There are still many, many people who believe we had a “pandemic.”
They believe, and they write today meaning it seriously, that “Covid” was “really, really bad.” It was “Covid” wot did it. Not the government abrogating our constitutional rights. Not the government taking away our property and livelihoods.
Not our fellow citizens calling the authorities on us for not masking.
Not our “friends” calling for us to lose our livelihoods because of our disturbing lack of faith.
No. It was a thing called “Covid.”
These are not cranks. They are normal, often intelligent, people. But they are deluded. Yes, I mean actual psychological delusion.
That’s harder for them to accept —and harder for them to dislodge—because this particular delusion is normalized and common.
But it’s actual crankery. It is the insanity, the disconnection from reality, the folie a millions.
It’s dangerous and it frightens me. It should frighten any aware person.
We cannot trust millions and millions of normal people around us because of it. Now, into the fourth year since “Covid,” it’s almost as widespread a delusion as it was at the height of the panic.
Three years ago I first realized that the feeling I had walking down the street was the exact one the normal characters had when trying to hide from pod people in the film Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
I still have that feeling today, and it distresses me severely that that is true.
It’s not getting better. We’re in trouble.
YEEEEES, this! So much this! It is/was a respiratory bug that affected some people not at all, some terribly, most mildly, exactly like eleventy million other things. I’ve given a fair amount of thought to how much coverage affects perception of danger. I am anaphylactic-shock-and-die allergic to wasps. Other people would be mildly annoyed by a wasp sting. Imagine the satirical video we could do on a walk out here in the boondocks where I live, or where you will soon live. The LURKING DEATH!!! The TERRIBLE DANGER!!! Surely we should all stay home and stay safe, or perhaps don protective gear. After all, probably lots more people would die if they got stung by one too, only they don't know....and now I am re-considering posting this because you know what? I bet the death rate from wasp stings (from people who don't know they're allergic) would probably be higher than that of COVID. What if I give one of these nutjobs ideas?
Josh, I wish I could wave some kind of wand to magically lift you, your friends, and your support structure out of Vermont and into a saner place (although stipulated that “sanity” is relative in this context; it seems the entire country is SOME level of dysfunctional). I’m in a cobalt blue state too, and although my every day experience isn’t as bad as what yours seems to be, I do fantasize about moving somewhere normal, somewhere that still, to some extent, recognizes and defends individual rights.
I wonder when that tipping point occurs--when human connections and support in a place are no longer adequate to offset the creeping authoritarianism. I’m not there yet, but I think about this sort of thing often.
In the meantime, I love your writings and your channel, so at least I have that for comfort and a laugh.