My informal chats with friends, neighbors, fellow musicians reveal an abysmal lack of knowledge and worse - and abysmal lack of interest - in things Covid. In essence, what I hear and observe is this: people simply want to go about their lives. If it takes a Pfizer jab or six, so be it. It’s an inconvenience, it’s silly but hey, the authorities say it’s good for you, so let’s just get it over and done with and go on that trip, organize that barbeque, have that big party. The idea that they are freely giving away their freedom does not occur to people. I’m tempted to say “until it’s too late” - but with this frame of mind, it’s *never* too late. It’s not too late when people are arrested in public for not wearing a mask (“She should have just worn the stupid mask and avoided the whole issue. Why provoke the cops?”) My two stepdaughters, both vaccinated, are convinced that my anti experimental mRNA treatment stance is due to me “not believing in science”. People, as we know, get used to everything. I honestly thing that even under Communism - once the worst of the purges were over - not many people cared about “freedom”. They DID care about not being able to buy a decent car and that is where the envy of the West was rooted. It wasn’t the fact that a West German citizen could freely criticize his government, yeah, that was cool, but the true envy was the West German’s citizen’s ability to purchase and drive a Mercedes. Immediately after the fall of the wall, groups formed in East Germany dedicated to preserving the “East German way of life”
And so it’s more important than ever to educate ourselves, to read as much as possible and to learn what the current theft of our liberty could really mean. The consequences of that are FAR more reaching than anything a respiratory virus can do
Here are three (possible four) books worthy of your attention
“Pandemia” by Alex Berenson has been on my “must-buy” list ever since Alex started mentioning his book on Twitter. Alex has been a true guiding light for so many of us, a luminary on Team Reality. Back in March 2020 I read two works that gave me encouragement that perhaps I wasn’t the only one who thought something was wonky about this Chinese pandemic that was sprung upon us like monster out of a nightmare. The first was an article by Professor John Ioannidis of Stanford in which he laid out a much more calming and persuasive scenario of the new disease than the breathless panic mongers on TV. The other was a philosophical essay by Giorgio Agamben, in which I first read the expression “hygiene fascism”. A true “eureka” moment. But it was Alex Berenson on Twitter who provided daily guidance. It was Alex’ tweets flashing across my feed that kept me grounded and hopeful. It was also Alex, I believe, who coined the phrases “Team Reality” and “Team Apocalypse”. It was clear which team I rooted for and started writing for. “Pandemia” is well researched, eminently readable but - at least for me - didn’t offer anything that I either did not know or wasn’t at least somewhat familiar with. Still, highly recommended: after all, Alex has written detective fiction bestsellers and style-wise, his is probably the best read of the three.
My next book - even more eagerly anticipated - was Scott Atlas’ “A Plague Upon Our House”. This is the book you want to read if you want to go behind the scenes in the White House. Dr. Atlas came on the scene too late, as we all know. Perhaps had he been able to get into his position in March or April 2020, I would not even be writing this piece and our lives would have gone back to normal - a REAL normal, not a Fauci version of “normal”. We will never know. As it is, Dr. Atlas describes his battles with the WH medical “nomenklatura” - Drs. Fauci and Birx. Not a pretty picture. Both Fauci and - especially Birx, it seems - wielded enormous power and by he fall of 2020, President Trump - while happy with Scott Atlas’ work - was too preoccupied with the election. He (Trump) knew that Atlas had the right answer on how to approach the pandemic (in essence follow the Great Barrington Declaration) but simply not enough time to implement it. Also the tsunami of misinformation out of Birx and Fauci and their 24/7 barrage of TV propaganda was very difficult to counteract from within the WH that late in the game. A good book, an important book and one that political junkies will enjoy. I just wish Dr. Atlas could have been on the scene sooner.
It’s the third book that is the real bombshell. Written by Robert F. Kennedy, hitherto a reliable Democrat and a bit of a weirdo anti-vax maverick (at least that’s how I had thought of him), his “The Real Anthony Fauci” is a huge bestseller which received zero acknowledgement from the MSM, tons of derision and hate of social media. It’s a must-read. It unfolds like a John LeCarre spy novel, yet everything in it is true, meticulously researched, quoted and cited. There are pages and pages of citations after every chapter. I’ve been around a long time. I was there in the 80’s when Tony Fauci was attempting to do with AIDS what he’s now doing with Covid. But I had NO idea of the man’s depravity. If RFK’s book is right - and there is zero reason to believe it’s not - then Tony Fauci is the most disturbed, most depraved sociopath ever to be a part of the US government and most certainly the longest serving. His list of misdeeds, lies, grift, torture of innocent children (and animals, as we know), his single minded devotion to brand new pharmaceuticals at all costs, his narcissism, his sky-high self-regard and self-admiration, his mishandling of AIDS, of Swine Flu, of Covid and everything in between…you won’t put the book down. I believe that when the Covid Zombie Apocalypse, the C19 farce-cum-catastrophe is analyzed in 30 or 40 years, RFK’s book will be required reading, possibly a college textbook.
That’s my book report. Incidentally, the fourth book is by psychiatrist Peter Breggin. I’ve only read a couple of chapters so far. I have issues with this author going back a decade or two, so I am heavily biased against him. Nevertheless, what I’ve read so far aligns perfectly with Berenson, Atlas and Kennedy.
I’d be interested in your take(s) If/when you read any of these books, feel free to contact me here or on twitter ( @george_jazzcat) I’m always interested in fresh ideas, insights and debate.
Finished Pandemia last week. Added a few notes in the margins ie: top lab doc here tested PCR swabs for infectiousness-in 2020 and 2021- not one over 24 cycles was infectious. Swine flu vax caused narcolepsy in children etc. Imho this whole rona thing was overblown to get rid of Trump- the only leader against China- he had removed their control of US ports and was defending for Hong Kong, revealing their evil plan for world dominance. Worked exceedingly well- now absolute power is corrupting absolutely. After nephew reacted to vaccine in 1995 we began the dive into the vaccine rabbit hole. Immunity from liability for big pharma, underreported adverse events, little acknowledgement of reactions, tiny amount of education of risk for docs. And on and on. The lack of knowledge of tyranny in my fellow citizens alarms me as well. I also believe it is due to their desire to live in comfort. They don't realize the cost of their liberty.
Interesting. My reading went in a different order. But also. Breggin is very high on my list. One reason is my father was also a psychiatrist and against psychopharmaca, and even more so the lobotomy stuff. Committed himself to talk therapy only. Breggin is a half a generation.younger, and he saw all the results of psychopharmaca and the issues my father very presciently warned me for. Wanted me to become a psychiatrist. But at the same time probably also turned me away from it.