It Was a Pandemic Alright, But Not The Kind We Were Told
The real pandemic was a pandemic of government overreach, and it's definitely not over yet.
Barely a week goes by when I don't hear another story confirming everything I suspected during the Covid-19 “pandemic”. If you're curious as to why I put that word in quotes, it's not because I don't believe there was a real pandemic. It's because I think the real pandemic wasn't at all what they told us it was.
Yes, there was (and is) a subset of people who were truly threatened by this disease, but the vast majority of us were not. At all.
The pandemic we just came through was a pandemic of government overreach and propaganda.
Right from the start of this, after hearing how we are all potentially spreading this disease to everyone in our paths even if we didn't have any symptoms, I was skeptical. I remember asking, "If it's spread by droplets, how the hell can people spread it if they're not actively coughing on you?"
I realize this is simplistic, but it turns out there was an actual "infectiousness" test available in May of 2020, but the authorities were evidently not all that interested in it at the time. I mean, why would they be when they could just tell us we were all infectious…?
Thanks to this test, we now know that the vast majority (96%) of people who were infected but asymptomatic had absolutely no chance of spreading it to anyone.
From the British Medical Journal dated December 21, 2020: Asymptomatic transmission of Covid-19:
As things stand, a person who tests positive with any kind of test may or may not have an active infection with live virus, and may or may not be infectious.
And:
A city-wide prevalence study of almost 10 million people in Wuhan found no evidence of asymptomatic transmission.
That old excuse about, "well, we're following the science and you know the science changes, blah, blah, blah..." grew very tired very early on when it was evident that most of the decisions that were being made had nothing to do with science.
The fact is, "the science" was against most of their decisions right from the get-go, and they knew it.
The thing that bothers me the most is not that huge corporations want to deceive people for profit (that's kinda what huge corporations do), or that governments seek ever-increasing control over their populations (also pretty standard, though sucky), but that those same populations by and large go along with it so willingly and so easily.
It's like a national case of Stockholm Syndrome only worse, because the people become complicit in their own abuse.
It was widely known at the beginning of the pandemic that our government in its wisdom and foresight had actually drafted a plan in 2006 after the SARS pandemic just in case there was another pandemic.
The Canadian Pandemic Influenza Plan for the Health Sector reads exactly like what really did happen here with Covid. One of the authors was none other than Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Theresa Tam. They had it all figured out - like 550 pages worth. Only problem is, they didn't actually follow it.
Here's some pertinent information from that document that we never heard about:
Section 7.4 - Use of Masks by Well Individuals:
This measure is not feasible or sustainable on a population basis. It is not likely to be effective in reducing disease spread in the general population and therefore is not recommended as a community-based strategy.
The section goes on to say that “individual people who are wearing a recommended mask properly at the time of an exposure may benefit from the barrier that a mask provides,” but that during a pandemic, “when the virus is circulating in the community, it will not be possible for public health authorities to assess and compare risks of exposure in specific public settings.” Note that it says “the individual” may benefit, though we were told if you don't wear a mask, you're putting others at risk.
It concludes with this:
Not recommended as a community-based intervention or measure
Did “the science” change from 2006 to now? Well, not according to the Cochrane analysis of 78 studies, many of which were done in 2003 and 2009. Their assessment says (once again) that our government had no idea about "The Science" it was supposedly following so diligently. Or, that maybe they did, but they didn't care.
Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of laboratory‐confirmed influenza/SARS‐CoV‐2 compared to not wearing masks.
If our public health agencies had spent more time honestly following the real science and less time discrediting those scientists with views contrary to their contrived consensus, we'd likely have had a much different outcome than we did.
If they'd have spent less time calling out “deniers”, and “conspiracy theorists,” and more time encouraging actual research, we'd have accomplished so much more without the debilitating cost we ended up incurring for the pathetic results we acquired.
The other thing our government seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time on was convincing the vaccinated how fortunate they were to be able to do things like:
Go to a hockey game
Meet with your friends at a restaurant
Attend a family gathering
Travel to Saskatchewan
And people fell for it, as any Stockholm Syndrome victim would logically be expected to do.
While it's true that many governments were outlawing public gatherings at the time, the only ones that didn't allow their own citizens to travel within their borders (other than Canada) were China and North Korea. Isn't that a wonderful threesome? Of course this didn't apply to those who had the vaccine passport. That apparently made the whole deal perfectly acceptable.
The other thing our governments became famous for during this overreach pandemic was demonizing the unvaccinated. And as we'd come to expect, millions of dutiful citizens were just waiting in the wings to join in, pile on, and show just how faithful and compliant they were.
Not only did they demonize the unvaccinated, but they did the same thing to any legitimate experts who happened to disagree with their decisions and the compliant media followed right along.
It's one thing to sit at home and bitch about how ridiculous these policies were, but when you realize how much support there was for them among the general populace, you start to get an idea of just how twisted the whole thing was. When you have neighbors ratting each other out for not wearing a mask or people doxxing businesses for not adhering to “proper Covid protocol”; when family members are turned away at family gatherings for having a different opinion and relationships are intentionally ended, you could see how dystopian the whole thing had become. Or maybe you couldn't see it, but if you still can't see it now after all this, then maybe our society really is on its last legs.
There were many phrases that we heard over and over during this time. This is actually one of the rules of an effective propaganda campaign - endless repetition. One of those words was “misinformation”. We were constantly told to be on the lookout for information that ran counter to the government's narratives. What they didn't tell us is that most of the misinformation was really being propagated by the government itself.
Here's a very short, partial list of some of the government and mainstream media misinformation we were subjected to, while the actual science was known to be unsupportive:
Natural immunity is a dangerous idea
Covid vaccines prevent transmission
School closures are effective and necessary
Everyone's risk is equal
Lockdowns are the only option
Mask mandates are effective in reducing the spread of Covid
Small businesses are unsafe, while big box stores are safe
And this doesn't even begin to encompass all the ridiculous suggestions (many of which were actively enforced) like: retreating into a driveway to let someone pass on the sidewalk; dividing kids into “cohorts” in school to control who they hung out with; suggesting that a scrap piece of cloth would protect you from an airborne virus; one-way arrows in grocery stores; closing parks to children with police tape and encouraging them to remain indoors.
The government embraced ideas that were at odds with what the science was saying, while using “science” as their excuse. The media then took its cues from the government and acted to suppress honest conversation with the end result being that the people would believe something that was totally false. This is the biggest reason why public trust in government, media, and public health is at such an all-time low, and may very well be the biggest reason for continued mistrust of these institutions going forward. Only time will tell how this will affect vaccination uptake for serious diseases like smallpox, measles, polio, and the like.
Many have said to me that it's easy to look back now and say this sunce “hindsight is 20/20”, but the fact of the matter is that there were many extremely knowledgeable experts who already knew this stuff early on (or were at least talking about it). The government simply refused to listen to them, social media companies shut them down, and their superiors shut them up.
I think it's high time there is a serious reckoning in this country. It's also time for Canadians to take an honest look at what transpired here, what we were told, and what the facts really were. We need to decide if we're going to allow this to happen again in such a way.
If you were someone who turned away family members on the advice of Public Health, or ratted out your neighbors, or left awful reviews for businesses based on what you saw on the news or social media, don't think for a second that people are going to forget that. If you were personally responsible for someone losing his or her job because they weren't vaccinated, do you really think that person has forgotten all about it and moved on?
Our social fabric has been completely ripped to shreds on account of this. If you think “construction season” is bad as you're driving to work in the morning, you've got no idea how long this road to recovery is. There is some serious fixing that needs to be done and I highly doubt that any of that work is going to be done by the current government. That job falls on all of us.
Do you feel duped yet?
Further reading:
Another Covid Conspiracy Graduates to Fact
Canada's Pandemic Response Was the Crime of the Century and We Should Never Let it Go
Saddening and infuriating.
At some point during the pandemic, I was at a yoga class outside in our local park. Our mats were dutifully spaced 6 feet apart and we dutifully took our masks off only once we were “safely” on our mats. Some random passerby came and yelled at us anyway for the grave public health threat our activity was creating (to whom?).
Meanwhile my kid and her cohort spent most of their first year of high school online, at home, for no good reason; they still haven’t figure out how to socialize IRL now that they’re allowed to. Other family members missed out on college graduation, post-retirement travel, family get-togethers, etc. also for no good reason. Yes, we were fortunate to not lose jobs to lockdowns, but nevertheless all this was SO unnecessary.
Ken, I find myself stymied by the numbers of supposedly intelligent people who chose to abandon their own common sense, so quickly I might add, and willingly defer their personal health and well-being to literal strangers at "government central", whether in Canada, US, Britain or other Western countries (save for Sweden). Their willingness to abandon everything we've collectively learned in the past 250+ years regarding viral outbreaks and other contagious diseases is so incredibly sad to watch. When I ask 'why' to others, they look at me as if I'm speaking a foreign language. Without thinking, without giving the question a second thought, instead they simply raise their voice and regurgitate what their media has told them and nothing more, as if saying it louder will make "The Word" comprehensible - because to them, it's just a lack of, or refusal to "understand", on my part. They've been somehow brainwashed into cherishing government's spoken word - above and beyond what their parents, grandparents, and others who care dearly for their well-being say, willingly giving simple, blind obedience to the former. The worst part though? They have no clue how their own government sees them as nothing more than useful idiots to further increase government power against THEM. And when they eventually *do* figure it out, not only will it be too late, but they'll have the actual nerve to act shocked and surprised when their own government no longer finds them useful. It will not end well for them in any sense, mostly because they'll never see it coming.