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COVID authoritarianism tries to revive itself with viral propaganda (political games) - C C - Jul 18, 2022

https://respectfulinsolence.com/2022/07/18/can-you-get-omicron-every-three-weeks/

INTRO: . . . Which brings us to an article going the opposite direction of Brownstone Institute propaganda that’s gone viral. You’d think that I would approve. You’d think wrong, simply because the article lacks nuance and supports positions to which I’m sympathetic with a maximalist fear mongering argument that ends up proposing a solution to the pandemic that is a fantasy, just the opposite fantasy advocated by the “natural herd immunity” proponents. It’s a fantasy that claims that Omicron variants can reinfect every two or three weeks, which will lead to a continually sick population.

The article to which I referred that is going around, while appropriately noting the disastrous consequences of abandoning NPIs and other tools to slow the spread of COVID-19 too quickly, goes so far in the opposite direction of the GBD that it needs to be called out as well. It was published on July 4 by journalist Andrew Nikiforuk entitled Get Ready for the Forever Plague and has the tagline, “Public health officials’ COVID complacency has opened the door to new illnesses and devastating long-term damage.” It also features a suitably ominous image...

There’s nothing like the image of a medieval plague doctor to instill fear and alarm, is there?

In any case, the image chosen for the article tells you much of what you need to know about it. There is zero nuance, and the concept is that, thanks to the Omicron variants, the only strategy to halt the pandemic is something that’s become known as “zero COVID.”

I’ll skip to the conclusion first, the better to go back and demonstrate how data and information were—shall we say?—carefully chosen to support a predetermined conclusion. I’m also going to refer to an Archive.org copy of the article from July 4, because on Friday the author responded to some criticisms and edited the article to its current form, which, while less objectionable than the original, is still pretty maximalist in its fear mongering.

I also realize that by writing this post I might be perceived as some as being the same side as the cranks at the Brownstone Institute. Nothing can be further from the truth, and to support that... (MORE - details)


RE: COVID authoritarianism tries to revive itself with viral propaganda (political games) - RainbowUnicorn - Jul 18, 2022

i would imagine that they are playing to the survivalist end of the world people who are realizing how many covid dead there is and want to maintain a state of perpetual fear to galvanize their pre existing positions.

calling covid the forever plague gives more weight to them saying why vaccines are pointless or any special actions are required.

if feeds their pre existing narrative

so from it being something that opposed their ideologies, it is tuned to become something that is another reason to believe in their existing beliefs.