Coronavirus the Good, Bad, Ugly, and Awesome
April 23, 2020 in News by RBN Staff




 
Source: Lew Rockwell
By Jason Butler
In my family, we often go around the dinner table to share experiences that have been good or bad during the day. The sharing is wonderful for expressing gratitude and acknowledging the challenges we are facing.
Good
Mortality rates continue to be revised down. This is wonderful news on its own as the virus is much less deadly than many feared early on. This is also good news because it has laid the reliability of computer models bare. More people than ever are realizing computer models are crude tools and only as good as the data and assumptions they are created with.
People are seeing the government as it is, both power hungry and ineffective at the same time. Their cult of experts (technocrats) are proven wrong more often than not. The mainstream media tries to hide these inconvenient facts and rewrite or ignore recent history, but the media is only hurting their limited credibility with their audiences.
Bad
Police states were instantly enacted with ease around the world. House arrest became the norm along with papers required for travel and fines for not wearing a mask. The right of religion and the right to assembly are completely superseded.
 

https://www.tmz.com/2020/04/03/paddleboarder-arrested-malibu-police-chase-ocean-violate-stay-at-home-order/

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https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/301953/six-people-arrested-for-swimming-at-srp-baywalk
 
Even acts as simple as swimming in calm water are now deemed illegal based on the rationale that an individual could put themselves in danger and “force” government agents to divert resources to help them. Following this absurd line of thinking every human action is now subject to being a criminal act. One could fall off a ladder in their home or eat unhealthy food putting a strain on the healthcare system. Literally everything can be regulated or banned – this is not a hyperbole, this is the world we are in at the moment.
The economy was already in a fragile state with the “everything bubble”, and even though a partial free market can still do wonderful things there are limits. The recent top-down, heavy-handed “managing” of a shrunken economy is a disaster. Even when some sense of normalcy comes back confidence will be low, because now every business knows the whims of the government can easily erase all their efforts.
Freedom’s first virtue will always be a moral one, but its second virtue is how miraculously it handles the supply and demand of scarce resources. Politicians are the last to understand how the division of labor works on so many levels, and how all products and services are essential in a strong and free market. Those in power will try to, and partially succeed, at blaming every bad economic outcome on the virus, even though the blame will be completely with them. Backed into a corner, they only have the tools and know-how to make things much worse.
Ugly
We are witnessing the largest case of mass hysteria the world has ever seen. Fear, always a powerful tool for politicians, but it is now being deployed in a depressingly effective manner. They present wild exaggerations daily without shame, and the public is in a state of panic that will establish our age in the history books. However, not all can be blamed on the elites, a sizable percentage of the public is relishing in draconian rules being implemented. This has made relatively free countries into police states overnight, with neighbors turning in neighbors over trial matters. With many calling for even harsher punishments to those who dare try to live somewhat normal lives.
It’s clear that many people have no love of liberty at all. They would gladly give up some freedom for a bit of perceived safety. Some people are practically begging for it. From strict economic controls on what business can be open, even to what products they are allowed to sell. With the worst impulses being the full tracking of every human on the planet. Which would create drastic class differences between those with “immunity passports” and those without.
Awesome
To the sadness of the elites, this government and media-induced hysteria could end up hurting their globalization efforts. Local and regional measures are being demanded by their people. Even non-curious people will compare the more sane measures carried out by some areas to those guided by fear or led by megalomaniacs.
You can see how scared the globalists are when they demand all countries and all US states abide by the one size program of shutdown and obey. They are in complete fear at the existence of control groups that not only prove this current panic wrong but prove the whole idea of one-world government wrong.
There are so many small stories of push back to tyranny starting to happen. Around the world a freedom-loving minority is pushing back after a short period of understandable shock. The enemies of freedom are very active, however most people are somewhere in the middle.
They are not marching in the street for liberty and they are likely in favor of some government actions during this time. They are not enemies of freedom, they are people who are good at managing their lives in our current world and genuinely don’t want to take sides in the struggle that is at hand.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, many people wish to mind their own business and will suffer a moderate amount of abuse to be left alone, which in this time of governments recruiting tattletales is a good thing. Anecdotally, I’ve been illegally kayaking in the ocean several times during this lockdown in view of hundreds of houses and many people, and not once have I heard one ill word from anyone, usually just smiles and hellos.
We are living through what will be a tremendous part of history. No doubt the government will move to their typical tactic of trying to assign credit and blame in their favor. However, unlike other past transgressions that have been twisted or hidden, this one is out in the open in the age of the internet. The truth will come out soon enough and it will shine a bright light on every blunder, lie and power grab in a way that will even get the masses questioning if government interference hurts more than it helps. Many future stories of victory for freedom will start right here. As I hope they have at our dinner table.
Jason Butler [send him mail] is a Software Engineer living in Auckland, New Zealand.




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