Reminded me of a story I remember reading out of Oklahoma early in the pandemic lockdowns and restrictions on civil liberties where a mayor who had imposed the draconian measures was forced to remove them by citizens who protested the measures in large numbers. The townfolk rallied as the "two weeks to flatten the curve" continued beyond two weeks. They took their leaders at their word, complied, but quickly grew impatient as their leaders didn't follow their word. The mayor was quoted saying he was sorry, he was just trying to help, he didn't think everyone would get so upset about it. Wasn't that big a deal to follow, he thought.
The arrogance of power. Only restrained by citizens who are on alert and aggressively protective of their freedom. A model. Thing is, once the compliance is gained and followed over a long enough time, time sufficient to remake a behavioral norm, the new rules become the new normal. They become what citizens are on alert for and aggressively protective of. That Oklahoma town showed that reacting quickly at the moment liberties are lost is the best time to save them. The longer they are lost the less likely they will be recovered. Look at how the lockdown states voted for the same leaders who locked them down. A function of that.
I also remember reading a story in one of China's official media outlets early in the pandemic that even warned of this phenomenon. China was reacting to Trump's travel ban and the "xenophobic" outcry. They said that by making the pandemic response political (travel bans were understood by pandemic influenza epidemiology pre-CV to be completely ineffective at stopping transmission, known to be a political act, not medically efficacious) the world would see the differences in the systems of government, and learn the strength of authoritarianism. Saying that both systems have advantages and disadvantages, like how western liberal democracies produce more innovation and creativity. But that in times of crisis the people will prefer a strong hand to lead them. The pandemic response would reveal to the world the superiority of authoritarianism.
The responses by leading progressive publications and the ACLU and other civil liberties groups, all said Trump was the authoritarian we needed to be protected from because of the travel ban, that he would lock us down, take away our civil liberties and we couldn't allow ourselves to become like China, western liberal democracies were better. And they were right. At first. Trump's travel ban and initial lockdown were absolutely the wrong response, were the first steps into authoritarian pandemic protocols. But when he wanted to return to normal his opponents on the left flipped their earlier positions, and demanded we become more like China, more authoritarian. And still are to this day. Fascinating from a political science perspective. Horrible for western liberal democracies all over the world. That haven't restored civil liberties lost. And may never restore them. China was right in their warnings about people preferring a firm hand in times of crisis. And why we are in a cycle of never ending crises.
Until more people come together in communities at the onset of a declared crisis that suspends civil liberties we will continue our march towards total authoritarian governance. Time is critical, early, like that Oklahoma town showed. Authoritarians will take as much power as a community allows them to take. And once given up for long enough a community will never miss them, and consider the return of freedom a dangerous threat to be opposed.
China knew. And gave fair warning. I'll give 'em that. They actually shared a lot of truths early in the pandemic in their official English language media outlets. Like how they knew early antivirals [like HCQ and Ivermectin] were very effective at treating CV. They even wrote that it's not good to change systems of governance in the middle of a crisis, it is necessary to govern to your strengths. Meaning that even though China believes their system of Authoritarian governance is the best, that western liberal democracies shouldn't try to become authoritarian in the middle of a crisis. It loses the trust and faith of the people and results in worse outcomes.
I see China clearly for what they are, a crafty, very smart adversary and competitor. I'm not an apologist for them or ally of them. But I respect them. And know they told those truths that our own leaders didn't tell us and have ignored and lied about. Which informs me that the biggest threat to civil liberties we face isn't China. It's homegrown. And whether or not CV originated there, the fact that it was the product of a joint US-China research project makes it as much our creation and responsibility for as China's. No international causus belie (direct offense justifying hostilities) exists when the injury to a nation is the result of its own hand. We did it to ourselves. The bioweapon research, the imposition of authoritarianism and permanent losses of civil liberties we took for granted pre-2020. Our own hand. Because we didn't resist the beginnings and consider the end.
My favorite non-confrontational demonstration is writing 'useless' on a ffp2 mask with a sharpie, then blowing clouds of e-cig vape through it in public.
Reminded me of a story I remember reading out of Oklahoma early in the pandemic lockdowns and restrictions on civil liberties where a mayor who had imposed the draconian measures was forced to remove them by citizens who protested the measures in large numbers. The townfolk rallied as the "two weeks to flatten the curve" continued beyond two weeks. They took their leaders at their word, complied, but quickly grew impatient as their leaders didn't follow their word. The mayor was quoted saying he was sorry, he was just trying to help, he didn't think everyone would get so upset about it. Wasn't that big a deal to follow, he thought.
The arrogance of power. Only restrained by citizens who are on alert and aggressively protective of their freedom. A model. Thing is, once the compliance is gained and followed over a long enough time, time sufficient to remake a behavioral norm, the new rules become the new normal. They become what citizens are on alert for and aggressively protective of. That Oklahoma town showed that reacting quickly at the moment liberties are lost is the best time to save them. The longer they are lost the less likely they will be recovered. Look at how the lockdown states voted for the same leaders who locked them down. A function of that.
principiis obsta (et respice finem)
Resist the beginnings (and consider the end)
I also remember reading a story in one of China's official media outlets early in the pandemic that even warned of this phenomenon. China was reacting to Trump's travel ban and the "xenophobic" outcry. They said that by making the pandemic response political (travel bans were understood by pandemic influenza epidemiology pre-CV to be completely ineffective at stopping transmission, known to be a political act, not medically efficacious) the world would see the differences in the systems of government, and learn the strength of authoritarianism. Saying that both systems have advantages and disadvantages, like how western liberal democracies produce more innovation and creativity. But that in times of crisis the people will prefer a strong hand to lead them. The pandemic response would reveal to the world the superiority of authoritarianism.
The responses by leading progressive publications and the ACLU and other civil liberties groups, all said Trump was the authoritarian we needed to be protected from because of the travel ban, that he would lock us down, take away our civil liberties and we couldn't allow ourselves to become like China, western liberal democracies were better. And they were right. At first. Trump's travel ban and initial lockdown were absolutely the wrong response, were the first steps into authoritarian pandemic protocols. But when he wanted to return to normal his opponents on the left flipped their earlier positions, and demanded we become more like China, more authoritarian. And still are to this day. Fascinating from a political science perspective. Horrible for western liberal democracies all over the world. That haven't restored civil liberties lost. And may never restore them. China was right in their warnings about people preferring a firm hand in times of crisis. And why we are in a cycle of never ending crises.
Until more people come together in communities at the onset of a declared crisis that suspends civil liberties we will continue our march towards total authoritarian governance. Time is critical, early, like that Oklahoma town showed. Authoritarians will take as much power as a community allows them to take. And once given up for long enough a community will never miss them, and consider the return of freedom a dangerous threat to be opposed.
China knew. And gave fair warning. I'll give 'em that. They actually shared a lot of truths early in the pandemic in their official English language media outlets. Like how they knew early antivirals [like HCQ and Ivermectin] were very effective at treating CV. They even wrote that it's not good to change systems of governance in the middle of a crisis, it is necessary to govern to your strengths. Meaning that even though China believes their system of Authoritarian governance is the best, that western liberal democracies shouldn't try to become authoritarian in the middle of a crisis. It loses the trust and faith of the people and results in worse outcomes.
I see China clearly for what they are, a crafty, very smart adversary and competitor. I'm not an apologist for them or ally of them. But I respect them. And know they told those truths that our own leaders didn't tell us and have ignored and lied about. Which informs me that the biggest threat to civil liberties we face isn't China. It's homegrown. And whether or not CV originated there, the fact that it was the product of a joint US-China research project makes it as much our creation and responsibility for as China's. No international causus belie (direct offense justifying hostilities) exists when the injury to a nation is the result of its own hand. We did it to ourselves. The bioweapon research, the imposition of authoritarianism and permanent losses of civil liberties we took for granted pre-2020. Our own hand. Because we didn't resist the beginnings and consider the end.
My favorite non-confrontational demonstration is writing 'useless' on a ffp2 mask with a sharpie, then blowing clouds of e-cig vape through it in public.
Agreed! How about we list some current-day example behaviors to practice?