Don't Let Fear Rule You

 I can not remember who pointed out that at least half of local news since the Wuhan Flu panic started is fear porn.  But I started watching closely and my friend is right.  And as I read more and more, I also realized that the statistics reported were often cherry picked to make them seem worse. So, the article at The Federalist by Jordan Davidson entitled Study: Majority of Americans Grossly Overestimate Covid-19 Hospitalization Rates caught my attention.

The current hospitalization rate for COVID-related illness in the United States hovers between 1 and 5 percent, but 41 percent of Democrats, 28 percent of Republicans, and 35 percent of independents or members of other political parties said there is a 50-plus percent chance that someone with the Wuhan virus will need to be treated at a hospital.

This incorrect yet general consensus, the New York Times noted, was often reinforced with widespread policy decisions by partisan actors, such as Democratic politicians in blue states and cities keeping schools closed despite scientific evidence pointing to reopening while red states started to transition back to in-person models as early as August.

So if this study is correct, it means my friend is not a conspiracy theorist. But it also implies that the fear generated in the public, particularly Democrats, is intentional. The next question sends one to a very dark place: why would that be?

Part of the answer to that question comes today at the American Thinker Chet Richards has an article entitled Science in an Age of Fear. The author of this piece is an actual scientist, one who practices science. Now, I am not an actual scientist. I am an engineer. Engineers have been described as using the discoveries of science to solve practical problems. Point is, I can attest to the following:

Far too many people believe that science is some mysterious entity which speaks in oracles and delivers miraculous new toys for people to marvel at and play with. This form of Science is a Cargo Cult. This Science is a kind of benevolent deity to be worshiped without understanding and without questioning.

Others have correctly pointed out that science is not a thing. Science actually is a methodology. It employs a dialog among competing ideas about the nature of reality. Intellectual independence and controversy is an essential part of the process.

This dialog can only be resolved through experiment. Only with intellectual freedom can experiments be defined which will show which ideas are correct and which are not. As Richard Feynman famously said: “It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science.”

Without freedom of thought and speech, without opposition and testing, science is a mere catalog of previous discovery. Without full intellectual freedom Science is dead. It has become Science. It has become ritual.

And another word for Science is dogma. But some particularly politicians, conflate the scientific method with Science and use the result to instill fear. The more fear they can induce in the public, the greater will be the cry to save them. And external enemy like Jihadis, or the border crisis do work, but even better is a never ending ever renewing itself through variants virus. And the tyrants have certainly not let a good crisis go to waste.

The fear of this epidemic has been used by governments to imprison us. After all, “lockdown” means we must remain in our locked cells. The lockdown has wreaked havoc with our economy, obliterated multitudes of businesses, and demolished the savings of millions of citizens.

There is no science behind this imposed tyranny. It should be obvious that the directives coming from those charged with managing the epidemic are based not on scientific understanding but on intentionally magnifying fear for political advantage.

...snip...

Large parts of the nation remain in lockdown even though it is now apparent that lockdown, mask wearing, and social distancing are not effective in preventing the spread of disease. Lockdown is not scientifically valid. The tyranny of fear is being used to impose real political tyranny.

We must resist the fear. We must not be afraid to say what we really think. In so doing we are very likely to discover we have unexpected allies. Never forget that intellectual freedom is the shield protecting all our freedoms.

Please go read the whole article. It is quite profound, and there is only a small window while we can still speak out. We must muster the courage to do so. Also, go read Naomi Wolf "The End of America," which lays out the steps every Facsist dictator takes on the road to power.