History

History articles feature analysis of historical context in relation to censorship, policy, technology, media, economics, and social life.

All Brownstone Institute articles on the topic of history are translated into multiple languages.

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Trump lockdown

How They Convinced Trump to Lock Down

By / / , / 8 minute read / Articles, Popular
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To be sure, this scenario cannot be proven because the entire event – certainly the most dramatic political move in at least a generation and one with unspeakable costs for the country – remains cloaked in secrecy. Not even Senator Rand Paul can get the information he needs because it remains classified. If anyone thinks the Biden approval of releasing documents will show what we need, that person is naive. Still, the above scenario fits all available facts and it is confirmed by second-hand reports from inside the White House. 

How They Convinced Trump to Lock Down Read Journal Article

lab leak

The Lab Leak and the Counter Measures: What Really Happened

By / / , , / 13 minute read / Articles
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Some have argued that it was the powerful forces backing the vaccines, without reference to or need for a lab leak, that set the whole Covid disaster in motion. There is also some resistance to the idea that the entire Covid disaster was – and still is – a conspiracy of the international biodefense network. I would contend that the only explanation for the cascade of Covid events is that it began with a lab leak that required a cover-up, and that those involved in the cover-up were those who dictated and benefited from the response.

The Lab Leak and the Counter Measures: What Really Happened Read Journal Article

covid love canal

The Covid Disaster was Foreshadowed with Love Canal

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Those at the highest risk from Covid were given a piece of cloth to wear over their faces, while those at very little risk from the virus itself saw their future prospects decimated because of overly broad restrictions.  Both groups were told that $.05 masks were the difference between life and death, despite a lack of scientific consensus at any juncture.  Both groups were told that questioning any of this was tantamount to terrorism; that embracing one-size-fits-none restrictions held the only path forward. 

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love canal

The Real Trauma of Love Canal

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In thinking only about the (very real) dangers posed by benzene and dioxin, activists forgot about everything else. They forgot about the fact that happy communities are healthy communities; that family dinners and book clubs are every bit as essential to a healthy life as staying away from pools of chloroform. Well-meaning people developed tunnel vision; thinking only about the dangers of the landfill, while forgetting about the dangers that come with upending a community. 

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Dr. Frieden's Follies

Dr. Frieden’s Follies

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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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devastation

The Devastation is Deeper and Wider than We Know

By / / , / 4 minute read / Articles
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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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slow the spread

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

By / / , , / 5 minute read / Articles
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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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Sunrise curse

The Day the Sunrise Was a Curse 

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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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merkel-wuhan

Curious: Angela Merkel’s September 2019 Visit to Wuhan

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What an incredible coincidence that the German Chancellor was visiting Wuhan’s Tongji Hospital at almost precisely the time when, according to Redfield’s speculations, a potentially catastrophic event was taking place across the river at the Wuhan Institute of Virology! This was, moreover, merely three months before the first officially acknowledged cases of Covid-19 began to turn up in the city. 

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Balaji Srinivasan: The Man Who Was Fired Up for Covid

By / / , / 9 minute read / Articles
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Unlike Tomás Pueyo, it’s unlikely that Balaji’s Twitter prophecies had a major effect on policy—though he did spread a bit of panic to bring these outcomes about. Rather, aside from the uncanny global coordination we observed in COVID policies and propaganda, Balaji’s tweets might be the best evidence so far that this plan to recreate China’s response did, in fact, exist, down to the particular terms and details of how the world would transform.

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covid bonfire of the vanities

Bonfire of the Covid Vanities 

By / / , / 7 minute read / Articles
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Freedom to take a walk on the beach? Stop killing the vulnerable! Freedom to earn a living? The economy will recover! The demotion of freedom—that noble ideal of liberal democracy—to a caricature has been painful to observe. Without freedom, we have nothing resembling a life. Pandemic or not, freedom needs a place at the discussion table.

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