Suddenly, in the last few weeks, the media has started to report the truth on the pandemic. You know, the things that I have been reporting for almost two years now? That kind of truth.
Let’s look at several examples.
The New York Times, which has been claiming for nearly two years that all people must be forced to wear masks — and double masks! — suddenly pivoted and printed the following: “The Mask Debate — More Democratic Governors Are Saying That Masks Can Come Off In Schools.” The reporter recounted an experience of trying to talk to a friend, both masked, and not being able to hear each other.
It was not a big deal, but it reminded me that masks have both benefits and costs… If you scroll through social media, you will find no shortage of people proclaiming that mask wearing is easy FOR THEM. I don’t doubt it. But it is not so easy for many other people, including young children, people with learning disabilities and people who are hard of hearing….The benefits of universal masking in schools remain unclear. Studies — in Florida and in England, for example — tend to find little effect on caseloads. One study that did find an effect has been largely debunked….Other experts believe that the universal mask mandates are almost worthless. Among the reasons: Medical masks are designed for adults, not children, Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota epidemiologist, notes. Even masks designed for children slip off their faces. Children take off their masks to eat. Add in Omicron’s intense contagiousness, and the benefits of the current mandates may be tiny.
I wrote something very similar in the summer of 2020, and my posts were marked as “misinformation” by Facebook! Meanwhile, several fellow bloggers on M* accused me of not being Christ-like, and you should see the hate-filled emails and comments I have gotten since 2020 for writing things that, in retrospect, appear actually quite logical and reasonable. More than a dozen people wrote me personal messages hoping I would die during the pandemic because I wrote things like the above, but apparently now it is no longer verboten.
How about questioning the lockdowns? Well, it turns out that a meta-analysis by professors associated with John Hopkins shows that the lockdowns are doing much more harm than good, and this story has, miraculously, made it into the mainstream media. A key paragraph from the study:
While this meta-analysis concludes that lockdowns have had little to no public health effects, they have imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted. In consequence, lockdown policies are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.
Huh. That sounds almost exactly like a post I wrote in November 2020 that many Christ-like Latter-day Saint readers responded to by hoping I would die from COVID! And of course such a study would have been blocked entirely by social media just a few months ago, but now you can read the study and decide for yourself. Something definitely is going on.
I conclude with a hilarious pivot by CNN TV doctor and former Planned Parenthood president Leanna Wen. In a segment on all the mask mandate terminations announced this week, Wen was asked if she agreed with the moves:
I do. There was and is a time and place for pandemic restrictions, but when they were put in, it was always with the understanding that they would be removed as soon as we can. And in this case, circumstances have changed. Case counts are declining. Also the science has changed! We know that vaccines protect very well against Omicron, which is the dominant variant. Everyone five and older has widespread access to vaccines. And we also know about ‘one-way-masking,’ the idea that, even if other people around you aren’t wearing masks, if you wear a high-quality mask, that also protects you, the wearer, too. In this case, I’m not saying — no one is saying — that no one should wear masks, but rather that the responsibility should shift from a government mandate, imposed from the state or district of a school, rather it should shift to an individual responsibility by the family, who can still decide that their child can wear a mask if needed.
“One-way-masking.” That is absolutely hysterical! That is exactly what people opposed to mandates have been saying for two years, ie, if you want to wear a mask, go for it and be “protected” but allow other people to make their own choices. Individual choice — the thing that Wen and her ilk have been opposing for almost two years — is suddenly in vogue!
The CNN host asked about dropping mask mandates at a time when there are still high case numbers in New Jersey. And Wen said:
I don’t think we should be looking at case counts at all at this point. Especially when we’re dealing with a milder variant, and when so many people were exposed to Omicron at this point, and therefore have at least some level of protection either through vaccination or immunity. The key number that we should be looking at is hospitalizations. If our ICUs and our hospitals in that particular region are not overwhelmed, if they are not over capacity .. then we should be able to relax all restrictions. And I actually believe that the first restriction removed should actually be the restrictions on children.
You should see the hate mail I got for saying that cases were much less important than hospitalizations and deaths, and of course writing that there should be no mandates on children. And saying and writing these things just a few months ago would have gotten you canceled on social media, but suddenly…it’s all OK!
What explains this change? In a word: politics. As I wrote in this post titled “Political Science,” the pandemic reaction has never been about science. It has always been about politics. And the politics are turning against the medical establishment and the Republicans and Democrats who have ignored science and supported liberty-suppressing mandates and lockdowns. Suburban moms, who for the most part hated Trump, are turning against the Democrats because they are sick of their kids’ schools being closed and they are sick of their kids being forced to wear dirty face diapers.
So, from the perspective of the establishment, the lockdowns and mandates were very useful in getting rid of Trump and allowing tyrannical governors and mayors to get their jollies by ordering everybody around, but the natives are getting restless. Now, it is time to pretend they never supported those policies in the first place.
The Democrats are absolutely panicked about November 2022 and the inevitable Republican wave. And, yes, there will be some big changes. But some of us will not forget that most politicians jumped on the mandate and lockdown train from the beginning. And most of us writers will not forget — and we will keep on reminding you — that we saw through the whole thing two years ago. Some of my supposed “friends” called me a dirty conspiracy theorist and many things much worse. I always forgive — that is what people who are trying to be truly Christ-like do — but I will remember who fell for the propaganda and who did not. Because the gullible and the easily fooled are all around us. Be honest: were you one of them, and if you were what are you going to do to the next time the media and the establishment lie to you? Will you be more skeptical next time?
Geoff, I have always agreed with you. Right now I’m making the decision to not attend church because we’re in the middle of yet another mask mandate. It was due to expire today, but the Idiot in Charge has decreed another extension of 2 weeks. Our Bishop reminded us at church over the pulpit that we are in a mandated area and have to wear a mask or sit in the cultural hall and distance from others. Then said anyone who works with children or youth MUST be masked. Okay. I’ll watch sacrament meeting on Zoom and leave Young Women to another leader. Ii have anxiety and can’t wear a mask for hours on end. I can’t breathe and that leads toa panic arrack. I know, I’ve heard “follow the prophet” a million and one times. I didn’t ask for depression and anxiety, God saw fit to give them to me, and I deal with it well, until I don’t.
I love the fact the truth is finally coming out, but zi’m sad it caused so much hate, especially among church members.
Mindi, if you have read my posts, I have made it clear that I don’t blame the Church for its response to the pandemic. If somebody holds you hostage and makes you do something with a gun to your head that you would not normally do, then I don’t blame the victim, I blame the kidnapper.
In the case of the pandemic, the Church has been held hostage by tyrannical governments all around the world, including probably your local county or city government. In the summer of 2020 the local county health department sent inspectors in hazmat suits to our local stake center to make sure members of the congregation were masked up, not singing and sitting every other row. Is that the Church’s fault or the fault of our dictatorial local government?
I will not deny that individual bishops or stake presidents may make mistakes, and personally I think the enthusiasm with which some local leaders jumped on enforcing the regulations was a mistake, and hopefully they learn from it. I would love it if some of these people would read this post and say, “yeah, I really did fall for that media hype. I will be more skeptical of the media next time.” But I don’t blame the Brethren, who were simply trying to keep temples open and fulfill their primary mission, which is to spread the Gospel.
There are many people in our stake who have chosen to watch Sacrament on zoom rather than go to church with masks on. And there are also many, many people (in the case of my ward, the majority) who have not worn masks for the last year or so, primarily because the local sheriff told the local health department that he will not send the police to enforce mask mandates. That one message from our local sheriff made the mask “mandate” effectively voluntary because there was no force of law behind the mandate.
So, in our ward at least things have been the way they always should be: some people wear masks, and other don’t, and some people are vaccinated, and others are not. Nobody feels the need to be a busybody and tell other people what they should do with their own bodies. And everybody gets along.
Right on cue, the home of the worst Branch Covidians — The Atlantic Magazine — calls for “opening everything.” You just can’t make this stuff up! https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/02/end-coronavirus-restrictions/621627/
You know there was a big conference call this week among Democrat governors: “Ok guys, drop the mandates. Just work it out among yourselves to not all do it on the same day. Look natural. Make up some new stuff.”
Mindi, my state also has a mask mandate. I never wear a mask to church. When my husband became vaccine injured I was done with the games and the lies. No one questions me, because they know they will have to have a frank conversation with me about the truth.
Ah, yes, and Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. I wonder how the media personalities are dealing with the collective whiplash?
Yeah, I guess they hope to create mass formation amnesia before the elections!
Two (or more) steps forward, one step backward. (From the nihilists’/anarchists’ perspective.)
During the pandemic, progress has been made on several of Alinsky’s agenda items, intended to destroy western society.
I highly recommend his book if you want to see where the progressives want to go, and how they intend to get there. I also recommend the commentaries that compare his book to the communist manifesto
Book, you are correct of course, and it surely should be beyond a doubt to most people that the cultural Marxist theories of the Frankfurt School and Alinski and many, many others are now infecting all areas of society. BUT I find that saying this to people is very unconvincing. They cannot draw the links between the writings of four or five decades ago and the crazy tyranny of hundreds of state and county health officials across the country (even though there actually are links in many cases). What seems to work is when these policies intersect with and hurt the people they are supposedly intended to help. The mask mandates in schools and shutting down of classes hurts kids more than it helps, and the restrictions began to go down when millions of people started attending school board meetings to let their displeasure be known. Same with CRT and same with “defunding the police,” which are both clearly Marxist efforts to destroy society. But, again, people don’t begin to understand how harmful these things are until they see the effects in their own communities.
The fact that hundreds of thousands of suburban people who voted against Trump in 2020 turned around and voted against Democrats in 2021 was the turning point to the Dems. And the reason these voters did this is because of masks, school closings, CRT and defunding the police.
How can we help people see the connection between the foundational texts of cultural Marxism and the actual results? I guess we need to keep on pointing it out, but I am not optimistic that people will be convinced by that. Let’s see.
♀️
The suffering, and all the ongoing consequences of doing these things, is what those who could see it from the beginning wanted to prevent. Now that those consequences have become so obvious even to those who refused to see or believe it before, because they were filled with fear, in part, they feel safe enough to start recognising it. After the damage has become impossible for even them to ignore.
It’s good, of course, that it’s beginning to happen. But will those who are doing this also realise what they got wrong, and not do it again? Or will they continue to think they always had the right idea, and do the same for the next issue?
It’s basically the people who are praising the emperor for his new clothes, deciding to start telling the extremely obvious truth that he never had any, only once the boy told the truth as it was. But all that time, they were denying what was in front of their eyes. No difficult perception needed.
That symbol was supposed to be a face-palm, but it didn’t work out (that’s a laughing face, in case that one doesn’t, either).
IaL: I suppose the dupes will continue to be duped, and the knowing conspirators will continue to conspire.
Aside from Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, I recommend:
David Warren: http://www.davidwarrenonline.com/2014/02/15/breeding-instructions-revisited/
and sci-fi author John C. Wright’s commentary on Warren:
http://www.scifiwright.com/2014/02/david-warren-defies-the-empire-of-lies/
Idealist, I have to say that it was very frustrating and sad for me in 2020 to warn of all of the bad consequences, the unnecessary lockdowns, the mandates, the suffering kids masked up for no reason in schools, the people losing their jobs and businesses closing, and continually be accused of wanting to kill grandma. And that garbage claim was used over and over again like a cult mantra by the people responsible for this mess. As you say, I hope we all learn from this. I hope the cultists learn that the only acceptable prescription is using voluntary persuasion, not mandates. And I hope that people worldwide, but especially Latter-day Saints, learn not to meekly accept whatever new government mandate comes down without peacefully protesting for liberty. The Canadian truckers are doing heroic work. We need a LOT more of that.
Book, Warren’s essay is really quite powerful. Short, to the point and brilliant. Thank you.
Well. It looks like we’re finally being vindicated. I jad a reason to be in the hospital yesterday and the tech told me to pull my mask up over my nose. (Mandatory or they won’t serve you). I said it was stifling and she told me she had been exposed to the Chinese communist virus. I said I didn’t care. I was about to ask her if she was saying that her mask was ineffective since she was afraid of exposing me but she held up her hand to silence me. I said i realized it was company policy etc. but I would regretfully comply. I believe we’ll never see a maskless hospital again. It’s now a way of life with them.
Hans
P.S. My wife and I have been using Vitamins D3 and C for years. Two years ago we added B12, Zinc and Magnesium. Five of our 6 children and their families have all had the virus, none are jabbed and we’ve enjoyed their company before, during and after the virus but we have not been sick ourselves. I read a study on the value of Vit D and its effectiveness against the virus so again, we feel vindicated. But before I give all the credit to the pills, I will first say that we are extremely blessed since we both have several co-morbidities.
Thanks for your posts.
Hans, I have heard some very good things about the Zelenko Protocol, which you are partially following. Readers can find out more here:
https://vladimirzelenkomd.com/treatment-protocol/
I am approaching 60, and I have had the Alpha variant of COVID and I was mildly sick for a day or two, and then I got the Omicron variant and I had the sniffles. I eat a low-carb diet and take Vitamin D and multi-vitamins. During COVID lockdowns I lost 30 pounds and I have kept the weight off successfully now for many months. I am in the best shape of my life.
Geoff, I think your last sentence there, in your reply to me, matters a lot. I’m all for abiding the law – people often incorrectly see me as a rule-keeper because I like keeping rules – when it makes sense and I can see the reasons (and I find this easy to see, as I try to look beyond immediate things). But when it doesn’t make sense, and/or I can see active harm coming from keeping it, I’m against it.
I also want Church local leaders and members to be braver in ‘peacefully protesting for liberty’. In keeping the law, but not in a fearful, ‘they’ll shut us down otherwise’ way, and therefore blindly following regulations that make no sense and cause harm. We had the same sort of thing happen here that you described happening there: a government inspection team came to the stake centre where we meet, and told them off about ‘all the things’ they were doing wrong or weren’t doing, and since then, everything has been followed to and beyond the letter. Like the stuff they spray, every Sunday after each meeting, on the pews and whatever available surface (because you’re going to catch a virus from the back of your seat – that’s behind you, against your back… or maybe the one in front), which is this awful chemical goo that smells terrible and is so strong you can’t breathe while it’s being sprayed, with abandon, in the area. And they leave it on – it hasn’t been wiped off for 1.5 years, since we started going ‘back’ to church. Those benches are disgusting now; and I just think of the buildup of actual dirt and microbes that’s now stuck in there and attaches to your clothes due to the sticky residue. This is obviously stupid – but they keep doing it, ‘religiously’, because that’s what they’ve been told. ‘The virus doesn’t like soapy environments’.