David Burns emails:
I am seeing some very disturbing images and videos.RW response:
Meanwhile All Deaths yoy have actually declined in Victoria.
http://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/research-and-family-history/research-and-data-services/death-statistics/deaths-registered-per-month
And the people seem supportive...
Now I am starting to get scared a little bit. Talk me off the ledge...
For those who haven't been keeping up to date, Victoria, Australia has gone into an extremely oppressive lockdown.
From CNN:
The premier of Victoria plunged the region into a "state of disaster" on Sunday, announcing even stricter lockdown measures, introducing a nightly curfew and banning virtually all trips outdoors after Australia's second largest state recorded 671 new infections in a single day.
Daniel Andrews told Victorians at a news conference that "we have to do more, and we have to do more right now," as the state battles to contain a devastating coronavirus outbreak that had already stripped residents of their freedoms, livelihoods and social interactions and made it an outlier from the rest of the country.
"Where you slept last night is where you'll need to stay for the next six weeks," Andrews said, announcing a curfew between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. beginning Sunday evening and moving Metropolitan Melbourne into stage four lockdown measures.
In that part of the state, only one person per household will be allowed to leave their homes once a day -- outside of curfew hours -- to pick up essential goods, and they must stay within a 5 kilometer radius of their home. Melburnians had already been under strict measures for most of July after the area was identified as the epicenter of Australia's second wave.As to the rest of the comment from Burns, it is possible the number of deaths could rise quite a bit. In the early phases of a COVID-19 breakout, the number of infections, etc., can grow exponentially.
That said, what must be looked at is the fact that COVID-19 is not a particularly dangerous virus for the very young and those of working age. It is bizarre to lockdown all economic activity, really all activity, for such a virus. The elderly, especially with a complicated medical history, should quarantine if they desire and the COVID hysterical, but that is about all.
The big problem is, of course, is that pretty close to the entire world has gone COVID-19 hysterical. It is a kind of Salem witch hunt on steroids.
This is a tough ledge to talk you off of, David. I don't know when the madness is going to stop.
I just hope other parts of the U.S. are not as bad as California where here everyone seems to be in hysterics about COVID-19.
Then, if this gets resolved we have the radical left and their destructive proposals.
I have often wondered how the people of Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union could have allowed things to get so bad, now I see more clearly.
If you don't have the masses holding at least a shallow but strong belief in liberty and decency, then anything can happen.
It is a very dangerous time to live an individualist life. But danger has always fascinated me, otherwise, pretty soon I would join you on the ledge.
But, as it is, the more people push me, the more interesting I get.
-RW
Well thanks for trying, Robert. :)
ReplyDeleteI understand your comments about danger. I have studied Karl Friston's Free Energy Principle and you are absolutely benefiting from your fascination with danger. My worry is definitely family, not personal, worry. I have money and a good job I perform remotely (for many years prior to this year's flu hysteria). I would put my home on the market tomorrow, hole up in South Dakota or Puerto Rico or Mexico for a year, figure out to where should I emigrate, and make it happen. I am also multi-lingual, so I have choices.
But I have two little girls. It's their future that concerns me. I am on the ledge for them. I don't want one of my kids to be the next Anne Frank. Our family emigration is going to be much more difficult. But it's time to start the wheels in motion, that is for sure.
David B.
I'm in a similar situation with my kids, not so worried about self as their lives and what the future holds for them. Not a day goes by that I don't think about moving to S. Dakota, Sweden or Belarus.
DeleteGreat framing RW, “danger has always fascinated me.” Re-framing a situation or event is a great way to step back off the cliff. I have had the full range of emotions. I feel best when I chose to see it as a challenge to overcome. I get strength from Becky Akers blog at lewrockwell.com. I went to a Kroger owned grocery sans mask and no one looked at me twice. The kid who checked me out was very supportive. He was happy to see anyone fighting back. I want to be that example. Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is also a great way to calm your nerves. There are lots of videos on YouTube.
ReplyDeleteSame here, Becky and George Carlin (wish he were still alive) give me strength. I live in one of the most oppressive states, counties and cities in terms of lockdowns and masks. I'm the only one in the stores without a mask on, and also noticing fewer stares and angry looks as compared to a couple weeks ago. Hope it's not just a coincidence but a growing trend.
DeleteThis is the age of Victimhood. C-19 plays right into the Victimhood generation feeling of righteousness. Either by claiming to be a victim or supporting those that do.
ReplyDeleteWe that are not masked or antisocial distancing and not accepting the new abnormal are making victims of them or someone’s grandma. They don’t even need to point this out to anyone to feel virtuous. For them simply “knowing” this gives them their SJW endorphin boost.
Accepting the C-19 hype is based in ignorance of course but, most of these ignoramuses are entrenched in their believing in their ignorance and believing what the PTSNB bloviate, their own Victimhood and the victimhood of those the associate with.
Few self-righteous will accept facts, reason and logic that do not fit their new religion. It really is a very dangerous time to live an individualist life.
Sorry Dave but it is an edgy time.
The Duran team have done an interesting take on the situation in NZ and Melbourne here - about 30 minutes
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/UIeGoHZ37yY
They fear authoritarian overreaction will be the real "new normal."
I think they are right- what they didn't mention is the apparent strong correlation of this with liberal/progressive/"socialism lite" administrations - as in Victoria and NZ. Conservative administrations are not without sin here but this may be what Keith Preston has termed "Totalitarian Humanism" made flesh.
Of course Victoria's state premier Daniel Andrews and his state government may have got closer to their PRC friends than they want to admit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU_Hu8dpahY !!
ReplyDeleteMy gut feeling is that Victoria's Labor Party premier Daniel Andrews may be doubling down on Corona enforcement with the new breakout - as both a reaction and a distraction from his own administration's massive mismanagement of the 'quarantine hotel' system in his state. Australia runs a system where in-bound travellers are required to quarantine in state supervised hotels for a two week period. State governments administer this system. The Andrews administration massively "screwed the pooch" with their quarantine operation. Andrews has plainly refused to answer simple who / what / where / when questions from the media on this issue and stone walled, stone walled, stone walled.
https://www.opindia.com/2020/07/australia-security-guards-star-hotel-sex-with-quarantined-guests-melbourne-second-wave-of-coronavirus-victoria/
This Quarantine Hotels management scandal -is probably the root cause.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MZTLtPqXhU
What is interesting to note here is:
* The Vic authorities used contractors using sub-contractors hiring subcontractors to provide 'security'. Victoria state may have refused federal defence department offers to provide uniformed personnel to help with this operation. NSW in contrast to Vic used members of the police force to provide the quarantine hotel'security' function.
*Also unspoken in virtually all media coverage - for fear of offending pro-multiculturalist sensibilities- virtually all the contractors and sub-contractors and the sub-contractors' sub-contractors - were immigrants or, more likely, temporary working visa holders. My guess is "student visa" holders. This system has evolved into a de facto "guest worker" system in Australia. These guest workers would be working multiple security gigs, at multiple "quarantine hotels" and maybe also working as Uber drivers and / or supermarket night shift staff. This "on the ground" reality would almost never be mentioned in the corporate or public broadcasting media, and probably never will be.
* There is a tendency for politicians when they are perceived to have failed on Day One to come down extra heavy on Day Two to recover the reputation. This is a claim often aired against Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. He was perceived (actually under the Australian constitution- it's not his job) to have "failed" during the Bush Fire crisis of December 2019/January 2020. Certainly the 'liberal' wing of the Australian media spun it that way. When the Covid crisis emerged this previous P.R. fail may have enboldened him to act stronger and earlier. Morrison's government closed the borders with China very early - and, after the crisis developed, adopted a much stronger line with the PRC than is usually expected of Australian leaders. Previous Australian conservative prime ministers - for example John Howard - saw their role as 'moderating' the "anti-PRC tendencies" of the then Obama administration. Morrison has taken a tougher line. I suspect something similar may be happening with Daniel Andrews in Victoria over his Hotel floperoo. It's possible his own party will move to replace him because of this crisis. They probably will before the next state election. Being a "westminster system" someone from his own party's parliamentary ranks will need be his replacement. It's not clear that a challenger from within his party ranks is willing to make a move until the state's Covid numbers actually start to come down. Maybe I am being cynical!
It is blogs like this and those on LRC that keep me sane, as notwithstanding the idiocy around me, I know that the Remnant is remaining steadfast.
ReplyDeleteAmen, Napster!
ReplyDelete