I read this twice. The first time I was left with a feeling that I’d woken during the night, sleepwalked to my laptop and written it myself, so are the similarities in our experiences and perceptions of this completely farcical few years. Then I read it again and realised, sadly, that I lack the eloquence to write so clearly and succinctly. I feel as though I’m in a different orbit to most around me, seeing things from a different perspective, an outlier. I doubt I’ll ever again share the same orbit with most. And yes, thank god for dogs, they bring peace, joy and provide a conduit between worlds, an honest, faithful constant.
There is something a bit 'off' about the return to the old normal. Everyone going about shopping at crowded markets, playing cricket, catching buses without donning the mask as in the old days - yet these are the same people who would willingly, apathetically or enthusiastically trade all this for state-directed 'safety' all over again. There has been no underlying coming-to-terms with the nonsense of the last three years.
After the ideological belligerence provoked by any attempt on my behalf at civil discourse questioning the Covid Narrative, I, too, chose silence when dealing with the True Believers, and I have kept it up even when friends, all fully perforated Covid Cult members, get to talking in mystified ways about their 'sudden' and unexplained health problems pursuant to whatever booster number we are up to.
There's a cricket match going on at the oval next to my house right now - I'm learning to really appreciate the sounds and rhythms of this delightful ordinariness as a reminder of the world I used to know.
It amazes me how subversive it is to try to discuss the last few years. I feel like my church deserted us but who can I say that too. People seem to have picked up life again but it is harder to connect or feel part of something.
I see the anomie so masterfully identified by Durkheim, speading in an increasingly rudderless society.
The steady encroachment of the parasites-for that is what they are-reveals itself drip by drip: Mark Steyn has left GBNews, following threats to make him personally liable for any threatened Ofcom fines; now the self righteous Guardian has delivered a frankly absurd attack on Neil Oliver, also of GBNews and one of our most astute and inspirational dissidents.
HMG is chucking money,materiel at Ukraine, as the adulation of President Zelensky persists, with not a single member of our shoddy establishment having the courage to call for a ceasefire and a negotiated settlement.
Now the WHO is at it again, warning about bird flu and its discovery in mammals: masks and social distancing recommended.
And see the second link for the embedding of the dreadful mask addiction.
Here in my small town, the fall out continues: empty shops abound, kids drop out of school-seeing it as a waste of time, teachers, when not on strike spend much classroom time as advocates for the dystopian trans dogma which has assumed dominance and ordinary folk are being encouraged/nudged to reduce fuel consumption by 15%, even though many of us have already reduced our heating usage to cope with the alarming price increases.
Meanwhile such luminaries as Gates and Kerry justify their use of private jets as they peddle the unaffordable, unrealistic Net Zero fantasies which made lots of money for the greenwash movers and shakers.
Wow… When I read your article on Brownstone, I couldn’t believe how you were articulating EXACTLY how I feel, every single paragraph. Thanks for writing it.
When one lives through a Zeitgeist, as history has recorded, confusion is a common response while the known world frays and shrivels around us. Then, those who can, pick themselves up, dust themselves off and start all over again, trying to sift through the detritus and recreate their personal world, and, in the doing, help to recreate the world around them. Some, often many on the old 70/30 principle will not be able to do this and will just be carried along in the storm. That is why, it is so important that those who can see, as the writer describes, also work hard to do in the reconstruction of society.
In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a Zeitgeist (German pronunciation: [ˈtsaɪtɡaɪst] ( listen)) ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history.
Beautifully articulated. I got here from Brownstone, and I hope you are widely read there as this essay is a first step in repairing the schism between the worlds. It mirrors what so many are experiencing, what makes half the people, at the latest silenced horror, say they feel like they are in a Twilight Zone episode. And being mirrored allows us to know we are not going stark raving schizoid out of our minds!
"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater." Frank Zappa.
I LOVE this article - just as I loved your 'World A / World B' piece (it was yours, wasn't it?) from a few months back. In fact, I shared a longish excerpt from this latest one on my FB page, hoping that it might strike a chord with a few fellow members of The Resistance.
I then didn't go online for a couple of days, only to find that I had not just an encouraging response, but a HUGE number of 'likes', 'loves' and all sorts of comments (all of them positive), saying how much your words had resonated with them. If you want to have a look / read, it's the post I've now 'pinned' to the top of my page: https://www.facebook.com/jacktravel/
Anyhow, I just wanted to say thanks for articulating so eloquently and so simply what so many of us have been feeling. Despite the continuing and unfolding shitshow, it's both reassuring and empowering to know that we are far from alone.
Mar 2, 2023·edited Mar 2, 2023Liked by Richard Kelly
Finally reading another person that gets it.
The worst part is that they will now board the new train that has pulled up to the platform, with all it's new carriages - `It's not the jab killing/maiming people', `we must stand with Ukraine', `identity politics' and more... all herded together with the `climate crisis' caboose on the end.
It feels like those that you have described are on their own fantasy land journey.
The moon landings were faked... The elections are rigged.. They are poisoning and murdering us in our face. The old reality wasn't all that real. We are in a war. It's tyranny vs the People. We are running out of options and runway..
I read this twice. The first time I was left with a feeling that I’d woken during the night, sleepwalked to my laptop and written it myself, so are the similarities in our experiences and perceptions of this completely farcical few years. Then I read it again and realised, sadly, that I lack the eloquence to write so clearly and succinctly. I feel as though I’m in a different orbit to most around me, seeing things from a different perspective, an outlier. I doubt I’ll ever again share the same orbit with most. And yes, thank god for dogs, they bring peace, joy and provide a conduit between worlds, an honest, faithful constant.
My thoughts, exactly.
There is something a bit 'off' about the return to the old normal. Everyone going about shopping at crowded markets, playing cricket, catching buses without donning the mask as in the old days - yet these are the same people who would willingly, apathetically or enthusiastically trade all this for state-directed 'safety' all over again. There has been no underlying coming-to-terms with the nonsense of the last three years.
After the ideological belligerence provoked by any attempt on my behalf at civil discourse questioning the Covid Narrative, I, too, chose silence when dealing with the True Believers, and I have kept it up even when friends, all fully perforated Covid Cult members, get to talking in mystified ways about their 'sudden' and unexplained health problems pursuant to whatever booster number we are up to.
There's a cricket match going on at the oval next to my house right now - I'm learning to really appreciate the sounds and rhythms of this delightful ordinariness as a reminder of the world I used to know.
I feel like Truman Burbank of The Truman Show. Unable to talk to anyone about the most important things.
It amazes me how subversive it is to try to discuss the last few years. I feel like my church deserted us but who can I say that too. People seem to have picked up life again but it is harder to connect or feel part of something.
I see the anomie so masterfully identified by Durkheim, speading in an increasingly rudderless society.
The steady encroachment of the parasites-for that is what they are-reveals itself drip by drip: Mark Steyn has left GBNews, following threats to make him personally liable for any threatened Ofcom fines; now the self righteous Guardian has delivered a frankly absurd attack on Neil Oliver, also of GBNews and one of our most astute and inspirational dissidents.
HMG is chucking money,materiel at Ukraine, as the adulation of President Zelensky persists, with not a single member of our shoddy establishment having the courage to call for a ceasefire and a negotiated settlement.
Now the WHO is at it again, warning about bird flu and its discovery in mammals: masks and social distancing recommended.
https://www.gbnews.uk/health/world-health-organization-says-we-must-prepare-for-next-pandemic-and-is-already-preparing-new-vaccine/439645
https://dailysceptic.org/2023/02/10/why-is-an-nhs-mental-health-trust-insisting-on-mandatory-masking/
And see the second link for the embedding of the dreadful mask addiction.
Here in my small town, the fall out continues: empty shops abound, kids drop out of school-seeing it as a waste of time, teachers, when not on strike spend much classroom time as advocates for the dystopian trans dogma which has assumed dominance and ordinary folk are being encouraged/nudged to reduce fuel consumption by 15%, even though many of us have already reduced our heating usage to cope with the alarming price increases.
https://dailysceptic.org/2023/02/08/one-in-five-girls-identifies-as-trans-the-truth-about-whats-going-on-in-englands-schools/
Meanwhile such luminaries as Gates and Kerry justify their use of private jets as they peddle the unaffordable, unrealistic Net Zero fantasies which made lots of money for the greenwash movers and shakers.
Wow… When I read your article on Brownstone, I couldn’t believe how you were articulating EXACTLY how I feel, every single paragraph. Thanks for writing it.
When one lives through a Zeitgeist, as history has recorded, confusion is a common response while the known world frays and shrivels around us. Then, those who can, pick themselves up, dust themselves off and start all over again, trying to sift through the detritus and recreate their personal world, and, in the doing, help to recreate the world around them. Some, often many on the old 70/30 principle will not be able to do this and will just be carried along in the storm. That is why, it is so important that those who can see, as the writer describes, also work hard to do in the reconstruction of society.
In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a Zeitgeist (German pronunciation: [ˈtsaɪtɡaɪst] ( listen)) ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history.
Beautifully articulated. I got here from Brownstone, and I hope you are widely read there as this essay is a first step in repairing the schism between the worlds. It mirrors what so many are experiencing, what makes half the people, at the latest silenced horror, say they feel like they are in a Twilight Zone episode. And being mirrored allows us to know we are not going stark raving schizoid out of our minds!
RE: Was it all an illusion in the first place?
"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater." Frank Zappa.
Hi Richard,
I LOVE this article - just as I loved your 'World A / World B' piece (it was yours, wasn't it?) from a few months back. In fact, I shared a longish excerpt from this latest one on my FB page, hoping that it might strike a chord with a few fellow members of The Resistance.
I then didn't go online for a couple of days, only to find that I had not just an encouraging response, but a HUGE number of 'likes', 'loves' and all sorts of comments (all of them positive), saying how much your words had resonated with them. If you want to have a look / read, it's the post I've now 'pinned' to the top of my page: https://www.facebook.com/jacktravel/
Anyhow, I just wanted to say thanks for articulating so eloquently and so simply what so many of us have been feeling. Despite the continuing and unfolding shitshow, it's both reassuring and empowering to know that we are far from alone.
Best wishes from Cumbria (UK),
Steve
Finally reading another person that gets it.
The worst part is that they will now board the new train that has pulled up to the platform, with all it's new carriages - `It's not the jab killing/maiming people', `we must stand with Ukraine', `identity politics' and more... all herded together with the `climate crisis' caboose on the end.
It feels like those that you have described are on their own fantasy land journey.
The moon landings were faked... The elections are rigged.. They are poisoning and murdering us in our face. The old reality wasn't all that real. We are in a war. It's tyranny vs the People. We are running out of options and runway..