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From Social Distancing to Social(ist) Conditioning
We are being conditioned and acclimated to having to stand in long lines for food.
We are being conditioned to finding, after an hour of waiting in line, that the shelves are empty.
We are being acclimated to rationing (my grocery store this week finally had a tiny section of toilet paper. It was an off-brand I’d never heard of, and the sign on the shelf said “ONE PER CUSTOMER”).
We are being conditioned to view other people, even friends, neighbors, and loved ones, as threats. Neighbors are turning on each other. The Mayor of New York is encouraging people to “report” each other for not following government guidelines, helpfully providing an official phone number and demonstrating how to photograph them in the act. The act of standing less than six feet away from another human being. The act of showing one’s face in the open air in a public place.
We are being made to believe wearing a mask makes us Good Citizens, thoughtful people always thinking of the well-being of others. They’re not mandatory everywhere – yet- but in the cities where they’re optional, people are being conditioned to view the mask-free as selfish, ignoble outliers who don’t care about their fellow man. Yet it wasn’t that long ago that they told us wearing a mask doesn’t help at all. They even told us it gives a false sense of security. What has changed? Or maybe the question should be Cui bono?
* * * * *
The masks make us anonymous. They make it impossible to share a smile with another person. They add to the general air of suspicion, anxiety, and uncertainty, and they add to an overall impression of dystopia. They erase our individuality and make each of us into just another part of The Group. This makes their exhortations about “The Greater Good” fall right into place.
And they’ve thought of everything. They’ve dealt with the inevitable American spirit of individual liberty and the hardy souls who will say, “To heck with the virus. I’ll take my chances,” by telling us that the mask isn’t just for our own safety, but the safety of others. And just in case that isn’t strong enough, they add the heartrending bit about “our elderly loved ones.” So now, if you don’t wear a mask you’re killing grandma. This is now Social Engineering works.
We’re being made to believe that shutting down the economy including every place of business and social gathering is necessary “for our safety.” Why wasn’t this necessary during the Avian Flu pandemic of 1957? Or the Swine Flu or SARS or West Nile or Zika? They’re trying to paint anyone who sees through the hysteria and takes a stand for freedom, whether by protesting or even just making a comment in dissent, as a bunch of nutjobs (and their parents are probably first cousins, and of course they support Trump because their average IQ is that of a houseplant). I mean they just aren’t as educated, intelligent, and discerning as those who believe the entire world economy needs to stay shut down and the Bill of Rights suspended (it’s for our SAFETY!”).
I’m not saying this flu isn’t more contagious than others have been. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be aware and be careful. But I am saying that if you’re someone who’s so scared that you gave me a dirty look at the grocery store for momentarily pulling my mask down so I could breathe, then you can stay HOME. I sure won’t stop you. But your fear (not to mention fatuous gullibility) doesn’t allow you to tread on my Bill of Rights.
It’s impossible not to see parallels to the totalitarian regimes of history. The devaluing of individual freedoms. The individual being subsumed by The Group. I applaud those who are seeing all this for what it is, and protesting and speaking out. It’s way past time we all speak out as our own @rodin did in Sacramento, and that we stand up and say, “This is America. We don’t do that here.”
I wish I had that option, but John Menard has paid off the right people to make sure there is no competition here in his home town.
Failed with the “War on Terrorism” too, brah.
Yeah, they’l hate it when all the Judo/Jiu-Jitsu guys swing back into training.
But of course you do, dahling.
I’m sorry to do serial comments on a post I’m just catching up on; (@drbastiat, please note that I lovingly deploy the semi-colon), but I would advise tactical patience.
[Learning patience, at the tactical, operational, and strategic level is one of the most difficult things we pound into Commanders.]
I think the American people have not been sheep, docilely falling into socialist line and mindlessly following others into the kill chute.
Instead, I think the Great American Public has determined that, “Okay, this is the best, expert-determined Course of Action available to help protect our fellow citizens. We’ll bite.”
But the experts, and the gubmint, got one shot. Get it right or we downshift right back to self-determination.
Despite the fact that they’ve been pilloried in the press–who have shot (no pun intended) their credibility and legitimacy–US citizens showing up in protests with carbines and exposed carry of sidearms that would normally be concealed has sent a yuge message.
Those that would use this “emergency” to interpret that America is ripe for the tilt into submissiveness accepting of an authoritarian “crisis rules” governance are sadly mistaken, in my view.
You got one shot government. Don’t screw it up.
Concur.
I would feel better if just one of the governors had been forced to run for it to avoid the mob.
It’s not resistance. It’s a choice in how to live life.
Andrew Klavan’s suggestion to re-introduce tarring and feathering come to mind (I’m leaving the ‘and throw them in the Hudson River’ part out to intimate it should be national, not regional).
Yes it is a bit difficult to even remember that so much of this started due to the authorities insisting that there needed to be concern for our beloved elderly.
Then only two weeks later, families started reporting that when their mom or dad went into the hospital, even for something rather minor, they were pressured into signing a “DNR” order because after all, “You’ve lived a long time, Grannie, and why would you wanna deprive a younger person of a ventilator?”
I have been saying for fifteen years our medical system is broken. The only good thing about this crisis is that now at least half of society agrees with me.
I did an Amazon search. They have a wide variety of pitchforks available; my favorite is the five tine manure model. Looks like we’re on our own for torches, though.
Poleaxes, man. We are no longer a mostly agrarian society, so let’s give a nod to the past.
great title
I read today that Woodstock took place during the 1969 Hong Kong flu which killed over 100k Americans and 1 million worldwide
regarding covid-19 vs the flu:
Yes, they are different viruses
Yes, covid-19 seems to be more infectious
But the rates of lethality and hospitalization are similar, covid-19 may be less serious in terms of deaths and hospitalizations
What about all those stories back in the Obama days about administrative agencies, such as the SSA and NOAA, stocking up on ammo? Unless those reports were completely fabricated, it would seem they have more than one shot.
Correct me if I’m wrong @bossmongo , but my impression is that in the U.S.( I can’t speak for other cultures), if someone publically deployed their semicolon in my general direction, it would not be intended as a loving gesture 😜
Our best guess is that, during the Revolutionary War, a third backed the patriots, a third backed the king, and a third wished they both would go away and let them be.
Ten percent active resistance would prevail very quickly.
Why turn it on if you don’t need to make a call? Is the voicemail broken?
Maybe they did. News wouldn’t run it. YouTube and Twitter and Facebook squelched it.
Depends on the context, but not typically.
The disease vectors at Woodstock went far beyond the Hong Kong flu. I overheard part of a conversation once summarizing some second day cases. The good news was, if you needed to vomit, no one would notice.
They are a wicked pain on the subway. But they said I have to wear a mask, so whatever.
And they fire with the ruthless accuracy of imperial storm troopers!
Is a poleaxe like a halberd?
Yeah, I was wondering about the CDC’s inexplicable change of mind on Maskenpflicht (sounds better in the original German, just like DeBlasio’s comments that “Gruppen von Juden sind in der Öffentlichkeit unerwünscht”). Did the human respiratory system undergo some magical transformation since late March that made this necessary? Did somebody feed eveyone on the freaking globe a mutagen that made us suddenly thousands of times more susceptible to droplet transmission? Or did the virus suddenly discover droplets? My thought is… No to these questions.
Look at the bright side. COVID is going to destroy public transportation. The Progs want everyone to ride trains and subways, and people are going to refuse.
Okay, Millennials. You’ve had a taste of socialism for a couple of months and have started protesting. It’s a good beginning. What I want now is for you to carefully examine the policies of both major political parties, then compare them to see which one promises more of the same if put in power this November. Adjust your votes accordingly . . .
Don’t forget the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. Obama’s Katrina?
This is not some grand plan to train everyone to live as serfs. It amazes me that so many people here, who I think are otherwise intelligent, are will to ascribe so much ability to the left. Yes they are evil, but they have shown, in no way, that much competence. This whole COVID-19 thing is a series of everyone making poor judgments based on too little information, with emotional overreactions in every direction.
Ascribing this to a big, master plan to ready us for something is just giving the left too much power.
CDC – Center for Disease Creation, A Vaccine Company, Not a Health Regulator.
Dr. Fauci – aka Dr. Fraudpants
Nickname: Rectal Napoleon.
I still think the core problem in this situation is lack of reliable information. Many people are unable to make important decisions with confidence because of both absent and conflicting information.
There are still mysteries regarding the virus itself — its severity and conditions of infection (susceptibilities). Even sources on the same side of the political fence disagree about measurements, estimates, etc.
There are countless and severe economic uncertainties, greater with each passing week.
Finally, political and cultural opponents expect the worst from each other and rarely trust the same sources.
Identifying opportunists is fine, but what’s needed more is a solid and consistent foundation shared by all involved. Citizens afraid of the virus and citizens afraid of tyrannical government need common ground. If neither admits any reason in the other’s fears, then we are simply enemies.
I don’t think there is any doubt about it for some political leaders. Not only do we have to bring this to a conclusion, we must realize that these are the tendencies of all permanent federal government bureaucratic leadership in a giant country where natural human self interest has to invent compatible national interest. At a local level self interest and group interests are naturally compatible. That’s what markets do. In a country of over 300 million of the most diverse human’s on earth it’s not possible centrally so Federal employees must find generalizations that work for them which at most, if they even bother, can be some large single place, like NY city. Every other place must assert its own interests and resist the Feds or they’ll just be treated as a NY borough. And since that’s probably impossible, if Federal political leadership doesn’t return power to the states and the states from the oversized states to towns it can’t end well. Which is, of course, the purpose of the overpaid powerful permanent Federal bureaucracies. They want to be in charge but we know that can’t work. .