A voice of reason.

Of course mayors are still able to cosplay dictator to their heart’s content, and destroy local business in the process.

The headlines being written for the COVID-19 spread are unbelievably reckless. But other writers do have cooler heads, and Spiked’s Brendan O’Neil calls out the elites for their “luxury of apocalypticism”, as well as the government response as more performative art or apocalypse theater than an actual measured response. COVID-19 is a health challenge, not the end of the world. But an economic collapse triggered by reckless government policy could very well feel like an apocalypse for many, and for a very long time. It isn’t worth it, especially now that we are discovering that coronavirus is about as dangerous as seasonal flu.

From Times of Israel:

No lock down, low mortality rate, decreasing number of newly infected, and an admirable ability to administer COVID-19 tests quickly and accurately.

“South Korea is a democratic republic, we feel a lockdown is not a reasonable choice”-Kim Woo-Joo, infectious disease specialist at Korea University.

More evidence that it’s time to calm down.

The events of the past week have made it clear that cooler heads are not prevailing in the present crisis. The question that US residents should now be asking themselves and their leaders is whether preemptively creating an economic collapse is worth buying a few weeks of slowed spread of COVID-19. Should the entire world economy shut down to slow the spread of virus that is beginning to appear to be about as serious as seasonal flu? One wonders. What happens when the curfew lifts and we find that coronavirus is still here and still infecting people? As of now, the world is staring into an abyss entirely of its own making as it scares itself to death over the phantom illness. COVID-19, as frightening as it may seem to some people, is nothing compared to a collapse of world trade, hyper-inflation, or martial law, or the abrupt rise in authoritarianism that is sweeping the globe. If you go to the grocery store to find it empty, coronavirus will never again enter your mind. If the cash in your wallet suddenly becomes worthless, you’ll wonder what the media-hyped hysteria was all for. COVID-19 is apparently everywhere, with many of the infected either asymptomatic, or experiencing a mild illness similar to the common cold. The average age of the dead appears to be hovering around 81, Despite the hyperbolic fearmongering, Italy has experienced just three deaths from coronavirus where no other illness was present.

Many other sources are pointing to a far lower mortality rate, one closer to, or even less than, that of seasonal flu. Is this really what we’re burning our way of life over?

If COVID-19 is here permanently, meaning it will return every winter, then we need to realize very soon that we can’t cower in fear and shut down the country every single year. We have to go on with our lives, and we have to refuse to give credence to the fearmongering of the national media.

Humanity’s true problem, one that it must solve as soon as possible, is the addiction that world governments have to creating Pandora’s Boxes. Whether it’s the atomic bomb or other weapons, lethal viruses, or fragile economic systems that are built upon foundations of silt, or even precariously limited powers granted to government, constitutions created with built-in back doors for totalitarianism to enter, our real problem is irresponsible governments gambling with doomsday devices. Our problem is that Leviathan’s ashes remain unscattered, and so it suddenly appears during crises, as it has now, and grows in power and influence after each. When will our government relinquish its total power over the economy? It’s getting a taste of the immense freedom and power it currently has, and it will not be easy to take it back.

Great insights from Paul Offit on the dangerous hysteria surrounding the relatively mild COVID-19 infection:

Italy’s COVID-19 fatality rate has been abnormally high, but now researchers have found that only three coronavirus deaths have occurred with people who had no prior health condition. Half of the dead had 3 or more prior illnesses, more than 75% had high blood pressure, 35% had diabetes, and a third had heart disease. Only three of those who have died had no preexisting condition.

An immediate $1,000 per month to everyone who is being affected by the coronavirus panic. Some will say that this is welfare, but isn’t this actually the point of government, and of taxes? To protect the welfare of the public in the event of a pandemic? It seems crazy not to consider it.

Very few individuals with the inner steel of Chelsea Manning have ever walked this earth. We live in what could best be referred to as the Age of Towering Vanities, an age where character and principle are as foreign as they are on Uranus. The social media mob, taking the form of Plato’s troglodyte monster, rules the roost of public opinion on culture, politics, art, and morals.  And as mob rules usually go, it vulgarizes everything it touches. Within this milieu, morality and character become non-existent yet outrage is ubiquitous. In this environment, derelict parents neglect their duty to raise their kids, giving them phones instead. The mob becomes mother and father of a new generation.

Amid this decayed moral apocalypse walks Chelsea Manning, a rare individual who made a conscious decision to do something right, regardless of the personal cost. Her leak of the atrocities committed by American soldiers in Iraq got her several years of torture under Obama. The torture consisted of months of continuous sleep deprivation, forced nudity, and other degradations committed by mindless goose-steppers who follow orders without question. She was released, but later was compelled to testify against Wikileaks. Her character being what it is, she refused, and for that was tossed in jail again for a year. She could’ve taken the easy way out at any time by agreeing to testify. She refused, and apparently would rather kill herself than compromise her values. Following her suicide attempt, the presiding judge granted her release. Again, she is free. Here’s to the hope that she finds peace and safety out of the reach of the filth of the Political Class.

Rather than clamor endlessly for saviors and messiahs to lead us out of the desert, it would be better to search within ourselves for even a shadow of the courage exhibited by Manning, who faced the abyssal imperial war machine head on, and standing alone, refused to blink, and refused to budge.

“Reputation is what others think of you. Character is what you are.”