Open (More or Less) Post on Covid 14

[ecosophia]

The semi-open posts  I've hosted here on the Covid-19 narrative, the inadequately tested experimental drugs for it, and the whole cascading mess surrounding them have continued to field a very high number of comments, so I'm opening yet another space for discussion. The rules are the same as before: 

1. If you plan on parroting the party line of the medical industry and its paid shills, please go away. This is a place for people to talk openly, honestly, and freely about their concerns that the party line in question is dangerously flawed and that actions being pushed by the medical industry et al. are causing injury and death. It is not a place for you to dismiss those concerns. Anyone who wants to hear the official story and the arguments in favor of it can find those on hundreds of thousands of websites.

2. If you plan on insisting that the current situation is the result of a deliberate plot by some villainous group of people or other, please go away. There are tens of thousands of websites currently rehashing various conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 outbreak and the vaccines. This is not one of them. What we're exploring is the likelihood that what's going on is the product of the same arrogance, incompetence, and corruption that the medical industry and its tame politicians have displayed so abundantly in recent decades. That possibility deserves a space of its own for discussion, and that's what we're doing here. 
 
3. If you plan on using rent-a-troll derailing or disruption tactics, please go away. I'm quite familiar with the standard tactics used by troll farms to disrupt online forums, and am ready, willing, and able -- and in fact quite eager -- to ban people permanently for engaging in them here. Oh, and I also lurk on other Covid-19 vaccine skeptic blogs, so I'm likely to notice when the same posts are showing up on more than one venue. 

4. If you don't believe in treating people with common courtesy, please go away. I have, and enforce, a strict courtesy policy on my blogs and online forums, and this is no exception. The sort of schoolyard bullying that takes place on so many other internet forums will get you deleted and banned here. No, I don't care if you disagree with that: my journal, my rules. 

With that said, as rumors fly that the governor of California has been crippled by one of the "rare" side effects of Covid vaccination, and the mainstream media is busy trying to insist that cardiac arrest in children is perfectly normal, the floor is open for discussion. 

Comments

[kashtan]

I'm seeing a relatively common narrative surrounding COVID that many are following that hasn't been talked about nearly as much as the mainstream narrative or the conspiracy narrative. This narrative has overlaps with both the mainstream and the conspiracy narrative but is different in key ways. The basic premise of this narrative is that authoritarian measures are bad from a moral standpoint but from a practical standpoint are the most effective way to run society. People espousing this narrative rarely state the second part directly, they tend to portray themselves as defenders of liberty, but reading between the lines it sounds like part of them is convinced that going in the direction of authoritarian China under the CCP is progress and may be inevitable, they are fighting it for moral reasons but there's a good chance it's a lost cause. I'd put a lot of Republican politicians in this category as well as plenty of ordinary people too who don't like the idea of vaccine mandates or other authoritarian measures but still believe in the religion of Progress enough (specifically, the current version of Progress that's attached itself to CCP-type authoritarianism) that they can't really see it going any other way in the end.

I'll call this narrative the Wool narrative, after the book "Wool" by Hugh Howey. For those who haven't read it, Wool is a dystopian sci-fi novel published about ten years ago, at first self published by Howey. He was unknown at the time and didn't advertise it, it caught on by word of mouth and then eventually became a bestseller. I should say that I'm referring to the original novel, I haven't read the sequels or prequels that were written later. The heroine of the novel is a mechanic who is thrust into a role of discovering and unraveling the secrets of the world that isn't what it seems to be. The main villain is a character that has a certain amount of similarity to the health establishment of today, he does lots of awful things to keep his power and maintain the false narrative that their society is living under, but he doesn't do it for the sake of pure evilness. He's convinced that what he does is necessary to keep society from falling apart. On the surface, the novel is fully on the side of the heroine who fights for a free and open society against the tyrant villain. However, looking further at the fictional historical framework and world-building that goes into the story, it actually gives me the picture that Howey thinks that tyranny is the safer option and is more effective for running a society. The world they live in assumes greater human competence than has been shown to actually exist, it's a silo that has managed to become a self-contained artificial ecosystem that sustains its inhabitants in a world that has otherwise become uninhabitable through pollution. In the real world, the closest we tried to that, biosphere 2, was a failure. The tyrants do nasty stuff but are also more competent than their real-world equivalents, and a free society is a worthy moral goal but also portrayed as more dangerous and unpredictable.

Although I'd much rather deal with people in the Wool narrative than those actually on the side of the tyrants, all in all I wonder if it's dragging down the movement to oppose the tyrants. If people believe that tyranny is the safer option, they are more likely to go along with it if put in a state of fear or stress. Technocratic authoritarianism has become entangled with the religion of Progress, and the majority still believe in Progress on some level, even the majority of those opposed to vaccine mandates. All the common narratives, the mainstream one, the conspiracy one, and the Wool narrative all tend to believe that the elites as well as humanity in general are smarter, more competent, and more powerful than they actually are, and none of the narratives necessitate giving up belief in Progress.

[(Anonymous)]

Ah, that's one of my favourite books! Definitely read Shift and Dust, the sequels, as they give a lot more context, as well as some alarming parallels to this whole crisis-that-didn't-need-to-be-a-crisis.

[(Anonymous)]

So I wonder what name one might give to *our* narrative that we're so carefully and quietly crafting on this site and others such as "The Automatic Earth"? I know this is going to sound flaky, but I propose naming it the "Hempen Narrative", because our narrative, a lot like the fiber produced by the hemp plant, is normal, natural, useful, and good for the world but has fallen into momentary disfavor on account of the manipulations of selfish, bad-faith actors. And like the fiber of the hemp plant, once that which has been advocated by the bad actors has seriously hurt the world, the world's best chance for recovery will be in turning to our narrative here. --Mr. Nobody

[(Anonymous)]

So much to think about.
Firstly the pool of some of that conspiracy thinking goes very deep indeed. I.E. Alex Jones is a CIA plant. Leading us through a process of catharsis whereby everyone gets wound up vents their hate and rage about the establishment but ultimately agrees we’re fighting a desperate and losing rear guard measure that is destined to fail, but noble in its failings. I.E. the 300 Spartans and the battle of Thermopylae. King Arthur and Camelot etc.

Victory is too much too hope for. I stay away from this narrative. My personal narrative is we are watching an elite imploding. I’m trying to avoid being sucked into that. With some success I might add. As Napoleon purportedly said “never interrupt your opponent while they are making a mistake.” And they are making quite the series of mistakes. Tumbling down the slope of irrelevance with bad ideas and bad policies, it is truly baffling. So for now I shrug my shoulders and walk on by.

Onto your points on government.
I was taught in about middle school (not as part of the approved curriculum) that essentially government cycles through 4 rough stages Anarchy (no ones is in charge), Democracy (everyone/the people are in charge), Aristocracy (the “elite” are in charge), Monarchy (one ring to rule them all… wait…one person in charge). For our purposes an aristocracy isn’t different than an oligarchy and a theocracy etc. etc. That’s a difference of who is considered elite.
And it does not necessarily go in that order. You can jump from anarchy to monarchy for example. England arguably went “backwards” from monarchy to aristocracy. The basic formula is whoever is in charge is screwing up.

Democracy can’t make quick decisions effectively see the US senate. So they institute a war chief see Caesar, see Churchill, Arguably Hitler and Stalin. That Can and does become a monarchy. Admittedly not with Churchill.

Monarchy “divine right” is no guarantee of competence. Kings have often lost “The Mandate of Heaven” I believe that was a Chinese example that JMG referenced.
Here England moving towards a democracy/republic. Arguably a republic is an aristocracy. It can go worse than that (for the king) see the Russian revolution.

Arguably the French Revolution was an aristocracy losing the Mandate of Heaven.

Anarchy someone needs to straighten this mess out! And can become any of the above.

Our current elites are losing the Mandate of Heaven and the mandate of the masses. Trying desperately to clamp down and failing to do so.

“all in all I wonder if it's dragging down the movement to oppose the tyrants.”

Here the cosmic doctrine of not locking up good and evil is a good go by. The movement doesn’t necessarily need to OPPOSE tyrants as much as it needs to focus on itself. Here the recent elections are telling. Building up the idea of Americans first. Of making America great again etc. Focusing on blessing the people instead of cursing our enemies. They are proving to be a useful thrust block and we need to head towards what we want. So overall the message has been positive and about what we are moving towards. I’m feeling pretty good about the populist movement right now.