Open (More or Less) Post on Covid 36
Apr. 12th, 2022 01:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ecosophia
The pandemic has been scrubbed from the front pages at this point and replaced by a different hysteria du jour, but the semi-open posts I've hosted here on the Covid-19 narrative, the inadequately tested experimental drugs for it, and the whole cascading mess surrounding them have continued to field a steady stream of comments, so I'm opening yet another space for discussion. The rules are the same as before: 1. If you plan on parroting the party line of the medical industry and its paid shills, please go away. This is a place for people to talk openly, honestly, and freely about their concerns that the party line in question is dangerously flawed and that actions being pushed by the medical industry et al. are causing injury and death. It is not a place for you to dismiss those concerns. Anyone who wants to hear the official story and the arguments in favor of it can find those on hundreds of thousands of websites.
2. If you plan on insisting that the current situation is the result of a deliberate plot by some villainous group of people or other, please go away. There are tens of thousands of websites currently rehashing various conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 outbreak and the vaccines. This is not one of them. What we're exploring is the likelihood that what's going on is the product of the same arrogance, incompetence, and corruption that the medical industry and its tame politicians have displayed so abundantly in recent decades. That possibility deserves a space of its own for discussion, and that's what we're doing here.
3. If you plan on using rent-a-troll derailing or disruption tactics, please go away. I'm quite familiar with the standard tactics used by troll farms to disrupt online forums, and am ready, willing, and able -- and in fact quite eager -- to ban people permanently for engaging in them here. Oh, and I also lurk on other Covid-19 vaccine skeptic blogs, so I'm likely to notice when the same posts are showing up on more than one venue.
4. If you don't believe in treating people with common courtesy, please go away. I have, and enforce, a strict courtesy policy on my blogs and online forums, and this is no exception. The sort of schoolyard bullying that takes place on so many other internet forums will get you deleted and banned here. No, I don't care if you disagree with that: my journal, my rules.
With that said, as the vaccinated keep catching Covid (and many of them never quite seem to get over it) while the rest of us are fine, the floor is open for discussion.
Re: Dr Colleen Huber's "COVID-19 VACCINE Considerations"
Date: 2022-04-19 07:38 am (UTC)1 Was it your general distrust of the government?
2 Was is your deep knowledge of virology and molecular biology?
3 Was it your experience with wheeling and dealing, exposure to scams and knowing how con men operate?
4 Was it your ability to think independently without needing people to agree with you?"
Here are my answers to these questions:
#1 - Are you kidding? Nobody who's been paying even a little bit of attention and thinks even a tiny bit for themselves should trust their government as far as they can spit a rat!
#2 - I don't have a deep knowledge of virology and molecular biology; however, I have a generalist's familiarity with various subjects (sciences/humanities) which all come with their own theory units explaining the epistemological basis that underpins their various knowledge claims. On that basic level, it was clear to me that various claims about the vaccines had not and could not have been properly tested, and that therefore those claims did not deserve the epistemological certainty that they were being badged/sold/pushed with. Also, many of the arguments 'special experts' made in support of the vaccines were obviously lies, gaslighting, logical fallacies, etc which raised further suspicion.
#3 - I have personal experience working for government, so yes, I most certainly have experience with wheeling and dealing, exposure to scams and knowing how con men operate (see point #1).
#4 - I am an anarchist by disposition and this tends to inform how I think and behave when it comes to dealing with experts. Sorry for the long quote to follow, but Bakunin explains this better than I can, and he has some good advice in the second paragraph about dealing with 'special experts' when they impose their authority upon one rather than allow one to accept/subordinate oneself to the expert's ideas/authority based on one's own reason:
"Does it follow that I reject all authority? Far from me such a thought. In the matter of boots, I refer to the authority of the bootmaker; concerning houses, canals, or railroads, I consult that of the architect or engineer. For such or such special knowledge I apply to such or such a savant. But I allow neither the bootmaker nor the architect nor the savant to impose his authority upon me. I listen to them freely and with all the respect merited by their intelligence, their character, their knowledge, reserving always my incontestable right of criticism censure. I do not content myself with consulting authority in any special branch; I consult several; I compare their opinions, and choose that which seems to me the soundest. But I recognize no infallible authority, even in special questions; consequently, whatever respect I may have for the honesty and the sincerity of such or such an individual, I have no absolute faith in any person. Such a faith would be fatal to my reason, to my liberty, and even to the success of my undertakings; it would immediately transform me into a stupid slave, an instrument of the will and interests of others.
If I bow before the authority of the specialists and avow my readiness to follow, to a certain extent and as long as may seem to me necessary, their indications and even their directions, it is because their authority is imposed upon me by no one, neither by men nor by God. Otherwise I would repel them with horror, and bid the devil take their counsels, their directions, and their services, certain that they would make me pay, by the loss of my liberty and self-respect, for such scraps of truth, wrapped in a multitude of lies, as they might give me.
I bow before the authority of special men because it is imposed upon me by my own reason. I am conscious of my inability to grasp, in all its details and positive developments, any very large portion of human knowledge. The greatest intelligence would not be equal to a comprehension of the whole. Thence results, for science as well as for industry, the necessity of the division and association of labor. I receive and I give-such is human life. Each directs and is directed in his turn. Therefore there is no fixed and constant authority, but a continual exchange of mutual, temporary, and, above all, voluntary authority and subordination."
Plus, I am superstitious, so no mark of the beast for me thanks :) (see point #1 again)
I'm also a long time lurker on Mr Greer's websites and those of a few others. I don't follow anybody just for their politics, or whatever, but instead I'm drawn to read the views of people who appear to understand that we are living on a finite planet, with limited and dwindling resources etc. Those kinds of critical thinkers are actually pretty rare, or at least it seems like it is rare for people with those thoughts to speak their minds publicly in an easy to access format and to not be afraid to discuss them.
On this last point it was interesting to me to find that all of the thinkers that I follow:
- are 'vaccine sceptics' when it comes to these 'experimental gene therapies'
- appear to have arrived at that place independently, and
- are ready to draw a line in the sand and make their own stands in their own ways about it.
Perhaps they all have something 'anarchistic' in them as well?
Or at least it seems to me that there is something anarchistic about being willing to speak the truth about these matters despite the flak that is sure to follow from pointing out that the emperor has no clothes.
Anyway, anyone else interested in sharing their answers?
Re: Dr Colleen Huber's "COVID-19 VACCINE Considerations"
Date: 2022-04-19 03:45 pm (UTC)I give you "Scott's Theory of Anarchist Calisthenics"
"It surprised me how much I had to screw up my courage merely to cross a street against general disapproval. How little my rational convictions seemed to weigh against the pressure of their scolding. Striding out boldly into the intersection with apparent conviction made a more striking impression, perhaps, but it required more courage than I could normally muster.
As a way of justifying my conduct to myself, I began to rehearse a little discourse that I imagined delivering in perfect German. It went something like this. “You know, you and especially your grandparents could have used more of a spirit of lawbreaking. One day you will be called on to break a big law in the name of justice and rationality. Everything will depend on it. You have to be ready. How are you going to prepare for that day when it really matters? You have to stay ‘in shape’ so that when the big day comes you will be ready. What you need is ‘anarchist calisthenics.’ Every day or so break some trivial law that makes no sense, even if it’s only jaywalking. Use your own head to judge whether a law is just or reasonable. That way, you’ll keep trim; and when the big day comes, you’ll be ready.”
Judging when it makes sense to break a law requires careful thought, even in the relatively innocuous case of jaywalking."
If you stay in practice with little decisions (to comply or to not comply), you may be ready when the big decisions come along.
From James C. Scott's essay "https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/james-c-scott-two-cheers-for-anarchism"
Re: Dr Colleen Huber's "COVID-19 VACCINE Considerations"
Date: 2022-04-20 07:42 am (UTC)Nice site too :)
Re: Dr Colleen Huber's "COVID-19 VACCINE Considerations"
Date: 2022-04-19 04:37 pm (UTC)2. I was aware of the gain-of-function research, and while not a professional scientist, I did receive a good education in basic biology and statistics-- so, from the beginning in the winter of 2020, the story Dr F & Co were retailing struck me as suspiciously "off."
3. I did not hold a high opinion of the pharmaceutical industry after the scandals of recent years, especially around oxycontin. But also, it was just common sense-- how could Dr Fauci claim the "vaccines" were "safe and 100% effective" when they were still in fact in a Clinical Phase III trial? In other words, there was not enough information yet to know how safe and effective they are, that's why the gov't had to make them available under an EUA-- emergency use authorization. I mean, that was sort of a total "duh."
4. Yes.
Aquamarine Chattering Ostrich