In a recent piece for the Daily Sceptic Toby Young asks whether “the lockdown dam is about to break“. In other words, are we about to see a sudden collapse in the general consensus that lockdowns were the right thing to do in the circumstances?
It certainly seems that a head of steam is building at the Telegraph and Spectator on the subject. But while I am sure that in 10 or 20 years it will be practically impossible to find anybody who fesses up to having supported lockdown, I’m not sure that the likes of Chris Whitty, Dominic Cummings, Matt Hancock or Neil O’Brien (the Tory MP who acted as Witchfinder General for the Government during 2020-21) will ever publicly admit that the decision to impose any of the various lockdowns or associated measures was wrong. Nor do I think it likely that we will ever have a proper public reckoning with what happened during the Covid period.
In Aesop’s famous fable, a fox, having desired some grapes but been unable to reach them on the vine despite its best efforts, suddenly discovers it did not want them after all. From this we derive the expression ‘sour grapes’, of course, but the fable is of much wider application than that. What Aesop was really describing was a particularly acute form of cognitive dissonance which affects all human beings (possibly foxes too) when confronted with their own failings.
Cognitive dissonance is a well-known psychological phenomenon describing the intense discomfort we experience when forced to hold two mutually contradictory ideas in our minds. The discomfort is indeed so severe that most people take extraordinary steps to avoid falling into such a situation, and will often force themselves to perform all kinds of mental gymnastics in order to achieve this. Hence, desiring a big slice of chocolate fudge cake, but knowing that chocolate fudge is bad for us and we should not eat it (two contradictory impulses), we suddenly fixate on foolish justifications (“well, I walked a lot today”, “I won’t eat anything sweet tomorrow”, “I’ve been under a lot of stress so I deserve a treat”, etc.) so as not to have to confront the truth: we are going to eat something that is plainly bad for us. The reality, stated simply and plainly, is just too stark, so we create little fantasies to soften it.
The worst form of cognitive dissonance is that which the fox experiences in Aesop’s fable. This is the situation in which one’s most cherished belief – that one is intelligent, rational, capable, and indeed rather special and wonderful – is plainly contradicted by failure. This is terrifying for us for the obvious reason that, if this cherished belief is forced up against the reality of failure, it may simply be irrevocably shattered. Such a disaster must be avoided, and the natural reaction that almost anybody has to their own failure is to immediately discover alternate realities in which they would have succeeded were it not for reasons X, Y and Z. “I would have succeeded in getting those grapes off the vine,” the fox reasons to itself, “but I just didn’t really want them.” The truth – it just wasn’t capable of succeeding by its own efforts and that was that – is not reconcilable with its self-image, and an internal ‘just-so story’ must therefore be invented to escape the consequences of truth and self-image colliding.
This form of cognitive dissonance faces almost the entire population of the country with respect to lockdown. For the actual decision-makers, such as Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, Dominic Cummings and Matt Hancock, admitting that lockdown was a mistake would be intolerable because it would mean also admitting to themselves that they made probably the biggest unforced error in peacetime history and are therefore not half as clever as they purport to be. For the hoi polloi, on the other hand, it would mean admitting to themselves that they were gullible and foolish, and in a moment of crisis simply decided to follow the herd – which, again, would hardly be a flattering self-portrait. Holding in one’s mind the notion that lockdown was a mistake is, in other words, irreconcilable with the notion that one went along with it and is an intelligent, thoughtful, rational actor. Nobody wants to experience the psychological consequences of trying to reconcile those notions, and they will therefore continue to avoid doing so.
Some people will achieve this through shifty evasions about how “none of us knew anything about the virus” at the time, “yes, but the backlog in the NHS would have been even worse if we had ‘let the virus rip’”, “we were just following the science”, “all the other countries in the world were doing it”, and so on. Readers of this site will be very familiar with this kind of baloney – we’ve heard a great deal of it.
Other people will avoid the dissonance through the classic smokescreen technique: getting angry. Dominic Cummings, for example, frequently exhibits this sort of posture – most recently in his response to Rishi Sunak’s comments about lockdown, in which he called the former Chancellor’s position “dangerous rubbish” and accused him of having a “melted brain”.
But the vast majority of people will, I suspect, avoid it through the most tried and tested measure of all – forgetfulness. Readers will already have noticed that a kind of collective amnesia has set in when it comes to lockdown, so much so that its consequences are barely mentioned even when they are plainly evident, as in the case of skyrocketing inflation. The entire affair now seems to register with most people, if at all, as a dimly-remembered dream – and, indeed, Covid itself now seems to have been ‘memory-holed’ from daily life; I’m not sure I can remember the last time I even heard it come up in conversation. This is partly a function of the lightning speed with which the news cycle now rotates, of course, but mostly it’s because people – subconsciously, of course – have absolutely no incentive to remember, and every incentive to forget.
Hence, I think it very unlikely that we will see any mea culpae from pretty much anybody when it comes to the decision to enter lockdown. What I think is far more likely is the scenario I briefly sketched out at the start of this article: fast-forward a decade or so and there will barely be a sinner in the land who will admit they supported lockdown, but this will be the product of an almost entirely unconscious process. Few indeed will wish to confront the ugly truth and all that it entails, and few will ever admit to themselves – let alone anyone else – that they made a mistake in 2020.
Dr. David McGrogan is Associate Professor of Law at Northumbria Law School.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Quite possibly correct, though I have not completely given up hope.
The key thing is what happens next time someone tries to cook up a fake pandemic. If people know the covid reaction was a huge mistake but just don’t want to admit it, hopefully they will quietly discard lockdowns and all the other nonsense. I’d take that.
The next big issue is the “vaccines” though. We need to get to a point where cooking up novel therapies for an “emergency” and not testing them properly and lying about them is not the default response. I think this is a much bigger ask.
Beyond that, respect for true freedom of speech and basic rights, even in an “emergency”, need to be established. I’m not hopeful.
The ‘testing’ came about four months into the scamdemic when the ‘novel therapies’ were released upon an unsuspecting Joe Public. It’s almost as if the ‘vaccines’ were readied prior to the release (oops, discovery) of SARS Cov-2, but that would be preposterous wouldn’t it?
Your 2nd paragraph 100%. Was gonna say the same. I totally agree with this article. Not a snowball in hells chance we’ll ever hear an admission that they got it wrong from any of the architects of this debacle. But if they truly were regretful and see what an epic pig’s ear they’ve made of our lives as a result then why no leaders are coming out and saying they will never happen again? Truss said something along those lines but I wouldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her.
I wonder if behind closed doors Johnson and his previous advisors are wishing they’d stuck with plan A and went the rational Swedish route, especially as that country’s having the last laugh now, laughing at the idiot leaders who’ve royally screwed their countries and populations over, no doubt.
I’m fully expecting Rutte do a partial lockdown this winter ( they’ve promised to keep schools and day care open ) and I wouldn’t be surprised to see another curfew. Mask mandates at some stage will be a given. It’ll be like science stood still these last 2.5 years and nothing has been learnt and the mass injections never happened. But we’re all expected to just keep complying with nonsense that demonstrably is ineffective and damaging, getting injected, no questions asked. They can jog on!
“Expect the worst but hope for the best.” Is my philosophy going into autumn.
They don’t need to cook up a fake pandemic, they have cooked up a fake ‘climate crisis’ which is proceeding nicely, closing down agriculture now, having nearly shut down our energy supply – are the people discarding the Net Zero nonsense or any of the other environmentalist nonsense like getting rid of plastics, or obeying meekly, just crumbling a bit?
Indeed, and a fake war (fake in so far as I don’t think it’s our fight).
In fact models plainly show Chocolate Fudge Cake to be the most nutritious and beneficial food available to man.
Such a reckoning comes in many different shapes and forms.
Bunter is out, Hancock is out, Gove is out, Cummings is out. Doubtless, others will follow.
There are, of course, many different reasons for their demise but, no question, their sheer stupidity, incompetence, regarding a common cold coronavirus, has been a contributory factor.
The professional reputation of the Gumby Brothers, Gumby Whitty, Gumby Vallance and Gumby Van Tam, will undoubtedly take a hit that grows, year by year. And so it should.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_AOfzrQYV0
“There are, of course, many different reasons for their demise but, no question, their sheer stupidity, incompetence, regarding a common cold coronavirus, has been a contributory factor.”
I wouldn’t doubt their stupidity but not accepting that these people are acting on orders from above is shallow thinking at best. And the same goes for all the apparent about facery. We are still in an artificial reality and as the story is modified for the winter with manufactured food and energy shortages the apparent stupidity will continue.
Evidence, regarding ‘orders from above’?
Without it, there can be no credibility, only silliness……
Circumstantial evidence is all around you if you take the time to find it. Get into the warren and start looking then ‘join the dots’. Follow the money. It’s all there. Regard the size of national debts. To whom, or what, is this money owed? Who owns the central banks? Who owns the IMF, The World Bank, The Bank for International Settlements? Clue: it ain’t ‘we, the people”.
Yes, of course massive vested interests have exploited the covid lunacy, as they exploit every opportunity, but none of this is evidence of ‘orders from above’.
If anyone has a theory that ‘deep state’ or a supranational clique is directing governments in their actions, it is incumbent upon them to provide evidence if they wish to be taken seriously. I have not yet seen that evidence on here or anywhere else.
What I have seen is the French government pressurizing Bunter into a cave in:
‘French newspaper Liberation, citing sources in Macron’s office, said Johnson’s decision came after the French leader gave him an ultimatum on Friday morning, threatening an entry ban on any traveller from the UK if there were no new measures.
“We had to clearly threaten him to make him finally budge,” the report quoted an Elysee official as saying.
Contacted by Reuters, Macron’s office declined to comment. But a source close to Macron confirmed there was a phone call between the two leaders on Friday. “The way it’s presented is a bit harsh, but we were indeed preparing to close (the border),” the source told Reuters.’
Reuters 21 March 2020
So, who to believe, Reuters and their source or some random punter on here; a close call….or not really?
Those politicians are out to some extent because the media successfully portrayed them as not religious enough in their lockdown zealotry. It’s very dangerous to underestimate the enormous appetite that still exists among many for a repeat of lockdown mania – both from politicians who can weaponize it to accumulate power, and voters who are literally prepared to sacrifice the underpinnings of our society and economy for the drama and excitement of crisis.
I still believe that if Boris had come forth and said very clearly that he apologized for engaging in behaviour that for others was prohibited by law, BUT that he now realized that no one should have had to comply with these ludicrous laws, he would have had a much stronger argument. The fundamental problem we have with politicians of virtually all stripes is that they back themselves into corners of delusion. They can’t make a coherent, logical argument because to do so would require questioning most of what makes up these delusions.
You are absolutely right. It was up to Bunter to stand up and lead.
Instead, pressured by President Micron and others, he caved.
In consequence, byelection, council election results have been cataclysmic.
Many reasons for that but, beyond doubt, not very many of the mewling mask wearing paranoids are Conservative voters. And the Conservative voters stayed at home, many from an instinctive dislike of Bunter’s big state illiberalism.
Most, if not all, Conservative MPs could see themselves losing their seats.
That is why Bunter and many of his, frankly, nutty sidekicks now find themselves on their bicycles.
I saw an interesting suggestion that it’s more OK to disparage lockdowns now (e.g. the recent comments of the two finalists for Prime Minister) so they can take some of the blame for the vax injuries.
I think the author missed and important “escape” mechanism from cognitive dissonance: the scapegoat.
The public can blame the officials, but they’ll resist it because they were all in on it. There isn’t enough opposition and confrontation between the parties in the political class for one lot to try to pin it all on the other.
In fact that is for me one of the scariest things about how the future is shaping up. The ruling, political class have come around to the idea that their opposition isn’t each other but us. We, the public are their enemy, and they basically collude with each other to protect themselves from us. They’ve realised that if the stick together and treat the public as their threat and opposition, their lives are far better and easier.
A reasonable hypothesis. After all, there have been long periods of time within which dictators have survived.
Totally agree with your analysis.
I think the lockdowns were a means of creating the necessary drama to enforce the injections. The injections were the real crime against humanity. That’s where we should focus our attention I think.
It goes something like this:
Covid was introduced in order to pave the way for the ‘miracle’ “vaccines” (bio-weapons), after the injections comes the economic collapse – currently under way – once the population is suitably imiserated a Universal Income can be introduced but in return people must accept a wholly digital currency (CBDC – Central Bank Digital Currency), social credit scoring and obviously the corresponding Digital ID.
Job done. The gates are banged shut. Slave population.
There has never been a “pandemic,” that is probably the greatest lie in the history of this planet but a pandemic was required and all the fear that went with it in order to scare people into accepting the kill shots. Millions are now living under sentence of death. A frightened and confused populace will put up with much for a chance to return to normality and so this winter the screw will turn ever tighter. The tactics this time are economic and eco lunacy.
The end game is depopulation and slavery for the survivors –
“You will own nothing and be happy.”
It’s an interesting one.
The roll out of the jabs has been an abomination. But it’s not without precedent in history. Forced vaccination was a thing in the mid to late 19th century. And the US has had vaccine requirements in schools although not really enforced because there was almost no resistance to it.
However, the forced house arrest of entire populations for months, the prohibition of people running their businesses, these are unprecedented as far as I’m aware. Even in times of war when bombs have been falling on people’s heads people have been allowed to get on with it, even encouraged to carry on.
Lockdowns have represented a crossing of a rubicon that is really very frightening. With it the state has claimed a new power and authority over the individual. It has moved the line of what is acceptable to demand of the population in terms of collective action and responsibility.
And arbitrary house arrest is almost at the limit of what can be done to you. Which means that if you are willing to give the state that power, you will give the state pretty much any power short of it arbitrarily executing people.
The jabs are awful and scary, but lockdowns are also terrifying.
There’s something yet more awful. In the attempt to describe that, I’ll have to do something I usually avoid, namely, bring up a Nazi comparison.
Hitler believed the Jews were a group of hereditary evil people hell-bent on destroying the (Germanic) European culture who needed to be fought in order to prevent them from doing that.
To Susan Michie and her ilk, there are no people on this planet, just vessels of highly dangerous germs whose mere sight can be deadly and who, therefore, must be tightly controlled to the point of limiting biologically necessary bodily functions like breathing as much as possible and virtually eliminating society by prohibiting all social interactions between strangers, starting with people talking to other people.
ie, Hitler believe his enemies to be other humans. The Covidians just regarded them as extremely dangerous things.
This is true, but only for those who want to see their opponents and persecutors face a denouement where the lights can be seen to turn on in their eyes as they realise how wrong they were. That is what we want, but, of course, will not get. However what I believe we will get is the more important part. Even if ignored by many it will nevertheless be clear and will become the established narrative that lockdowns were wrong and highly damaging.
After all, the CCP can’t be wrong.
In the US interestingly the Democrats are already trying to position themselves with regard to vaccines, pointing out Trump rushed them through. This shows at once an awareness of what is coming down the pike and a level of cynicism and attempt to distort the record that is simply off the scale. However, lockdown sceptics have a Trump card (excuse the pun) that will never ever go away and will always serve as the perfect reminder of the the extreme level of crazy that overcame the mass formed. Steve Colbert’s vaccine song and dance sketch. If you haven’t seen this little gem, look it up on YouTube. I promise you it’s worth it.
‘… cognitive dissonance which affects all human beings…’
No not all – just liars, cheats, charlatans, scoundrels and grifters – aka the political, bureaucratic and technocratic classes and ideologues.
If lockdowns and masks were effective, the Common Cold and Influenza would have been eliminated decades ago.
There’s more hope of a reckoning than Mr McGrogran thinks. A head of steam for it will build because of accumulating vaccine injuries.
And then a group wake-up may occur, as the fact dawns that the platform for lockdowns was a lie, the lie of asymptomatic transmission.
People dislike facing the fact that they were wrong – everyone supported lockdown in Apr-20; you could find no one in your permitted outdoor excursions who wasn’t saying ‘Better safe than sorry’.
But people very much like the idea of justice and retribution when they realise they have been hoodwinked and exploited by criminals.
A lot of criminals made fortunes from the lie, the ‘sine qua non’ of all the fear-porning, that covid – uniquely for a known acute respiratory virus – could be spread by people who weren’t already coughing, sneezing and running a temperature.
Frankly, I am so angry with the likes of Johnson, Witty and Hancock that I harbour shameful thoughts of the fate of Mussolini or Ceausescu and have to console myself with the recognition a) I shall never vote for any of the mainstream parties again b) acknowledge that our political elites have failed us c) and our political system is broken.Change now.
Our salvation will not arrive via the ballot box.
No, it certainly won’t. I think I’m inclined to agree with those who say we need to step outside the mainstream altogether and start our civilisation again, having nothing whatsoever to do with the current political set-up and state institutions.
But never mind. “Lessons will be learned”
But why do “we” keep learning the same lessons?
It’s not us who learn the lessons, we can spot the lies from 500 paces. It’s those superior beings who “learn the lessons”, which when translated from slithering serpent speak means “we know best and will carry on as before as you have absolutely no way to change our behaviours and this patronising phrase shows how little we care”
Whilst it’s unlikely any will be behind bars, what we can immediately demand is the brake on awarding Whitty et Al gongs. Destroying the economy with falsehoods should not be rewarded.As for Bozo Johnson returning….give us a break. For Johnson, and Sunak; read Mike and Bernie Winters.
We must never forget. We must keep asking the questions until those responsible are held to account and the links between them and the globalist authoritarian technocrats are in the full glare of publicity. Then we can have a reckoning.
“Of all the offspring of Time, Error is the most ancient, and is so old and familiar an acquaintance, that Truth, when discovered, comes upon most of us like an intruder, and meets the intruder’s welcome” – Charles MacKay
From the book ‘Snake Oil’
“Every step of the way, the international synchronisation of lockdown mandates gave a cosmopolitan veneer to policies that were inherently unscientific, unprecedented, ineffective, totalitarian, brutal and dumb.”
Ain’t that the truth?
Politicians, leaders and governments have been responsible for much worse. Just look at the 2 world wars, or mass deaths by Stalin and Mao. The story gets rewritten so that they did this to save the world. This is already happening with covid. The message is look how many lives we saved, we knew it would be painful but we were willing to make these sacrifices. We can recover.
I agree with this article. The sad thing is that my comparatively easy relationship with my brother has gone forever. He swallowed the official line in its entirety, which I find difficult to understand given he was previously very sceptical of the skills of medics generally. He tore into me very destructively via email for my scepticism (based on my lifelong experience as a Registered Nurse and Midwife). We live at opposite ends of the country, which might be a good or bad thing, communication wise, but either way, I am disinclined to risk more condemnation. I am grateful that my husband and I sing pretty much from the same songsheet.
I would like some tacit signal that it is understood what has been done to us as a society, which is in many ways unforgivable, will never ever be done again, but it will not be forthcoming.
I do think that, even if we can resist further destruction of society in aid of the despicable Green Reset, there will never be a reckoning. The nation simply cannot afford the vast sums in compensation that would result from the thousands of court cases that would follow on from an admission of mismanagement alone.