I learned how easy it is for us to betray one another and how COVID exposed the fault lines in our relationships. But I also saw humanity all around. I saw hugs and connection and immense warmth everywhere I went. I saw the worst side of humanity and the best, and I witnessed the indomitable power of inconvenient truths. The COVID-19 battleground has certainly created its heroes and villains, and we have all taken sides about which is which.
It should rattle any concerned citizen of the US – or just any rational person – that such a massive issue as a deadly pandemic could be turned on and off by perception management by powerful elites in government, tech, and media. And yet, the evidence is overwhelming that we have seen just such an operation at work over these pandemic years.
It Ends as it Began: As a Political Ploy Read More »
Launching CFR’s global health program provided Gates with the opportunity to market his brand of disease prevention to an audience of America’s most powerful people in business, media, law, and government—to convince these people that his vision of global health should be a national priority. And we have seen the results firsthand.
Elites Meet to Plan Your Health: The Role of the Council on Foreign Relations Read More »
We preach non-discrimination, equality, and democracy, but when confronted with what seemed to be a potentially mortal threat to our health and lives, we reverted back to pre-modern forms, almost overnight creating a new caste system, shoving the lessers among us in front of the virus to keep the elites pure and clean.
The Political Hierarchy of Infection Read More »
Interventions rooted in panic, driven by political machinations, and using all the levers of state power to terrify citizens and muzzle critics in the end needlessly killed massive numbers of the most vulnerable while putting the vast low-risk majority under house arrest. The benefits are questionable but the harms are increasingly obvious. The Johnson government in general and Hancock in particular revalidate Lord Acton’s astute observation that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Conspiracy Theories Become Conspiracy Facts Read More »
By going with the grain of how we think and act, the state-employed ‘nudgers’ can covertly shape our behaviour in a direction deemed desirable by the regime of the day – an appealing prospect for any government. The ubiquitous deployment of these behavioural strategies – which frequently rely on inflating emotional distress to change behaviour – raises profound moral questions.
The Nudge: Ethically Dubious and Ineffective Read More »
Is Fauci a synonym for science? No man is. But he was a prominent drive of US based pandemic policy, and at least some of his biggest decisions may have been errors. He should be judged for that.
Is Anthony Fauci the Same Thing as ‘Science’? Read More »
The case for nuclear weapons rests on a superstitious belief of magical Realism in the utility of the bomb and the theory of deterrence. The extreme destructiveness of nuclear weapons makes them qualitatively different in political and moral terms from other weapons, to the point of rendering them virtually unusable. Like the emperor who had no clothes, this might well be the truest explanation of why they have not been used since 1945.
My Transition from Nuclear to Covid Read More »
More than other members of society, children are at a critical phase in development, with their well-being largely dependent on the good judgement of the adults around them. As we wrap up the holiday season, full of reminders of the innocence and joy of childhood, it’s time to embrace our responsibility, as adults, to protect that innocence through reasonable pandemic policy.
Students with Disabilities Need the Least Restrictive Environment Read More »
Beyond empathy, to combat a psychic epidemic we need meaning in our lives. Not an ersatz top-down solidarity, dreamt up by technocratic communications experts, but genuine, socially meaningful relationships, purpose and values. Lockdowns and restrictions squashed exactly what we need to flourish as human beings in order to counteract a psychic epidemic. For the good of the collective, we must recapture meaning and values as individuals.
The Moral Cruelty of the Pandemic Response Read More »
