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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Grading the Governors: Who Locked Down and Who Opened?

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Not one governor performed perfectly during the pandemic and lockdowns. With media pressure, a desire to balance their constituents, and a desire to get reelected and move on to federal positions down the road, it was an enormously difficult job for all of them. For every single one, from Governors Newsom and Cuomo to Noem and DeSantis, it was the most challenging policy-making of their careers, and for any governor in perhaps American history

Grading the Governors: Who Locked Down and Who Opened? Read Journal Article

Kulldorff Deleted: Famed Epidemiologist and Early Opponent of Lockdowns Banned by LinkedIn

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Things are changing fast. The history is being rewritten. It seems designed to whitewash the lockdowns, pretending as if there was never any credible opposition. Great scientists are being made to disappear before our eyes.

Kulldorff Deleted: Famed Epidemiologist and Early Opponent of Lockdowns Banned by LinkedIn Read Journal Article

The Reactionary Political Ethos of Lockdowns and Mandates

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We’ve lived through an enormous setback, pushed by reactionary elements among the ruling class, but it is likely a prequel to what comes next: a backlash against reaction and toward a new stage of progress. Cycles within cycles. Forces of centralization have had a field day, and a good run of it, but the forces of decentralization are fighting back again with good odds of regaining the narrative again. 

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What Might Have Been: Calm, Protection, and Care

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Figuring out why sound public-health practice was rejected in favor of lockdowns is the job of writers and researchers for many years to come. But this much we know already. We had the information we needed to rationally address this threat. We had the experience and knowledge we needed to approach this responsibly and scientifically. A very small group of people on both sides of the Atlantic chose a different path. 

What Might Have Been: Calm, Protection, and Care Read Journal Article

Is This Our World War I?

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While many historical analogies have been offered for our present moment, from the campaign to combat polio to the National Socialist dictatorship of Germany, it is perhaps this wholly unnecessary self-destruction of a civilization that our own era most readily resembles. The campaign by our government to prevent every possible infection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus regardless of the cost has unleashed a hollowing of once trusted institutions and ideas. 

Is This Our World War I? Read Journal Article

The Lab Leak: The Plots and Schemes of Jeremy Farrar, Anthony Fauci, and Francis Collins

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What strikes me most in retrospect concerning the idea of the lab leak is the following. During the most critical weeks leading up to the obvious spread of the virus all over the Northeast of the U.S., leading to incredible carnage in nursing homes due to egregious policies that failed to protect the vulnerable and even deliberately infected them, public health officials in the US and UK were consumed not with a proper health response but with fear of dealing with the probability that this virus was man-made in China. 

The Lab Leak: The Plots and Schemes of Jeremy Farrar, Anthony Fauci, and Francis Collins Read Journal Article

Is Anyone Going to Accept Responsibility for This?

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This is the model that will consume all public discussion of the pandemic response in the future: seeking but never finding anyone to bear responsibility. This is typical for episodes in history that are characterized by mass frenzy and distorted fanaticism. Once the mania is gone, it is hard to find anyone who is willing to accept responsibility for feeding it and acting upon it. 

Is Anyone Going to Accept Responsibility for This? Read Journal Article