As IF Times

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.

source: https://time.com/5804555/coronavirus-lockdown-uk/

Now that there is more clarity on the nature and source of the corona virus outbreak, some of the hysterical reactions have died down.  Not everyone of course; like most events these days, entire industries and even Facebook groups have sprung up specifically to continually promulgate the existential disaster which faces mankind…if not today, then certainly soon.   In fact, it’s quite daunting to consider the challenges we face from the simultaneous ravages of both warmer weather and a nasty flu.  It’s hard to know where to throw the tax money first.

While the global warming saga continues to squawk in the background like an annoying child, the recent corona virus outbreak is causing grief to the world at a level greatly more damaging than the bleating of the climate change nutters ever did.  Politicos at all levels decided that the only way to save the few at risk, was to sacrifice the many who weren’t.  I gave an analogy in an earlier piece about bulldozing neighborhoods because someone found a bedbug in their house and this is what we’ve seen on a global scale.

The unfolding global disaster resulting from the hysterical actions of ‘leaders’, is only beginning.  The obvious casualties of job losses, collapsing businesses, mental and social ramifications are evident.  What’s not as evident, but which will surely impact people for generations, are the follow on policies to be dreamt up by ‘leaders’ in order to ameliorate things in the future.  We know what that means; more stupid rules and laws. 

We are still suffering from useless protocols created in the aftermath of 9-11 at the airports by resignedly being searched, felt up and made to walk shoeless through scanning machines.  Who would have thought this could still be happening after almost 20 years?  Not one politician has thought it a good idea to re-visit this program.  An entire industry continues to exist which is frankly, security kabuki.  The frightening thing of course, is that people have not collectively pushed back against this invasion of personal freedoms…. to say nothing about the inconvenience.  This was the precedent for creating policies that sacrificed the many for the few.  The justification is always that tired canard, “well if it only saves one life…”, which is supposed to justify dumb on an industrial scale. 

In the present crisis, we will see the rise of what I’ll refer to as medical McCarthyism.  Everyone is suspected to be a petri dish of death, so the six foot separation protocol will work its way into modern life ( at least for a while, but probably longer than we think ).  In Ottawa recently, the policy makers there decided that having a beer in your own driveway should be discouraged because it can only lead to socializing.  People will be cajoled and pressured socially to accept all kinds of infringements on their personal activities, “for the safety of everyone”.   The Governor of Michigan has freely created edicts to her subjects on their movements, what they are allowed to buy and when, without clear authority in her mandate to do so.  So it’s not surprising that there are those are calling for an 18 month shutdown.  There are always those who want ultimate control over others. 

It’s not a big leap for people to be required to have proof of certification of vaccines in order to be allowed to circulate in society.  Since we are in the 21st century, instead of carrying a piece of paper,  maybe a chip can be implanted….voluntarily of course….at least at first.  Maybe it will become normal to see people standing in a spaced out conga line to go into a supermarket.  Maybe gloves and masks will be so common in everyday life that streets will resemble a society of surgeons and nurses on break. Maybe new squadrons of police officers will be charged with breaking up house parties of more than 6 people upon receiving tips from the snitch neighbors.   While there is never any shortage of people ready to impose new restrictions on people’s lives, the scary part is that the majority of people will acquiesce because they’ve been sold that it’s for their own good.   It’s like chickens urging each other to go with the Colonel. 

Western societies have moved further and further away from personal responsibility and fulfillment and have become increasingly dependent on governments and institutions to provide for their needs.  We’ve allowed experts and their “superior” knowledge to set policies.  The ceding of public policy directives to doctors will be as harmful as was ceding law writing to lawyers.  We’ll never be safe enough and there will always be a disaster lurking in the next series of sneezes.

Science fiction writers often portray the near future as being a dark dystopian and Orwellian world with big brother type controls on an oppressed populace.  Don’t look now, but the future is closer than you think.