Ah, so glad to find another informed, articulate voice of sanity downunder in this, the third year, of our Great Covid Derangement.
What Covid has taught me, above all, is that there is great merit in the desire for government to leave me, and everyone else, alone, to treat us like adults who take responsibility for our own decisions and lives.
Phil from Adelaide (fortunately not from Melbourne!)
An excellent essay, thanks. It has, indeed, been frightening to watch the rapid transformation of what was once a liberal democracy into a statist, rules-based dystopia, particularly in Victoria, although it has become clear that fertile ground for the transformation has clearly existed and has even been cultivated for much longer. People's behaviour has been shaped by state-propagated, irrational fear and deliberate 'nudging' and outright enforcing by a state/media/corporate cabal, all of whom directly benefit from the control and power gained. It is becoming increasingly obvious and undeniable that what was done to people during the past few years was without any underlying scientific basis and without any semblance of a cost-benefit analysis. So why?
Many authors have written about the role of faceless, unelected bureaucracy in perverting democracy, Jeffrey Tucker has written today on Brownstone, referring to 'The Deep State', a term that used to make me whine a little, but now it has become an undeniable entity that truly runs things - see the hapless politicians of all brands flailing around the world to appease the administrative/media/corporate gods lest they be smite.
So what is to be done? As Jeffrey Tucker says in his piece 'But Will Elections Change Anything?', and as you allude to in this piece, it is unlikely to change until we all say 'enough', start admitting that the system is broken, that things are NOT ok, start fearlessly saying what we really believe and pointing to the naked emperors that seem to be multiplying exponentially. Personally, I've found this a successful strategy over the last few years. Calmly questioning 'the message', the current paradigm with friends, family and colleagues rapidly opens up the many cracks in the facade of 'The Consensus' and 'The Science' (as opposed to actual science), thereby encouraging the expression of doubts and opinions of others. Removing the sign from Haval's greengrocer's window is the start. There is much to be said for pouring considerable effort into establishing parallel systems that show others the truly broken state of the current systems. What is clear is that a giant broom needs to go through pretty much all of our current institutions, public and some private, which have demonstrated themselves to be clearly corrupted and capable of causing much harm to the population.
Ah, so glad to find another informed, articulate voice of sanity downunder in this, the third year, of our Great Covid Derangement.
What Covid has taught me, above all, is that there is great merit in the desire for government to leave me, and everyone else, alone, to treat us like adults who take responsibility for our own decisions and lives.
Phil from Adelaide (fortunately not from Melbourne!)
An excellent essay, thanks. It has, indeed, been frightening to watch the rapid transformation of what was once a liberal democracy into a statist, rules-based dystopia, particularly in Victoria, although it has become clear that fertile ground for the transformation has clearly existed and has even been cultivated for much longer. People's behaviour has been shaped by state-propagated, irrational fear and deliberate 'nudging' and outright enforcing by a state/media/corporate cabal, all of whom directly benefit from the control and power gained. It is becoming increasingly obvious and undeniable that what was done to people during the past few years was without any underlying scientific basis and without any semblance of a cost-benefit analysis. So why?
Many authors have written about the role of faceless, unelected bureaucracy in perverting democracy, Jeffrey Tucker has written today on Brownstone, referring to 'The Deep State', a term that used to make me whine a little, but now it has become an undeniable entity that truly runs things - see the hapless politicians of all brands flailing around the world to appease the administrative/media/corporate gods lest they be smite.
So what is to be done? As Jeffrey Tucker says in his piece 'But Will Elections Change Anything?', and as you allude to in this piece, it is unlikely to change until we all say 'enough', start admitting that the system is broken, that things are NOT ok, start fearlessly saying what we really believe and pointing to the naked emperors that seem to be multiplying exponentially. Personally, I've found this a successful strategy over the last few years. Calmly questioning 'the message', the current paradigm with friends, family and colleagues rapidly opens up the many cracks in the facade of 'The Consensus' and 'The Science' (as opposed to actual science), thereby encouraging the expression of doubts and opinions of others. Removing the sign from Haval's greengrocer's window is the start. There is much to be said for pouring considerable effort into establishing parallel systems that show others the truly broken state of the current systems. What is clear is that a giant broom needs to go through pretty much all of our current institutions, public and some private, which have demonstrated themselves to be clearly corrupted and capable of causing much harm to the population.
Thanks again for your writing.
I'm coming a bit late to the party, but thank you for this insightful essay!