The Panic Pandemic

[Valin]

City Journal

Fearmongering from journalists, scientists, and politicians did more harm than the virus.

John Tierney

Summer 2021

The United States suffered through two lethal waves of contagion in the past year and a half. The first was a viral pandemic that killed about one in 500 Americans—typically, a person over 75 suffering from other serious conditions. The second, and far more catastrophic, was a moral panic that swept the nation’s guiding institutions.

Instead of keeping calm and carrying on, the American elite flouted the norms of governance, journalism, academic freedom—and, worst of all, science. They misled the public about the origins of the virus and the true risk that it posed. Ignoring their own carefully prepared plans for a pandemic, they claimed unprecedented powers to impose untested strategies, with terrible collateral damage. As evidence of their mistakes mounted, they stifled debate by vilifying dissenters, censoring criticism, and suppressing scientific research.

If, as seems increasingly plausible, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 leaked out of a laboratory in Wuhan, it is the costliest blunder ever committed by scientists. Whatever the pandemic’s origin, the response to it is the worst mistake in the history of the public-health profession. We still have no convincing evidence that the lockdowns saved lives, but lots of evidence that they have already cost lives and will prove deadlier in the long run than the virus itself.

One in three people worldwide lost a job or a business during the lockdowns, and half saw their earnings drop, according to a Gallup poll. Children, never at risk from the virus, in many places essentially lost a year of school. The economic and health consequences were felt most acutely among the less affluent in America and in the rest of the world, where the World Bank estimates that more than 100 million have been pushed into extreme poverty.

The leaders responsible for these disasters continue to pretend that their policies worked and assume that they can keep fooling the public. They’ve promised to deploy these strategies again in the future, and they might even succeed in doing so—unless we begin to understand what went wrong.

(Snip)

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March 19 2020

Well in in Minnesota Gov Tim Walz has taken care of that little problem...by shutting down All Bars & Restaurants. The question is, 1. How long will this ban be in place 2. how many bars and restaurants will go under? All because of 14 cases (out of a population of 5.6 Million)

Let me see if I understand this (not being all that bright I..Could..Be..Wrong) The media pushes the Panic Button in order to get Ratings/Clicks. A certain number of people go (for lack of a better word) Insane. Politicians in response to the Media and the Insane, react by shutting down large parts of society/the economy...(249 people in a group, you're safe, 251 Everyone dies. If you want a drink or dinner out...You're gonna die.). Then to (try) a solve the problem they created by panicking and reacting to the insanity they say they are going to Give me $1,000. Where we might reasonably ask will they get this money? Why from the magical money tree of course!

[Valin]

Meanwhile Juan Williams explains The Narritive

Juan Williams: The GOP is criminally reckless on COVID