COVID, A Year Later
It’s been over a year now since the peak of the COVID pandemic, which left a trail of wreckage all over the world. The sickness and deaths and strained medical resources were bad enough, but the social isolation, decimated economies, missed education, and other related side-effects just rubbed salt into our festering wounds.
But amongst all the doom and gloom, there is one glimmer of positivity. It may be just a flicker, but it's definitely out there. In a moment, I'll tell you what it is.
When the pandemic broke out, first there were all the promises from politicians everywhere, including Trump, and later, Biden: they all said that they were absolutely, positively going to "eliminate" this virus right out of existence! Well we see how that turned out.
This was immediately followed by all the lockdowns and shutdowns and bans on travel and social gatherings. That didn't turn out so good either - all it did was destroy lives and businesses and all the interactions that we humans depend on. School kids missed out on two years (and counting) of quality, in-person education. Churches, where believers had previously met to worship, dried up. Countless bars and restaurants were destroyed, jobs and all. Meanwhile, the virus raged on.
Then came the mask mandates - governments requiring us to wear a diaper on our face anytime we left home. When this didn't stop the virus, the experts came back and said we need to wear DOUBLE masks. As expected, that didn't go over too good. But the whole masking thing sure did cause a lot of fights and arguments to break out.
Meanwhile, the politicians, "experts," and the rest of the do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do crowd kept on getting caught and photographed out in public NOT practicing what they mandated on us: partying, going to parties and funerals and assorted events, crowded together, talking, laughing, touching, hugging and kissing - all while definitely NOT wearing masks. Read about it here.
Oh and we’re also learning that the “official” statistics regarding COVID infections and deaths are rather suspect. If a person died or sought medical care and it was determined that they had COVID in addition to other medical issues, that counted.
But, as promised, there is a bright side: a growing cynicism toward government, its leaders, and their teams of do-as-I-say "experts". It turns out that avoiding sickness is not the most important thing in life, as the government’s fear-mongers preached. People need social interaction with people.
Probably the biggest movement is the backlash against our socialized, government-run education system. Parents are finally "getting it" that putting something as important as the education of their children into the hands of politicians, bureaucrats, and labor unions is not such a great idea after all.
Also, a recent survey revealed that, during the pandemic, about 1 in 4 parents lied about a child's COVID status. Parents would falsify information about possible exposure, test results, vaccinations, or symptoms - any of which could potentially result in further isolation or other such missed social opportunities.
But what about the virus? Is it not still a contagious health threat that can kill you?
As I have pontificated countless times: health care is not a job for government. Throughout human history, people constantly figure out solutions to problems, or better ways to do things. Health care is no different. Government may have a role in our society, but it is NOT to produce services and products or cure disease - that's what the market is for.
We humans have been waging a war against nature and its dangers for as long as we have lived on this planet. Disease has always been with us, always will. I was reminded of that the other day while listening to the oldies radio station, and the song "Ode to Billy Joe" played. Near the end, Bobbie Gentry sings: "There was a virus going 'round, Papa caught it and he died last spring." This was recorded back in 1967. Yeah, I know, the storyline is fiction, and the virus referred to in the song was just a local thing, not global, but still: deadly viruses are nothing new.
What can government do to help? Easy: get the heck out of the way! No other industry is infested with as much governmental meddling than health care. Compare that with information technology, an industry that - blessedly - has had relatively little government intervention. Note the explosion of progress therein. Is not health care as important as computers?
Hopefully, this whole pandemic experience has demonstrated that things work better when government treats us like adults. No more of this nanny-state mentality that tolerates locking us up, shutting down everything, and imposing draconian lifestyle changes. Yes, some people will make poor decisions; they'll gather in large, tightly-packed groups, breath on each other, and refuse vaccinations. But that's their life. The rest of us will make good decisions - and that hopefully includes growing a healthy cynicism when government says it is just “following the science.”
My level of cynicism for the gov't couldn't be higher. But it's what the masses think that matters. How much do the masses have to think and worry about? Tons. Paying for food, their mortgage, their credit card debt, their student loans, whether their little bit of money in the bank is safe, the fact of no savings, the price of used, let alone, new, cars and the ailing condition of their current vehicle ...and the list goes on.
So, yes, the list of worries may indeed lend the masses to start distrusting gov't. But overall, might the worries themselves, the day-to-day strains of the reality of their situation, detract from any effort to determine cause, and thereby, decrease action against gov't policy? I don't know.
It matters not [save my health] that I didn't buy into the vax/mask propaganda, seeing it for what it was [and stuff like this always is], a major plan to gain more control over the masses, and remove more Liberties. The masses bought it, lock, stock and barrel. Fear worked. Marvelously. Fear worked so well that it pitted us against each other. The fight wasn't against gov't, it was against those who didn't buy into gov't's pitch.
As an aside, one of the atrocities that angered me the most, was the requirement that young children [pre-schoolers on up] be masked at school. The fact that my grandson [then 4-5yrs old] had to be masked for hours at a time, depriving his not yet fully developed brain of oxygen. What competent Doctor would approve such a thing! None. Mandates like this were done by design, on purpose, with ill-intent. [Gates is an enemy of thePeople.]
Ultimately Covid was about as deadly as a bad strain of flu - it caused premature death in those with weakened immunity and other complications. But how much of the excess deaths from Covid was the result of iatrogenisis - the badly mistaken protocols and policies prescribed for treatment itself?
Covid wasn't so bad - it's how we reacted to Covid that hurt us that made it so bad.
https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/iatrogenic-deaths-was-it-mishandling