There are two threads to the matter of Covid that should be discussed but they do merge. The first regards vaccines. For context, I’m fully vaccinated**. The vaccine(s) were developed in a miraculous timeframe under President Donald Trump, and distribution was well under way by January 2021. The template for distribution should also be attributed to Trump. Biden has done nothing but tweak distribution amounts and locations and make public announcements about what the industry is doing. About half the country has received at least one shot. Somewhere between one forth and one third of the US population is not interested in receiving the shots at this time. Because the number of willful recipients is starting to evaporate, the tone of government encouragement for vaccination is starting to rapidly change from “please be patient, we’ll get to you as soon as possible” to something closer to “if you don’t step forward soon and do your duty, we might have to do something about that”, a veiled threat.
The other dynamic is masks, a topic I’ve discussed numerous times. To summarize, the true science-based efficacy of masks is limited to a small number of circumstances and mask types, nevertheless, the mandates for use are virtually universal. This indicates that masks are a mass exercise in control, submission, and conformity.
Where these two threads come together is that vaccines do indeed negate the need for masks – if we assume that masks work to begin with, and prior to vaccine distribution, that was the promise held forth. This has radically changed. The narrative coming from Biden/Fauci now is this: You must be vaccinated or else AND you must wear a mask, or else. They want to have it both ways: vaccines work, therefore you must have it, but maybe they don’t work well enough because we still insist that you wear a mask. I and others have spent plenty of time bashing the Biden/Fauci contradiction. The fact of the matter is that it no longer matters because corporate America and the population at large has entirely embraced and internalized the Biden/Fauci contradiction such that they would propagate and enforce it even if Biden/Fauci never brought it up again. We’re now in very dangerous waters, we are inhabited by citizen Stasi.
At this juncture one year ago, we were still in full ‘lockdown’ but with some motion indicating possible let up. Masks had been described as unnecessary by Fauci. Even throughout the summer, mask usage was voluntary and sporadic. In my locality, and I believe most everywhere, conformity of mask use was almost universal by the end of the summer, just in time to see the rate of Covid infection begin to climb from the end of September to an all-time high in January, fully contradicting the argument on mask efficacy. By late December into January, vaccinations were being distributed to medical professionals. By the time the first wave of recipients had received full immunization after their second shot, the rate of infections had already been plummeting for weeks. There was no cause-and-effect correlation, although, I believe there is ample evidence that it is the case now. We’ve just finally dropped the rates of infection to the end of September 2020 level. Throughout this 4–5-month trend toward reduced infections, the social pressure to wear masks has mysteriously amplified dramatically. We have a huge social problem infecting us.
As my wife and I travel around, mostly in outdoor settings, we are encountering more hostility than ever from fearful mask proponents. The messaging for mask use, rather than decreasing as anyone would have expected as we reach known herd immunity limits (vaccinations plus prior infected with antibodies), the messaging is becoming even more ubiquitous, even more emphatic. The way is being led by big retail, services, and travel corporations that are demonstrating no signals whatsoever that there will be an end to mask mandates. This is in-line with the nonsensical vacillations of Biden/Fauci.
At this juncture, we need to seriously ask ourselves, where is this leading? The trajectory is this: those that are electing to not be vaccinated will eventually, maybe even soon be systematically excluded from basic services and public places, even without a formal ‘vaccine passport’. Big business will do that on behalf of the government. I also belive there is a good chance that we’ll also be demanded of to wear masks in perpetuity, even after no need or function exists. Surely you say, surely there is a point at which these restrictions would be recognized as not needed. Yes, that point is now and it is not happening so why should we think that the point will come in the future? What does the government and business get out of this? As I’ve now said many times, they get fear and obedience. They have it from the public now in totality. Public mask compliance is 100% in my locality. They didn’t have this level of compliance back in January when the infection rate was about 9 X higher than it is right now. What will the government do with this fear and compliance? That’s a question for another article. Meanwhile, restoration of non-emergency freedoms is not going to come automatically. The problem with this is that if it were strictly limited to a single federal decree, it would be relatively easy to fight. Now that large swaths of the country are brainwashed in fear, we now have to contend with tens or hundreds of millions points of resistance. The United States are going to need to be deprogrammed.
Addendum, why I chose to be vaccinated**
There are two primary reasons
- I believe that unvaccinated, the majority of Americans will get Covid sooner or later, even after vaccination and herd immunity take effect. This would be comparable to the flu. Most that do get it will be just fine, but an unacceptable number will have some long-term complications. The risk of complications or death from Covid, though small, are exponentially greater than the risk of a reaction or death due to the vaccine.
- There are a great many fears, theories, and rumors about long term effects from the vaccine, none that I know of are substantiated. But for the sake of discussion, let’s assume there is some small possibility. What is the worst outcome? Death (see #1). None of us are getting out of here alive. The only instance where I’d possibly wait and ask for further investigation would be for women of childbearing age and for children.
I believe that vaccinations should be voluntary and never coerced in any way.