A State of Fear


Posted On: Monday - May 31st 2021 2:01PM MST
In Topics: 
  Books  World Political Stupidity  Kung Flu Stupidity



You gotta go to the Russia Today site to get the real news sometimes, just as the Russians would have had to grab a bootleg Wall Street Journal back in the 1970s. I found a couple of interesting articles back on May 19th, this one about a book called A State of Fear regarding the still-ongoing Kung Flu PanicFest in the UK. Russian times says New book exposes UK’s unethical psyops team that ramps up anxiety over Covid-19 to control a compliant public.

This post is not a book review, but I'll just excerpt a few passages from the RT article:
By any measure, the coronavirus situation in Britain should be looking pretty rosy by now, as Covid-19 cases are down, hospital admissions are down, deaths are down and vaccinations are up. The NHS has not been overwhelmed, the pubs are open and the kids are free to hug their gran. So, why the glum faces?
Well, in general, when you live in 1984 Oceania on steroids, you're not gonna smile so much.
Something seemed off kilter last night as the TV news screened images of holiday-hungry Brits arriving in Portugal, a teenage cancer survivor hugging his nan after a year of forced separation and a bunch of lads in a Barnsley pub drinking pints and watching the football play-offs.

These scenes of jollity were tempered with news from India of a new variant that had arrived in the UK and was proving wildly virulent, perhaps threatening the freedoms we had longed for, if its spread continued unabated. The message was clear: restrictions on our freedom might have eased from Monday, but we could be back in lockdown unless we can manage this latest ‘scariant’ from the sub-continent. Stay alert. Stay afraid.
That's the same story here. "We're almost through this folks, due to your safety minded-people in your face diapers. We've got a new President who CARES ABOUT SCIENCE!, and therefore a new vaccine, approved just after election day." "Oh, but wait... one more thing ..." [/Totalitarian Columbo]

RT article writer Damien Wilson:
I’m sorry, but this time I just don’t buy it. Enough with the scare tactics, the dashboard of death and the prophets of doom. It’s quite clear the vaccine is working. I’ve had both doses on the very clear understanding that it works, and I don’t expect I’ll be hospitalised or die even if I do at some point contract the virus.

But PM Boris Johnson and his government are addicted to fear and the control it gives over a compliant public. As journalist Laura Dodsworth makes the case in her new book, ‘A State of Fear: How the UK Government Weaponised
[SIC!] Fear During the Covid-19 Pandemic’, the British public needs to push back on this constant bait and switch aimed at keeping us all in a perpetual state of anxiety.
You people brought on this perpetual state of anxiety yourselves by believing in government and following its edicts. That's the root of the problem. Now, they know they can fuck with you forever.
But things quickly soured (the deterioration). No sooner had thousands boarded their flights to the sun than BoJo announced it was inadvisable to travel to countries on the UK’s amber list, that the Indian variant posed a major threat to those who refused to vaccinate, that plans were being drawn up for a return to the loathsome local lockdowns, and that ‘freedom day’ on June 21 was most probably a non-starter. The abuse continued.
Yes, but as a loyal spouse errr, subject of the government, you all still come back for more.
As Dodsworth discusses, fear diminishes over time, but by announcing an easing of restrictions, the government faced losing the psychological grip over a malleable public that it had worked so hard at establishing and then enforcing by draconian emergency laws.
See, that's no good...
Aided and abetted by what the author calls its team of “unelected psychocrats” – the behavioural [SIC!, OK I can't keep this up.] insights experts who advise the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) – the government has encouraged the use of fear to control people’s behaviour during the pandemic. One unnamed member of that team, the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B), said they were “stunned by the weaponisation of behavioural psychology” on the British public.

Another anonymous member told Dodsworth, “In March [2020] the government was very worried about compliance, and they thought people wouldn’t want to be locked down. There were discussions about fear being needed to encourage compliance, and decisions were made about how to ramp up the fear.”

Gavin Morgan, one SPI-B psychologist who was prepared to be named, admitted, “Clearly, using fear as a means of control is not ethical. Using fear smacks of totalitarianism. It’s not an ethical stance for any modern government.”

Establishing control was relatively easy. A straightforward effort was in the choice of data and graphs that were shared with the public at the regular press briefings from Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and Chief Medical Officer for England Professor Chris Whitty. Professor David Paton, a professor of Industrial Economics at Nottingham University, called the duo’s appearances “the ultimate psyop”.
I don't usually suspect a conspiracy when it's likely more an intense mass of parallel stupidity and/or evil, but this story seems to fit that bill. Government and the Lyin' Press worked together to keep the Brits cowering.

I've excerpted about half the article, but the rest is worth reading. Here's how the writer Mr. Wilson ends it:
The creepy ‘psychocrats’ pulling the strings have been rumbled, and as awareness grows of their role in the government’s inept management of the pandemic, they’ll scuttle under the furniture like cockroaches caught in the light, leaving the politicians fully exposed and expected to explain themselves. And then the real fun begins.
No they won't, and you wish.

Comments:
Moderator
Wednesday - June 2nd 2021 6:17AM MST
PS: Bill and Mr. Anon, I'm glad we have more reasonable people in the family (by this point). My Mom got inoculated and is miffed that the rest of us haven't. That doesn't stop her from being glad we will visit, and of course, she sees no reason we should wear face masks.
Mr. Anon
Tuesday - June 1st 2021 11:52PM MST
PS

@Bill H

"My wife has planned a family outing to celebrate birthdays (mine included) and I don't want to go. Why not? Face masks. My family is all vaccinated and will be removing face masks but won't let me do so because I'm not vaccinateluded) and I don't want to go. Why not? Face masks. My family is all vaccinated and will be removing face masks but won't let me do so because I'm not vaccinated."

I'm to the point where I would write off anybody who would insist upon such a condition - no matter how close a friend or relation they used to be.

Hey, it was nice knowin' ya (till now). Have a nice life.
The Alarmist
Tuesday - June 1st 2021 3:30PM MST
PS

@Bill H ... download the paper referred to by this and circulate it to all your family with the comment to read on on the Absolute Risk reduction of the various vaccines:

Abstract

Relative risk reduction and absolute risk reduction measures in the evaluation of clinical trial data are poorly understood by health professionals and the public. The absence of reported absolute risk reduction in COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials can lead to outcome reporting bias that affects the interpretation of vaccine efficacy. The present article uses clinical epidemiologic tools to critically appraise reports of efficacy in Pfzier/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccine clinical trials. Based on data reported by the manufacturer for Pfzier/BioNTech vaccine BNT162b2, this critical appraisal shows: relative risk reduction, 95.1%; 95% CI, 90.0% to 97.6%; p = 0.016; absolute risk reduction, 0.7%; 95% CI, 0.59% to 0.83%; p < 0.000. For the Moderna vaccine mRNA-1273, the appraisal shows: relative risk reduction, 94.1%; 95% CI, 89.1% to 96.8%; p = 0.004; absolute risk reduction, 1.1%; 95% CI, 0.97% to 1.32%; p < 0.000. Unreported absolute risk reduction measures of 0.7% and 1.1% for the Pfzier/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, respectively, are very much lower than the reported relative risk reduction measures. Reporting absolute risk reduction measures is essential to prevent outcome reporting bias in evaluation of COVID-19 vaccine efficacy.

source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7996517/pdf/medicina-57-00199.pdf
The Alarmist
Tuesday - June 1st 2021 3:21PM MST
PS

I did a call with my UK colleagues a few weeks back, and they were all abuzz about Freedom Day, so I chimed in with “You haven’t seen the end of lockdowns ... they’re going to let you get a few brief tastes of life before slaming the cell doors shut again in one form or another.”

IKR, I’m a real buzzkill, but like in so many things, including loading up on UK Gilts the week before a “sure thing” Remain vote in 2016 (my colleages said Brexit would never happen ... I suggested they get outside the M25 more often), I’m looking right again.

One thing I’ve noticed is that Channel4 in its many different flavours no longer shows “V for Vendetta” any more ... it hits to close to home, both in how an unspeakable tyranny arose in the UK due to bio-terror, and how the people overcame it by banding together against the tyrants. Can’t have that now, can we?
Adam Smith
Tuesday - June 1st 2021 7:55AM MST
PS: Good morning everyone...

Robert, again with the agree button and lol...

Mr. Anon, I too like the term psychocrat. Fitting indeed.

Event 201? I don't believe anything until I've read it in Snopes.

“When can one call it a conspiracy?” Uh, never. Wouldn't want to be called names.

Mr. Ike, I'm on board with your plan to make Britain Great again.

Bill, sorry to hear abut your situation. Sounds like your family is being most unreasonable. Insane even.

Mr. Moderator, I read a similar story not too long ago about the German “government” doing similar things to maximize fear amongst their population. They we using some really dark psychology to manipulate the people and scare the hell out of them for greater compliance. (Unfortunately I cannot find the article at the moment. I thought I read it in RT. Could have been somewhere else.) Fear is the biggest motivator and I'm sure these tyrants know it.

Happy June 1st everyone...

Bill H
Tuesday - June 1st 2021 7:17AM MST
PS My wife has planned a family outing to celebrate birthdays (mine included) and I don't want to go. Why not? Face masks. My family is all vaccinated and will be removing face masks but won't let me do so because I'm not vaccinated.

I have had the Covid and recovered, but I have probably been reinfected withing the past week and will make them all sick and cause them all to die because I'm not vaccinated, even though they are vaccinated.

Reinfection rate for Covid survivors is 1%. Effective rate for vaccine is 94.5%. So there's a 1% chance of me being infectious and a 5.5% of them being infectious, but they can take their masks off and I can't.
PeterIke
Tuesday - June 1st 2021 6:13AM MST
PS
Hmmm, the Indian variant, huh? (Isn't it racist to say that? Or only if Trump says it?)

The clear solution for UK is then to remove ever Indian and Paki from the UK and not allow any more to come in. Problem solved! Actually, that would solve a LOT of problems for the UK. But since the UK is basically turning into an Indian colony, not likely to happen.

Weird how in 10 or 15 years, the UK will be run entirely by Asians. It will take a bit longer in the US.
Moderator
Tuesday - June 1st 2021 2:09AM MST
PS: Oops, ha, right in the first line of the article and in that last exceprt. Embarrassing ...
Robert
Monday - May 31st 2021 10:39PM MST
PS: Mr. Anon --- I knew a girl, that charged extra for "golden showers", so count yourself lucky.
Robert
Monday - May 31st 2021 10:34PM MST
PS:

Mr Anon: 'Of course, when I read that, it always sounds like "Here's all YOU (peasant) need to know about........."'

Remember, you 'Peasant/Piss ant' that it is raining.
Mr. Anon
Monday - May 31st 2021 9:31PM MST
PS

"PS: Thank you for that term "psychocrat", Mr. Anon."

I can't lay claim to it - it was in that article you quoted.

It's fitting.
Mr. Anon
Monday - May 31st 2021 9:29PM MST
PS

@Robert

"PS: Mr. Anon --- Here is a USA Today headline that will tell you all you need to know:

Fact check: A Bill Gates-backed pandemic simulation in October did not predict COVID-19"

Indeed, I always trust media organizations when they tell me "Here's all you need to know about........."

Of course, when I read that, it always sounds like "Here's all YOU (peasant) need to know about........."

Event 201 as foreshadowing of COVID was debunked by no less an authority than the Poynter Institute:

https://www.poynter.org/?ifcn_misinformation=event-201-held-by-the-johns-hopkins-center-for-health-security-in-2019-was-a-scenario-plotted-about-the-coronavirus-pandemic

And, after all, you can certainly trust them:

https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants/2015/11/opp1138320
Robert
Monday - May 31st 2021 8:11PM MST
PS: Mr. Anon --- Here is a USA Today headline that will tell you all you need to know:

Fact check: A Bill Gates-backed pandemic simulation in October did not predict COVID-19

And the paper even has 'USA' in its name, so you know you can trust it. Not like that evil Russia Today.
Moderator
Monday - May 31st 2021 8:10PM MST
PS: Thank you for that term "psychocrat", Mr. Anon.

I am still not sure on how these things happen. I would agree there are evil types that are looking to take advantage of a manufactured crisis like this one. Were things coordinated? If so, I tend to think it's those lower-level people, say "top scientists" and government officials who are not exactly psychocrats, who really think they are doing good. They may follow each others' lead, as the Governors did when outdoing each other and closing beaches and boat ramps. They may indeed conference with each other.

In all this, these people want to feel they are very important as they are doing so much good for the world in this crisis. Anthony Fauci is Exhibit A. The guy was the most heard-of-on-TV/internet for a whole year ... and loving every minute of it.

When can one call it a conspiracy? Your last sentence is a good one.
Moderator
Monday - May 31st 2021 8:00PM MST
PS: I didn't even look closely at that image until you mentioned it, Robert. Yes that could be a human head, but then she's being safe, otherwise, so ... "time served".
Mr. Anon
Monday - May 31st 2021 7:01PM MST
PS

"I don't usually suspect a conspiracy when it's likely more an intense mass of parallel stupidity and/or evil, but this story seems to fit that bill."

I used to think the same sort of thing. I don't anymore. If anything had conspiracy written all over it, it has been this COVID thing. The way that governments around the World moved in lock-step last March, and with what appeared to be ready-made and coordinated propaganda messages, was nothing short of stunning. I mean, the very first week - there were advertising campaigns built around the pandemic, and not just PSAs, but adverts by private companies for products and services. There was something deeply sinister about the whole thing, and continues to be so.

By the way, I like the term "psychocrat" - it perfectly captures the kind of person we so often face now: a psychopath with official, state-sanctioned power.

The fact is, what is usually called "conspiracy" could well be simply called "how the rich and powerful implement the policies that they want to implement."
Robert
Monday - May 31st 2021 5:32PM MST
PS: It is certainly a different world than forty years ago, when one can trust Russia to tell more truth than these 'Natted States. I try to stay away from actual news sites, but I might give RT a try. Thanks!

P.S. The girl on that book cover looks like she might have a human head dangling from her hair. That WOULD contribute to a state of fear on the subway.
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