The New Normal is Sick

In the dredges of my drafts, I found what a piece written during the height of the pandemic while attending undergrad. This was surviving a psy op.

In hindsight, I have to say, it feels damn good to have been correct and to know I stood strong in my convictions.

♦♦♦

I have not subjected myself to an experimental drug for an illness I am not at risk for, nor am I at risk for poor outcomes. I support others' right to choice and autonomy in medical drug use. However, I do not work among the immunocompromised, I am an athletic woman and an educated woman... So, I can see what the people are doing as a woman, unafraid and not at risk.

Such dangerous games they are playing. The people have been watching the same glowing screen for two years, not knowing it alters their reality. Reality is perception, and any propagandist worth their weight will tell you that the small primers repeated enough times change your mind. In social psychology, you cannot convince someone to alter their paradigm through harshness. It has to be coaxed and danced with. The change occurs, and the person does not even realize the time has passed.

Because of this, we have new slurs. In the past, we have called people Jews, Kykes, Spics, Negroes, the list goes on But, now the dirty are the unvaxxed. Most liberals will call this claim a stretch, and to them I say, get educated. Study American history, then learn of 19-20th century European and Asian history. Tell me I am crazy after that. In every instance, when a marginalized group was dehumanized, the process was slow and never rooted in science. It has only ever been rooted in emotion and tribalism. This current Western society may never come to the blows of genocide, but I would say this is a 50/50 shot over the span of a century.

It is possible, and humans should be smart enough to know after thousands of years of disease, war, famine, and the elements, life can be nasty, brutish, and short. Hobbes was not far off in his opinions of the primal human's depravity and how we might aggress one another if left to our own devices.

This is the way of the world. Such wealthy nations have such ignorant citizens, blind to the moving hands around them as they squeeze tighter and tighter around the necks of pawns. The pawns call it a "hug." 

I understand people want to hide from the truth to be comforted by ignorance. You cannot fear the larger games at play if you do not know them. It's a sort of Stockholm syndrome to lay in the hands of your abuser and believe they are your salvation. They will never be. But I understand the search for security. I am a scared human too, and many of us are being asked to face our mortality in ways we have not been called to in modernity. But do you want to live despite your mortal fate is my question? We all have to go some time. Everyone dies, but not everyone lives. So what is your choice? Will you stay in the system that makes us afraid? Will you fight so your children can have as free a world as possible? Or are you creating a world of division, war, and authoritarianism for them?

If you want to be a liberal who fights authoritarianism, do not ask your unvaccinated family to test if you haven't requested your vaccinated family to do so. Do not think this vaccine prevents transmission for one second because it does not. It does what it was designed to: reduce poor outcomes for the at-risk demographic. If you ask one side of your family to do something you are not asking of the other, you are disingenuous and planting the seeds of ostracism.

Do your own research. You have more power than what sent man to the moon in the palm of your hand. I am not here to be your encyclopedia to change your mind. Learn how to read studies, know the components of a statistically significant study, and exercise discernment. Some sciences are softer than others, so measurements can be altered to methods of investigation.

...

I don't think we are supposed to live life this way. I think something terrible is happening. I believe science is changing. At this point, even the sun is considered subjective. Yeah, that giant flaming ball in the sky, a queer academic lens would say it is only called “the sun” because we assign meaning and a name to it. That's the end of the conversation.

People believe lies they wouldn't usually believe if they weren't programmed with fear. I know the viral pathogen is real, but I still think bigger hands are at play trying to do something to the lower and middle classes. I am so frightened that one day I will be fined for not wanting an experimental drug, I might be placed in an internment camp, and I am scared of the possibility of the American Gestapo. The most concerning thing is that I have historical reasons to be frightened. People much more fortunate than myself have found their lives subjected to the will of more powerful men.

While I am scared, I know better than to live in fear, although I struggle daily. My God tells me to fear not because fear is a silent killer. The evil in this world wants you to live and breathe fear. The systems of oppression want you to be afraid, so you comply with wickedness.

Know you do not have to comply with wickedness, and many men before you have walked away from systems of oppression. Viktor Frankl told us, "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms--to choose one's attitude in any given circumstance, to choose one's own way." We should heed his teachings.

Isaiah 41:10

"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous hand."

Upon reflection, I am proud to have been a woman wise enough to stand against propaganda. I had no idea how right I would be. This is a season I will reflect on fondly because if I could stand up against the forces of evil then, I will certainly be able to do so in the future as a mother. Cheers.

And to anyone still upset about having been treated like a second-class citizen for over a year, I won’t forget, and you shouldn’t either. There will be times when authoritarianism tests us again. Be wise. If not the Armor of God, fortify your mind with the armor of knowledge.