Remember the Summer of the Shark?
It was July, 2001. An 8-year-old boy was attacked by a shark on a Mississippi beach, followed immediately by a shark attack in the Bahamas, and a third attack a week later back in Mississippi. There were a couple other shark attacks the media covered over the summer, as well, along with extensive coverage of the remarkable recovery of the little boy and alarming footage of swarming sharks off the coast of southwest Florida. Sharks were everywhere, all the time, on all channels.
The only reason the shark coverage stopped was when September 11, 2001 happened, which, of course, switched the narrative to a different--but equally frenetic--track, which culminated in going to war on a permanent basis in the Middle East and ushering in The Patriot Act, two heinous outcomes that still haunt us. But before that, you would have thought that sharks were making extra efforts to munch on tourists the way the media was telling it. People were spooked and afraid to swim in the ocean. Was it a sign of the times?
In actuality, the total number of shark attacks that year was less than in the year 2000, but we didn't know that because shark attacks weren't on the media radar in 2000. In 2001, people in land-locked states and/or people who didn't surf only thought about shark attacks because the mass media made such a sensational news item of it.
Remember a few years ago when it seemed like churches were burning all across the country? The news was filled with stories of churches going up in flames, with speculation on who was committing these atrocious acts. Yes, some churches were deliberately set on fire, but most fires happened because of unattended candles or faulty wiring or for some other accidental reason, not because of deliberate arson. Additionally, the total number of church fires wasn't above average. But the way the mass media covered it, it was like all churches everywhere were going up in flames, and yours was probably next.
Remember in 1968 when SARS killed thousands and thousands of people? No? Because there wasn't the mass media coverage there is now and the world didn't shut down. That's why you don't hear of the New Great Depression of 1969, which didn't happen because the economy didn't collapse after the shutdown that didn't happen.
Since the advent of cable news, which really took off in the 1990s, we've been told what to worry about on a nation-wide scale. Before that, you had local news, but I don't remember local news being all that inflammatory all the time. Sure, you'd have in-depth pieces like "Razor Blades in Halloween Candy" type of things (and that scare really did make an impact nation-wide), but, for the most part, there wasn't a platform for a constant barrage of 24-hour news cycle pandemonium.
We sure did live on the edge when we didn't know what to be scared witless about!
Good times.
I'm sure you see where I'm going with this, and perhaps you disagree with me. Perhaps you are certain that this time, this time, there is reason to panic. This time, perhaps, the mass media is not in collusion with entities who stand to profit by our unnecessary fear of the newest thing that will kill us all.
I think we both know what my thoughts are on that.
But what I'm also concerned about is the resemblance all of this has to pre-WWII Germany. It's the psychological war that is ramping up that truly worries me, this growing disdain for people who do not toe the line. How people who are not living and cowering in fear of the named Scare of the Moment are selfish, money-hungry jerks with mental issues who don't know how or deliberately choose not to contribute to the greater good.
The Greater Good crowd scares me witless. I'm far more likely to die at the hands of a fanatic Greater Gooder than I am from a coronavirus. The Greater Good crowd are so absolutely certain they are in the right that they are perfectly willing to give up their own liberties and force you to give up yours, even if they have to kill you to make you do it.
I'm probably going to sound a little like Ayn Rand here (whom I have read, yes) but what we really need to worry about is the suppression of individual rights to the service of the The Greater Good. This is what I'm terrified of. This is what turns normally good people into murderers or accomplices to murderers, willing to snitch on neighbors and family members for not saying or doing the acceptable things even when they know the outcome for that person might be imprisonment or death. They are so certain that individuals must give up their individual rights to life, liberty, and property for The Good of Society (whatever that is) that they will happily be the method by which someone loses life, liberty, or property, and they will feel completely justified--and even proud--of doing it.
The Greater Good itself is an exceedingly nebulous concept. You can never really define it because it's such a subjective term. Generally, it means that you, the individual, must stop doing or saying something--or start doing and saying something--so that you are aligned with the prevailing needs of society as a whole. Whatever that "something" is is determined by whatever experts are in charge, enforced by government. If you refuse, you are selfish at best, and mentally ill and a danger to yourself and others at worst.
Case in point: masks. This might seem like a small thing, but it is not. This is a very visible symptom of the road we are traveling into The Greater Good House of Horrors.
When the mass media finally told us to start panicking in March (where, before, they told us there was nothing to worry about), they also told us masks were a) useless, b) dangerous, and c) to be saved for medical personnel. Then, weeks later, we were told that we had to wear masks, though plenty of medical personnel have cautioned and continue to caution against the physical dangers of long-term mask wearing as well as the inefficacy of homemade masks or masks that are not N95-rated with the correct filter and the correct fitting. And yet you can't get into Costco without wearing a mask. If you choose not to wear a mask outside or to another store, you get dirty looks; in some states, you get arrested.
But here's where the danger comes in: friends I have on social media, who are normally anti-government oppression, are virtue signaling by saying they wear masks not for themselves but for the good of others, just in case.
This is what I'm talking about. Right now, The Greater Good crowd are virtuous people who tell everyone how they wear masks even if masks are completely ineffective for prevention or against spread. They do it not for themselves but for the good of others. Anyone who does not do this, therefore, is selfish and probably puts money over peoples' lives.
I'm not saying people who wear masks are bad people. I'm not saying people who don't wear masks are good people. What I'm saying is that there is a growing sentiment that even if you know a mask is ineffective, you should still wear one for The Greater Good. Some people feel the need to shame those who choose not to wear a mask. Since the prevailing attitude is that we must all sacrifice a little comfort for The Greater Good, then wearing a mask shows that you are compliant and selfless. To not do so signals that you are a selfish rebel.
It's a small thing right now, but it's a symptom. At some point, you won't just be selfish for not doing the socially prescribed action for the greater good, you'll be labeled something far harsher: denier, dangerous, mentally ill. And someday, those who refuse to succumb to the Greater Good propaganda will be snitched on and rounded up. Just like what happened in Germany before WWII.
Yes, we are traveling that path. Just because people are turning a blind eye to it doesn't mean we aren't. Just because good people are denying that we could ever go down that path again doesn't mean it isn't human nature.
When individuals are strong and empowered, society is strong. When individuals are weak and oppressed, society will be miserable. Individuals are not perfect, and strong societies are not perfect, but with freedom and liberty comes beauty as well as risk. We cannot allow ourselves to be so scared into compliance because of saaaafety that we forget that beautiful liberty always comes with risk.
I'm not expressing myself well, and that frustrates me. I'm working through a mental fog. But I hope you understand what I'm trying to say. These smaller symptoms are indicative of a much greater disease brewing in the body of the world unless we treat the root cause: the evil agenda meant to convince us willingly and voluntarily make ourselves weak and compliant in servitude of some fictional Greater Good. Whether it's willingly done by a propagandized populace in the name of selflessness or forced upon us by a tyrannical government, it is still evil.
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