As IF Times

source: https://nationalpost.com/news/world/coronavirus-covid19-covid-19-pandemic-canada

In only a few weeks the world has gone from relative ignorance about covid-19 to full blown panic over an infection that appears to be spreading exponentially.  While the nexus of the virus seemed to originate in China, incidents of infection are being found worldwide, even in unlikely places such as Italy and Iran. The fear and panic has affected virtually every segment of society especially as it relates to travel.  There are stories of vacationers who embarked  upon 14 day cruises only to have that trip extended another 14 days in the form of a quarantine.

If nothing else, it’s a change from the boring narratives of the global warming crowd with their 16 year-olds moaning about lost childhood and missing penguins. I suspect that crowd may be annoyed at having their fake crisis spotlight taken away from them by a real crisis. All of a sudden, people are more concerned about the guy coughing next to them than a few absent polar bears. A genuine existential threat pushing away the fake one like it was leftover turkey the week after Thanksgiving.

I’m not in the medical business so I’ll defer to those experts who are charged with handling this outbreak.  The CDC has a website which reports the on-going status of the outbreak and people can do their own research.  As an obvious reminder to those who haven’t figured it out, CNN is not a source of information on this….or anything.  In addition, this video, created showing statistics by the World Health Organization may give a larger perspective on this and other epidemics in history.

None of this is meant to downplay the potential damage that this outbreak can cause; we need only look at the panic that has occurred in world stock markets to see that people are in full hysteria mode.  Few things focus the mind more clearly than the possibility of imminent death.  But is imminent death a high probability given the safeguards being put in place and with the advances of medical techniques not available in previous outbreaks?  Calmer voices think not.  Some of the keenest minds in the medical industry are working on a resolution to this problem right now and of course, we do expect a resolution. I’m not so convinced that hoarding freeze dried foods and deadbolting all doors is a rational course of action given what’s known….no matter what CNN says.

As I mentioned earlier, panic seems to grip people when they fear that imminent harm will come to them.  It’s the imminent part that creates the hysteria. Smoking is bad for you and it will likely kill you before your time.  But no one panics about it because that demise is way off in the future.  This is the same for all drugs including alcohol in great amounts.  These threats to personal well being can be avoided and yet, without imminent harm, these threats are blithely ignored.

As an illustration of how irrational people are,  we want to point out that there is something out there that is guaranteed to cause discomfort, suffering, starvation and has already been responsible for hundreds of millions of preventable deaths…and yet people embrace it anyway.  I am talking about socialist and communist philosophy  Despite all that we know about the history of such regimes, there are still those today who are proponents for their implementation.  These regimes don’t necessarily happen through the use of force.  Typically, they are allowed to rise because the populace are somehow convinced that policies of such regimes would benefit them in the long run.  The most common hooks are the promises of equality and fairness. They fail to see that a long miserable existence leading to a miserable death is likely in their future once collectivism takes hold.  Sweden, long regarded as model of ‘good socialism’ is devolving into a nation of prohibited speech and civil violence at a level not supposedly seen in a civilized nation.

Communist and socialist regimes are cancers on mankind and their ill effects eclipse any natural viral outbreak, including corona virus. While the idea is attractive to the minds of the mentally feeble, it doesn’t confer any benefit to those afflicted with its belief system.  At least with cigarettes and booze, you get a short term buzz.  As this article illustrates, the incidences of communist regimes throughout history have left in their wake hundreds of millions of people extinguished, if not directly by violence, then passively via starvation and oppression.  Few pandemics in history have wrought as much damage to the world’s population as that brought on by socialist/communist regimes.

It’s somewhat amusing to observe pundits of all kinds, hair alight, frantically warning about a virus breakout that is actively and urgently being addressed whereas they ignore the much more deadly political cancer generating popularity with the feeble minded.  It’s like worrying about a wasp flying into your house while at the same time leaving your basement door open to a yard filled with snakes. After this corona virus crisis is over, we hope scientists will find a cure for a much deadlier affliction:  mass psychosis.

Source: New litmus test? Dems demand elimination of ICE amid immigration furor | Fox News

Over the past 10 years, it’s clear to anyone observing the state of political discourse in America that the dignified to and fro from a period long ago has given way to pretty sharp elbowed acrimony by modern participants.   Historically, both of the major US political parties have been characterized as representing their own particular constituencies.  But while the GOP can still be painted as being stodgy conservatives, the Democratic Party has morphed like a melting candle into an unrecognizable blob of discordant principles.

For years, that party liked to be portrayed as the party of inclusion and of the working class average man.  Unfortunately, that characterization is as dated as handlebar mustaches on barkeepers, or for that matter, even the word barkeeper.  In fact, it’s unlikely that the Dems would like to be known as merely representing men; that would be offensive.  They want to include all the sexes: 16 at last count.  You know that animals and plants will be on their radar soon. The Democrats’ main tool of recruitment is the balkanization of the population into identifiable victimized sub groups,  but now they’ve modified their message  to also include those that aren’t even citizens.

As a matter of common sense, if you’re a political party trying to win the hearts and minds of Americans, it seems obvious that your particular vision of America should resonate with a big chunk of the population, representing ‘American values’.  Not only has there been a departure from this logical path, the route now taken is to champion causes and values that are absolutely antithetical to the very notion of America….and in a very unapologetic way.

The most recent surprise victor at an electoral runoff for state representative in New York, Alexandria Cortez, ran unabashedly and proudly as a socialist and has expressed that communism is the end game.  The most shocked person was the defeated incumbent who thought he owned all of the space on the left.  Imagine his surprise at being out lefted.  Clearly, Cortez was able to galvanize a support base with her message of anti establishment sentiments.  It was the usual songsheet of ostracism, racism, unjust laws etc etc that progressive politicos all sing from.

What’s most radical is Cortez’s insistence that ICE, the immigration police force,  be disbanded and borders should be freely open.  While this may seem a reasonable idea for a 28 year old idealist, you’d think that rational voters, whom are presumably older and can see the folly of such a platform, would be resistant.  Picking up a newspaper and reading about Venezuela, or Cuba should have been a reality check.  But no. So much for logic.

What’s more worrisome is the willingness of the Democrats to embrace such radicalism because it can lead to a seat in the House at the expense of the GOP.  It’s the old “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” idea. We see an increased acceptance of political fossils like Mad Maxine Waters calling for public intimidation of political opponents. We observe public calls for violence against non believers by actors and jugglers and assorted media talking heads.  People are not left in peace in public spaces, nor at their homes. Gangs of people threaten people with violence who don’t share their worldview.  Schools at all levels stifle speech and opinions which are not in accordance to progressive sensibilities.  Of course the irony of this fascist behavior even as the left accuse others of fascism is completely lost on them.  The resemblance of their behavior and dogmatically irrational beliefs to a certain militant religious group is uncanny, but again, that irony is missed.

The Democratic Party is going through a period of significant upheaval, a process which the Republican Party itself went through years ago and which is still in process.  But whereas the GOP at its core still champions the values of the founders of the nation, the Democrats seem to have abandoned any classic vision of America, choosing instead to allow the party to pursue a direction that is everything that Americans have historically fought against.  The gulf between the GOP and the Democrats is now enormous.  Choosing between their platforms is like choosing  between chocolate ice cream or earwax. This has come about from years of distorted narrative about the history of the nation and its people from a revisionist education system and buttressed by the media.   It has been exacerbated by the exaggeration of moral relativism and spurious social justice causes.

One of the most prescient authors of our time made many astute observations about the predictability of humans, human nature and especially of governments.  One of these quotes seems apt here: ” The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history”  

It’s unclear whether the election of Cortez will embolden Democratic candidates to be more nakedly militant against a traditional America.  You can bet that tack will be tested on the public, especially in the increasingly radical western states.  We’ll see if the public prefers ice cream or earwax.