We can learn the lessons from the past to implement a more rational future from history. This is how societies evolve and grow. The philosopher George Santayana famously stated, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
So how are we doing; are we remembering? We actually seem to have collective amnesia and keep doing the same things repeatedly.
When the Soviet Union and its satellite states collapsed, we thought that freedom was finally unleased. We not only had the freedom of speech and movement, but also scientific freedom that developed during the Enlightenment of the 18th century. This allowed an explosion of scientific knowledge from the likes of Newton with his discoveries, to the development of Quantum Theory at the beginning of the 20th century.
Unfortunately, we are now going through another age, what I would term the Age of Disenlightenment. It’s a bit more sinister than just suppressing knowledge––which is troubling enough. It is retrogression to the time when speech and even thought was suppressed. The Covid pandemic has brought this into focus, but this has been developing for some time.
There is a law in nature that says for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction (Newton’s 3rd law of motion). For every positive there is a negative, and the more you suppress something, the more it will express. What you seek to avoid, you will attract. Matter is held together by bonding of ions that are a balance of postive and negative. Like charges repel, opposite ones form bonds.
In real life, there is a similar pattern at work. The more we move to one extreme, the more we create the other, to keep the whole system balanced. If there are left wing extremists, they will generate similar extremism on the right. Martin Luther King Jr., told us that, “Hate begets hate; violence begets violence.” What this does is create polarization. Love and harmony brings the polar opposites together. It’s a synthesis of opposites.
Are we polarized today? We sure are, and the hatred is prominently displayed, both by politicians and media personalities. There is no synthesis of opposing views.
Today if people are at odds with your viewpoint on topics such as Covid or government policy, they often demonize you, defame you or downright abuse you. It’s happening on many levels.
Here’s an example:
Three American Retired Generals are advocating a military coup if Trump returns to the Presidency or Trump-aligned Republican is elected. Do you believe what you are hearing? They want to remove a potential President who is abusing democracy. What do they think a military coup is, if not the abuse of democracy. They are using a very common technique of vilifying the opposition. It’s called Projection. This is where you accuse someone of doing what you are actually doing.
The whole Covid Pandemic narrative is built upon the creation of distinct polar opposites. Politicians will say things like, we can’t get our freedoms back until everyone is vaccinated. So the unvaccinated are restricting the rest of being free. Meanwhile, the government at the same time is restricting the freedom of those who choose not to take the jabs.
A number of people have publicly stated that life needs to be made impossible for the unvaccinated. Politicians, government officials, health authorities, and media personalities are in on this modus operandi. Just to add to the point, Paypal is now suspending donations made to the National Vaccine Infomation Center which has been around for decades
The Premier of Western Australia, McGowan has referred to those unvaccinated as anti-vaxer thugs. How do you think that goes down with a segment of the population that has concerns about the injections? It just gets people’s backs up. So much for, “We’re all in this together” that blares from government-run media propaganda.
Some go so far as advocating withholding of people's wages, denial of medical care, canceling insurances, suspending driver’s licenses, and the list goes on.
Jim Cramer, MSNBC the finance guy, railed against anti-vaxers and wants the military to go out and forcibly vaccinate people. A few days ago this same Cramer, announce that he has Covid, even though he was triple injected.
How is such language going to bring people together? The answer is it won’t and these people don’t care. They are out to force people into submission in order to accept their viewpoint.
The only healthy way to resolve this conflict––and yes, it is a conflict––is to have meaningful dialogue and sharing of ideas, not to suppress discussion. Unfortunately, we see little of this today.
How will history judge us in 50 years? It appears that we are in some kind of new world order in which opposing views will not be tolerated. Now, where have we seen this story before? We don’t have to look back too far. If we keep going much longer this will be another blight on human history.
As you get together this Christmas, whether width family or friends, share a commonality, not division. That is the legacy of Christmas.
Thanks to all of you who have subscribed to my newsletter. I wish you all the best this holiday season.
A friend of mine suggested that we use the term ‘vaccine free’, since being ‘un-something’ implies that we haven’t done something that we should have.