ecosophia: (Default)
John Michael Greer ([personal profile] ecosophia) wrote2023-04-25 12:42 pm

Open (More or Less) Post on Covid 90

seatbeltAs we proceed through the second year of these open posts, it's pretty clear that the official narrative is cracking as the toll of deaths and injuries from the Covid vaccines rises steadily and the vaccines themselves demonstrate their total uselessness at preventing Covid infection or transmission. It's still important to keep watch over the mis-, mal- and nonfeasance of our self-proclaimed health gruppenfuehrers, and the disastrous results of the Covid mania, but I think it's also time to begin thinking about what might be possible as the existing medical industry reels under the impact of its own self-inflicted injuries. 

So it's time for another open post. 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. Also, please don't drag in current quarrels about sex, race, religions, etc. No, I don't care if you disagree with that: my journal, my rules. 

With that said, the floor is open for discussion.

Re: Religious affiliation since the coof?

(Anonymous) 2023-04-26 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
I know a few people who attended church regularly prior to lockdowns that now don't at all. Church went away, and by the time it came back, people realized they didn't need it and/or didn't care anymore.
It is the same story with a lot of other things we considered indispensible in 2019.
A lot of things hang on as a beautiful/treasured/nostalgic legacy even to the point of attracting economic resources to keep them viable, until a breaking point comes and priorities shift. I saw this in the aftermath of the Great Recession, certain types of churches, certain types of restaurants, other businesses, that were already a bit of throwback in 2007, gone by 2012 or so, or greatly diminished in influence and availability.
I'm not sure any form of church is gaining significant ground anymore. "Nones" are virtually tied with Catholics for second place, with Protestantism less than 10% ahead.
methylethyl: (Default)

Re: Religious affiliation since the coof?

[personal profile] methylethyl 2023-04-27 01:20 am (UTC)(link)
This is what I'd been expecting to see, since the lockdowns. All the casual churchgoers will have discovered they *like* sleeping in on Sundays, and is it worth trying to break the habit now?

A lot of the people who are showing up at my current parish are coming *from* other churches, so one of the things I'm curious about is whether those churches are in turn shrinking... and if there's a trend to which *types* of churches are growing vs. shrinking. If I had to guess (throwing out some irresponsible hypotheses!), I'd say overall numbers of religious-affiliated have probably dropped, and it's likely that more people have stopped going to church than have started... but that the people who've remained, and who've taken up religion or spiritual practice recently, are probably more serious than average about it. So it's interesting to see where those people are, and are not, settling down.

Re: Religious affiliation since the coof?

(Anonymous) 2023-04-27 03:41 pm (UTC)(link)
It's entirely possible there are church switchers. Our family's last few years in church were in a generic evangelical church. You had the worship band, the pastor in jeans, the catchy materials in print and on the website, the push for growth, sermons that were basic, repetitive, or just preaching through somebody's book. Our breaking point was when the new pastor fired all the children's ministry workers so he could hire younger, hipper people. That was our one personal connection to the church. In one fell swoop everybody we got to know left. Then COVID hit. So...
But we went for my wife's benefit, as I already had declared my agnosticism 11 years ago. My wife is okay with not going to church now so I am not complaining. Once in a blue moon she'll make the passing remark, "we should go to church" but, what's the saying these days? The tea is not worth the pour? The steak is not worth the chew?
methylethyl: (Default)

Re: Religious affiliation since the coof?

[personal profile] methylethyl 2023-04-27 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks. I suspect you're far from alone, but my social circle is naturally skewed toward people who *are* at church, so it's a blind spot for me and I appreciate the intel.

Re: Religious affiliation since the coof?

(Anonymous) 2023-04-27 12:56 pm (UTC)(link)
"Church went away, and by the time it came back, people realized they didn't need it and/or didn't care anymore."

That's the way I feel about the arts, frankly.

I used to like attending live music, dance, and theater events and going to art museums (to see the older stuff, not the contemporary crap, lol). But when all the theaters and museums voluntarily imposed medical passports, I unsubscribed from every single one of their email lists. And I fully intend to boycott every single one of those institutions and the ones like them until I die. We're done.

Meanwhile, I stepped up my spiritual practice during covid and am trying to keep that going. I don't go to church, but I do try to meditate and pray regularly on my own. My church affiliation is still "none" but I doubt I'm the only person out there with no official institutional affiliation who really saw the need for prayer in recent years.


methylethyl: (Default)

Re: Religious affiliation since the coof?

[personal profile] methylethyl 2023-04-27 03:51 pm (UTC)(link)
I wish you all the best in your spiritual practice!

My mom's involved in the local community theater scene, and they've had a rough time of it for sure. They resisted the masks-and-passports thing, but interest still isn't what it used to be.

Re: Religious affiliation since the coof?

(Anonymous) 2023-04-27 06:21 pm (UTC)(link)
"They resisted the masks-and-passports thing, but interest still isn't what it used to be."

That's too bad.

Not all arts organizations succumbed - but so many did (at least in the blue states) that I suspect the whole sector may be suffering from guilt by association.