My Innocence Is Smashed
Down memory lane: My perspective as the "pandemic" hit warp speed in 2020 and lockdowns loomed. But I had seen it all before. Warning: footnotes
In 1969, I was 17 and had to register for the draft. Had to—as in, if I don’t sign up, I’ll join Muhammed Ali (very big in the news then) and go to prison. So I found redneck Upper Marlboro, Maryland1 on a free gas station map (those were the days), located the draft board and registered.
I was ready to be drafted, imprisoned for 8 weeks (“basic training”), and then shipped (kidnapped) to the other side of the world to do my bit suppressing a decades-long colonial uprising. And maybe get killed. Nothing abstract about that; the number of grunts wasted over there each week was a staple on the evening news.2
That didn’t happen, of course. Like most middle-class, white, suburban punks, I faked a love of learning at the local community college and got a student deferment, which lasted until the draft lottery. I got a high number and was relieved of the necessity of a higher education.3
Fast-forward a half century. The people who pull the strings are lying as brazenly as ever. Before, it was “fight the communists in Vietnam, not California” (yes, they actually said this; I lived in Maryland and didn’t give a fuck, plus communism didn’t particularly frighten me; still doesn’t, though I doubt it’s actually been tried).
Now, it’s wear a mask (which don’t work against viruses, according to Dr. Fauci before he did a 180).
And, take the experimental “vaccine” (sorry about the quotes, but it doesn’t prevent the spread of the virus, if PCR tests are to be believed, and they shouldn’t).
Don’t think about the numbers showing it’s a rarely fatal disease.
Cower in fear like a good subject.
Nope. The prospect of getting killed in Vietnam shattered any illusion that the government gives a rat’s ass about my well-being. So why would I believe the government’s claims about the safety and efficacy of the “free” jab? Plus, I’m gagging on the 24/7 fear campaign ramming it down my throat.
(Apropos of nothing than the incessant rain of bullshit, I fondly recall my second-favorite bumper sticker, usually adhered to the back of VW bugs, “Question Authority.”4 Am I the only person who remembers it?)
My biggest problem—in that I’m an outcast among a frightened populace that falls over itself to wear masks and desperate to take anything, anything at all, to make life normal again (and screw the Bill of Rights5)—is that I’m not scared shitless (and I’m in a supposedly vulnerable age group).
Sure, I got jumpy in early spring of 2020. Who wants the flu? Washed my hands a lot. And didn’t balk (at first) at the nonstop messaging to cease normal human contact and “flatten the curve” to alleviate the predicted crush of old folks who would soon be (they said) overwhelming hospitals, just like in Italy.6
Except that, I soon found out from deep dives into alternative news sites, the outbreak in Italy—the outbreak headed our way— was being misrepresented and exaggerated, creating a climate of fear that made lockdown feasible.
Stanford University epidemiologist John Ioannidis7 pointed out early on (odds are you never saw the video) that the outbreak was not in all of northern Italy, just pockets; it’s happened before because that part of Italy contains Europe’s oldest population, the highest level of smoking, and worst air pollution; and all of this is an indicator of respiratory disease outbreaks that often caused hospitals to run out of space and close doors. Which had happened just a couple of years ago in northern Italy, only the world didn’t lockdown.
A lot different than what the MSM8 was hammering 24/7. It’s called the other side of the story. It’s always there.
Here’s where it gets really weird, beyond spooky, even scarier than a killer (not) virus that can only be contained by shutting down society: Dr. Ioannidis’ YouTube interview was taken down (yes, that’s passive voice), which is the polite way of saying this world-renowned epidemiologist was censored.
I smelled a rat.
Chew on this:
I don’t know about you, but I distrust official explanations protected by censorship. Without public debate among experts, we cannot know what the truth is.—Paul Craig Roberts9
That’s Journalism 101. Get both sides of the story. Been pounded into my head by editors for decades (“Did you call the other side?”). If you’re not getting both sides,10 it’s propaganda. And not just the hype about northern Italy.
Did the virus change that? Puh-leeze. Yet YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, all the biggies, are deleting qualitive voices who contradict the establishment narrative. Private entities are quashing freedom of speech.11
Censorship of contradicting expert opinion is a lot scarier than a flu virus.12
Assuming, of course, you think your Constitutional rights are important.13
Now a ritzy enclave favored by wealthy black people working in D.C.; go figure
The Huntley-Brinkley Report
Never got a degree. Tired of people asking, You didn’t go to college? This lack of indoctrination might explain my attitude problem.
First favorite: Dick Nixon Before He Dicks You
No, I didn’t vote for Trump.
Whatever happened to flatten the curve?
Dr. John P.A. Ioannidis is a professor of medicine and professor of epidemiology and population health, as well as professor by courtesy of biomedical data science at Stanford University School of Medicine, professor by courtesy of statistics at Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences, and co-director of the Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS) at Stanford University.
Mainstream media
Dr. Roberts, an economist, was an undersecretary of the U.S. Treasury under Reagan, and a libertarian; not the kind of people I usually listen to, but when you’re right, you’re right.
There’s always another side. Which one is correct? That’s another story.
Legally, private companies can censor and the government can’t. But that’s bullshit because they’re in the public commons (think of passing out handbills in malls). That’s another blog post.
Okay, “flu” virus, meaning upper respiratory virus infection.
I will continue to posit that caring about your Constitutional rights doesn’t make you a knuckle-dragging Trumpite.
I'm with ya bro..I was in Tasmania,with my 16yo son. when it went down..
He's like me..Cautious...
We did the ...right thing.