Yet another leak reveals that Covid policies owe less to creepy conspiratorial globalists, than they do to the unbounded stupidity of our leaders, boring institutional dynamics and feedback effects
Yet another leak reveals that Covid policies owe less to creepy conspiratorial globalists, than they do to the unbounded stupidity of our leaders, boring institutional dynamics and feedback effects
Isabel Oakeshott is a journalist and critic of pandemic containment policies who was unaccountably hired by disgraced former UK health minister Matt Hancock to write the Pandemic Diaries: The Inside Story of Britain’s Battle Against Covid. Hancock hoped that this exercise in autohagiography would rehabilitate his reputation after
I remember playgrounds all taped off with loads of that yellow caution tape all over the equipment. Pure stupidity.
At what point does stupidity become criminal? It was about control, they wanted to see just how much they could get away with. Next time they try it we must give them a huge surprise.
Well, people get really annoyed when you take away their Apocalypse. People primed to see Satan everywhere, with that savage power and black glory, are terribly disappointed when it's just Morons of Bureaucracy.
I always appreciate how you've stayed clear-eyed from the start.
"who regard the public as dimwitted cattle to be herded in expedient directions". Alas, the truth of this statement is how and why they got away with it.
I just made a post at another site that goes to the importance of producing fear in the masses.
This discussion of psychological root causes is fascinating to me. As a layman, my simplistic thought is that fear is the greatest psychological force in our lives. We are afraid of fear and want it to be gone or its levels reduced.
Probably 85 percent of the world population was very afraid of this virus. To alleviate the fear, our rulers said, "listen to us" and "do what we say." One thing they said over and over was "trust your doctors" or "trust the experts."
The behind-the-curtains actors in the Covid response knew from their own research that physicians were the "most trusted" profession in the world. When they got the doctors' associations to endorse their solutions and then said "listen to your doctors" and do what they say, the masses listened ... and their fear of (death) was ameliorated.
I think getting the doctors groups on board was the key plank that explains how the masses ultimately complied. They were looking for anything or anyone that would reduce their deep-seated psychological fear of death (the greatest fear).
I think our rulers, understanding this psychology, made getting the doctors on board Priority 1 of their solution. (Also, censoring those who said we shouldn't be petrified of this virus was also very important).
Interestingly, the ramped up propaganda intended at each stage to increase compliance by the skeptical minority actually just caused more and more fear in the believing majority. But these people were already complying - so their fear led them to demand more extreme measures.
Viewing the public as a homogenous mass made everything much worse.
Eugyppius, thank you for this post. To my mind, it illustrates how far the publics in the West have retreated from actual liberalism (if they were ever all that close to liberalism to begin with). A liberal society would not have embraced mandatory masking, lockdowns, and universal obligatory injections of novel products with no track record.
It's been said that there are no atheists in foxholes. Likewise, there are no liberals in a pandemic -- or too few of us, anyway. The rest turn into snarling fascists overnight. Or perhaps more accurately, their true natures are then revealed, giving the lie to their lofty rhetoric about freedom and equality, moderation, and "my body my choice."
'Western governments feared non-compliance with lockdown measures and took very deliberate steps to terrorise their citizenries to ensure their cooperation. In this they enjoyed the wholesale collaboration of the press.
'3) Cabinet officials and other politicians channeled bureaucratic pressure and growing popular alarm (in which they were complicit) to seize initiative and power from rival governmental actors. They regarded public panic as a resource and an opportunity to be exploited accordingly.'
I find it really frustrating that I can't get any of my friends to recognize or even acknowledge the possibility of this.
I fully agree the politicians & “leaders” - maybe even the likes of Gates-FauxXi-Schwab are stupid but that doesn’t mean they aren’t also flying monkeys, useful idiots for more sinister unknown elements behind the curtain. After all, there is talk of the exact same passport & lockdown tactics (& worse) for “climate change”.
Several lols in this episode. What I’m not laughing about is the CDC “recommendation” (read mandate) that Covid shots be added to childhood immunization schedules. That’s a hill I’m willing to die on.
I have never thought of our government representatives as smart. Conniving, yes, but never “experts” on matters of a novel virus pandemic. No one was. We learned together, with those who wanted to control the narrative silencing those who bucked it. The pandemic gave our not so smart politicians a chance to push thru crazy stuff like critical race theory and to hone their method of using the media to manipulate the masses to remove undesirable political leaders. What troubles me is 2 things: first this happened across developed countries with amazing consistency and second that so few people could see it much less recognize it and push back against it.
I hate them all, beyond almost all reason. I hope they suffer endlessly in this life and if not, then endlessly in the next. Sometimes it is only my belief in a perfect Judge with eternal punishment for these vile animals that keeps me from exploding with rage.
Were they correct that the “public” wanted restrictions?Where did the insatiable public appetite for restrictions come from? I know people wanted Govt to “do something” but couldn’t that “something” have been calming down the people and less restrictions?
Not wrong about the public being dimwitted cattle though were they? The public who still have a grubby masks in their bag in case they need it. The public who are still willing to roll their sleeve up for a 4th, 5th, 6th booster. The public who still maintain the lockdowns and other dumb restrictions saved millions of lives. Who are adamant the miraculous vaccines saved even more millions of lives. Who have actually said that Matt Hancock came across as a nice chap on "I'm A Celebrity" TV show. Dimwitted cattle is probably too mild a description!
But, they had that wellspring of cruelty and evil to draw from. They did not have that atavistic aversion to forcing people to do things, to deprive them of agency.
Our political and governmental classes are the worst of us, the weakest, most banal, most dangerous. My disgust is limitless and the fact that there has STILL not been a reckoning or accounting... fuck it, let putin take it all
My instincts told me it was all horse shit from day one. I accepted I might be wrong at first and went along with masking and avoiding crowds, but as soon as the "vaccines" (the patents for which predated the pandemic) became available I told my wife that the virus was the Trojan Horse, the vaccines are the pathogen. Sadly, I was right.
I remember playgrounds all taped off with loads of that yellow caution tape all over the equipment. Pure stupidity.
At what point does stupidity become criminal? It was about control, they wanted to see just how much they could get away with. Next time they try it we must give them a huge surprise.
Well, people get really annoyed when you take away their Apocalypse. People primed to see Satan everywhere, with that savage power and black glory, are terribly disappointed when it's just Morons of Bureaucracy.
I always appreciate how you've stayed clear-eyed from the start.
"who regard the public as dimwitted cattle to be herded in expedient directions". Alas, the truth of this statement is how and why they got away with it.
I just made a post at another site that goes to the importance of producing fear in the masses.
This discussion of psychological root causes is fascinating to me. As a layman, my simplistic thought is that fear is the greatest psychological force in our lives. We are afraid of fear and want it to be gone or its levels reduced.
Probably 85 percent of the world population was very afraid of this virus. To alleviate the fear, our rulers said, "listen to us" and "do what we say." One thing they said over and over was "trust your doctors" or "trust the experts."
The behind-the-curtains actors in the Covid response knew from their own research that physicians were the "most trusted" profession in the world. When they got the doctors' associations to endorse their solutions and then said "listen to your doctors" and do what they say, the masses listened ... and their fear of (death) was ameliorated.
I think getting the doctors groups on board was the key plank that explains how the masses ultimately complied. They were looking for anything or anyone that would reduce their deep-seated psychological fear of death (the greatest fear).
I think our rulers, understanding this psychology, made getting the doctors on board Priority 1 of their solution. (Also, censoring those who said we shouldn't be petrified of this virus was also very important).
Interestingly, the ramped up propaganda intended at each stage to increase compliance by the skeptical minority actually just caused more and more fear in the believing majority. But these people were already complying - so their fear led them to demand more extreme measures.
Viewing the public as a homogenous mass made everything much worse.
Eugyppius, thank you for this post. To my mind, it illustrates how far the publics in the West have retreated from actual liberalism (if they were ever all that close to liberalism to begin with). A liberal society would not have embraced mandatory masking, lockdowns, and universal obligatory injections of novel products with no track record.
It's been said that there are no atheists in foxholes. Likewise, there are no liberals in a pandemic -- or too few of us, anyway. The rest turn into snarling fascists overnight. Or perhaps more accurately, their true natures are then revealed, giving the lie to their lofty rhetoric about freedom and equality, moderation, and "my body my choice."
'Western governments feared non-compliance with lockdown measures and took very deliberate steps to terrorise their citizenries to ensure their cooperation. In this they enjoyed the wholesale collaboration of the press.
'3) Cabinet officials and other politicians channeled bureaucratic pressure and growing popular alarm (in which they were complicit) to seize initiative and power from rival governmental actors. They regarded public panic as a resource and an opportunity to be exploited accordingly.'
I find it really frustrating that I can't get any of my friends to recognize or even acknowledge the possibility of this.
I fully agree the politicians & “leaders” - maybe even the likes of Gates-FauxXi-Schwab are stupid but that doesn’t mean they aren’t also flying monkeys, useful idiots for more sinister unknown elements behind the curtain. After all, there is talk of the exact same passport & lockdown tactics (& worse) for “climate change”.
Several lols in this episode. What I’m not laughing about is the CDC “recommendation” (read mandate) that Covid shots be added to childhood immunization schedules. That’s a hill I’m willing to die on.
I have never thought of our government representatives as smart. Conniving, yes, but never “experts” on matters of a novel virus pandemic. No one was. We learned together, with those who wanted to control the narrative silencing those who bucked it. The pandemic gave our not so smart politicians a chance to push thru crazy stuff like critical race theory and to hone their method of using the media to manipulate the masses to remove undesirable political leaders. What troubles me is 2 things: first this happened across developed countries with amazing consistency and second that so few people could see it much less recognize it and push back against it.
"unaccountably hired"....lovely understatement of Hancock's own evident dimwittedness
I hate them all, beyond almost all reason. I hope they suffer endlessly in this life and if not, then endlessly in the next. Sometimes it is only my belief in a perfect Judge with eternal punishment for these vile animals that keeps me from exploding with rage.
Were they correct that the “public” wanted restrictions?Where did the insatiable public appetite for restrictions come from? I know people wanted Govt to “do something” but couldn’t that “something” have been calming down the people and less restrictions?
Not wrong about the public being dimwitted cattle though were they? The public who still have a grubby masks in their bag in case they need it. The public who are still willing to roll their sleeve up for a 4th, 5th, 6th booster. The public who still maintain the lockdowns and other dumb restrictions saved millions of lives. Who are adamant the miraculous vaccines saved even more millions of lives. Who have actually said that Matt Hancock came across as a nice chap on "I'm A Celebrity" TV show. Dimwitted cattle is probably too mild a description!
Yes, they are dumb and incompetent
But, they had that wellspring of cruelty and evil to draw from. They did not have that atavistic aversion to forcing people to do things, to deprive them of agency.
Our political and governmental classes are the worst of us, the weakest, most banal, most dangerous. My disgust is limitless and the fact that there has STILL not been a reckoning or accounting... fuck it, let putin take it all
My instincts told me it was all horse shit from day one. I accepted I might be wrong at first and went along with masking and avoiding crowds, but as soon as the "vaccines" (the patents for which predated the pandemic) became available I told my wife that the virus was the Trojan Horse, the vaccines are the pathogen. Sadly, I was right.