Do Your Civic Duty

Part II of: "Fear of Inconvenience"

“It’s over!” That is what I hear from both sides now. “We are moving on.”

From the sheep that means Covid is still around, but it is now like a “special flu with a name.” It is something you really don’t want, although once you get it there really is nothing to worry about other than “protecting others” from getting it—“no one wants the flu.”

From the shrew side it means that we are winning court cases and that we see or hear of many more people not getting the next jab. We know that the battle rages on at a deeper level, but really, it isn’t so bad out there.

Last week I wrote an article titled “Fear of Inconvenience.” In that article I suggested that sheep were terrified of being inconvenienced, and such a fear was one of the primary reasons they did not wake up. Waking up would mean they had to admit they were wrong, and then would have to get angry with everyone they trusted and loved for three years. It is much easier, and thus more convenient, to stick with the original Covid paradigm, including the choice to get jabbed five times, wear masks, and be avoidant of people they know who have Covid. Play the game, as they say, because to switch sides this late in the war would be terribly inconvenient.

This article is the opposite side of the same coin. It is about accepting minor inconveniences for the cause. It is about being stoic, flying the flag in the thick of crises, winning one for the Gipper, and taking one for the team—and all that other patriotic sentimentality. Americans (and probably Canadians too) are known for their willingness to suffer for a good cause, for standing up to adversity, for sacrifice in the name of goodness, mom, and apple pie. “We are all in this together,” a popular manipulative phrase to get us all in lockstep. As long as it is not TOO much suffering, or for TOO long a time…just as tough and as long as the movies say is ideal. That we can do.

I often wonder how resilient and tolerant Americans would have been if the German Luftwaffe incessantly bombed them during World War II as they did Great Britain. In 1941 they probably would have fared pretty well. Now, I doubt if they would stomach it for too long. But this example is sort of beside the point of this article, although it is interesting to ponder. I think that stoic spirit is still in the North American soul. It might not be as keen as it was 80 years ago, but you certainly can see remnants of it today. Unfortunately, if there is any spirit left, it is being manipulated through deceit and deception.

But are Americans and Canadians really suffering all that much due to Covid? I think the unvaxxed are suffering quite a bit more. But what about the sheep? I think they think they are going with the flow and taking it all on the chin. And although Covid may be terrifying to them in many ways, I think they feel they are doing a good job rolling with the punches. And now, after their great Herculean effort wearing masks, staying away from people in the grocery store, getting jabbed five times (actually, I don’t think the jabbing was ever difficult for sheep), struggling through business closures (not for the actual business owners, THAT was a real struggle) they believe they are being rewarded for their efforts—Covid has left the building—mostly. The convenient inconveniences for this just reward—the inconveniences that made them virtuous and morally superior, “Look at all I have done for God and country” (you can leave the God part out, no sheep does any of what I am describing for God.)

Although they may think they have weathered the storm and now the storm is over, they are perfectly willing to hold onto a few of these inconveniences forever just to keep everything stabilized (sort of like taking your shoes off at the airport). They still wear masks in crowded places and doctor’s offices, they still avoid anyone they know who has Covid, or had Covid, or has a friend or a family member who has Covid. Although it is ironic to see how they make up their own rules at times, “Oh it’s fine to have lunch with my friend who had Covid and still tests positive, it’s been 10 days after all!” Although I can’t swear to this, I don’t know if I have ever heard official word that 10 days since initial diagnosis means you are clear, even if you test positive (all of this is so ridiculously illogical, I wouldn’t be surprised if that HAD been officially stated at some point).

Logic and reason would tell us that eventually, when it is clear that the threat is gone, people will forget all about it and the masks, and everything else, will disappear. I somehow doubt this is something we can count on. First, Covid isn’t real…MAYBE there WAS some bioweapon that was illegally produced in Wuhan, or maybe Covid is just one of hundreds of strains of the common flu (you can’t have both). And if Covid isn’t real, there still has to be some reason why the governments of the world went gaga over it. (If Covid is a man made bioweapon we can ask the same question.) If the governments of the world (or whatever entity it was) went gaga to create the hysteria they created, they are not going to let all that go to waste. There will always be a reason to keep some tiny (or big) bit of this insanity alive. So the masks are not going away any time soon, and my bet is they never will go away entirely, unless the forces of good win this spiritual battle that has been raging on probably in excess of 30,000 years. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

I find it fascinating, although quite disconcerting, to talk to “mid level” sheep (the super-sheep have bigger fish to fry, and they may all be in on this agenda anyway). The mid level sheep honestly talk as if they are stoically putting up with it all. As I said earlier, as long as it doesn’t get too bad, nor it lasts too long. After hearing them verbalize their devoted loyalty to the cause, I do wonder how far it will have to go until their moral high ground enthusiasm turns to fear (fear of real things, like starvation, or death from myocarditis) and despair. Will the shelves in the grocery stores have to be empty for a couple of months? Will it take a year? Will gas prices have to go higher than $10 a gallon? $20? Empty gas stations? Will a doctor’s care have to be nearly impossible to find? Will the wait at the local hospital’s Emergency Rooms have to be more than 24 hours? Two days? A closed ER? How long will it take before these little “clips on the chin” become “clock outs?”

Of course the sheep do not think it will get that bad. They believe there is always a limit and an end to these uncomfortable situations. The disease will end due to the efforts to stop it from progressing. According to them the governments of course do not have an agenda to take over the world and kill a bunch of us while stripping freedoms from the rest, thus making us simply chattel —oh no, none of that of course. Therefore they stand up to temporary suffering—and take it—waiting for VE day to celebrate.

It’s all relative, isn’t it? What seems intolerable in one moment becomes the norm in the next. I rather doubt if any of this is predictable to any accurate degree, although I am pretty sure what started out to be tolerable eventually becomes intolerable—at least intolerable measured with today’s metrics. But by the time it becomes that bad, I doubt if anyone even cares. Read George Orwell’s 1984 to see a relatively logical outcome to all of this. I think Orwell nails it, and it isn’t pretty. The people are miserable, but they don’t stand up, they simply lay down. There is a magic point in all of this insanity where if people rose up and fought, it could possibly make a difference. I am afraid we are quickly passing that point.