Covid19 & the denial of veridical reality
It probably hasn’t passed anyone by that the covid19 crisis, whether manufactured or exploited, has caused great schisms in the alternative media.
Almost from day one there was a divide between those who opted to accept and even endorse the rollout of authoritarian measures by governments around the world as ‘necessary evils’ (or even as harbingers of a world socialist revolution; beats me how that is supposed to work but still), and those who pointed out that this rollout was at best flagrantly disproportionate and opportunistic, and at worst a planned response to a planned or cynically manipulated ‘pandemic’.
Over the last few months the position of the latter has become stronger by the day, while that of the former has been weakened to the point of collapse.
As we have pointed out many times the official data has never supported the panic memes. In fact the two entities, data and narrative, co-exist almost independently of one another, telling mutually contradictory stories, without anyone in the Panic-sphere (to coin a phrase) seeming to notice or mind very much.
It’s as if on this topic some very smart people have been hypnotised or vaccinated against fact. They see the numbers, they read the data, but it just does not compute.
When invited to discuss with us these people become hostile, even aggressive. They bluster, they accuse us of manipulation and deceit, of being uncaring about the sick and dying, even of working for the capitalists (because apparently it is now a truth universally acknowledged that the best way to start a revolution is to lock everyone in their houses and give Bill Gates and the WHO the key).
And when pushed into a corner, these otherwise smart people simply deny the facts staring them in the face.
A good illustration of this happened the other day one Twitter.
Tim Anderson, one of those otherwise very smart and focused guys, has been firmly lodged in the Panic-sphere from the outset. He is fairly careful to avoid fact-based discussion, but does indulge heavily in purple-tinged emotional condemnations of those evil people (like us) who are uncaring enough to cite the data on infection and fatality rates.
A couple of days ago he tweeted some of that condemnation:
Time will judge harshly those ignorant but know-it-all commentators who joined the pandemic deniers, anti-science and anti-vax crowds, swinging from 'no worse than a common cold' to 'a plot to poison us all'. Why would people trust them on any other real social issues, in future?
— tim anderson (@timand2037) May 25, 2020
And, for once, we replied, as so…
Are you claiming #covid19 is NOT symptomless to >80% of those infected?
Are you claiming it does NOT give the vast majority who get symptoms nothing more than a cold or mild flu?
Will you give a straight answer for once? https://t.co/1pc4SCiXKr
— OffGuardian (@OffGuardian0) May 25, 2020
Tim did not respond to these questions so far as we are aware, but Moon of Alabama (another otherwise insightful and respected commentator) did. This is what he said.
Covid-19 is NOT symptomless for most grown ups who get it. 80% only present 'mild'
symptoms i.e. they do not develop pneumonia. It
is NOT mild to 20% of cases and very dangerous for 5%. Some 1% of infected die.
Your rejection of current science is embarrassing.@timand2037— Moon of Alabama (@MoonofA) May 25, 2020
Now there is of course only one major objection to this – namely that it is not true.
Or at least some of it is not true and the rest is simply re-stating exactly what we already said while seeming to deny it.
We responded to MoA with two tweets. In the first we linked him directly to Chris Whitty, UK Chief Medical Officer and lockdown proponent, emphatically and clearly restating the facts about covid19’s absolute and unambiguous non-lethality to the vast majority of human beings.
— OffGuardian (@OffGuardian0) May 25, 2020
In the second we tried to point out that he is condemning us for ignoring science while clearly doing just that himself…
What you, MoA call 'science' is mostly speculation & data-free fear memes in the media.
We focus instead on solid official data & expert testimony.
Given your recent output do you really want to open up a discussion about who is or is not embarrassing themselves right now?
— OffGuardian (@OffGuardian0) May 25, 2020
He didn’t reply.
This exchange is pretty typical of many others.
Is this ideology trumping objectivity? Is the bizarre belief that many on the Left seem to have developed that the lockdown is going to bring about revolution or some other form of benign new world order, simply overriding their common sense?
How do you become so inured to veridical reality?
And where do we go from here?
Answers on a postcard please.
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