Brownstone Institute Articles ⋆ Page 84 of 207 ⋆ Brownstone Institute

The Narrative in Retreat

Ramesh Thakur / March 22, 2023 / Law, Policy, Public Health, Vaccines / 14 minute read

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The puzzle of why there was a worldwide cascading abandonment of a hundred years of accumulated knowledge by scientific and policy advisers will occupy researchers for many years. The result is that old lessons are having to be relearned. Judging by the rush of studies now coming through to contradict key tenets of the 2020–22 narrative, there’s hope that the wall of silence rooted in groupthink and fear of consequences to career and reputation might have been irreparably breached.

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The Mandates Themselves Carry Grave Costs

Aaron Hertzberg / March 22, 2023 / Psychology / 14 minute read

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The inevitable consequence of public denouncements of the unvaccinated is that those who made them are necessarily rooting for the unvaccinated to suffer the grim fates they had articulated, at least in part, having invested themselves and their credibility in this narrative.

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Dr. Frieden’s Follies

Bret Swanson / March 21, 2023 / History, Public Health / 10 minute read

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The failure of public health authorities to honestly appraise a series of historic failures shows why they were so ill-suited to the task. Perhaps they do not have the skills to analyze, execute, learn, and course correct. Or maybe the institutions – from the FDA and CDC to local and state health departments to medical schools – lack some kind of organizational fortitude or resistance to groupthink.

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Once More to the Lectern

Rob Jenkins / March 21, 2023 / Education / 8 minute read

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So, yes, I have removed myself from the New-Agey circle of desks in the middle of the classroom and gone back to the lectern—and it feels good. It’s where I belong. believe, in the long run, my students will benefit, too, as over time I wean them from the spoon-feeding we have all been doing during the pandemic.

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The Devastation is Deeper and Wider than We Know

Justin Hart / March 21, 2023 / History, Public Health / 4 minute read

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The Covid policies and their aftermath have had far-reaching impacts on our society. People now have lowered trust in public institutions, raised worries about privacy and freedom of speech, and the financial ramifications will persist for a long time. As we face the challenges posed by this pandemic and its policy outcomes, it’s vital to draw lessons from these missteps so future responses are more balanced, open, and successful in tackling public health crises without compromising civic rights and public confidence.

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Your Daughter for a Rat?

David Bell / March 20, 2023 / Public Health / 6 minute read

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Health professionals who do not prioritize people over animals may get by as veterinary surgeons, but are unsafe with people. It is time for those who believe in the intrinsic and undefinable value of each human to find their voice, and rebuild our institutions on that basis. Public health should elevate humanity rather than degrade it.

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The Tantric and the Terrible Tempest

Bhaskaran Raman / March 20, 2023 / Education / 3 minute read

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The tranquil tropical town which has restarted whipping kids is Puducherry (India): “H3N2 outbreak: This UT shuts schools from 16-24 March.” In a normal world, people should not ask for evidence to not whip kids to ostensibly prevent future tempests. Regardless, there is a mountain of scientific evidence that whipping kids has no effect on tempests.

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Eye Protection Wasn’t Misdirection

Megan Mansell / March 20, 2023 / Masks / 10 minute read

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Consider all of the people you’ve seen donning masks or respirators over these past three years, assured in the merit of their virtue. How many still got sick? Did you ever once see someone donning goggles? Are we ever going to get around to discussing exhaustion of the hierarchy of controls, or are actual mitigating measures too taboo, too fringe?

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Strict Safety Standards for Cough Syrup, but mRNA Shots Get a Free Pass

Sonia Elijah / March 19, 2023 / Vaccines / 3 minute read

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It’s unequivocal: anaphylaxis was a known life-threatening adverse event, around the same time emergency use authorization was granted for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Yet, because it’s an “injectable vaccine” it somehow has gotten a free pass from all the drug regulators, no matter how much damning data accumulates, when a cough syrup or capsule on the other hand gets urgently recalled on the basis of a “a very rare risk of anaphylaxis.”

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Censorship Masquerades and Disinformation Control

Andrew Lowenthal / March 19, 2023 / Censorship, Law, Media / 4 minute read

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The Virality Project however is just part of a broader cultural shift that reverses long standing liberal/left commitments to free expression and allows censorship in the name of protection and safety. However in suppressing “stories of true vaccine side effects” the Virality Project put people in danger. Rather than keeping people safe they exposed us to the depredations of BigPharma.

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Three Years to Slow the Spread Marked the Advent of Push-Button Tyranny

Jordan Schachtel / March 18, 2023 / Economics, History, Public Health / 5 minute read

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Covid hysteria and the three-year anniversary of 15 Days To Slow The Spread serves as the beginning period of a permanent scar resulting from government power grabs and federal overreach. While life is back to normal in most of the country, the Overton window of acceptable policy has slid even further in the direction of push-button tyranny. Hopefully, much of the world has awakened to the reality that most of the people in charge aren’t actually doing what’s best for their respective populations.

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The Day the Sunrise Was a Curse

Jeffrey A. Tucker / March 17, 2023 / History, Philosophy / 6 minute read

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We recall those days now and wonder how and why this all happened. Not one minute has passed since that day when I’ve rested from asking that question. Every day it feels like we get closer to knowing. And yet the truth keeps being ever more elusive with every revelation of the depths of the conspiracy, the range of the players, the interests at work, and the forever toggle between fear, plot, ignorance and malice.

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