one person more or less accused me of wanting to kill the elderly and infirm
People like that are hysterical, terrified idiots who simply want a hate-figure on whom to vent their spleen: unfortunately you happened fit the bill.
And it was the government policy of emptying the hospitals by shunting old people with influenza-like symptoms into nursing homes and locking them down which caused an horrific death-toll among the elderly. If anyone is culpable for killing the elderly and infirm, it's without doubt the pro-lockdown zealots.
It's a mistake to base our arguments either on predictions about the course of the epidemic - will there or won't there be a second wave and so on - or technical issues - false positives etc.
The key points are:
- The unacceptability of this level and kind of interference in people's personal lives;
- The futility of the measures - even people who noisily support the restrictions will ignore them when they feel the need, as they will all do;
- The absurdity of trying to "suppress" a virus that has already established itself in the population;
- The collateral damage caused by the measures;
- The constant stoking up of hysteria by the politicians and experts (with the help of course of biased predictions and manipulated statistics).
- The suppression of free debate.
None of these arguments is dependent on how the epidemic develops.
Colinou,
I read something in the Telegraph the other day about the unusually high number of unexplained (but non--covid) deaths at home over the past 2 months - over 5000 of them, compared to ~1000 covid deaths.
On my FB group, absolutely nobody showed even a flicker of interest in this, even the ones who shout the loudest about the need for us all to obey the rules to protect the vulnerable. One guy even responded by suggesting I should become a politician because I have a talent for "boring the opposition into submission".
People are so fixated on the covid bogey-man, they seem utterly oblivious to all the other terrible things going on around them.
I'm also fighting a losing battle on the forum I frequent. The person who takes me to task on every point and pushes the government and SAGE line uncritically, entirely convinced by the rising number of 'cases', is winning the room.
I felt much encouraged by Neil Oliver today on IRoMG; my feeling is the smart people are the ones we are listening to (and hats off to the scientific whizzes here whose discussions I read but don't entirely understand).
History will show who were the headless chickens.
Show me the room and I will dominate it! But... you can too if you read a lot and then a lot more and you will get yourself to the point where you can talk about this with confidence in what you saying.
Also you can go back to that room and ask those chickens for proof that covid exists, for a proof that the PCR tests can be used for diagnostics or that they can be used to test for a diseases and also you can ask for a proof that the masks are effective against viruses. These 3 basic question will get you on the top of anyone who is trying to prove you otherwise. Search here for my topic "proof covid-19 does not exist" and I got a part two of it here as well. Don't let yourself to be terrorized by someone who is so dumb and lazy, that without a questions will follow any advice from government regardless how stupid the advice is.
Why are you brushing your teeth ? Because mommy and daddy says so !
Why are you wearing a face mask ? Because mommy and saddy says so ?!
There is nothing more pathetic in this world than people who can not think critically trying to educate people who actually do.
It's a mistake to base our arguments either on predictions about the course of the epidemic - will there or won't there be a second wave and so on - or technical issues - false positives etc.
The key points are:
- The unacceptability of this level and kind of interference in people's personal lives;
- The futility of the measures - even people who noisily support the restrictions will ignore them when they feel the need, as they will all do;
- The absurdity of trying to "suppress" a virus that has already established itself in the population;
- The collateral damage caused by the measures;
- The constant stoking up of hysteria by the politicians and experts (with the help of course of biased predictions and manipulated statistics).
- The suppression of free debate.
None of these arguments is dependent on how the epidemic develops.
I absolutely agree with this, and these were my thoughts from the beginning, although as previously mentioned, it is a bit disarming to see hospital cases and deaths on the rise, albeit slowly.
Each morning I am finding it more difficult to get out of bed and face the day. Luckily I have to make myself get up to walk the dogs.
Regarding the numbers of sceptics, I am surprised by the high number of people agreeing with the Govt or wanting more restrictions (this in itself is stupid - no-one is forcing you to go out and do things - you can restrict yourself as much as you like!). My work brings me into contact with members of the public every day and I was beginning to think that there was an upsurge in the number of people against the lockdown. But now I am feeling despondent and have little hope for the future.
