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Australia’s SkyNews has done a comprehensive documentary on the origins of Covid 19’s origins – the Lab Leak Theory. Preview Open
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Rep. Rashida Tlaib said the quiet part out loud, and Pfizer committed real science on hidden camera, while the lab-leak story kept trickling out. We have all seen the video clips and photographs of politicians, including bureaucrats, posing on camera with masks while unmasking immediately off set. Tlaib is the first to plainly acknowledge the playacting, the political theater. Pfizer was stung by Project Veritas. Both videos come by way of citizen journalists, not the well-funded mega-media franchises.
In our pandemic era, the American press has deemed it its solemn — and urgent — duty to protect news consumers from pseudoscience and misinformation. Snopes, for example, has a comprehensive list of ratings for assessing various claims: true, mostly true, mixture, mostly false, false, and Obama.
When was the last time you stated a thought like, “At least we haven’t completely lost our republic,” and followed that with a quickly stated, “Knock on wood,” looking for a wooden object or knocking your forehead as an easy substitute? Or made a wish when blowing out candles on your birthday cake? Or carried a rabbit’s foot or other favored item for good luck? Many of us follow these practices and sometimes even realize that we do them playfully, without an expectation for results. Mostly. These wishes and desires are a form of “magical thinking” and are relatively harmless in most situations. But I propose that in this time of COVID-19, magical thinking has infected the worldwide population.
I’m vaccinated but I don’t ask, as have many vaccinated Facebook users, that you “respect my decision.” Vaccinated people like me get plenty of respect already, thanks: from public health officials, the political class, employers, and the media, just to name a few. No, the lay of the cultural landscape makes it abundantly clear that it’s not the vaccinated but the unvaccinated who aren’t getting enough respect.
