I think this may be your best contribution to the history of the 'pandemic' that never was, and considering your body of work, that is really saying something.
I agree Momo. This is Mark’s most poignant and incisive piece yet. We all lived the same vignettes of life to one degree or another. It was a total societal psyop.
We shook our heads as heretofore rational and educated friends would visit with us only in their backyards with patio chairs placed at a “safe”distance from each other. And asked us to mask. We disagreed but were stupidly compliant as we valued their friendships.
I invited a 29 year old niece, trained as an architect and her attorney boyfriend to drop in to visit us as they returned from a back-packing trip in our state, only to be rejected. “We’d love to, but with the pandemic, better not. It’s only to keep you safe, Aunt!”
Yes, flashing Big Brother signs out here in the West as well, Mark, as state lines were crossed, announcing state specific measures. “As if!” Indeed.
The saddest thing is, there’s seemingly little introspection by most. They continue to believe we lived through a highly lethal virus and Big Brother kept us safe.
You were willing to wear a mask because you valued their friendships. I wonder if all those folks who avoided friends and family or restricted their get-togethers in any way were ever truly capable of valuing relationships.
What I first recall was my two STEM children paying attention to the first few reported corona-positive people who had traveled out of the country and brought "the virus" home to the US. They were tracking this on a spreadsheet, state by state, when there were still only a handful of reported cases. At first, they were being scientifically silly about it, because the gut reaction was that this posed no threat to any of us.....
But as the news started hyping the fear, things went from silly to serious. One daughter was midway through her final college semester; the lockdowns began and virtual learning, even in her chemistry lab classes. Thank goodness, she already had most of it under her belt. She told me that the professors basically just gave everyone passing grades without really doing any work.
I was sent home from my office job but the two weeks that we expected felt like a surreal performance. There were so many bizarre youtubes that people made, about how they amused themselves locked alone in their apartments. I amused myself watching these. I made myself a facemask out of obnoxious floral flannel "as a joke" and posted myself wearing it on Facebook. I guess, with the mask covering my face, no one could see that I was being ironic when I said, "the new abnormal."
Then the toilet paper shortages started. One day, I was in the grocery and the guy behind me had 2 giant packs of toilet paper. I looked at them, looked at him, and smirked. He smirked back and asked me if I wanted a roll (he seriously was going to break open the pack and hand me a roll). Just saying, there was some friendly solidarity in the bizarreness at that point, and no masks could block our ironic smirks. So we could tell who was fearful and who was just play-acting in this surreal production we were all forced into.
One of my friends asked if I would make her a mask. I said, "seriously??" because I thought they were useless and stupid. She said she would trade me a couple rolls of toilet paper for it. Which I thought was funny, so I agreed. Next thing I knew, I was in business. This turned out to be a good thing, because my employer decided to cut everyone's pay by 10% "as a precaution" of some sort. Making and selling masks (before those paper ones were ubiquitous) made up the difference in my lost salary.
My daughter graduated in May from the University of Maryland. The campus was deserted for the only time in my life I've ever seen it that way. We went to take photos of her in her cap and gown -- never before and hopefully never again, could such eerie photos be taken -- with only my daughter, and not a single other soul in the background of this usually bustling University.
What you wrote about the young adults certainly rings true; my child who is a bit older was already launched and successful. But the one still in school when this craziness hit, ended up running away to a place much farther away, to a non-STEM career that seems to make her much happier than being forced into an artificially fear-induced workplace situation, with insane protocols. Her mental health and long-term happiness are far more important at this point in her life.... it is an important stage: the early-to-mid-to-late twenties. This is when many people meet their future spouse. All of this has been disrupted for our young adult children.
I, as I have pointed out before, live in North Maine ("North Maine" being the name of a new state created to mimic the 1820 division that separated us from the assholes in Massachusetts). I have to drive 45 minutes to see a stoplight. When the powers that be announced "two weeks to......" I damn near had a stroke after about five minutes of analyzing the dire repercussions of such madness, all the while knowing, just knowing 100%, that the communist democrats were peeing their pants in glee because they were able to tear down everything good the Trump administration had done. then it began to dawn on me how much damage this bullshit was going to do to the entire world, except of course, the areas that had little contact with electronic devices. Depression set in and a kind of funk overcame me for a couple of days and then, as I always do when things get me down, I looked inside myself and realized that nothing was going to change much, personally, for me and my wife.
We both are self-employed, she at home designing and producing promotional items, and Me at my welding shop producing a product that I distribute to a dealer network as well as install on site. She gave her customers the option of picking up product just inside the door, or "come in and have coffee"! Most came in. My clientele tends to be the outdoorsy, independent to a fault type that, when they came through my door, might have had a mask on but seemed relieved when I told them that no masks were allowed here. My deliveries were great! Of the fifteen or so sellers, only a couple of them were covidiots, and they didn't seem to be doing much business any way.
There isn't a lot of traffic up here normally. It's not uncommon to not be able to see a vehicle for 1/2 mile ahead and back out on the interstate. that holds for about 75 miles south to where the usual traffic starts to increase. During the lockdown, though, the roads were eerily empty. Great driving conditions. Ha!
When the trillions started trickling down, my business exploded. People had the money and the time to come to me and my sellers and I found myself working as much as my 66-year-old body could handle.
Just before the jab rollout, I twisted my knee and had to take a few days to recuperate. That's when I started researching this whole sordid mess, going down rabbit holes, contacting friends to assess their reactions, etc. One friend related his experience in NYC. He belongs to a group of morticians that had previously served in New York after 9/11 processing and identifying the bodies that islam was responsible for in that mess. The group decided to go down to help process the excess bodies piling up in the reefers that the talking heads were so breathlessly reporting. He related that the first day there he had nothing to do. Figuring it was all in the planning stages, and they'd get to work soon. The next day......nothing to do. The third day, same thing. on the afternoon of the third, his curiosity piqued, he started looking around and asking questions. He discovered that the cemeteries were closed, the crematoriums were closed, the mortuaries were closed, the morgue, of course was open, but at reduced staffing, ALL BECAUSE OF COVID LOCKDOWNS. Approximately 190 - 200 people die every day in New York City. Where else would they put those bodies if no one was processing them???
When he told me all that, the lightbulb went off. This was complete and utter bullshit. The democrats (and anti-Trumpers) had seized on this opportunity to gain political power, even if it meant that they destroyed one of the best economies in decades.
Then the rollout. This highly experimental, novel technology was nothing like vaccines of the past. Having studied genetic manipulation since as far back as the Genentech announcement way back in the seventies, I knew that what they were doing was manipulating the recipient's DNA, the building blocks of this magnificent machine we reside in. That was a BIG RED FLAG for me. Once the mod is done, who's to say it just disappears?? The same people that sold us Thalidomide, Darvon, and a myriad of "safe" non-addictive painkiller drugs and paid billions in fines for fraudulently promoting these drugs as "safe" were assuring us that "this time Charley Brown", things would be different.
I'll stop here and continue in an email when time permits and you can use it, or not. Thanks for giving me the chance to vent.
"During the lockdown, though, the roads were eerily empty. Great driving conditions. Ha! ". You still had to watch out for moose, though, right? They didn't stay home with their masks on! :)
As ever, Mark, I so appreciated reading your essay.
Re:
"People trust and value their TVs, radios and computers more than they trust or value people they’ve known for decades. Some friends email me and say, “Let’s get together when this thing is over.” I lose their phone numbers."
Amen to that. To me there was something very visceral about that kind of betrayal. I try to be polite and kind when seeing such old friends and family members, all of whom consider themselves caring and responsible good people for having done and said what they did and said. But I don't feel the same about them after 2020-2022, and I don't think I ever will. Now I know: Someone can flip their switch and they'll leave you to die. Does that sound like an exaggeration? Well, it's not. I saw it. That was the essence of 2020.
Thanks for the mention at the end about the transcripts.
Yes, it was The Great Betrayal. I was cancelled by several for not taking the Quackcine. Good riddance I say. And I’m finding those who were in lockstep with the measures really are not that nice after all.
The saddest part for us was that our adult daughter was one of those who cancelled us. She unfortunately lives in NYC - the heart of the plandemic darkness. Nothing I said mattered. NOTHING. I’m just holding my breath waiting for a terrible phone call after her 9th injection or whatever number the poor fools are on now.
Knowing that I'm surrounded by such hapless sheep is what makes me most upset. I had no idea that most friends, neighbors and even family were so easily accepting of such utter and complete insanity. To this this day, I can not look at them the in the same way as before. Knowing that these sheeple will willfully follow the next set of orders makes me feel very alone.
Amen...my oldest daughters were in their 3rd year of college. It has been very difficult for them to find friends and have a normal young 20s life. I will never forgive this scam!
The small town a few miles down the road had more or less similar scenes, and my 2 best friends went along just like big city people, and partially did until last year. In August 2020 I called around to invite friends for a birthday party but no one wanted to come - I live in a cabin in the woods... I don't think any squirrel, cardinal or owl had the so-called virus. The few people I knen who had been sick had easily recovered. One stayed in hospital for a day because he could not breathe, and that winter, an aunt who is otherwise in fairly good health, got sick, and was left untreated till she almost died. Doctors did not visit patients and advized to wait it out till you get too sick, then call an ambulance and the hospital will take care of you. Being in Belgium at least they did not kill her! The former friends have been invited 3 times, being home and refusing to come means, you don't WANT to come - end of invitations. Then I reconnected with several unjabbed people and these are now invited instead. I have been depressive for almost a year, because these 2 former friends were considered like the sisters I never had... my overseas family all got the jabs, mom and dad had 7 now and dad is in faliing health... he is 90 but 2 years ago he kept a meticulous veggie garden without any trouble, then came the jabs, the property is now sold, and he is in a retirement home, one day happy, next day sad. It has now been 7 years since I saw them. I am not traveling anymore, I got animals and the 2 former friends won't care for them anymore and God forbid, when I go is it certain I can come back home? One craze was enough, I don't even want to think about being in the now foreign country (it has been 20 years now that I live here) and not being allowed to come back.
I remember naively thinking it would all blow over after 2 weeks when the "curve was flat". My neighborhood was like a ghost town as we headed into fall/winter. I never wore a mask outside so people would keep a wide distance from me and not make eye contact; a few made snide comments under their breath. I hated working from home. Eventually they let me come back into the office where I sat a few feet away from an older gentlemen. This was pre-jab and somehow we both lived to tell the tale. As winter of 2021 wore on, I was getting a bit stir crazy (no travel, minimal in-person interactions) so one weekend I took a longer walk into town. To my surprise, it was not a ghost town and the farmer's market was nearly in full swing. Lots of maskers but no one seemed worried about getting within 6 feet of a stranger. On the walk back, I stopped at an Irish Pub for something to eat and I was warmly greeted by a maskless bartender and allowed to sit at the bar where the stools were (gasp!) less than six feet apart! No one was accosted for not wearing a mask to their table (as was local policy at the time). To this day, I still go there nearly every week to give them my business.
Thanks Mark for continuing to write about the mass insanity. I found few in real life that didn't lose their minds throughout the scamdemic.
When I think back on 2020 it seems a telescoped blur; mainly what I recall of those eerily quiet days is that I kept on expecting people to come to their senses, and for the general madness to settle down. Now, in late summer 2024, I realize, for many people the madness is baked in. But not for all people, fortunately.
After Sep 11, I learned that people do not have senses to come to, particularly a moral sense, and are completely devoid of any deep and abiding loyalty to freedom.
Their lack of indignation of their government's destruction of their freedoms -- for "safety's sake -- and support for the destruction of millions confirmed the character of the country and its "pathetic masses" at whom Mark points in this essay.
There was Waco and Ruby Ridge and Oklahoma City and Philadelphia to dishearten, but Sep 11? That did it. It's been a lonely 20+ years, playing along, biding time, surrounded...
Yes, it seems most people prefer to have someone a few grab-holds higher up on the social totem pole (as they perceive it) tell them what to think and what to do. (How else could something so contemptible as the Patriot Act get passed?) Fortunately, though, that isn't everyone. And I'm optimistic because I think this disrepsect for freedom is both a function of the less appealing aspects of human nature and of poor leadership. Better leadership can bring out the better aspects of human nature. And I think this is actually, on a sort of micro-level, what an essay does: it provides leadership. Is it good leadership? Relatedly, does it appeal to the better aspects of human nature? Here, with Mark's essay (to hell with any totem poles), I say that yes, it is, and it does.
Agreed. Many people quickly picked up and started echoing the prescribed platitudes: "Stay Safe!"; "We're all in this together!"; "We're in the middle of a pandemic!!!". I was stunned at how many people can be so easily manipulated by the repetition of tv propaganda.
Sobering- and so unnecessary what went on. Thank you for the memories, I think. Those signs on the highways reminding us to get vaxxed and "stay healthy" for "others' sake" - I took a photo once because it was so bizarre. Deleted it from my phone tho and now I wish I would have saved it because maybe future generations may not believe it. Or will they? Everything was so planned and wrong. And pretty much still is...the response to covid has ruined, permanently, so many things. Especially the health of those who fell for the shots/boosters. Daily I have friends/acquaintances who now have heart issues (athletes!) and returning cancer. Travel in May of 2020 was weird. Phoenix airport was virtually empty when my daughter and I went back to visit my mom - and of course we had to stay in a hotel as my sister was convinced we were going to give my elderly mom covid. Covid didn't kill her but I believe the shots/boosters did. oh and those stupid brown bag breakfasts in the hotel...ugh. I started up the ukulele group that June I believe (I could be wrong here) as the "president" of the group and others were not leaving their homes much and thought we shouldn't get together as we had a "moral obligation" to fill. WTF? No. Our board demanded that all attendees be shotted up. I said that was wrong and wouldn't be asking that question of those who wanted to participate. I was the ONLY ONE saying this...smh. So much brainwashing and they still are. I think the shots and fear mongering created trauma that prohibits these people from engaging in any kind of critical thinking anymore. (Yes they are voting for harris/walz)- we are screwed.
Summer of 2020-2021, tourists visiting North GA because most other states" closed" and GA was " open". Families kayaking on the lake in full 😷!! In 80 degree sunny weather. Dad's asking the young guys who worked at the kayak rentals to disinfect the kayaks before they got on them. Mother's handing out masks to the workers so they could get closer to board the kayaks. Outside, 🌞. Madness. Will never forget these idiots.
Brilliant essay, Mark, perhaps my favorite of all you have shared. I am constantly amazed at how many people not only fell for the nonsense, but still believe that it was somehow necessary and even beneficial. Innumeracy and unthinking obedience to authority are powerful drugs.
I think their contention that it was somehow necessary protects them from having to admit that they were supremely suckered. It amazes me how successfully this grand Psy-Op tied peoples' self worth to their obedience to the messaging. So few are able to admit that they were wrong.
Well, in a certain sense, they did! Look how well it worked. Most people believed them, instead of what was actually happening in real life, before their very eyes.
Or at least that it was well intended. "Yes. There was some overkill. Trump should have quit listening to Fauci. There were some mistakes made" But they keep getting boosted and will laugh and comply if masking comes back.
You really hit the nail on the head with this one. How easily are we controlled. It’s shameful.
On another note, from personal experience, I can tell you that Gus my 12 year old golden retriever has retrieved absolutely nothing in his lifetime. Nothing. Gracie on the other hand drinks beer, retrieves everything and kills any prey in her path. Can I blame the lockdown on this?
As the "Stay home for 2 weeks" started, I remember sitting at the dining room table with my wife, each of using our computers, going about our business. Surprisingly, it wasn't a bad experience, I fully expected us to get on each others nerves. The 2 weeks went to a month, then she went back to work, only to return a few days later for another 2 weeks, due to certain people at night rioting/protesting/getting their George Floyd on a few hundred feet from where she worked. Eventually, I became a full time work-from-home employee, only to go into the off for certain meetings or when I need my password reset (yeah, I don't know why the help desk couldn't do that over the phone either).
I do remember, on the odd time I did go into the office during 2020-22, being berated by the self-appointed "mask police" for not wearing a mask when I was going to and fro to the bathroom or coffee stand. Apparently I was putting at risk the other 10 people on the floor.
On the good side of things, I got to see how my friends, colleagues, and people in general REALLY thought. Very eye opening, to say the least.
Died from COVID? I don't know anyone. From our circle of friends, most have been jabbed and they have "tested" positive for CV multiple times and even have been sick...with CV....who knows? Flu and colds still exist, right?
People prefer screens to human contact. That's the only answer for what happened and continues to happen.
It seems to have brought out a lot of latent narcissism too. This whole scamdemic crap was readily embraced by large numbers of my sex I noticed. Funny, since women seem to have stronger needs for socializing than men. (Speaking in generalities.) Mean girls love lockdowns and enforced masking.
In 2017 my wife and I, shorn of further parental responsibilities, left our native Tulsa and went to Seattle for a 13-week travel nursing contract. Little did we know it would be 3 years, not 13 weeks, before we returned to our 3-storey home in the hills of South Tulsa.
We fell in love with the PNW. Truth be told, me more than her.
Kayaking and sailing on Puget Sound, hiking, snowshoeing, and skiing in the Cascades, eating exotic foods every night in the hustle and bustle of the New Rome (Seattle), it was intoxicating.
Truth is, I really didn't plan to ever go home again.
But one night in late March 2020, my wife came to me with a troubled look, and I asked her what was bothering her.
"It's the people here; they're turning mean" she explained.
At this point Gov. Inslee had shut down the state, and only essential workers were allowed to travel. The national parks were even closed, and the beautiful PNW was essentially lost to me, and I was confined to our 516 sq. foot apartment albeit with a stunning view of the Space Needle.
I could tell this wasn't just a mood for her, and so after a little bit I asked " Do ... do you want to go home?"
Tears in her eyes, she nodded yes and I was shocked. We had had such a romantic time in the PNW - exploring a new city and a new topography, I had no intention of ever going back except to see family. Maybe.
"Ok, give your notice and we will go back home."
That Easter we had to watch our FSSP parish Easter Mass *on television* because the tyrannical Washington state governor forbade public Mass, and our cowardly church buckled under. (I'll never forgive those chickenshit cowards. Not ever. )
Two months later we were back home. 6 days after that, the warlords took over Seattle's Capitol Hill (we had lived at the base) and we were *very* glad to be Oklahomans again, with the restored ability to travel wherever the Hell we pleased.
But a couple weeks later, we went to the local Trader Joes here in Tulsa. I'd developed a real fondness for TJs just up the street from us in Eastlake Seattle.
But here was a pink haired girl telling me i needed a mask to go in. In Tulsa, Oklahoma!
I've never been back, and never will. Fuck you stupid libs.
“Our cowardly church buckled”….Just a week before the lockdown in March 2020, I was in a packed TLM and then …an online Lent and Easter! It was surreal. Two world wars have not cancelled Easter! My parish church reopened in June 2020 but with masks required during mass! My one consolation was the priest gave communion in the tongue. By mid 2020, the alternating pews with tapes were removed and the stupid masks were no longer required! But of course, most people continued wearing them. My other consolation was finding fellow parishioners who refused the vax like me and was surprised how many we are.
Wanting to visit and Travel to the State of Oregon or Washington or Maine was a difficult decision, because of what those State Governor's did to the population. Still can't go.
Hi Mark, your writing continues to amaze me. Back in the thick of the complete and total scamdemic (CTS?) yours was one of the few substacks I could turn to that would settle me down somewhat because I live in a small California seaside town with many well educated dumbas-- residents, not dumba-- residents, I almost said dumbasses but I meant residents, anyway, I'd see these dum-- residents, sorry, but I'd see these fucking dumbasses walking to our town's tiny post office in the heart of downtown to check their daily mail, as we have no mailboxes in this one-square-mile-area of town, and the people were all dutifully masked, but I couldn't bring myself to wear one. Sure it was rebellion, and of course I knew the whole thing was an elaborate collection of lies with a wide array of ultimate very bad goals, very obvious from early on to those who can spot such things, people like yourself, and yes, people like me, but the one thing I needed to work on was keeping my anger in check; but I could not wear a mask, it made me feel terrible, like I was violating something deep inside of me, some sort of weird code I used to cling to when I was bullied at a young age when I'd be in yet a new school, 3 in 4th grade alone, a code that told me "take the beating, get at least one punch in, don't cry out, never cry, and never run". I'd walk past a masked du-- person and see the anger in their eyes, and depending on their age, gender, and physical size, the younger and bigger male the better, I'd decide whether I should bark out an answering insult and try to chip away at their embarrassing treacly compliance to an elite group who had zero interest in the effects of their monstrous scam on the little people, free to enjoy their maskless gatherings at the French Laundry and Obama's birthday party in Martha's Vineyard, apparently oblivious to the very real suffering they created in communities these elites pretend most need our help, as well as the communities that appear to make most elites' skin crawl. But it was when I walked to my town's tiny park with my basketball to practice my beautiful (haha) mid-range outside shot and found the hoop had been taken down that my anger boiled over. Big time. This was the day I decided to get louder, making bigger fusses than ever before, and then I'd go on back home, and read your substack, this is a true fact, and feel way less embarrassed about my behavior. You are TRULY a very good writer Mark. Thanks for another great one today.
I think this may be your best contribution to the history of the 'pandemic' that never was, and considering your body of work, that is really saying something.
I agree Momo. This is Mark’s most poignant and incisive piece yet. We all lived the same vignettes of life to one degree or another. It was a total societal psyop.
We shook our heads as heretofore rational and educated friends would visit with us only in their backyards with patio chairs placed at a “safe”distance from each other. And asked us to mask. We disagreed but were stupidly compliant as we valued their friendships.
I invited a 29 year old niece, trained as an architect and her attorney boyfriend to drop in to visit us as they returned from a back-packing trip in our state, only to be rejected. “We’d love to, but with the pandemic, better not. It’s only to keep you safe, Aunt!”
Yes, flashing Big Brother signs out here in the West as well, Mark, as state lines were crossed, announcing state specific measures. “As if!” Indeed.
The saddest thing is, there’s seemingly little introspection by most. They continue to believe we lived through a highly lethal virus and Big Brother kept us safe.
"Oh, yes," said the (un)sophisticated young people, "we are hiding from you to protect you."
You were willing to wear a mask because you valued their friendships. I wonder if all those folks who avoided friends and family or restricted their get-togethers in any way were ever truly capable of valuing relationships.
I have met Dani and Momo: two very insightful, likable people.
You two would be close friends. And you live not that far aprt.re both
What I first recall was my two STEM children paying attention to the first few reported corona-positive people who had traveled out of the country and brought "the virus" home to the US. They were tracking this on a spreadsheet, state by state, when there were still only a handful of reported cases. At first, they were being scientifically silly about it, because the gut reaction was that this posed no threat to any of us.....
But as the news started hyping the fear, things went from silly to serious. One daughter was midway through her final college semester; the lockdowns began and virtual learning, even in her chemistry lab classes. Thank goodness, she already had most of it under her belt. She told me that the professors basically just gave everyone passing grades without really doing any work.
I was sent home from my office job but the two weeks that we expected felt like a surreal performance. There were so many bizarre youtubes that people made, about how they amused themselves locked alone in their apartments. I amused myself watching these. I made myself a facemask out of obnoxious floral flannel "as a joke" and posted myself wearing it on Facebook. I guess, with the mask covering my face, no one could see that I was being ironic when I said, "the new abnormal."
Then the toilet paper shortages started. One day, I was in the grocery and the guy behind me had 2 giant packs of toilet paper. I looked at them, looked at him, and smirked. He smirked back and asked me if I wanted a roll (he seriously was going to break open the pack and hand me a roll). Just saying, there was some friendly solidarity in the bizarreness at that point, and no masks could block our ironic smirks. So we could tell who was fearful and who was just play-acting in this surreal production we were all forced into.
One of my friends asked if I would make her a mask. I said, "seriously??" because I thought they were useless and stupid. She said she would trade me a couple rolls of toilet paper for it. Which I thought was funny, so I agreed. Next thing I knew, I was in business. This turned out to be a good thing, because my employer decided to cut everyone's pay by 10% "as a precaution" of some sort. Making and selling masks (before those paper ones were ubiquitous) made up the difference in my lost salary.
My daughter graduated in May from the University of Maryland. The campus was deserted for the only time in my life I've ever seen it that way. We went to take photos of her in her cap and gown -- never before and hopefully never again, could such eerie photos be taken -- with only my daughter, and not a single other soul in the background of this usually bustling University.
What you wrote about the young adults certainly rings true; my child who is a bit older was already launched and successful. But the one still in school when this craziness hit, ended up running away to a place much farther away, to a non-STEM career that seems to make her much happier than being forced into an artificially fear-induced workplace situation, with insane protocols. Her mental health and long-term happiness are far more important at this point in her life.... it is an important stage: the early-to-mid-to-late twenties. This is when many people meet their future spouse. All of this has been disrupted for our young adult children.
Wow, Dani, That's thorough, thoughtful and painful.
Dani I am so glad to hear that the craziness led your younger daughter to a much better work place.
what's STEM?
Stands for:
Science
Technology
Engineering
Math
regarding, usually, college majors or careers.
My reference has to do with the fact that my kids are data-oriented and like to analyze things in a nerdy way.
Thanks! And thanks for sharing also.
I, as I have pointed out before, live in North Maine ("North Maine" being the name of a new state created to mimic the 1820 division that separated us from the assholes in Massachusetts). I have to drive 45 minutes to see a stoplight. When the powers that be announced "two weeks to......" I damn near had a stroke after about five minutes of analyzing the dire repercussions of such madness, all the while knowing, just knowing 100%, that the communist democrats were peeing their pants in glee because they were able to tear down everything good the Trump administration had done. then it began to dawn on me how much damage this bullshit was going to do to the entire world, except of course, the areas that had little contact with electronic devices. Depression set in and a kind of funk overcame me for a couple of days and then, as I always do when things get me down, I looked inside myself and realized that nothing was going to change much, personally, for me and my wife.
We both are self-employed, she at home designing and producing promotional items, and Me at my welding shop producing a product that I distribute to a dealer network as well as install on site. She gave her customers the option of picking up product just inside the door, or "come in and have coffee"! Most came in. My clientele tends to be the outdoorsy, independent to a fault type that, when they came through my door, might have had a mask on but seemed relieved when I told them that no masks were allowed here. My deliveries were great! Of the fifteen or so sellers, only a couple of them were covidiots, and they didn't seem to be doing much business any way.
There isn't a lot of traffic up here normally. It's not uncommon to not be able to see a vehicle for 1/2 mile ahead and back out on the interstate. that holds for about 75 miles south to where the usual traffic starts to increase. During the lockdown, though, the roads were eerily empty. Great driving conditions. Ha!
When the trillions started trickling down, my business exploded. People had the money and the time to come to me and my sellers and I found myself working as much as my 66-year-old body could handle.
Just before the jab rollout, I twisted my knee and had to take a few days to recuperate. That's when I started researching this whole sordid mess, going down rabbit holes, contacting friends to assess their reactions, etc. One friend related his experience in NYC. He belongs to a group of morticians that had previously served in New York after 9/11 processing and identifying the bodies that islam was responsible for in that mess. The group decided to go down to help process the excess bodies piling up in the reefers that the talking heads were so breathlessly reporting. He related that the first day there he had nothing to do. Figuring it was all in the planning stages, and they'd get to work soon. The next day......nothing to do. The third day, same thing. on the afternoon of the third, his curiosity piqued, he started looking around and asking questions. He discovered that the cemeteries were closed, the crematoriums were closed, the mortuaries were closed, the morgue, of course was open, but at reduced staffing, ALL BECAUSE OF COVID LOCKDOWNS. Approximately 190 - 200 people die every day in New York City. Where else would they put those bodies if no one was processing them???
When he told me all that, the lightbulb went off. This was complete and utter bullshit. The democrats (and anti-Trumpers) had seized on this opportunity to gain political power, even if it meant that they destroyed one of the best economies in decades.
Then the rollout. This highly experimental, novel technology was nothing like vaccines of the past. Having studied genetic manipulation since as far back as the Genentech announcement way back in the seventies, I knew that what they were doing was manipulating the recipient's DNA, the building blocks of this magnificent machine we reside in. That was a BIG RED FLAG for me. Once the mod is done, who's to say it just disappears?? The same people that sold us Thalidomide, Darvon, and a myriad of "safe" non-addictive painkiller drugs and paid billions in fines for fraudulently promoting these drugs as "safe" were assuring us that "this time Charley Brown", things would be different.
I'll stop here and continue in an email when time permits and you can use it, or not. Thanks for giving me the chance to vent.
Thanks for the account, HPP.
Please add more in the comments, not just email,. north Maine. I want to read more of your experiences and observations.
"During the lockdown, though, the roads were eerily empty. Great driving conditions. Ha! ". You still had to watch out for moose, though, right? They didn't stay home with their masks on! :)
Thank you for this. Really, thank you.
Now I wanna move to northern Maine.
As ever, Mark, I so appreciated reading your essay.
Re:
"People trust and value their TVs, radios and computers more than they trust or value people they’ve known for decades. Some friends email me and say, “Let’s get together when this thing is over.” I lose their phone numbers."
Amen to that. To me there was something very visceral about that kind of betrayal. I try to be polite and kind when seeing such old friends and family members, all of whom consider themselves caring and responsible good people for having done and said what they did and said. But I don't feel the same about them after 2020-2022, and I don't think I ever will. Now I know: Someone can flip their switch and they'll leave you to die. Does that sound like an exaggeration? Well, it's not. I saw it. That was the essence of 2020.
Thanks for the mention at the end about the transcripts.
The Great Betrayal.
Yes, it was The Great Betrayal. I was cancelled by several for not taking the Quackcine. Good riddance I say. And I’m finding those who were in lockstep with the measures really are not that nice after all.
The saddest part for us was that our adult daughter was one of those who cancelled us. She unfortunately lives in NYC - the heart of the plandemic darkness. Nothing I said mattered. NOTHING. I’m just holding my breath waiting for a terrible phone call after her 9th injection or whatever number the poor fools are on now.
This is very sad. The young people were so gullible. They have wrecked their futures by buying a series of grand "public health" lies.
Yes and she was very virtuous about it all. So hard to stomach without screaming. We only text at this point. And that is few and far between.
My like button doesn't work on the articles, so I must tell you, what you write here is also true for me. Thank you for saying it.
Thanks, Momo.
"Someone can flip their switch and they'll leave you to die. Does that sound like an exaggeration? Well, it's not. I saw it."
That's people. the good thing about all this is that you learned that.
Or maybe it's not such a good thing. Better, maybe to never know.
Nah, it's sad, but I'm glad to know.
Knowing that I'm surrounded by such hapless sheep is what makes me most upset. I had no idea that most friends, neighbors and even family were so easily accepting of such utter and complete insanity. To this this day, I can not look at them the in the same way as before. Knowing that these sheeple will willfully follow the next set of orders makes me feel very alone.
Same here, Tank.
I hope you've found some new friends, as I have.
Amen...my oldest daughters were in their 3rd year of college. It has been very difficult for them to find friends and have a normal young 20s life. I will never forgive this scam!
The small town a few miles down the road had more or less similar scenes, and my 2 best friends went along just like big city people, and partially did until last year. In August 2020 I called around to invite friends for a birthday party but no one wanted to come - I live in a cabin in the woods... I don't think any squirrel, cardinal or owl had the so-called virus. The few people I knen who had been sick had easily recovered. One stayed in hospital for a day because he could not breathe, and that winter, an aunt who is otherwise in fairly good health, got sick, and was left untreated till she almost died. Doctors did not visit patients and advized to wait it out till you get too sick, then call an ambulance and the hospital will take care of you. Being in Belgium at least they did not kill her! The former friends have been invited 3 times, being home and refusing to come means, you don't WANT to come - end of invitations. Then I reconnected with several unjabbed people and these are now invited instead. I have been depressive for almost a year, because these 2 former friends were considered like the sisters I never had... my overseas family all got the jabs, mom and dad had 7 now and dad is in faliing health... he is 90 but 2 years ago he kept a meticulous veggie garden without any trouble, then came the jabs, the property is now sold, and he is in a retirement home, one day happy, next day sad. It has now been 7 years since I saw them. I am not traveling anymore, I got animals and the 2 former friends won't care for them anymore and God forbid, when I go is it certain I can come back home? One craze was enough, I don't even want to think about being in the now foreign country (it has been 20 years now that I live here) and not being allowed to come back.
I remember naively thinking it would all blow over after 2 weeks when the "curve was flat". My neighborhood was like a ghost town as we headed into fall/winter. I never wore a mask outside so people would keep a wide distance from me and not make eye contact; a few made snide comments under their breath. I hated working from home. Eventually they let me come back into the office where I sat a few feet away from an older gentlemen. This was pre-jab and somehow we both lived to tell the tale. As winter of 2021 wore on, I was getting a bit stir crazy (no travel, minimal in-person interactions) so one weekend I took a longer walk into town. To my surprise, it was not a ghost town and the farmer's market was nearly in full swing. Lots of maskers but no one seemed worried about getting within 6 feet of a stranger. On the walk back, I stopped at an Irish Pub for something to eat and I was warmly greeted by a maskless bartender and allowed to sit at the bar where the stools were (gasp!) less than six feet apart! No one was accosted for not wearing a mask to their table (as was local policy at the time). To this day, I still go there nearly every week to give them my business.
Thanks Mark for continuing to write about the mass insanity. I found few in real life that didn't lose their minds throughout the scamdemic.
I thought that, within in a month, people would tire of the restrictions and ignore them.
I was mostly wrong about this.
When I think back on 2020 it seems a telescoped blur; mainly what I recall of those eerily quiet days is that I kept on expecting people to come to their senses, and for the general madness to settle down. Now, in late summer 2024, I realize, for many people the madness is baked in. But not for all people, fortunately.
After Sep 11, I learned that people do not have senses to come to, particularly a moral sense, and are completely devoid of any deep and abiding loyalty to freedom.
Their lack of indignation of their government's destruction of their freedoms -- for "safety's sake -- and support for the destruction of millions confirmed the character of the country and its "pathetic masses" at whom Mark points in this essay.
There was Waco and Ruby Ridge and Oklahoma City and Philadelphia to dishearten, but Sep 11? That did it. It's been a lonely 20+ years, playing along, biding time, surrounded...
Yes, it seems most people prefer to have someone a few grab-holds higher up on the social totem pole (as they perceive it) tell them what to think and what to do. (How else could something so contemptible as the Patriot Act get passed?) Fortunately, though, that isn't everyone. And I'm optimistic because I think this disrepsect for freedom is both a function of the less appealing aspects of human nature and of poor leadership. Better leadership can bring out the better aspects of human nature. And I think this is actually, on a sort of micro-level, what an essay does: it provides leadership. Is it good leadership? Relatedly, does it appeal to the better aspects of human nature? Here, with Mark's essay (to hell with any totem poles), I say that yes, it is, and it does.
Agreed. Many people quickly picked up and started echoing the prescribed platitudes: "Stay Safe!"; "We're all in this together!"; "We're in the middle of a pandemic!!!". I was stunned at how many people can be so easily manipulated by the repetition of tv propaganda.
"Stay safe" makes me cringe.
"Stay safe" pisses me off!
Sobering- and so unnecessary what went on. Thank you for the memories, I think. Those signs on the highways reminding us to get vaxxed and "stay healthy" for "others' sake" - I took a photo once because it was so bizarre. Deleted it from my phone tho and now I wish I would have saved it because maybe future generations may not believe it. Or will they? Everything was so planned and wrong. And pretty much still is...the response to covid has ruined, permanently, so many things. Especially the health of those who fell for the shots/boosters. Daily I have friends/acquaintances who now have heart issues (athletes!) and returning cancer. Travel in May of 2020 was weird. Phoenix airport was virtually empty when my daughter and I went back to visit my mom - and of course we had to stay in a hotel as my sister was convinced we were going to give my elderly mom covid. Covid didn't kill her but I believe the shots/boosters did. oh and those stupid brown bag breakfasts in the hotel...ugh. I started up the ukulele group that June I believe (I could be wrong here) as the "president" of the group and others were not leaving their homes much and thought we shouldn't get together as we had a "moral obligation" to fill. WTF? No. Our board demanded that all attendees be shotted up. I said that was wrong and wouldn't be asking that question of those who wanted to participate. I was the ONLY ONE saying this...smh. So much brainwashing and they still are. I think the shots and fear mongering created trauma that prohibits these people from engaging in any kind of critical thinking anymore. (Yes they are voting for harris/walz)- we are screwed.
Summer of 2020-2021, tourists visiting North GA because most other states" closed" and GA was " open". Families kayaking on the lake in full 😷!! In 80 degree sunny weather. Dad's asking the young guys who worked at the kayak rentals to disinfect the kayaks before they got on them. Mother's handing out masks to the workers so they could get closer to board the kayaks. Outside, 🌞. Madness. Will never forget these idiots.
Yes, let's disinfect the kayaks!
Brilliant essay, Mark, perhaps my favorite of all you have shared. I am constantly amazed at how many people not only fell for the nonsense, but still believe that it was somehow necessary and even beneficial. Innumeracy and unthinking obedience to authority are powerful drugs.
I think their contention that it was somehow necessary protects them from having to admit that they were supremely suckered. It amazes me how successfully this grand Psy-Op tied peoples' self worth to their obedience to the messaging. So few are able to admit that they were wrong.
"They did the best they could."
Ugh.
Well, in a certain sense, they did! Look how well it worked. Most people believed them, instead of what was actually happening in real life, before their very eyes.
Along with 'out of an abundance of caution '!
Or at least that it was well intended. "Yes. There was some overkill. Trump should have quit listening to Fauci. There were some mistakes made" But they keep getting boosted and will laugh and comply if masking comes back.
Trump should have said, "When have we ever locked down over a virus?"
"Never? Then we're not doing it now."
The governors. Forty nine losers.
You really hit the nail on the head with this one. How easily are we controlled. It’s shameful.
On another note, from personal experience, I can tell you that Gus my 12 year old golden retriever has retrieved absolutely nothing in his lifetime. Nothing. Gracie on the other hand drinks beer, retrieves everything and kills any prey in her path. Can I blame the lockdown on this?
As the "Stay home for 2 weeks" started, I remember sitting at the dining room table with my wife, each of using our computers, going about our business. Surprisingly, it wasn't a bad experience, I fully expected us to get on each others nerves. The 2 weeks went to a month, then she went back to work, only to return a few days later for another 2 weeks, due to certain people at night rioting/protesting/getting their George Floyd on a few hundred feet from where she worked. Eventually, I became a full time work-from-home employee, only to go into the off for certain meetings or when I need my password reset (yeah, I don't know why the help desk couldn't do that over the phone either).
I do remember, on the odd time I did go into the office during 2020-22, being berated by the self-appointed "mask police" for not wearing a mask when I was going to and fro to the bathroom or coffee stand. Apparently I was putting at risk the other 10 people on the floor.
On the good side of things, I got to see how my friends, colleagues, and people in general REALLY thought. Very eye opening, to say the least.
Thanks Help.
I love my wife and we got along. But it was too much time together for each of us. There were too few places to go to.
I repeatedly asked people, "Who do you know that has died?"
I got the weakest answers. But people still bought the Scam.
Died from COVID? I don't know anyone. From our circle of friends, most have been jabbed and they have "tested" positive for CV multiple times and even have been sick...with CV....who knows? Flu and colds still exist, right?
People prefer screens to human contact. That's the only answer for what happened and continues to happen.
It seems to have brought out a lot of latent narcissism too. This whole scamdemic crap was readily embraced by large numbers of my sex I noticed. Funny, since women seem to have stronger needs for socializing than men. (Speaking in generalities.) Mean girls love lockdowns and enforced masking.
In 2017 my wife and I, shorn of further parental responsibilities, left our native Tulsa and went to Seattle for a 13-week travel nursing contract. Little did we know it would be 3 years, not 13 weeks, before we returned to our 3-storey home in the hills of South Tulsa.
We fell in love with the PNW. Truth be told, me more than her.
Kayaking and sailing on Puget Sound, hiking, snowshoeing, and skiing in the Cascades, eating exotic foods every night in the hustle and bustle of the New Rome (Seattle), it was intoxicating.
Truth is, I really didn't plan to ever go home again.
But one night in late March 2020, my wife came to me with a troubled look, and I asked her what was bothering her.
"It's the people here; they're turning mean" she explained.
At this point Gov. Inslee had shut down the state, and only essential workers were allowed to travel. The national parks were even closed, and the beautiful PNW was essentially lost to me, and I was confined to our 516 sq. foot apartment albeit with a stunning view of the Space Needle.
I could tell this wasn't just a mood for her, and so after a little bit I asked " Do ... do you want to go home?"
Tears in her eyes, she nodded yes and I was shocked. We had had such a romantic time in the PNW - exploring a new city and a new topography, I had no intention of ever going back except to see family. Maybe.
"Ok, give your notice and we will go back home."
That Easter we had to watch our FSSP parish Easter Mass *on television* because the tyrannical Washington state governor forbade public Mass, and our cowardly church buckled under. (I'll never forgive those chickenshit cowards. Not ever. )
Two months later we were back home. 6 days after that, the warlords took over Seattle's Capitol Hill (we had lived at the base) and we were *very* glad to be Oklahomans again, with the restored ability to travel wherever the Hell we pleased.
But a couple weeks later, we went to the local Trader Joes here in Tulsa. I'd developed a real fondness for TJs just up the street from us in Eastlake Seattle.
But here was a pink haired girl telling me i needed a mask to go in. In Tulsa, Oklahoma!
I've never been back, and never will. Fuck you stupid libs.
“Our cowardly church buckled”….Just a week before the lockdown in March 2020, I was in a packed TLM and then …an online Lent and Easter! It was surreal. Two world wars have not cancelled Easter! My parish church reopened in June 2020 but with masks required during mass! My one consolation was the priest gave communion in the tongue. By mid 2020, the alternating pews with tapes were removed and the stupid masks were no longer required! But of course, most people continued wearing them. My other consolation was finding fellow parishioners who refused the vax like me and was surprised how many we are.
Wanting to visit and Travel to the State of Oregon or Washington or Maine was a difficult decision, because of what those State Governor's did to the population. Still can't go.
Hi Mark, your writing continues to amaze me. Back in the thick of the complete and total scamdemic (CTS?) yours was one of the few substacks I could turn to that would settle me down somewhat because I live in a small California seaside town with many well educated dumbas-- residents, not dumba-- residents, I almost said dumbasses but I meant residents, anyway, I'd see these dum-- residents, sorry, but I'd see these fucking dumbasses walking to our town's tiny post office in the heart of downtown to check their daily mail, as we have no mailboxes in this one-square-mile-area of town, and the people were all dutifully masked, but I couldn't bring myself to wear one. Sure it was rebellion, and of course I knew the whole thing was an elaborate collection of lies with a wide array of ultimate very bad goals, very obvious from early on to those who can spot such things, people like yourself, and yes, people like me, but the one thing I needed to work on was keeping my anger in check; but I could not wear a mask, it made me feel terrible, like I was violating something deep inside of me, some sort of weird code I used to cling to when I was bullied at a young age when I'd be in yet a new school, 3 in 4th grade alone, a code that told me "take the beating, get at least one punch in, don't cry out, never cry, and never run". I'd walk past a masked du-- person and see the anger in their eyes, and depending on their age, gender, and physical size, the younger and bigger male the better, I'd decide whether I should bark out an answering insult and try to chip away at their embarrassing treacly compliance to an elite group who had zero interest in the effects of their monstrous scam on the little people, free to enjoy their maskless gatherings at the French Laundry and Obama's birthday party in Martha's Vineyard, apparently oblivious to the very real suffering they created in communities these elites pretend most need our help, as well as the communities that appear to make most elites' skin crawl. But it was when I walked to my town's tiny park with my basketball to practice my beautiful (haha) mid-range outside shot and found the hoop had been taken down that my anger boiled over. Big time. This was the day I decided to get louder, making bigger fusses than ever before, and then I'd go on back home, and read your substack, this is a true fact, and feel way less embarrassed about my behavior. You are TRULY a very good writer Mark. Thanks for another great one today.
Thanks, Fred.
I wish Substack existed in March, 2020. I would have posted there instead of on Medium and reached more people.
As you did, I also missed playing BB. It took me a while to find a new place.
"An elaborate collection of lies with a wide array of ultimate very bad goals."
That is a great description. Unbelievable that so many fell for it.
Peoples' gullibility flummoxed me often. It still does.
One of the things that struck me as completely dystopian was the speeches and media lackeys who called this a "Pandemic of Unvaccinated."
https://rumble.com/v585mpl-bidens-abridged-mandata-speech.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AMidwesternDoctor
But they offered a free, fast food burger and fries if you complied.