. It didn't used to be nearly as bad but always left-leaning, and those firmly on the left don't see that because it's always been part of the air they breathe. You actually have to question and research to get other explanations. Hence the saying, "no one who does their research becomes a democrat."
Tony Heller has produced a number of interesting videos that were on YT. He posted up temperature trend charts from a variety of hard copy periodicals from the 1970's...when the "big scare" was the coming Ice Age. These charts show the highest prior temperatures were during the Dust Bowl Years. He then overlaid these charts with todays charts for the same mid-1800-Present period. The high temperatures during the Dust Bowl Years were not evident on the newest charts.
The pandemic has revealed the depths of the partisan divide like nothing else could have. People who wake up in the morning and turn on the “news” or who turn on the “news” in the evening have completely turned over the deepest reaches of their subconscious to be programmed. The people in the news seem so sincere and trustworthy and the news highlights seem so innocently chosen and presented. This happens to republicans and democrats.
I was a mainstream republican for years until I realized what was going on when Trump ran (that’s a whole other story).
After you turn *off* the tv or other source of corporate news for a few months, it’s almost enough to make you ill to your stomach to try and watch or listen to any corporate media, including supposedly neutral media like NPR again. They are all manipulative, brainwashing tools of the elite. Democrats are easily brainwashed with the “for the good of the whole” narrative and they are used badly, as evidenced by their continued masking and boosters. Conservatives are brainwashed by the “freedom” and patriotism narrative to be used badly in different but similar ways.
Wars, spending, emergency powers, inflation, failing education… they continue under both parties and instead of people holding their own party accountable for the failures, they just blame the “other party”. Divide and conquer. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
It’s a lot easier to be a Rino Republican than a Conservative Republican, that’s why there’s so many Rinos.
People judge Consevatives to be fanatics. Not cool. Not getting invited to many parties. Yeah The Constitution was written by crackpots.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was the archetypal Rino. He took the easy road ( and the profitable road ).
It’s always easier to agree with people who don’t know much because there’s so many of them.
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to think of Arnold again without hearing him say “screw your freedom!”
That was his ‘inner Nazi’ peeking out....
Yeah. We saw a lot of peoples’ ‘inner Nazi’… wish I could unsee it sometimes but it is what it is.
This makes complete sense. The single most significant thing that propelled me on my own journey of "seeing what I was seeing" was the unwavering tribalism I saw within a small corner of the art world that I once inhabited. While I noticed this tribalism for years, by 2020 I knew that something was terribly wrong, but what was most alarming was the ideology that seemed to coalesce around the "something wrong". I so appreciate your writing, John Leake. It helps me to organize my own thoughts and to make sense of things.
The thing about COVID that really shocked me was the realization that many people actually WANTED to be afraid. They aggressively rejected anything that even vaguely resembled "good news" about the virus. I literally lost friends by trying to convince people they were NOT going to die.
I think that underlying this fear, and all that goes along with it, is a newfound purpose and a reason for being. That’s difficult for an outsider to overcome, especially when an outsider is perceived as a threat to purpose. Just my thoughts.
That's why I said it is a religious cult, and I am dead serious about that. Because it is precisely what it is.
This is an interesting comment, but not sure I agree. I don't normally 'buy into' pandemics, but after a lot of reading determined that an element of covid would be challenging for me. I managed to avoid the early strains, mostly thanks to Australia's lockdowns. When I eventually got an omicron strain I handled it like any flu, but then at 5 days the kicker came - a bit of a cytokine storm. I managed to settle that down, and immunity kicked in shortly after. But I consider my views on the earlier strains was correct. I would not in any circumstances listen to someone who tried to give me a blanket 'it's nothing'. I would've walked away. I also considered the vaccines would be a terrible risk.
The heartbreaking thing is that we had the means to treat this virus, however it came about, all along. Most of the deaths in the US happened in our hospitals because of dangerous protocols - Remdesivir was routinely given, which carries an FDA warning label for causing kidney failure. Ventilators were used at a high flow capacity which damages the lungs - very few get off once on. I have friends who had to either fight for their own lives to not be put on these protocols or for the lives of their loved ones. And all along, the doctors, not just in the US, but around the world who were using repurposed meds to treat their patients, were being vilified and in many cases threatened with loss of their licenses. They're still being threatened. To be clear, I would never make light of covid because people's health situations aren't ever the same, but we had the means to offer early, inexpensive treatment that could've saved millions.
I knew the medical world was somewhat captured by pharma, I knew our regulators were mostly captured such that inadequately tested drugs were often released, but I was completely naive to the satanic power that could ban helpful drugs, and completely naive to the compliance of the health professionals such that all but a few would obey such deadly directives. I naively thought that doctors would be 'free to treat'. I thought that if early treatments were efficacious the doctors would've used them. I thought that if the doctors were saying 'no early treatment helps', then no early treatment helps.
Perhaps I could've thought that through. All doctors make deadly/injurious mistakes, all doctors need to be beholden to their professional bodies that will cover/get them off the hook. If they go outside the protocols, and someone gets hurt, they may not get protection. So it's a brave doctor who steps off the approved protocols.
I was much as you've described, and definitely naive to the satanic power of pharma and its regulators. Actually, I didn't give much thought to Satanic power. I do now. Another huge wake-up call.
In the US, doctors are mostly not free to treat because they're largely employees of large hospital corporations which are beholden to pharma, FDA, CDC, etc. That's the sad reality. Those who offered early treatment risked everything. Many are still fighting to hold on to their licenses and affiliations. Some of these are the best of the best doctors. It’s mind boggling to anyone trying to think logically.
I think in your case, if you didn’t have access to early treatment, how could you possibly know? You’re so right about the protections and the risks for doctors. What a tough spot to be in. Somehow in 2020, I found the Frontline Covid Critical Care Doctors (FLCCC). Again, top doctors in their fields. They were pioneering early treatment with available and out of patent meds. If you don’t know about them, they’re worth following. They do weekly webinars (free) and cover great topics. Also, Dr. Peter McCullough is excellent and top of his field. I was fortunate to have access to their information. There are many others now in other parts of the world.
We must have come from a similar place - I'd never used the word 'satanic' in everyday use. Your sentence "It's mind boggling to anyone trying to think logically" was me as the mandates came in - nothing made sense - on suddenly finding the "satanic" word, all of my cognitive dissonance fell away - that's what it was - explained everything. No mistaken logic, just really bad power.
I'm aware of FLCCC and McCullough is one of my few paid substack subscriptions. I became aware of caring doctors in Australia in a lot of trouble. One particular Doctor was interviewed and he had a kind, caring voice with the ethics I would've expected every Australian to hold, that seemed to vanish in the pandemic. He was hounded and threatened, had his patients' files taken - so much intimidation.
I avoided the early strains as best I could because I believed there was a good chance that the virus was a bioweapon. I still feel that way. I never "locked down", although most small businesses in my county were closed. My area came back to life as normal at the end of May 2020. I'm in a tiny town, but we have a huge influx of visitors throughout the year, and the pandemic only brought more people here trying to escape the city. While I don't love being in crowds, our immune systems depend on being regularly challenged in order to protect us. This is actual science. The lockdowns did the opposite. Still, I would never encourage a person to seek out covid. Instead I advocate for having early treatment meds on hand to use at the first sign of illness. Given early, they work amazingly well. I experienced this three times. That and good vitamin D levels, fresh air and sunshine, community, healthy food . . . common sense stuff.
We're very much in agreement on covid. There is a line though that I think is out of context, being "our immune systems depend on being regularly challenged..." I don't agree with that, certainly not in respect of viruses. I reason that disperse humans over hundreds of thousands of years have spent long periods in great isolation from each other, with no need for new viral challenges to stay strong and healthy. We're probably challenged every day by all sorts of small natural microbes and that's enough to keep it active. Thus, I don't agree that the lockdowns were damaging for health, here at least. To the contrary, lots of young lives benefited. There was a massive drop in, for example, young children being treated in hospital for ear infections, bronchitis, croup - this has to be for their benefit. I don't actually think humans have evolved to live on top of each other passing mutating infections back and forth. I think our bodies benefit from 'clean time'. There was a drop in every cause of death, except perhaps diabetes - that was the only group the lockdowns didn't seem to help.
Well, I'm going off of what I've heard and read from several immunologists on the importance of children's young immune systems being challenged in order to build immunity. Other than repeating what I've read, I have no scientific knowledge. Definitely wasn't trying to imply bathing in a sea of viruses, but normal daily exposure to common viruses.
Of course this is speaking in the context of now. Years ago things were much different with few options to treat. It’s true that people stayed in their tribes or groups mostly isolated from one another. So, yes, definitely the daily challenges of viruses, germs, microbes.
Speaking of microbes, do you know about the work of researcher Dr. Sabine Hazan? She’s a gastroenterologist and does a lot of research on the gut microbiome. It’s fascinating. If you’re on twitter (X), I highly recommend following her there. She recently published an article about Ivermectin increasing a particular good bacteria in gut. I believe she thinks that much of our immunity is dependent on the balance of the microbiome. I need to go back and read, but that’s the gist of it I think.
I’m not sure if C.W. Smith is in the US, but I get the feeling that he’s read some of the articles from doctors and scientists that I’ve read about the lockdowns causing more harm than good. I haven’t studied these, and can’t quote anything, but the findings in the US seem to be exactly that. We have much more illness now than before 2021. Of course there are many things at play, but I think at least in the US, the findings are that the lockdowns didn’t help.
That said, geography does play a role, so for various reasons, your country’s experience has been different. Speaking of your beautiful country, I do hope that there are many people there who feel as you do, and that things will change because of that. I follow a few artists from Australia on YouTube and Ig. I don’t get any sense that they’re aware of what you’ve mentioned. I keep hoping they’ll say at least a little something that will let me know that they do.
Yes, I'm in the US, and I'm rather puzzled by the point of disagreement here, and why Madeleine Love took exception to my stating opinions that she later claimed to agree with. I don't understand her perspective because she seems to want to argue both for and against the lockdown philosophy simultaneously, and I see that as being self-defeating and counterproductive.
The lockdowns didn't save you from anything. They made everything about the pandemic a hundred times worse, and on a global scale. They had nothing to do with science, medicine, or public health. They were a crime against humanity.
You're probably addressing your comment to the wrong audience because I worked alongside 6.5 million other Victorians in lockdown to eliminate Covid-19, such that we could rejoin the rest of Australia in Covid Zero, living completely ordinary lives, albeit without international travel. We also reduced (for a time) many infectious diseases that resulted in many lives saved for people from age 35 up, and also for young children. I think it was very disappointing that the rest of the world didn't go along with us to eliminate covid-19. (NB: We have no rabies in Australia, nor many other diseases, so such management should not have been impossible.)
The rot set in, however, with the mandated vaccines, with many apparently killed, as well as many more injured. And Covid-19 killed and sickened many as well to long term harm - something that should've been completely avoidable.
It's an incredibly sad situation about the mandates of the vaccines, and the damage they've done. I can't tell you how often I feel heartbroken for those who are suffering and those who've died, and their families. I respect your own experience. Australia is much different than the US. We have open borders for one, which makes any attempt to lockdown ludicrous. Still, I don't agree that lockdowns are the answer, but I do believe fully in protecting the vulnerable. And I know first hand just how effective having optimal vitamin D levels and early treatment is. And this is true for all viruses. It's not in big pharma's best interest for people to have early treatment at their fingertips that actually works.
Hi Tami, Thanks for your three considered comments. Don't mind my comment above too much. It was a little reactionary to C.W.Smith's.
I understand all countries are different, geography is of course a big thing, and if anything, the pandemic has led me to understand and appreciate the American people and values a lot more. We've never done 'freedom' in Australia as a value - people recoil against it. But now I see how strong and important it is in times like this when govt has gone rogue. Our government has previously served us (the predominant middle class, at least) and many people who have vaccine-belief (and survived the injections) probably still think it has. I wanted to escape to America (well, Florida, after it spoke out against the vaxs), and would've if I could've.
Given the world didn't or couldn't go along with us the value of lockdowns as a tool is questionable. And they're costly - not every country had the wealth, and we now have massive new debt on their behalf - part of the wealth transfer. I was aware of this but it didn't really enter the public discussion and it should've. We had an Australia-wide 6 week lockdown in March-May 2020 and we paid people a lot of money to stay home, and for the most part people seemed very happy - fun, new, different - working families had time together, and the death rates in the working age people dropped. They liked working at home - companies had trouble getting them to come back in :) Delivery drivers moving everything around enjoyed the low stress empty roads.
And then when it (reportedly) escaped in Victoria and we locked down for 4+ months - that was big. And from that experience I know there's no such thing as "protecting the vulnerable". All my study since says "We cough, they die". This was as true for seasonal flu as it was for covid. The vulnerable have carers, and the carers live in the community. It's a very underpaid profession and the carers tend to live in more crowded housing situations themselves. I think the public could've benefited from more discussion on the inescapability of death in the very frail, rather than have these sad deaths held up as the reason to eliminate.
It was my impression that our government was going to leave us open, like the UK, and then murder all the elderly in the hospitals/aged care homes (as it seems to me). I thought it was we-the-people who forced the lockdowns, although we may have been nudged by other global interests - hard to say - the big money lenders certainly won.
Pain is a good teacher.
Don’t be discouraged by the Big Govt, Big Pharma, Big Tech, bought off FNM…get that latest UNTESTED, INEFFECTIVE, INJURIOUS, DEADLY experimental jab. You go girl!
This fact of political-ideological-philosophical leaning being reflected in attitude about cv19... and I would suggest, about climate change, understanding of economics, biological gender, race, ... ... may be an indication that one particular partisanship leaning likes to ignore reality, and the other prefers to make life decisions and act based on looking at actual real life experience and the real-life results of such action -
I agree. Something I’ve noticed after spending years around far left leaning people is that they tend to speak and behave as a collective. They appear to be 100% aligned. Maybe this is over generalizing, but it’s what I’ve experienced. In recent years I’ve been surrounded by more conservatives, and to my surprise, they have wide-ranging points of view and don’t agree on everything, and surely don’t act as a collective. I find this refreshing. Who would’ve thought living in rural Texas as compared to living in Austin would bring more diversity of thought, along with a willingness for conversation?
Yeah, it really is more of a collectivist vs. individualist divide and unfortunately it's what makes the illiberal "left" more potent and dangerous because the individualist is more wary of the mob mentality. This is pretty general, of course, but the fear and aversion to standing out amidst the crowd or herd seems to be what keeps people locked up and closed off because they're so dependent on affirmation of their views and belonging no matter what.
Well said. I know this tendency toward collectivism has always existed, due to a very real fear of death, but watching it unfold in recent years has been stunning. I want to understand more about the 20-30% who saw thru the propaganda early on. I think what you've said about "being dependent on affirmation and belonging no matter what" is at the core of collectivism, but of course it's couched as doing what's right for the greater good. Another interesting rabbit trail is the parallel between collectivism vs. individualism and globalism vs. independence. Makes me wonder if some people have an inherent sense of independence. I think I read something about this months ago, on how some prioritize safety above all else, and others prioritize freedom. I'm on Team Freedom.
..And for those so inclined to be interested in the historical context of why and how collectivist ideas evolved, here a fascinating read of insights to the topic :
Leonard Peikoff's 'The Cause of Hitler's Germany'
From Plato and Aristoteles, to Augustine, Luther, Kant and Hegel... Marx.. and others, he outlines the philosophical history/the path and progression of the perversion of morality - from Aristoteles' using reason, evidence, reality to understand reality, and the respect for the individual, to Hegel/Kant/... anti-reason and valuing feelings and faith above facts, and the collectivist ideas of state-above-all- and the-individual-counts-for-nothing - and how it, almost inevitably, led Germany to become what it did at the time -
Most interesting, however, to consider the parallels to that historical path we see in the ideas and actions and policies of today's leftideologically possessed collectivist-postmodern-political-correctness and the ideas propagandized by the Liberals/Democrats/Democratic-socialists in NA as well as in Europe, and AntiFa, BLM... and their violent actions and methods !! -
That is the scary part, to see the left playing it out all over again in the midst of our Western societies !
a must read, I would suggest, to understand much of the politics of the last century and of today !
https://www.causehitlersgermany.com
Thank you . . . very interesting and not surprising. The parallels to what was seen in the lead up to Nazi Germany before things escalated, to the "othering" of people in the last few years are incredible. The behaviors always start out small, but with the same ostracizing of others. It blew my mind how quickly it took hold for those who chose not to get the shots. Personally, I've never seen anything like it in the US, at least not in my lifetime. I'll definitely read, and thank you for the link. I read recently that tyranny can't exist without collectivism. I wish more people were aware of this. The irony is that individualism has human rights at its core. Somehow the left has completely missed this, and they've aligned themselves with out-of-control centralized government and technocracy.
"...tyranny can't exist without collectivism. I wish more people were aware of this. The irony is that individualism has human rights at its core. Somehow the left has completely missed this, ..." exactly ! and, as Ayn Rand has pointed out, '.. the smallest minority [ which the collectivist ideologues claim to protect] is indeed the individual..' -
What a great point . . . they've missed that, too, that the individual is the smallest minority.
My experience too. I’m mystified at how such cohesion gets set in D pals and not at all in R pals. Do they really all think the same, or just have to speak the same?
Increasingly, my experience of those who still firmly identify with the left are totally incapable of a serious one-on-one conversation over issues because they've cut themselves off from thinking things through and really have allowed themselves to be brainwashed at least to some degree. It's typically emotional reaction without reflection.
Its that they load a moral value onto everything that never includes the value of freedom, so one knows what one is meant to think. It takes talking, thus, to work through the various moral values of a situation.
So tons of cogdis-if numbers don’t impress or dissuade from bad things-what does OR how to get compliers (which truly set this clown psychop shit show in action) to open their obviously closed, myopic, small minds? Solutions are needed for the impenetrable. However, according to prognostications by Dr Geert Van Bossche (Kirsch interview 12/15) with a new virulent covid, those jabbed statistically could see 20-40% morbidity could prove persuasive but most will #ABV even in the face of massive loss of life. Again, the very same people injured and dying asking for $$$, will be first in line for the next scamdemic-lessons never learned.
I find it all very sad and disheartening. I really do agree with John Leake that for them it’s not about data. To us it’s illogical, but I don’t think logic is the motivation for those who’ve traded thinking for tribalism and ideology. In many respects I feel like we’re in the dark ages.
It's a religion. They are in a cult. And I'm not even kidding.
I agree. Those who've orchestrated the manipulation clearly knew what they were doing. They would've had to have been highly trained, educated and well-supported to have pulled this off. And I'm betting they also knew the percentage of the world's population that would follow along.
That's a safe bet, since the real mastermind behind the whole plan has only been laying the groundwork for it for a few thousand years.
Data means NOTHING to a Death Cult; whether it be a belief in The Occult, or a firm commitment to The Noble Lie, these Borg are conditioned to devalue even their own lives, they are as maggots. Like Sam Altman, as per Elon, "not really sure his loyalty is to Humanity..."
And it is PRECISELY that: a Death Cult. Nothing less, and nothing more.
Indeed. I took the test once when I was very sick. If only to get treatment but as you might have guessed my family doctor was useless here ("you didn't get vaccinated"). I went to an FLCCC doc, got meds and recovered nicely. Haven't taken a test since.
The idea that, in the year 2023, covidianism and Democratic partisan identity are both aspects of an underlying tribalism is confounded to some extent by the fact that some of us, at least, have been turned into Republican voters by observing that that party was less comprehensively horrible on covid. We *have been persuaded* by the data in making our political choice.
You're very commendable, in that. But you're also outliers, unfortunately.
It IS helpful to note that Steve got a jab or two prior to being red pilled. That can be persuasive to some.
To those who don’t want to know, no amount of evidence will suffice.
That is really the bottom line. It is impossible to convince anyone of something they don't WANT to believe.
Some are so wedded to their worldview, they cannot use critical thinking.