The Western world has been caught in a spiral of self-harm and debasement for the past three years. Aspects of the underlying psychology have been discussed in abstract terms, regarding mass anxiety and the actions of crowds. Little has been said on the possibility that we are simply terrified of death. This is a fear we may need to address, if we are to stop acting like fools.
Death was once part of life. A visit to an old cemetery will reveal that many earlier gravestones are memorials to young children and women of child-bearing age. This is because, obviously, a large proportion of children died before they turned five, and about one in ten (or more) women died in childbirth. Death happened, and people also travelled, had parties, went to concerts, and lived fulfilled lives.
In modern wealthy countries, better hygienic conditions, better food, antibiotics and surgery have largely removed the barriers to a long life. Elsewhere, people still face these threats. However, the average person in Africa or South Asia is not cowering under his or her bed, obsessing about the latest virus, terrified of going outdoors or of meeting neighbours. That is a modern, affluent population obsession. Recent lockdowns in African and Asian countries were mostly responding to external pressure from very wealthy individuals and institutions, or local grabs for increased authoritarian control, rather than genuine fear of a new and deadly threat.
Many in the West now reach adulthood without ever seeing someone die, or even seeing a dead body. Most have never experienced a friend dying, many have not even been to a funeral. Very few have sat with someone as they passed from life. Death is rarely talked about, and coping with a kin’s death is often left to the individual and the support of professional ‘experts’. Public mourning is unfamiliar, and can be an embarrassment. If we believe the lie that humans are merely organic constructs, then death may also be a terrifying blankness of nothing.
Enter COVID-19. At its height in the United States, despite financial incentives to boost reporting and definitions including a positive PCR test a month prior, Covid was associated with less annual mortality than cardiovascular disease or cancer. Our society responded by putting it front and centre of our lives, wrecking economies and livelihoods. We even used children as human shields, injecting them with novel pharmaceuticals in vain hope of protecting ourselves.
We can indulge in inquiries on the origins of COVID-19, and on the pros and cons of aspects of the response. We can call for Nuremberg II tribunals. We can debate the actual causes of increasing excess death. These are important discussions, but they are missing the point. We need an inquiry, particularly self-inquiry, on why we, or those around us, were open to being led by obviously self-interested people into deeply irrational actions.
Rather than relying on more government panels to tell us what went wrong – what others did to us – we need first to understand what is wrong with ourselves and our communities. This will involve familiarising ourselves with forgotten aspects of life, including death. We need to stop transferring mourning to the professionals, undo the taboos about the fact that life on earth ends for all of us, and bring it into conversation. Then we can start putting it into context, rather than running from the whole idea. That may help to face the difficult issues of what kills us more or less frequently, and how such risk stacks up against going out, seeing the world’s wonders, and sharing time and intimacy with those we love.
Understanding the reasons for society’s loss of grip during Covid matters, because the intent of those who profited from Covid is to do it all again. They are building an international bureaucracy whose sole purpose is to identify more ‘novel’ viruses, claim they are an existential threat, and repeat what we have just been through. Over and over again. This relies entirely on people believing the false premise that the threat of deadly pandemics is increasing, that they are killing more than before, and that they are an existential threat to all of us regardless of age and underlying health. We are not asked to fear the predominant causes of death, such as obesity; we are even encouraged to embrace that as beautiful. We are, rather, being asked to believe many obvious lies. We need to build understanding and resilience to withstand such manipulation.
Saving society from eating itself with fear and stupidity will rely on us educating ourselves. Society’s ‘experts’ are doing very well from pandemics, and have no incentive to provide such education. This will require each of us to find time. Time for discussion, time for self-reflection, and time for thought on what life actually is. We need to calmly sum up what is happening around us, and take the risk of exploring what it is that we really value. Then we can stop others from abusing our ignorance.
Dr. David Bell is a clinical and public health physician with a PhD in population health and background in internal medicine, modelling and epidemiology of infectious disease. Previously, he was Director of the Global Health Technologies at Intellectual Ventures Global Good Fund in the USA, Programme Head for Malaria and Acute Febrile Disease at FIND in Geneva, and coordinating malaria diagnostics strategy with the World Health Organisation. He is a member of the Executive Committee of PANDA.
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I wonder who the WEF have lined up to take over from Ardern. Is this Luxon chap a ‘young globalist leader’ by any chance?
And a tidy WEF sinecure for horse face so she won’t care anyway.
From what I read he is a solid right of centre type guy with views to match. Businessman and CEO of Air New Zealand. It looks like a coalition is the most likely possibility. No info on potential partners in power. You know how bad junior partners are for corrupting the plan.
Thanks for that.
The National Party is a typical centre-right managerialist party used to being a party of government and lacking a clear philosophy. The ACT Party is a classical liberal party with a strong commitment to individual freedom and limitations on the size and scope of the state. The best plausible outcome would be a coalition between the two with ACT in a strong position and able to prevent National drifting leftwards in government, as it usually does. There is much work to do to restore a strong economy and democratic governance based upon the equal civic status of all citizens rather than the privileged civic status for the Maori minority introduced by Ardern.
Neigh, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Perhaps it’ll give her something to chew on over Christmas.
It doesn’t matter, it’s all a charade anyway.
Yes her popularity is tanking but not because of the jibby jabs unfortunately!
Long live the fallen idols
All moths into the flame
You’re chasing your own shadows
Are you not entertained?
— Five Finger Death Punch
The old nag’s job is done. She’ll be amply rewarded for her efforts in some shape or form. Do they have honours systems or such like in NZ?
The only system she should be in is that of a prison, alongside her multinational worldwide WEF colleagues.
Yup. Just look how Mary Robinson’s career worked out after a spell as Irish President. I bet she isn’t too anxious about paying her electricity bill.
I’ll wait and see…
The first thing is to never underestimate the stupidity of the voting public…(i.e re-election of ‘Dictator’ Dan Andrews’)
And second, are we supposed to trust the system any more?…Aren’t all elections decided before hand these days?….It’s hard to explain the re-election of so many despised ‘leaders’ throughout the West otherwise….