As Robert F. Kennedy famously said, ‘Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it.’
Fear is a disease that can be passed from person to person and make them behave in deplorable ways, dividing communities, nations and families. We have seen this throughout history. We have learned that the key to the managing the masses to do the unthinkable is to create fear. Wars create fear, loss of financial security creates fear, loss of social inclusion creates fear but loss of health can create the most fear.
Born at the tail end of Generation X, I find the world less and less familiar. As each decade goes by, people seem more risk-adverse asking for state intervention to save them from the perceived dangers of the world. The lowest common denominator seems to be driving the rules for the masses.
The last two years have been exceptional. Starting with a logical reasoning to flatten the curve of a mysterious and potentially deadly virus, we have ended up in a place where we have lost our civil liberties, two years so far of our children’s childhoods, our last days with loved ones before they pass, our culture of music and the arts, our infamous hospitality, our medical freedom and in many cases, our livelihoods. All because of a disease called fear.
I am not disputing that covid-19 can kill and that elderly and vulnerable people should be protected where possible, if they wish to be protected, but the fact of the matter is, the majority of people survive this. Most of us are going to contract this virus whether we live in fear or carry on as normal and the vast majority of people will not only easily survive it, they will only experience mild-moderate symptoms. To be blunt, if you haven’t already had it, it’s in the post. How many more years of their lives are people willing to sacrifice before they realise how much time has been lost living in fear?
Pandemic fear is nothing new: In 1976, 230 soldiers contracted a novel swine flu. Fearing a repeat of the Spanish flu pandemic the government led an enormous propaganda campaign and a vaccine was fast tracked to 45 million americans. The government received damage claims totalling $3.2 billion for injuries and deaths from the vaccine. The death toll attributed to the vaccine was 300; the death toll attributed to the virus was one. 2005 saw bird flu and 2009 witnessed swine flu and most of us lived to tell the tale.
As the goalposts moved over the course of this pandemic, more people became skeptical about lockdowns and giving up their civil liberties to protect a floundering health service – the public’s patience was clearly being tested. Yet, the majority are still influenced by main stream media’s allegiance to government scare-mongering and hysteria. To prevent the skeptical minority inflating in numbers, and to be able to to remove the goalposts altogether, more fear is required. Variants provide a solution to increasing fear – the variant is a mystery, stoking the fear of the unknown. Cults are based on similar principles: where fear is used to control and the leaders will provide salvation. These leaders can coerce their followers to act in a way previously unthinkable.
Vaccines may have softened the blow to hospitalisations and ICU but we know that ‘fully vaccinated’ people spread the virus and can end up in ICU, making it clear that vaccine passports are irrelevant and ineffective and yet their use is rolled out further. We still don’t know what long term effects those vaccines have on our health, or the actual number of side-effects not reported. With several countries pausing or stopping certain vaccines in different age groups, it’s obvious that this is a global experiment. An experiment which is failing as we are now told that we need to have a ‘booster’ to be fully vaccinated, and Leo Varadker in a recent interview suggested that the number of doses may be four, or perhaps an annual vaccine. We are constantly told to ‘trust the science’ – but the science is not absolute. There are several doctors and scientists who hold opposite views to those endorsing vaccines and lockdowns. The problem is that the science that is guiding us has not been allowed to be debated – scientific and medical dissenters are fired or silenced or banned from social media.
Only a tiny percentage of the adult population is unvaccinated so if vaccines work so well, why do we need to vaccinate children when we know severe disease in children is rare? One might argue that in order to prevent any risk of children having an adverse reaction to the virus, we should vaccinate them all but that does not take into account the fact that we do not know what side- effects in the longer term we are inflicting upon our own children whose immune systems have the ability to deal with this perfectly well on their own. Is the government going to do to young children what they have done to the adults and teenagers of this country – if they want to live a ‘normal life’ they must be vaccinated? Certainly, there was no hesitation from the Education Minister to suggest that children would have to ‘stand down’ from school if they did not wear a mask.
There is 7 confirmed death from the Omicron variant, globally. Although deaths from the vaccine are deemed ‘very rare’, the number is significantly greater than one. Why would be vaccinate our children if there is even the slightest possibility that the medicine we give them is far more dangerous to them than the illness? I will add the caveat here that so many of us feel compelled to do – I am not an anti-vaxxer. In fact, I am double-jabbed but as it is quite clear that the vaccines are completely ineffective for transmission and have in no way led us back to normality, I certainly won’t be coerced into taking any more and the idea of vaccinating our children appears beyond reckless.
When a frog is put into boiling water, it tries to save itself and jump out but when a frog is put into a pan of cold water and the water is slowly heated, the frog will let itself be boiled to death. Since the mantra of flattening the curve hit our airwaves, we have been slowly boiled to death.
Perhaps if they gave the power back to the people, the government would be surprised at how well this country would fare. This country is known for its community spirit and ability to look after one another. Antigen tests reduce the spread but perhaps their lack of endorsement is because antigen tests put the power back into the hands of the individual not the government. Increasing our own immunity by taking daily doses of Vitamin D, eating healthily, exercising and laughing more would all help but instead we have been given lockdowns and restrictions, which have an extremely adverse effect on our immunity, our well-being and our lives.
Covid is not what we need to be concerned with, it is the ramifications of two years of restrictions with probably more to come that will create a health pandemic of the likes we have never seen. We are all aware that the vast majority of deaths attributed to covid are already suffering from other illnesses. Like flu, covid ends a life that was close to the end. Why then are we not investing more heavily in cancer treatment, dementia, heart disease etc. These are the real killers. Instead, we are postponing treatments, deferring scans and routine examinations for the diseases that are far more likely to cut a life short.
Death is unavoidable – it comes to us all. Whether we live or just exist in a state of fear is in our own hands.
Fiona Graham is a writer and producer