As IF Times

source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/coronavirus-missouri-lockdown-breakers-details-online-st-louis-county-a9497271.html

How quickly the tone of the response to the Covid outbreak turned from “we’re all in this together” to now being an atmosphere more resembling “Lord Of The Flies”.

The narrative has been successfully implanted in the subjects, er the civilians, that only by following the illogical rules decreed by zealous civil figures would society survive the biblical plague of our time. This despite empirical evidence that now clearly shows that not only is the infection readily treatable, but that the original apocalyptic scenarios were no better than internet Nostradamus memes.

Instead of uniting the population, the crisis has served to reveal even more of the deep divisions afflicting society.  The political divide of course, because today, everything is political, even the weather.  The rich/poor divide as well, but this time with a bit of a twist.  This time, we have the people with comfortable income and pension guarantees pitted against those that need employment income to survive.

The evidence is pretty clear now that the on-going economic collapse caused by ill conceived shutdown policies is many, many times worse than any infection that they were intended to contain.  Despite the economic nuclear winter that has devastated lives and businesses globally, there are still those ‘medical’ alarmists predicting the next wave of imminent disaster.  Sounds a bit like rising tides and melting glaciers to me.  All we need is a 16 year old schoolgirl wagging fingers at us imploring, “how dare you go outside!”

The delusion has spread naturally to the strong of virtue but weak of mind so that, like communist countries, people are encouraged to tattle on their neighbors who have the nerve to not cower under their beds and instead try to work to pay bills, buy food and just plain survive.  How dare they endanger the public by trying to survive!  This outrageous behavior is now the height of social shaming.  Celebrities naturally demonstrate their solidarity to the cause by staying quarantined in their walled compounds.  Songs are sung, money is raised, yada yada yada. Some very thoughtful ones even arranged their yachts to spell out, “stay at home”.

This crisis has exposed the contingent of political leaders who are drunk with their imagined powers and are quite happy to wield the thinly gloved fist of tyranny against a surprisingly compliant public.  Eventually (hopefully), these Kim Jong Un wannabes will be tossed out and it’s too bad they likely won’t get the Mussolini treatment, but who knows.  The real problem is that even if the politicians get turfed,  those Gladys Kravitz wannabes will still be your neighbors.

source: https://policyadvice.net/car-insurance/insights/how-many-people-die-in-car-accidents/

Who knows when logical thought will prevail over hysterical bleating, but as a simple excercise in comparative statistics, let’s take a look at one of the leading causes of death in the world.  Bear in mind that this statistic generally increases every year with the world’s population growth and so this phenomenon is a regular on-going thing, not just a seasonal scare.

That horrible scourge causing the loss of well over a million lives every year in all nations is….car accidents.

According to the insurance related link above, they estimate that 1.3 million people perish each year from automobile accidents worldwide, averaging 3,700 deaths per day.   Comparing this to the running count of Corona virus deaths currently estimated at 188,000 and we can see that car accidents are still more deadly than this vaunted modern day plague.  If we extrapolate the 188,000 deaths to the end of the year, we’d still be shy of the mortality number estimated for car accidents. Some may argue that the virus may spread exponentially, but I counter that rates of infection have already shown signs of peaking and  thus the mortality total may be far less.  In fact they are working on vaccinations which will likely curb the virus completely.

On the other hand, car accidents will likely continue.

Oddly, with the steady rate of deaths by automobiles over the years, there has never been a clamor to stop the use of them.  There has never been a directive for people to stay in their homes to avoid death by being run over. Nobody has closed restaurants, nail salons, lumber yards, post offices or massage parlors because of the very real probability of being an accident statistic.

Certainly, people with strong paranoid agoraphobia may stay at home hiding under beds in fear of a car crashing into their living rooms (and it does happen) but the vast majority of people accept this great risk of modern life and go about their daily activities.  There is no prohibition on everyone driving because people can choose to roll the dice or they can choose not to drive. Some may argue that a virus can be caught unwittingly by normal activity.  Well, nobody plans a car accident.  Somehow, nations are able to function even with the statistical specter of death hovering over them every year.

The actual lethalness of the virus has become a side issue next to the hysterical responses in its wake.  Petty inconveniences like overdue haircuts and dental appointments are eclipsed by authoritarian decrees by tin pot administrators drunk on power banning the assembly and circulation of their subjects.  People are standing in line to buy necessities that they are allowed to buy for their families.  People are not allowed to work.  People are only allowed out at certain times and with strict restrictions. In essence, people are required to have permission from the state to live a normal life.

Not only are we required to line up like cattle at airports to be stripped searched and scanned, daily routines now require lining up to buy food and toilet paper. We are assured it’s all for the greater good. This sounds suspiciously like some totalitarian states which most people profess to abhor.

I’m certainly tired of watching some ‘bureaucratic expert’ speaking benignly every day about the disaster upon us and the long road of grief to come.  In reality, they have as much clarity about outcomes as they do about the next day’s weather. For variety, I suggest we give some time to other professional hand wringers who will save us from car accidents, overeating, smoking, drinking and excess tattoos.  They can be sponsored by companies making the best beds to hide under as well as tin hats.