Most people I know were all-in on the masking, taking all the shots, "we're in this together" type of thing, for the duration. As I reconnect with some of them now, they cannot relate to my experience of extreme isolation.
What I will say about that is: nothing like this extreme isolation had ever before happened to me (my office closed and we went full remote; my family refused to be around me because of the germs; when I walked outside, neighbors would do the correct thing and move to the other side of the street; everyone's face was masked; stand on the dot at the store; my book club went virtual; all gatherings cancelled; no admittance to venues without a vaccination card......)
it was the closest I have ever come to solitary confinement. Speaking to some of my friends who lived through this happily doing their part, but they all had families, friends in their "bubbles" so they could get together in their homes. They saw human faces up close and personal. I was not in their bubble. And they all expressed hatred towards the unvaccinated (many of them did not know that I was unshotted; some of them did).
OK, so I'm a big girl and I'm very resourceful and I was very aware during all of this that I was going to remain sane and get through this, and find daily happiness and peace among the insanity. It was the hardest thing I've ever done (so far in life, which has not always been a breeze). I learned a ton. I toughened up. And I kept my sanity and my nice self intact. I'm still an extravert.
But I will never forget how these "good Germans" surrounded me. Never. And how immovable they were, and still are -- so clueless about their participation in nonsensical tyranny. I called some of them out at the time, and they either looked at me with zombie eyes or became derisively outraged, just as the brainwashing had inculcated. They were the lemmings AND the pied piper. I could not break through that wall. Oh, the horror!
That is the heartbreaking devastation for me, personally: the realization that these loved ones, neighbors, coworkers, etc. were not who I thought they were, and that the only person in this world I could count upon was myself. Not what I had previously believed, and certainly not what I'd ever wanted.
OK, but I also grew closer to God with that realization. That's the good part.
I had similar experiences as you describe here, Dani, with a few twists. I was unable to see most of my family, who live abroad, for 2 1/2 years. There was a spouse at home, who unfortunately saw no problem with the shots or anything else. That is a special kind of loneliness. I lost my work because the studios closed down. I'm the only unvaccinated adult in my family. Reading Mark's work was a lifeline to sanity. I have come to understand that as painful as it has been, I am grateful to understand more now about this human nature we all share. I choose to be grateful for the honest, caring, independent thinkers I know. There will always be people I don't wish to associate with. I agree with you. I do think that is what God intends.
Yes, you're spot on; having a partner who was fully invested in the whole madness was a special kind of loneliness.
The elephant in the room became a herd that eventually stampeded and we didn't survive. I am completely alone now and closer to God like so many of us.
And reading Mark's essays for a sense of community:)
I also experienced solitary confinement / house arrest. If Myers Briggs is to be believed, I'm only slightly on the introverted side of the I/E line. The covid hysteria experience did teach me that I need at least some in-person human interaction. It must have been terrible for extreme extroverts.
Too much alone time was rough on me. I'd go for walks on mostly empty streets to see the few other walkers masked up run to the other side of the street and refuse to make eye contact (I was unmasked so an obvious danger ;-). Once in a rare while I'd pass an unmasked stranger who'd nod or say hello.
I have a masker friend (lifelong friend I'm not jettisoning) who helpfully told me during 2020-21, "you smile with your eyes" (because I'd said I missed seeing people smile).
She also then very helpfully bought me a clear plastic mask so other people could see ME smile (totally see through, totally unbreathable). ( Did we not receiving warnings throughout our lives not to put plastic bags over our heads, and keep them out of cribs and so forth? )
And she also helpfully suggested I get allergy testing to confirm my assertion that "Due to a prior medical event, I have been advised that I might have an anaphylactic reaction to the shots, so I am unable to get any." (this is how I managed to resist compliance with my employer and to maintain several otherwise fraught relationships with people insistent on proof of vaccination). They all seemed to understand that I could not "do my part and take one for the team."
In other words, I gave myself a medical exemption, and a lot of people bought it. It helped that i was entirely serious about the fact that I was medically unable to receive one (and SO WAS EVERYONE ELSE, if they would have thought about it!)
Alas, many were incapable of thinking about it. I tried to talk to them, but quickly had to recognize that their minds were stuck on GET VACCINATED EVERBODY NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW, like 20 fire alarms. If someone had told me in 2019 this would happen, I never would have believed it. I lived it in 2021-2023, though. People I'd had respect for and trusted all of a sudden well and truly lost their minds. Of course this wasn't true of everyone. But it was true of most of the people in my world.
"But I will never forget how these "good Germans" surrounded me. Never. And how immovable they were, and still are -- so clueless about their participation in nonsensical tyranny". In a nutshell! What was seen can never be unseen. I too grew closer to the only person we can truly rely on - God.
thankfully God made dogs, cats, birds, trees and flowers. I am not ashamed to say I had lots of conversations with these wonderful creatures while my former friends refused to meet up, and one even, to call me. How crazy can humans get?
And the sad thing is, it feels like the craziness continues. Does it seem like a lot of people don't think clearly anymore? Or did I just fail to notice this before? And I have not met one single person, not one, that went all in on the craziness, who has walked it back, admitted they were wrong, felt remorse, anything!
strange enough, one of my former 'sister of another mother', said she realized the whole thing was a scam, then told me she was going to get another shot. I think the jabs did something to their brains. She realizes the shots cause illness and death, but still goes for it. A nurse she knows tells her 'when the time is best to get it'. Your guess.
I hope to see her next week, if she shows up for our monthly meeting. Most of the time she has something else going on, or forgets. To think tho, that before the scamdemic myself and she, and one more were called the three musketeers, that is how close we were....
I agree. And people seem to walk differently; slow and stooped. Aged prematurely. And quite dull. Or perhaps, like you said, I just didn't notice before.
only one of my friends was able to wake up and admit that he had thought I was wrong to be against the shots, then after he got three of them and got some scary health issues and delved into it on his own.... realized he wished he'd listened to me when I'd warned him against the poisons. He still didn't really realize how it felt from my perspective, but that's OK. At least we can talk now.
It was sooo horrible for me. I still can't believe the whole thing. After listening to my parents mention some stuff about their lives in Nazi Germany days I couldn't believe I was basically living it, minus the actual bombs. A Target here even had a watchtower in the parking lot for a while resembling those Nazi Germany towers, I couldn't handle it. I don't know why it was there?? It is not healthy to hide in your house, EVER. I know.........my grandmother was agoraphobic and never left the house and I mean NEVER after I was born. There is just too much I could say..................Totally I cannot view a lot of people in the same way. I just can't. Their stupidity and compliance ruined our lives..............it didn't have to happen. This really made me see who people really were like nothing else every could.
It took myself AND my dog to get sick, to find there was still a bit of compassion left in my former best friends. When I was completely down they both offered to drive me and the dog to the doc. Thankfully the dog healed on her own. I managed to get myself to the office and got some antidepressants, that thankfully helped and only did rise my blood pressure, which stabilized again 2 months later. Now out of that doctors hands again LOL. And the dog was probably sick because I was, the poor darling.
I still feel that same isolation, even though supposedly "Covid is over". I don't think I can ever really feel connected to society at large after what happened, knowing that the vast majority of people would ostracize and shame me again at the drop of a hat -- or some made-up emergency.
“The supreme trick of mass insanity is that it persuades you that the only abnormal person is the one who refuses to join in the madness of others, the one who tries vainly to resist. We will never understand totalitarianism if we do not understand that people rarely have the strength to be uncommon.”
And yet Facebook was a runaway hit with people who wanted to be conspicuous. They couldn't splatter their lives on there fast enough. It made everyone feel like a celebrity: seen, admired, and envied. Then in 2020 those same people existed in utter terror of being noticed in a grocery store for going the "wrong" way down an aisle. Bizarrely, they wanted adulation for being just like everyone else, not for being exceptional.
Exactly. Read Emily Dickinson's brief poem that starts..............."Much madness is divinest sense".....I learned that one in high school and it impressed me ever since..........such truth in a few words. I may borrow that Ionesco quote.
New England hospitals and other medical facilities profited handsomely from Coronamania. The hush money paid to doctors and nurses means they continue to double down on masks, experimental injections, and prescribing deadly drugs such as Paxlovid and Remdesivir.
Patients damaged by mandated shots are gaslit on a daily basis (the lucky ones die suddenly) and many are suffering slowly and painfully with little or no help from DartmouthHealth, Mass General Brigham, or any other monopoly in the region.
As long as the medical industrial complex profits and the portfolios of the pharma prostitutes in our state houses remain flush, there will be no justice.
Mandates culled every industry of the best and brightest and most ethical people.
Hush money. The tie-in to Mark's rental experience being given $70 off for the bad experience, paired with the request for a good review. Mark's resolve to not outright lie about the experience becomes negotiable in the context of hush money. While the lie doesn't leave the lips (h/t Solzhenitsyn) what does the silence signify? Could it be considered 'hush money?'
This isn't a challenge to Mark about how he ultimately chooses to handle the review request. Just an acknowledgement that sometimes even we, believing ourselves to be the truth-tellers, may find our truth negotiable when the lie is one of omission. We are not compelled to leave any review of any business. And rarely do. Only the advent of social media has made it more common.
So he/we negotiate that new terrain as best we can. Not every experience need be shouted from the rooftop. But if we withhold sharing a bad experience because we were incentivized not to then we've entered the negotiation phase of truthiness. And we all do it to some degree in our lives. Not every offense need be exposed. It's just when financial incentives become a part of the equation, makes reviews so transparently transactional that makes us question our truthiness meter that things become awkward.
today Jon Fleetwood posted something strange - he interviewed someone who thinks the 'virus' was some sort of test. Was COVID a U.S.-Engineered Self-Spreading Animal Vaccine?
Nothing surprises me anymore, so I read through it although I think it is just another conspiracy theory LOL
It remains an unfortunate habit of mine to scour my local daily newspaper. I also watch the network evening news just to see what latest drivel public enemy #1 mainstream media is spewing. There are NEVER stories about the vaccine injured, although heroic Sharyl Attkisson has somehow managed to slip in a few segments on her “Full Measure” reports. My newspaper has daily articles in support of all vaccines including the clot shots and takes great strides to point out and mock “lunatic fringe” antivaxxers. After all it’s about the science, right?
I also do exhaustive reading regarding the origins of and continuing harms done to the human race by these constant injections. Sponsored propaganda is everywhere and more effective than any shots.
What started me on this research was when our GP got upset after I refused the ridiculous (and risky) Gardasil series of HPV shots for my son. After he also insisted on poking me with shingles and pneumonia vaccines and got huffy when I declined, it was time to find a new doctor. Big Pharma hypnotized doctors are making a killing on these potions. I have serious doubts as to whether the truth will ever penetrate the thick skulls of normie sheep.
There is possibly a silver lining to all the corona madness. It truly woke me up to all vaccine harms. I’m older and unquestionably vaccinated my children in the 80’s and 90’s. But since following you and others like you, I started researching and reading. I am now the proud grandmother to my first grandchild who will be completely unvaccinated. I convinced my daughter and son-in-law not to inject her. Still working on my son!
As I walked through the hospital yesterday and saw the "violence won't be tolerated sign" anger bubbled up inside of me. I have been trying to keep my anger in check, but this blatant BS on behalf of the very institutions that murdered and imprisoned innocent people for YEARS under the false pretense of protecting others makes my blood pressure spike. They're advertising compliance for the safety of their staff but ZERO safety for the people who put their trust in them to help them. F that. They deserve every bit of anger or irritation that comes their way. My new neighbors are late 20yr old liberals who wear masks constantly. It's frightening!
They brag about not tolerating violence while never missing a chance to exert force against people. You want the lung transplant that will save your life? Get a shot. You want to make sure we don't accidentally poison your mom while she's admitted? Put a slave rag on.
Interestingly, this past June, my husband and I made our first trip together since our escape to Florida in 2021. Family wedding my side. We traveled "internationally" to the following foreign countries: New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.
I expected to see more lunacy than we did. In fact, we saw little, thankfully. We rented a car, too, after flying north (my first flight since Feb 2020). Happily, every leg and aspect of the trip went swimmingly.
Had lunch with a friend I'd left behind in MA. Lovely person, but did the masking, got the J&J, and I'm sure cooperated with all the other unlawful madness. I asked her a specific question -- something along the lines of, "Now that people can look back on the last five years, how do you think they feel about this great crime having been committed against them?"
Obviously surprised by the question, she answered that she was not aware of anyone who thought that a crime had been committed. This is eastern MA; we were having lunch in Arlington, MA.
She has lived in that area for probably 45 years? Knows a lot of people and cannot think of one who thinks/knows that a great crime got carried out.
That's why I say New York and New England might as well be foreign countries -- because they are. They're home to some "dissidents," but too few to matter.
SheThinksLiberty—About the dissidents in New England— I've been impressed by the work of many medical freedom activists. I wouldn't write them off completely. Even a tiny group, if focused and disciplined, can achieve a lot. Many have a cadre of state reps and senators working with them.
It's bleak, though, I'll grant you that.
I have friends in Massachusetts, old and dear ones, and they'd say the same as your friend did. If I were to tell them what I know about the white clots— to take but one of many examples— they'd react as if I told them I was having serious conversations with a purple teapot beamed in from Planet Zock. But I do think they're aware at some level because they go on a bit too much about how they love their doctors.
Yes!!!! I grew up in southern Vermont - don't trust authority, the government is bad, etc., was pounded into my brain! Then the scamdemic and they INSISTED on not just believing the government, but required you to not even argue against it?!?!? It was infuriating, especially when people there would get mad at me for seeing friends or asking questions.
Very nice piece, Mark. I feel like this ties in with your prior piece on the absence of manual labor in the lives of the most strident progressives. Too much higher ed without any counter-balance from daily hands-on tasks seems to lead to a loss of common sense and reality. I am forever grateful (in hindsight) that I struggled a bit while working in warehouses, driving delivery vans, etc., before joining the laptop class. Perhaps those experiences gave me a greater perspective compared to the usual white collar matriculation process.
I don't know whether you have written about this specific insanity before, but here in southern California we play tennis outdoors year round. During the scamdemic it was recommended that each player have his own tennis ball with their name written on it and only pick up and handle that one ball. Players changing sides should be careful to go on opposite sides of the court in order to avoid breaching the six foot distance rule. Of course, no shaking hands; that was when the nonsensical touching of rackets became (and continues to be) normal procedure. Some would play wearing a mask or at least put it on if they left the court to get some water or a towel. As you might imagine, the provision of towels by the club was completely discontinued. There were probably other restrictions I have forgotten. It was a real shocker to see how many mature adult tennis players adhered to these rules. Of course, I ignored all of them and tried a little gentle ridicule to ask those that abided by them why they were indulging in such nonsense. It was difficult to maintain a polite demeanor when discussing this level of idiocy. The hardest part was coming to terms with the loss of respect for some people I had known for a long time.
Disgusting display of ignorance. This is why I couldn't go to the gym... I wouldn't have been able to tolerate it. Literally (running in a mask :o) and figuratively.
In answer to your question: were people just as crazy before covid or did covid cause it? i believe our society was already moving toward anxiety, fear, and distortion, ( big shout out to digital and social media thanks alot!) but covid and its attendant isolation, lies and ridiculous reactions, accelerated this descent and gave it permission to flower in all its distortion and sickness. As to those people still wearing masks and wiping down surfaces, lack of every day virus and bacteria exposure is more dangerous than a brief contact with free floating pathogens. Burlington and Vermont in general, are off their rocker Burlington is now the bastion of homeless and drug addicts. Downtown is unpleasant and often unsafe. Not so when my daughter went to UVM 25 years ago. They were always “crunchy” but today they are out of touch with reality.
Great write-up again. Thanks. I had a similar poor experience with a pot smoking hotel parking attendant in the New Orleans French quarter a couple years back. Even though the ceiling beams were very low in the hotel lot beneath the hotel, the required parking attendant insisted on parking my pickup truck (with a bed cap) there. The next day when I went to get my truck, it wasn't in that lot beneath the hotel. Rather it was parked behind the hotel in the open and it had a large paint scratch on the bed cap roof. The driver's side window was also left completely open and a heavy rain during the night had drenched the inside of the cab. The cab also wreaked of pot. However, in my case, the hotel never offered any compensation. They just gave me towels so that I can dry off the inside of the truck. Yeah, that experience sucked. I'm more of a libertarian by nature. I think people should be allowed to do what they want ON THEIR OWN TIME. I believe they have that right even if it means they mess up their lives and/or kill themselves doing it but don't include me in the collateral damage. I think the same applies to the covid crazed people to wear masks. They have that right but don't push their idiotic and illogical practices on me. I think they have the right to mess up their lives as much as they want, partly because I'm libertarian oriented but mostly because there is nothing I can really do to help. The hopelessly covid crazed are ... hopeless.
..."Instead of validating my perspective, he frowned and said, “Dude, you have no idea. People go crazy if there’s a blade of grass in their car.”...and thus millions are still primed and ready to suck up to the next fake pandemic.
I haven't rented a vehicle in about 35 years. I have had no need to. I wouldn't much care about the germs...just that it didn't beak down.
Ignoring the MSM is an exceptional habit to cultivate. It's mostly indoctrination anyway and the truth is seldom mentioned. I have no reason to worry about things I cannot control. Really, the world has about one half of one percent of "not so nice people" but according to the MSM, about 80% of the world has gone batshyt or is filled with terrorists. All lies.
Yes, the progs and libs went all in on the fake pandemic especially when their pal joey was inducted in the hall of shame in January of 2021. Every little sniffle, cough or sneeze was immediately labeled as covid. It was one gigantic clown show...and it will be soon repeated as the HHS continues to foster the development of more mRNA poisons despite RFK's recent announcement.
I think it would be a great idea if the NIH continues (and by continues, I mean actually starts) to assess all of the issues and side effects of the current covid mRNA vaccine using existing databases. Take a look at the impact of the vaccine on the millions of people in the US that already took it and compare their expected life spans and medical issues against the millions of people that did not take it. The data has been collected but nobody in the US appears to be looking at it, likely because such results may conflict with the highly dubious studies that were used to approve their vaccine. Fortunately, there are very interesting retrospective studies being published in different countries showing the dangers for specific medical conditions. The journal CANCERS in June 2025 published the results of a retrospective study by a group of Japanese researchers that demonstrates that pancreatic cancer patients had their median lifespans cut in half if they had taken 3 or more mRNA covid vaccines previously. Studies like that can provide the information to help make good decisions for current and future medical care.
SO many I cannot tolerate any more. Springsteen (is he still alive?) Billy Joel (also??) Dolly Parton (Jolene to vaccine UGH how disgusting - her husband took the fall) I have zero empathy for these people who are either fools or sell outs. I watch tennis but only on mute because I cannot BEAR to listen to the idiots who smeared Djokovic for being SENSIBLE. I will never see regular people the same way again. I now identify as Pigpen. He once said - I love humanity - it's people I can't stand.
‘as with many Americans who bought the Scam, it’s hard to see this bloke in a favorable light anymore’ ….its hard to see many in a favorable light anymore unfortunately
Most people I know were all-in on the masking, taking all the shots, "we're in this together" type of thing, for the duration. As I reconnect with some of them now, they cannot relate to my experience of extreme isolation.
What I will say about that is: nothing like this extreme isolation had ever before happened to me (my office closed and we went full remote; my family refused to be around me because of the germs; when I walked outside, neighbors would do the correct thing and move to the other side of the street; everyone's face was masked; stand on the dot at the store; my book club went virtual; all gatherings cancelled; no admittance to venues without a vaccination card......)
it was the closest I have ever come to solitary confinement. Speaking to some of my friends who lived through this happily doing their part, but they all had families, friends in their "bubbles" so they could get together in their homes. They saw human faces up close and personal. I was not in their bubble. And they all expressed hatred towards the unvaccinated (many of them did not know that I was unshotted; some of them did).
OK, so I'm a big girl and I'm very resourceful and I was very aware during all of this that I was going to remain sane and get through this, and find daily happiness and peace among the insanity. It was the hardest thing I've ever done (so far in life, which has not always been a breeze). I learned a ton. I toughened up. And I kept my sanity and my nice self intact. I'm still an extravert.
But I will never forget how these "good Germans" surrounded me. Never. And how immovable they were, and still are -- so clueless about their participation in nonsensical tyranny. I called some of them out at the time, and they either looked at me with zombie eyes or became derisively outraged, just as the brainwashing had inculcated. They were the lemmings AND the pied piper. I could not break through that wall. Oh, the horror!
That is the heartbreaking devastation for me, personally: the realization that these loved ones, neighbors, coworkers, etc. were not who I thought they were, and that the only person in this world I could count upon was myself. Not what I had previously believed, and certainly not what I'd ever wanted.
OK, but I also grew closer to God with that realization. That's the good part.
It was so weird.
You would have been welcomed here, Dani.
I had similar experiences as you describe here, Dani, with a few twists. I was unable to see most of my family, who live abroad, for 2 1/2 years. There was a spouse at home, who unfortunately saw no problem with the shots or anything else. That is a special kind of loneliness. I lost my work because the studios closed down. I'm the only unvaccinated adult in my family. Reading Mark's work was a lifeline to sanity. I have come to understand that as painful as it has been, I am grateful to understand more now about this human nature we all share. I choose to be grateful for the honest, caring, independent thinkers I know. There will always be people I don't wish to associate with. I agree with you. I do think that is what God intends.
Yes, you're spot on; having a partner who was fully invested in the whole madness was a special kind of loneliness.
The elephant in the room became a herd that eventually stampeded and we didn't survive. I am completely alone now and closer to God like so many of us.
And reading Mark's essays for a sense of community:)
Momo, yes, yes.
Nuke the studios, too!
I also experienced solitary confinement / house arrest. If Myers Briggs is to be believed, I'm only slightly on the introverted side of the I/E line. The covid hysteria experience did teach me that I need at least some in-person human interaction. It must have been terrible for extreme extroverts.
Too much alone time was rough on me. I'd go for walks on mostly empty streets to see the few other walkers masked up run to the other side of the street and refuse to make eye contact (I was unmasked so an obvious danger ;-). Once in a rare while I'd pass an unmasked stranger who'd nod or say hello.
I had the same experience: people seeing me on otherwise deserted streets and scurrying across the street.
As if there had never been a flu season. As if they weren't under 70. As if....
I have a masker friend (lifelong friend I'm not jettisoning) who helpfully told me during 2020-21, "you smile with your eyes" (because I'd said I missed seeing people smile).
She also then very helpfully bought me a clear plastic mask so other people could see ME smile (totally see through, totally unbreathable). ( Did we not receiving warnings throughout our lives not to put plastic bags over our heads, and keep them out of cribs and so forth? )
And she also helpfully suggested I get allergy testing to confirm my assertion that "Due to a prior medical event, I have been advised that I might have an anaphylactic reaction to the shots, so I am unable to get any." (this is how I managed to resist compliance with my employer and to maintain several otherwise fraught relationships with people insistent on proof of vaccination). They all seemed to understand that I could not "do my part and take one for the team."
In other words, I gave myself a medical exemption, and a lot of people bought it. It helped that i was entirely serious about the fact that I was medically unable to receive one (and SO WAS EVERYONE ELSE, if they would have thought about it!)
Alas, many were incapable of thinking about it. I tried to talk to them, but quickly had to recognize that their minds were stuck on GET VACCINATED EVERBODY NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW, like 20 fire alarms. If someone had told me in 2019 this would happen, I never would have believed it. I lived it in 2021-2023, though. People I'd had respect for and trusted all of a sudden well and truly lost their minds. Of course this wasn't true of everyone. But it was true of most of the people in my world.
Lost their minds for sure. I still can't believe it.
Yes, but where are their minds now? Nothing is said, about mRNA murders and injuries. Or the proprietors who lost their business.
Is it still verboten to bring up the ugly inconvenient truths?
"But I will never forget how these "good Germans" surrounded me. Never. And how immovable they were, and still are -- so clueless about their participation in nonsensical tyranny". In a nutshell! What was seen can never be unseen. I too grew closer to the only person we can truly rely on - God.
thankfully God made dogs, cats, birds, trees and flowers. I am not ashamed to say I had lots of conversations with these wonderful creatures while my former friends refused to meet up, and one even, to call me. How crazy can humans get?
And the sad thing is, it feels like the craziness continues. Does it seem like a lot of people don't think clearly anymore? Or did I just fail to notice this before? And I have not met one single person, not one, that went all in on the craziness, who has walked it back, admitted they were wrong, felt remorse, anything!
They will NEVER admit they were wrong.
strange enough, one of my former 'sister of another mother', said she realized the whole thing was a scam, then told me she was going to get another shot. I think the jabs did something to their brains. She realizes the shots cause illness and death, but still goes for it. A nurse she knows tells her 'when the time is best to get it'. Your guess.
Ingrid, is there going to be a follow up with the sister of another mother?
That would be interesting to hear "Upon further reflection".
I hope to see her next week, if she shows up for our monthly meeting. Most of the time she has something else going on, or forgets. To think tho, that before the scamdemic myself and she, and one more were called the three musketeers, that is how close we were....
I agree. And people seem to walk differently; slow and stooped. Aged prematurely. And quite dull. Or perhaps, like you said, I just didn't notice before.
only one of my friends was able to wake up and admit that he had thought I was wrong to be against the shots, then after he got three of them and got some scary health issues and delved into it on his own.... realized he wished he'd listened to me when I'd warned him against the poisons. He still didn't really realize how it felt from my perspective, but that's OK. At least we can talk now.
It was sooo horrible for me. I still can't believe the whole thing. After listening to my parents mention some stuff about their lives in Nazi Germany days I couldn't believe I was basically living it, minus the actual bombs. A Target here even had a watchtower in the parking lot for a while resembling those Nazi Germany towers, I couldn't handle it. I don't know why it was there?? It is not healthy to hide in your house, EVER. I know.........my grandmother was agoraphobic and never left the house and I mean NEVER after I was born. There is just too much I could say..................Totally I cannot view a lot of people in the same way. I just can't. Their stupidity and compliance ruined our lives..............it didn't have to happen. This really made me see who people really were like nothing else every could.
To quote Douglas Murray, "Sometimes during a war a flare goes up which allows one to see exactly where everyone stands".
The way some people responded to Covid was just such a flare.
I suppose it is better to know the truth about people, but there may also be some advantages to the approach that "Ignorance is Bliss".
"A Target here even had a watchtower in the parking lot for a while resembling those Nazi Germany towers".
Madness.
Dani Richards— Totally hear you.
The shut off of common human compassion was stunning to me. Still is.
It took myself AND my dog to get sick, to find there was still a bit of compassion left in my former best friends. When I was completely down they both offered to drive me and the dog to the doc. Thankfully the dog healed on her own. I managed to get myself to the office and got some antidepressants, that thankfully helped and only did rise my blood pressure, which stabilized again 2 months later. Now out of that doctors hands again LOL. And the dog was probably sick because I was, the poor darling.
The last line of your comment is the best part. Reminds me of James 1 about facing trials and learning to persevere.
I still feel that same isolation, even though supposedly "Covid is over". I don't think I can ever really feel connected to society at large after what happened, knowing that the vast majority of people would ostracize and shame me again at the drop of a hat -- or some made-up emergency.
Just nuke the Exploratorium!
“The supreme trick of mass insanity is that it persuades you that the only abnormal person is the one who refuses to join in the madness of others, the one who tries vainly to resist. We will never understand totalitarianism if we do not understand that people rarely have the strength to be uncommon.”
- Eugene Ionesco, 1983
Thank you for being uncommon.
It never made sense to me. Most others DID descend into madness.
I love those who read what I write because they are uncommon.
And yet, not interpersonally weird. Rather, very personable.
Honest to god that's true. The more that people were all in, the less like-able they were in general and I wouldn't want their company in any case.
The most normal and kind people I've met were generally not in the trendy majority in most ways.
And yet Facebook was a runaway hit with people who wanted to be conspicuous. They couldn't splatter their lives on there fast enough. It made everyone feel like a celebrity: seen, admired, and envied. Then in 2020 those same people existed in utter terror of being noticed in a grocery store for going the "wrong" way down an aisle. Bizarrely, they wanted adulation for being just like everyone else, not for being exceptional.
Exactly!
Interesting indeed.
Exactly. Read Emily Dickinson's brief poem that starts..............."Much madness is divinest sense".....I learned that one in high school and it impressed me ever since..........such truth in a few words. I may borrow that Ionesco quote.
Thank you for this one.
Much Madness is divinest Sense
To a discerning Eye
Much Sense - the starkest Madness
’Tis the Majority
In this, as all, prevail
Assent - and you are sane
Demur - you’re straightway dangerous
And handled with a Chain
Yes! My favorite poem! I have it at the beginning of one of my articles which I don’t know if I am supposed to post that here?? https://wordnerdmusings.substack.com/p/is-insanity-normal
I don't think the author will mind. I have seen it done in other comments.
Ionesco's play "Rhinoceros"— he was a truth teller and a prophet.
That's an interesting explication of Exodus 23:2!
From the Greek:
You shall not be with many in evil, you shall not be added with many, you shall not incline with many, so as to incline judgment.
Very apt.
I read the Textus Receptus, but the Greek is good! TY
New England hospitals and other medical facilities profited handsomely from Coronamania. The hush money paid to doctors and nurses means they continue to double down on masks, experimental injections, and prescribing deadly drugs such as Paxlovid and Remdesivir.
Patients damaged by mandated shots are gaslit on a daily basis (the lucky ones die suddenly) and many are suffering slowly and painfully with little or no help from DartmouthHealth, Mass General Brigham, or any other monopoly in the region.
As long as the medical industrial complex profits and the portfolios of the pharma prostitutes in our state houses remain flush, there will be no justice.
Mandates culled every industry of the best and brightest and most ethical people.
Hush money. The tie-in to Mark's rental experience being given $70 off for the bad experience, paired with the request for a good review. Mark's resolve to not outright lie about the experience becomes negotiable in the context of hush money. While the lie doesn't leave the lips (h/t Solzhenitsyn) what does the silence signify? Could it be considered 'hush money?'
This isn't a challenge to Mark about how he ultimately chooses to handle the review request. Just an acknowledgement that sometimes even we, believing ourselves to be the truth-tellers, may find our truth negotiable when the lie is one of omission. We are not compelled to leave any review of any business. And rarely do. Only the advent of social media has made it more common.
So he/we negotiate that new terrain as best we can. Not every experience need be shouted from the rooftop. But if we withhold sharing a bad experience because we were incentivized not to then we've entered the negotiation phase of truthiness. And we all do it to some degree in our lives. Not every offense need be exposed. It's just when financial incentives become a part of the equation, makes reviews so transparently transactional that makes us question our truthiness meter that things become awkward.
"Mandates culled every industry of the best and brightest and most ethical people."
Absolutely true. This will make the next round of "mandates", for whatever reason, that much easier.
today Jon Fleetwood posted something strange - he interviewed someone who thinks the 'virus' was some sort of test. Was COVID a U.S.-Engineered Self-Spreading Animal Vaccine?
Nothing surprises me anymore, so I read through it although I think it is just another conspiracy theory LOL
Like we all need chronic spike protein exposure - long CoViD!
Great read, Mark.
It remains an unfortunate habit of mine to scour my local daily newspaper. I also watch the network evening news just to see what latest drivel public enemy #1 mainstream media is spewing. There are NEVER stories about the vaccine injured, although heroic Sharyl Attkisson has somehow managed to slip in a few segments on her “Full Measure” reports. My newspaper has daily articles in support of all vaccines including the clot shots and takes great strides to point out and mock “lunatic fringe” antivaxxers. After all it’s about the science, right?
I also do exhaustive reading regarding the origins of and continuing harms done to the human race by these constant injections. Sponsored propaganda is everywhere and more effective than any shots.
What started me on this research was when our GP got upset after I refused the ridiculous (and risky) Gardasil series of HPV shots for my son. After he also insisted on poking me with shingles and pneumonia vaccines and got huffy when I declined, it was time to find a new doctor. Big Pharma hypnotized doctors are making a killing on these potions. I have serious doubts as to whether the truth will ever penetrate the thick skulls of normie sheep.
There is possibly a silver lining to all the corona madness. It truly woke me up to all vaccine harms. I’m older and unquestionably vaccinated my children in the 80’s and 90’s. But since following you and others like you, I started researching and reading. I am now the proud grandmother to my first grandchild who will be completely unvaccinated. I convinced my daughter and son-in-law not to inject her. Still working on my son!
As I walked through the hospital yesterday and saw the "violence won't be tolerated sign" anger bubbled up inside of me. I have been trying to keep my anger in check, but this blatant BS on behalf of the very institutions that murdered and imprisoned innocent people for YEARS under the false pretense of protecting others makes my blood pressure spike. They're advertising compliance for the safety of their staff but ZERO safety for the people who put their trust in them to help them. F that. They deserve every bit of anger or irritation that comes their way. My new neighbors are late 20yr old liberals who wear masks constantly. It's frightening!
They brag about not tolerating violence while never missing a chance to exert force against people. You want the lung transplant that will save your life? Get a shot. You want to make sure we don't accidentally poison your mom while she's admitted? Put a slave rag on.
Interestingly, this past June, my husband and I made our first trip together since our escape to Florida in 2021. Family wedding my side. We traveled "internationally" to the following foreign countries: New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.
I expected to see more lunacy than we did. In fact, we saw little, thankfully. We rented a car, too, after flying north (my first flight since Feb 2020). Happily, every leg and aspect of the trip went swimmingly.
Had lunch with a friend I'd left behind in MA. Lovely person, but did the masking, got the J&J, and I'm sure cooperated with all the other unlawful madness. I asked her a specific question -- something along the lines of, "Now that people can look back on the last five years, how do you think they feel about this great crime having been committed against them?"
Obviously surprised by the question, she answered that she was not aware of anyone who thought that a crime had been committed. This is eastern MA; we were having lunch in Arlington, MA.
She has lived in that area for probably 45 years? Knows a lot of people and cannot think of one who thinks/knows that a great crime got carried out.
That's why I say New York and New England might as well be foreign countries -- because they are. They're home to some "dissidents," but too few to matter.
Well-stated, She.
Sad but true.
SheThinksLiberty—About the dissidents in New England— I've been impressed by the work of many medical freedom activists. I wouldn't write them off completely. Even a tiny group, if focused and disciplined, can achieve a lot. Many have a cadre of state reps and senators working with them.
It's bleak, though, I'll grant you that.
I have friends in Massachusetts, old and dear ones, and they'd say the same as your friend did. If I were to tell them what I know about the white clots— to take but one of many examples— they'd react as if I told them I was having serious conversations with a purple teapot beamed in from Planet Zock. But I do think they're aware at some level because they go on a bit too much about how they love their doctors.
How much THC does she use, and how often?
Yes!!!! I grew up in southern Vermont - don't trust authority, the government is bad, etc., was pounded into my brain! Then the scamdemic and they INSISTED on not just believing the government, but required you to not even argue against it?!?!? It was infuriating, especially when people there would get mad at me for seeing friends or asking questions.
I don't go back very often anymore.
It was so weird that those who said they didn't trust the government went all-in on something so plainly phony.
I'll never forget it. It was mega weird.
Mark points out, THC use has become prevalent there.
Very nice piece, Mark. I feel like this ties in with your prior piece on the absence of manual labor in the lives of the most strident progressives. Too much higher ed without any counter-balance from daily hands-on tasks seems to lead to a loss of common sense and reality. I am forever grateful (in hindsight) that I struggled a bit while working in warehouses, driving delivery vans, etc., before joining the laptop class. Perhaps those experiences gave me a greater perspective compared to the usual white collar matriculation process.
I don't know whether you have written about this specific insanity before, but here in southern California we play tennis outdoors year round. During the scamdemic it was recommended that each player have his own tennis ball with their name written on it and only pick up and handle that one ball. Players changing sides should be careful to go on opposite sides of the court in order to avoid breaching the six foot distance rule. Of course, no shaking hands; that was when the nonsensical touching of rackets became (and continues to be) normal procedure. Some would play wearing a mask or at least put it on if they left the court to get some water or a towel. As you might imagine, the provision of towels by the club was completely discontinued. There were probably other restrictions I have forgotten. It was a real shocker to see how many mature adult tennis players adhered to these rules. Of course, I ignored all of them and tried a little gentle ridicule to ask those that abided by them why they were indulging in such nonsense. It was difficult to maintain a polite demeanor when discussing this level of idiocy. The hardest part was coming to terms with the loss of respect for some people I had known for a long time.
That's unbelievable.
And yet, I believe it.
Pre Covid - That behavior WAS unbelievable.
Post Covid - That behavior is expected.
It would be impossible to make that up. And I just remembered one more thing---they shut off all the water fountains on or around the tennis courts.
lol, yeah
Disgusting display of ignorance. This is why I couldn't go to the gym... I wouldn't have been able to tolerate it. Literally (running in a mask :o) and figuratively.
In answer to your question: were people just as crazy before covid or did covid cause it? i believe our society was already moving toward anxiety, fear, and distortion, ( big shout out to digital and social media thanks alot!) but covid and its attendant isolation, lies and ridiculous reactions, accelerated this descent and gave it permission to flower in all its distortion and sickness. As to those people still wearing masks and wiping down surfaces, lack of every day virus and bacteria exposure is more dangerous than a brief contact with free floating pathogens. Burlington and Vermont in general, are off their rocker Burlington is now the bastion of homeless and drug addicts. Downtown is unpleasant and often unsafe. Not so when my daughter went to UVM 25 years ago. They were always “crunchy” but today they are out of touch with reality.
That's the way it felt.
Great write-up again. Thanks. I had a similar poor experience with a pot smoking hotel parking attendant in the New Orleans French quarter a couple years back. Even though the ceiling beams were very low in the hotel lot beneath the hotel, the required parking attendant insisted on parking my pickup truck (with a bed cap) there. The next day when I went to get my truck, it wasn't in that lot beneath the hotel. Rather it was parked behind the hotel in the open and it had a large paint scratch on the bed cap roof. The driver's side window was also left completely open and a heavy rain during the night had drenched the inside of the cab. The cab also wreaked of pot. However, in my case, the hotel never offered any compensation. They just gave me towels so that I can dry off the inside of the truck. Yeah, that experience sucked. I'm more of a libertarian by nature. I think people should be allowed to do what they want ON THEIR OWN TIME. I believe they have that right even if it means they mess up their lives and/or kill themselves doing it but don't include me in the collateral damage. I think the same applies to the covid crazed people to wear masks. They have that right but don't push their idiotic and illogical practices on me. I think they have the right to mess up their lives as much as they want, partly because I'm libertarian oriented but mostly because there is nothing I can really do to help. The hopelessly covid crazed are ... hopeless.
Strongly agree SJ.
I too believe that everyone is entitled to follow his or her own path - BUT - they are NOT entitled to compel me to accompany them.
And I resent, very much, that I am required to pay for the inevitable consequences of their "idiotic and illogical practices".
..."Instead of validating my perspective, he frowned and said, “Dude, you have no idea. People go crazy if there’s a blade of grass in their car.”...and thus millions are still primed and ready to suck up to the next fake pandemic.
I haven't rented a vehicle in about 35 years. I have had no need to. I wouldn't much care about the germs...just that it didn't beak down.
Ignoring the MSM is an exceptional habit to cultivate. It's mostly indoctrination anyway and the truth is seldom mentioned. I have no reason to worry about things I cannot control. Really, the world has about one half of one percent of "not so nice people" but according to the MSM, about 80% of the world has gone batshyt or is filled with terrorists. All lies.
Yes, the progs and libs went all in on the fake pandemic especially when their pal joey was inducted in the hall of shame in January of 2021. Every little sniffle, cough or sneeze was immediately labeled as covid. It was one gigantic clown show...and it will be soon repeated as the HHS continues to foster the development of more mRNA poisons despite RFK's recent announcement.
RFK Jr just cancelled all funding to mRNA vaccines
I think it would be a great idea if the NIH continues (and by continues, I mean actually starts) to assess all of the issues and side effects of the current covid mRNA vaccine using existing databases. Take a look at the impact of the vaccine on the millions of people in the US that already took it and compare their expected life spans and medical issues against the millions of people that did not take it. The data has been collected but nobody in the US appears to be looking at it, likely because such results may conflict with the highly dubious studies that were used to approve their vaccine. Fortunately, there are very interesting retrospective studies being published in different countries showing the dangers for specific medical conditions. The journal CANCERS in June 2025 published the results of a retrospective study by a group of Japanese researchers that demonstrates that pancreatic cancer patients had their median lifespans cut in half if they had taken 3 or more mRNA covid vaccines previously. Studies like that can provide the information to help make good decisions for current and future medical care.
Absolutely needed. I think RFK Jr is looking into this. I read where he is addressing the VAERS (?) process regarding claims.
Thank you for your excellent observations, Mark. You wrote a very interesting story.
SO many I cannot tolerate any more. Springsteen (is he still alive?) Billy Joel (also??) Dolly Parton (Jolene to vaccine UGH how disgusting - her husband took the fall) I have zero empathy for these people who are either fools or sell outs. I watch tennis but only on mute because I cannot BEAR to listen to the idiots who smeared Djokovic for being SENSIBLE. I will never see regular people the same way again. I now identify as Pigpen. He once said - I love humanity - it's people I can't stand.
Still waiting for one of them to apologize for being wrong about everything.
C'mon, y'all, I know at least ONE of you can do it.
Right?
Stoners don't apologize.
Only if it's from their grave :(
‘as with many Americans who bought the Scam, it’s hard to see this bloke in a favorable light anymore’ ….its hard to see many in a favorable light anymore unfortunately