“Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin
I find it odd that so many people accept lies and propaganda to feed something baser within themselves. It’s getting pretty ugly out there and truth seems to be a rarity. The corporate owned media, with obvious conflicts of interests, have been a culpable source of fear, disinformation, and are acting like bodyguards for malevolent power who wish to profit and gain control from this pandemic and societal fracturing. Florida’s Governor has not gone along with the black and white manipulative narratives (psychopathy and ignorance) and has taken a more reasoned and sober approach trying to account for all of the variables, problems and potential solution sets. He seems to be leading and doing his best to fight for the citizens and businesses within the state. Hence people are migrating to the state in droves. Bucking the narrative comes with consequences. This morning I saw a headline “Florida pediatric Covid-19 deaths up 140%!” Leading sneakily from the rear, the Director of the CDC is expressing her concern and dismay at Florida’s handling of the situation, as is the Mainstreaming Narratives Industry. The number they are using is 17. There have been 17 deaths in the last 15 months of children and teens with Covid-19, nearly half had pre-existing conditions. That number has grown in recent weeks. However, context is important. According to the CDC’s own website nearly 200 children died of the flu in Florida during the 2019-2020 season, a 12 month period. This demonstrates that not only has the data, science, and education been abysmal throughout this pandemic but so too has context. In this case, the seasonal flu is more than 10x’s deadlier for children and teens than Covid-19.
“I have certain rules. First rule, I don’t believe anything the government tells me.” – George Carlin
I watched CNN yesterday briefly. That channel has become 24/7 gaslighting and propaganda. In a span of just several minutes they spouted a handful of verifiable half truths and lies. Additionally they made apples to oranges comparisons i.e. confusing inoculations, vaccines, and therapeutics. Clearly folks are allowing these partisan hustlers feed their biases and tribalism without questioning. How many times does the American public need to be verifiably lied to before they come together and realize this is not a right/left thing, white/black thing, gay/straight thing, male/female thing etc., but an up/down authoritarian thing. The current measures are not about health or saving lives, this is about control and systemic hijinks that essentially boils down to massive wealth and power transfer from the masses and generations to the very few. An oligarchical run dystopia (neo-feudalism), with a lot of fear, propaganda, and being powerless. I suspect when looking back at this period in history we will realize that we had a choice between conformity and courage and we chose the former, however we did so pretending to be brave for our social media feeds. We are so silly and decadent.
Example: Earlier this year MSNBC and Rachel Maddow won a defamation lawsuit when the judge ruled that Maddow’s viewers know that she is ‘un-factual’. Do people really know that? Does the same go for those others that rinse and repeat the increasingly inane narratives – one might assume so.
“Off goes the head of the king, and tyranny gives way to freedom. The change seems abysmal. Then, bit by bit, the face of freedom hardens, and by and by it is the old face of tyranny. Then another cycle, and another. But under the play of all these opposites there is something fundamental and permanent — the basic delusion that men may be governed and yet be free.” – H.L. Mencken