Having, over the past 20 months, not seen many people they used to see, I wonder if people are experiencing, or will soon experience, a Rip Van Winkle Reaction to the rediscovery of various extended family members, friends and activities. It’s as if we’ve been socially/experientially asleep during the Scamdemic, and will find it disorienting to have lost a 20+ month slice of normal life. Those you haven’t seen for that long will look different: older and perhaps heavier. So will you and I.
I found faith in the pandemic. It reminds me the search for objective truth matters, that nature is still more powerful than mere humans, and has humbled me to the reality many things are beyond human control, and mass phobia that has never been justified by actual outcomes for anyone under 65 that isn’t morbidly obese is beyond my individual control. It also reminds me that changing the world isn’t the goal, changing one mind, or helping one person, at a time not only helps that person, but it also keeps the world from changing me.
While we chose our children’s private Christian school for the top academics, I have found the school’s rejection of wokeness (CRT and gender ideology), as well as their commitment to keep kids at the center of the policy and learning in person, to be of an even greater value than the top academics and STEM labs where kids as young as 5 get to experiment hands on and learn to love actual science. The school lives it’s values in a way far too many churches and other religious schools have quickly abandoned over the last couple of years.
In their weekly Bible versus I have begun to rediscover my faith. The first one my daughter had this year was Ephesians 4:25 “Therefor each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body." Both kids have had numerous versus on the importance of truth, and the dangers of falsehoods. I find them comforting.
Humans have done crazy things throughout history, and stories thousands of years old, from a book written over thousands of years, acknowledging the capability of human mass hysteria while reminding people to seek and speak actual truth, and to stay grounded in actual truth, brings me a great deal of peace. It eases my shock at how phobic, hysterical, cruel, and ridiculous so many I know have become.
It’s not to say SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t exist - it does. There are outliers and I have full recognition I am as likely, or unlikely, as any other healthy 39 year old woman to be one. My husband is as likely, or unlikely, as any healthy 42 year old man to be one. Still, we are far more likely to die in a car accident. Our kids are more likely to die hitting their head in the bathtub or shower (and I actually know several people, including a child, who died that way).
As far as empathy, I have never found lying about health to be a super empathetic thing to do. It’s not that I don’t “care” what others think, it’s that actual outcomes matter more than hurt feelings (mine or anyone else’s). Seeing children terrified of a cold is heartbreaking. Watching parents “vaccinate” their already immune young children shocking. These things are shocking because they are actually harmful in reality yet the justification for causing the harm is based entirely in falsehoods.
I have found the strength to stay firm in truth and reality by having some faith - faith this too shall pass, faith the truth will eventually set us free, faith that standing firm in truth will help us navigate this crazy world. Faith that there is still objective truth and it still matters. 🤷♀️
I love the comment from the person who said they’ve run out of empathy. That’s me. I just can’t cater to people who are being irrational any longer. I have a family member who is trying to make suggestions to get the family (vaxxed and unvaxxed) together. God bless her for trying but she proposed masks for Christmas. I told her it was a hard no. I’m not wearing a mask and not forcing my kids to wear a mask to “protect” vaccinated people who should already feel protected. She suggested Covid testing but seemed surprised when I said the vaxxed would have to get tested too. Why should I have to pay for our tests and no one else has to when they can spread it tone another as easily as we can??!! I’m just not playing this game any longer. Thankful for my friends this Thanksgiving. We have great people in our lives who can care less if someone is vaxxed or not!
Fauci needs to be tried for crimes for war crimes, crimes against humanity and treason. Not sure he would get prison for any of those but he should also be charged with racketeering and corporate manslaughter. Knowing that weasel, he would get off on the lesser of all charges.
I suppose the normies are slowly waking up. But it's painfully slow. Maybe by next March after the upcoming winter wave is over and we are 24 months (TWO YEARS!) into this thing, people will finally figure it out.
Even where I am in the free state of Florida, 80 - 90% of people *STILL* wear masks in the grocery store when 1) the government doesn't require it, 2) the store itself doesn't require it, and 3) our cases are at super low levels. I guess they think the masks protect them or they're just afraid to be the first person to take it off. Well, I go into the store maskless and try to set a good example but I have no idea why these people would voluntarily wear the face diaper.
An excellent piece. Thanks for posting it. It has been surreal. My favorite Corona Kabuki is the well known scientific fact that Corona at a restaurant only attacks when patrons are standing up. However, sitting at the table with masks off prompts the Corona bug to respect your sovereignty and not attack. Glad they figured that one out quickly.
I never bought in to the hysteria. Made sure my teenage kids didn’t get sucked into the fear porn either. Luckily for me my extended family is like minded for the most part. I never quarantined and would not volunteer to wear a mask. Would force the shopkeepers to confront me to wear one, most didnt. Walked around grocery stores getting dirty looks but didn’t care. Luckily we live in Florida with the worlds most sane leader in charge. My oldest son and nieces are in state college, no jab requirements, or mask mandates involved. No testing to go on campus, so for them life’s been basically normal. I see these people still walking masked, there kids masked, and I just don’t understand it. The mental damage this scam has done is very real for a lot of people. Im of the opinion most will never recover from it.
I agree with you on every point. I have resisted but have not spoken out loudly. I have not attended protests. I'm guilty of trying to keep my head down until it blows over. My son is an inspiration and bullied his way to vote maskless in NY, fall 2020. Poll workers insisted they would not allow him to cast his vote and physically tried to prevent him as he fed his ballot into the scanner. Vote was cast. A vaxxed coworker last week risked his career to speak up against mandates; I feel like a coward because I saved my job by filing the exemption form. But forcing this vax on my kids for school, that will not stand. Enough mass psychosis! I will not humor this insanity any longer. This never ends until we fight.
The Colorado Denver metro area counties, all their heath boards went around the governor and issues statewide indoor mask mandates yesterday. I'm not complying. It's not enough for these freaks to live in fear, they have terrorize the rest of us. NO MORE.
While you’re finally visiting those pesky complicit vaxxed up relatives after not seeing them for over 20 months be sure to assuage their fears by letting them know that:
*You’ve only ordered all of your groceries online.
*You only bath or shower with a mask on.
*As an extra protective measure you’ve started putting toilet paper all around the rim before sitting.....even at your own house.
*All food is now washed off by soaking it in an alcohol solution (60% minimum) including bread.
*Remote controls, door knobs, cell phone, vehicle steering wheels and every chair or seat are steri-wiped hourly, including your pillow before you lay down.
*You’ve stopped talking to people on the phone that aren’t fully vaxxed (now with at least 3rd booster) because you’ve heard that one can “digitally” spread the “Cov”.
* If you’re forced outside, even to pick up your mail or take out the trash, all clothing is immediately removed and washed with bleach.
*Of course all incoming mail is steri-wiped and then microwaved for at least 30 seconds since you’ve been unable to verify if the mail carrier is fully jabbed and also up to date with their last 3 years of flu vaxx’s.
Should be a great holiday.
Don’t forget the belt loop alcohol dispenser to keep everyone safe.
"The Scamdemic has been the kind of experience during which you learn about peoples’ character, mental health and critical thinking ability. You weed your garden."
Another great piece Mark. Your well expressed firsthand observations help a lot of us reinforce our tether to reality. Your experiences undoubtedly mirror our own with the friends and family we thought we knew.
I hope you take this the right way. Your contempt for the majority of people that have fallen for this scam does not help anybody and only adds width to the divide that is separating humanity. They are victims of the most sophisticated psychological warfare campaign ever constructed. We can not blame them. They are victims, as we all are. Their price might even be steeper than ours in the end. The damage done is not irreversible. And by that I mean the human race might still survive in its current form. They might start seeing the light after booster 3 or 4 and when that penny drops they will need friends. It's for this reason I haven't cut anyone off. I can still go out and enjoy drinks with friends that have downed the Kool-Aid. Sometimes we can even have a cogent conversation about it and they'll lay out their reasons for believing and I'll lay my reasons out for not believing. If you cut people off because they post about how happy they are to get jabbed then I guess it wasn't much of a friendship. For me, friendship is one of the most sacred things in life. The friendships I build are deep and long-lasting and this issue, although immensely frustrating, won't break them. And if a friend cuts me off for an "anti-vax" post that friendship wouldn't have been real. But it has never happened. Even though many friends will dunk on me they are still up for a beer and a poker night as am I. I understand the psychology behind this campaign and the numbers have borne out. Out of 10 close friends only 3 haven't bought the narrative. That's 30%. The same 30% that can't be hypnotized. If I extrapolate out to a further 10 more casual but decent friendships, it's the same percentage. I hold out hope that the spell will be broken and like I said, when it does, they are going to need someone to explain it all to them and to give them some comfort. They are not yet beyond the pale.
Of course, if this mass psychosis deepens and I feel like they are starting to discriminate, things may change. Until that happens, I love them all. If we retreat into our own cliques during this time we only do harm to the societal psyche. We need more love at this juncture, not less.
I ran out of empathy a year ago. I want nothing to do with masked-up zombies.
I found faith in the pandemic. It reminds me the search for objective truth matters, that nature is still more powerful than mere humans, and has humbled me to the reality many things are beyond human control, and mass phobia that has never been justified by actual outcomes for anyone under 65 that isn’t morbidly obese is beyond my individual control. It also reminds me that changing the world isn’t the goal, changing one mind, or helping one person, at a time not only helps that person, but it also keeps the world from changing me.
While we chose our children’s private Christian school for the top academics, I have found the school’s rejection of wokeness (CRT and gender ideology), as well as their commitment to keep kids at the center of the policy and learning in person, to be of an even greater value than the top academics and STEM labs where kids as young as 5 get to experiment hands on and learn to love actual science. The school lives it’s values in a way far too many churches and other religious schools have quickly abandoned over the last couple of years.
In their weekly Bible versus I have begun to rediscover my faith. The first one my daughter had this year was Ephesians 4:25 “Therefor each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body." Both kids have had numerous versus on the importance of truth, and the dangers of falsehoods. I find them comforting.
Humans have done crazy things throughout history, and stories thousands of years old, from a book written over thousands of years, acknowledging the capability of human mass hysteria while reminding people to seek and speak actual truth, and to stay grounded in actual truth, brings me a great deal of peace. It eases my shock at how phobic, hysterical, cruel, and ridiculous so many I know have become.
It’s not to say SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t exist - it does. There are outliers and I have full recognition I am as likely, or unlikely, as any other healthy 39 year old woman to be one. My husband is as likely, or unlikely, as any healthy 42 year old man to be one. Still, we are far more likely to die in a car accident. Our kids are more likely to die hitting their head in the bathtub or shower (and I actually know several people, including a child, who died that way).
As far as empathy, I have never found lying about health to be a super empathetic thing to do. It’s not that I don’t “care” what others think, it’s that actual outcomes matter more than hurt feelings (mine or anyone else’s). Seeing children terrified of a cold is heartbreaking. Watching parents “vaccinate” their already immune young children shocking. These things are shocking because they are actually harmful in reality yet the justification for causing the harm is based entirely in falsehoods.
I have found the strength to stay firm in truth and reality by having some faith - faith this too shall pass, faith the truth will eventually set us free, faith that standing firm in truth will help us navigate this crazy world. Faith that there is still objective truth and it still matters. 🤷♀️
I love the comment from the person who said they’ve run out of empathy. That’s me. I just can’t cater to people who are being irrational any longer. I have a family member who is trying to make suggestions to get the family (vaxxed and unvaxxed) together. God bless her for trying but she proposed masks for Christmas. I told her it was a hard no. I’m not wearing a mask and not forcing my kids to wear a mask to “protect” vaccinated people who should already feel protected. She suggested Covid testing but seemed surprised when I said the vaxxed would have to get tested too. Why should I have to pay for our tests and no one else has to when they can spread it tone another as easily as we can??!! I’m just not playing this game any longer. Thankful for my friends this Thanksgiving. We have great people in our lives who can care less if someone is vaxxed or not!
Fauci needs to be tried for crimes for war crimes, crimes against humanity and treason. Not sure he would get prison for any of those but he should also be charged with racketeering and corporate manslaughter. Knowing that weasel, he would get off on the lesser of all charges.
It's a cult. Branch Covidians. Cults are difficult to leave, like the Hotel California. We can only hope to lead them out of the darkness by example.
I suppose the normies are slowly waking up. But it's painfully slow. Maybe by next March after the upcoming winter wave is over and we are 24 months (TWO YEARS!) into this thing, people will finally figure it out.
Even where I am in the free state of Florida, 80 - 90% of people *STILL* wear masks in the grocery store when 1) the government doesn't require it, 2) the store itself doesn't require it, and 3) our cases are at super low levels. I guess they think the masks protect them or they're just afraid to be the first person to take it off. Well, I go into the store maskless and try to set a good example but I have no idea why these people would voluntarily wear the face diaper.
An excellent piece. Thanks for posting it. It has been surreal. My favorite Corona Kabuki is the well known scientific fact that Corona at a restaurant only attacks when patrons are standing up. However, sitting at the table with masks off prompts the Corona bug to respect your sovereignty and not attack. Glad they figured that one out quickly.
I never bought in to the hysteria. Made sure my teenage kids didn’t get sucked into the fear porn either. Luckily for me my extended family is like minded for the most part. I never quarantined and would not volunteer to wear a mask. Would force the shopkeepers to confront me to wear one, most didnt. Walked around grocery stores getting dirty looks but didn’t care. Luckily we live in Florida with the worlds most sane leader in charge. My oldest son and nieces are in state college, no jab requirements, or mask mandates involved. No testing to go on campus, so for them life’s been basically normal. I see these people still walking masked, there kids masked, and I just don’t understand it. The mental damage this scam has done is very real for a lot of people. Im of the opinion most will never recover from it.
I agree with you on every point. I have resisted but have not spoken out loudly. I have not attended protests. I'm guilty of trying to keep my head down until it blows over. My son is an inspiration and bullied his way to vote maskless in NY, fall 2020. Poll workers insisted they would not allow him to cast his vote and physically tried to prevent him as he fed his ballot into the scanner. Vote was cast. A vaxxed coworker last week risked his career to speak up against mandates; I feel like a coward because I saved my job by filing the exemption form. But forcing this vax on my kids for school, that will not stand. Enough mass psychosis! I will not humor this insanity any longer. This never ends until we fight.
A fabulous read - you captured my every thought on the Scamdemic and your prose is spot on. Thank you.
The Colorado Denver metro area counties, all their heath boards went around the governor and issues statewide indoor mask mandates yesterday. I'm not complying. It's not enough for these freaks to live in fear, they have terrorize the rest of us. NO MORE.
I gave them 15 days… that was it. Watched the Stockholm Syndrome set in, I’ve completely lost faith in humanity 😂
While you’re finally visiting those pesky complicit vaxxed up relatives after not seeing them for over 20 months be sure to assuage their fears by letting them know that:
*You’ve only ordered all of your groceries online.
*You only bath or shower with a mask on.
*As an extra protective measure you’ve started putting toilet paper all around the rim before sitting.....even at your own house.
*All food is now washed off by soaking it in an alcohol solution (60% minimum) including bread.
*Remote controls, door knobs, cell phone, vehicle steering wheels and every chair or seat are steri-wiped hourly, including your pillow before you lay down.
*You’ve stopped talking to people on the phone that aren’t fully vaxxed (now with at least 3rd booster) because you’ve heard that one can “digitally” spread the “Cov”.
* If you’re forced outside, even to pick up your mail or take out the trash, all clothing is immediately removed and washed with bleach.
*Of course all incoming mail is steri-wiped and then microwaved for at least 30 seconds since you’ve been unable to verify if the mail carrier is fully jabbed and also up to date with their last 3 years of flu vaxx’s.
Should be a great holiday.
Don’t forget the belt loop alcohol dispenser to keep everyone safe.
"The Scamdemic has been the kind of experience during which you learn about peoples’ character, mental health and critical thinking ability. You weed your garden."
That really resonated with me.
Another great piece Mark. Your well expressed firsthand observations help a lot of us reinforce our tether to reality. Your experiences undoubtedly mirror our own with the friends and family we thought we knew.
I hope you take this the right way. Your contempt for the majority of people that have fallen for this scam does not help anybody and only adds width to the divide that is separating humanity. They are victims of the most sophisticated psychological warfare campaign ever constructed. We can not blame them. They are victims, as we all are. Their price might even be steeper than ours in the end. The damage done is not irreversible. And by that I mean the human race might still survive in its current form. They might start seeing the light after booster 3 or 4 and when that penny drops they will need friends. It's for this reason I haven't cut anyone off. I can still go out and enjoy drinks with friends that have downed the Kool-Aid. Sometimes we can even have a cogent conversation about it and they'll lay out their reasons for believing and I'll lay my reasons out for not believing. If you cut people off because they post about how happy they are to get jabbed then I guess it wasn't much of a friendship. For me, friendship is one of the most sacred things in life. The friendships I build are deep and long-lasting and this issue, although immensely frustrating, won't break them. And if a friend cuts me off for an "anti-vax" post that friendship wouldn't have been real. But it has never happened. Even though many friends will dunk on me they are still up for a beer and a poker night as am I. I understand the psychology behind this campaign and the numbers have borne out. Out of 10 close friends only 3 haven't bought the narrative. That's 30%. The same 30% that can't be hypnotized. If I extrapolate out to a further 10 more casual but decent friendships, it's the same percentage. I hold out hope that the spell will be broken and like I said, when it does, they are going to need someone to explain it all to them and to give them some comfort. They are not yet beyond the pale.
Of course, if this mass psychosis deepens and I feel like they are starting to discriminate, things may change. Until that happens, I love them all. If we retreat into our own cliques during this time we only do harm to the societal psyche. We need more love at this juncture, not less.