When the populace is your oppressor, your oppression is complete.
Abir Ballan has replied to this Mark's twit with a thread summarised below:
Democracy is the culprit. For those of you who are not too happy with lockdowns and mandates, know that your oppression was caused and is sustained by the majority rule. Don't ask for democracy. Ask for a new system of governance.
The general public has very limited knowledge in science and statistics - a perfect prey for big interests. It can be easily scared with misinformation and as a result demand illogical solutions. Your oppressor is the scared and misinformed populace.
Here's how the story goes... There is a virus in town. Why let a crisis go to waste! Big Pharma don't mind cashing in. A little nudge to counteract vaccine hesitancy and sell some vaccines. Why not?! It's just part of a business plan.
Lethality perceptions increased: WHO played its trick comparing the CFR of COVID19 with the IFR of the flu (twit below). Two indicators, orders of magnitude apart, should not be compared. In fact, the IFR of COVID 19 is in the range of 0.26% (Ioannidis' Study).
Susceptibility perception increased: WHO claimed that the entire population of the planet is susceptible (framed text below). Wrong again. The Diamond princess study showed an age-graduated mortality and disproved universal susceptibility.
Governments played along. "The perceived level of personal threat needs to be increased among those who are complacent, using hard-hitting emotional messaging."
This was just a nudge. No one probably imagined the ramifications of this little PR exercise. After all, didn't they try to excessively scare people of SARS, MERS and H1N1? No crazy lockdowns then. What's the difference now?
A few factors played a pivotal role this time: 1) technology allowed people to continue functioning at a distance 2) social media led to a contagion of fear 3) the globalisation movement facilitated big decisions by a few people 4) the WEF was ready for a global reset 5) the CCP set a model to replicate 6) the media in the age of technology is motivated by clicks. Bad news gets more clicks. 7) modellers became more prophetic.
The populace became terrified and asked for lockdowns. The power-driven politicians obliged and then became too greedy and indulged in some more power-grabbing. Who can blame them? The populace asked to be saved. (see twit below)
80% of Brits even asked for a second lockdown:
In one Canadian school district, a petition from parents asked that children whose families visited China be kept out of school for 17 days:
People started reporting their neighbours for breaching the COVID19 rules. A new Gestapo was born:
Here's a petition asking for mandatory vaccination. The world is full of little dictators. We need a system of governance that protects us against them.
Now that 'the greater good' has lead to greater harm, what's next? What will the terrified and misinformed populace ask for next? How much longer are you willing to be at the mercy of this majority? How do we uphold our freedoms and liberties in a state of emergency?
A new system is called for. A system where people can choose what they want even in a state of emergency. Close their businesses or keep them open. Send their kids to school or keep them home. Wear a mask or not. Take the vaccine or not.
Under this system, the courageous few would show the way out of the darkness to the light. Think small governments, subsidiarity and decentralisation. Size matters.
COVID-19 and the Political Economy of Mass Hysteria (3/2-2021)
Some replies to Abir Ballan's thread:
“Isolation as common ground of terror. Isolation as a weapon of oppression.” (from "The Origins of Totalitarianism")
Yes, please give this a read! Daniel Larimer: More Equal Animals — The Subtle Art of True Democracy (2019)
John Dryden in 1685 identified both tyranny and democracy as oppressors of the people. 350 years ago, he was spot on.
Some quotes on the oppressed:
