Art Carden reminds us of the proper role of experts – and of the different, proper role of each individual. Here’s his conclusion:
Mandates, lockdowns, and control–even when urged by experts who mean nothing but the best–throw away a lot of valuable information. First, there is a lot more to life than whatever the expert is an expert on, and this isn’t to suggest people should throw caution to the wind and do whatever is pleasant and convenient. Second, people adapt to new information. They adopt different policies for their schools, restaurants, and businesses. They say “yes” or “no” to invitations based on new information. They wash their hands with varying degrees of care. The experts, moreover, can get things exactly right but also get things generally wrong. Like experts on energy efficiency don’t know where to set your thermostat, experts on health risks don’t know which bundle of risks and precautions is the right one given your goals and values.
It seems the Great Plague of 2020-21 – through which a “mere” 99.98% of us are expected to survive (including, statistically speaking, practically everyone under 65 without serious underlying health conditions) is here to stay… or at least, the insidious and largely unscientific regulations that grew up around it are…
In perhaps no place on the planet has the incessant mission creep of the petty bureaucrat brigade been more astonishing than in aforementioned Australia.
Stories out of the so-called “Lucky Country” daily trespass on the absurd…
Had you told your average Aussie back in March of last year that he would not be heading on his annual football retreat to his beloved Bali… indeed, that he would not be permitted to leave his island home – indefinitely – he’d have laughed you out of the pub.
“That’s the kind of carry-on they play at in commie nations,” he’d have replied. “This ain’t North Korea, mate!”
Today, there’s a better than average chance that same scoffing larikan is under house arrest… unable to leave his home but for one paltry hour of exercise per day (during which he must carry his “papers” and may reasonably expect to be monitored by police helicopter. No joke.)
If he is a single bloke, living alone and in need of some company, he must register his proposed partner with his state government before requesting permission for an “adult sleepover.” (See rules outlined in the so-called “bonk bubble” for details.)
If one of his out-of-state relatives happens to be sick, or even dying, he must request special dispensation to visit them… and even then, chances are high – very high – that his request will be denied.
For more on just how dystopian Australia has become, read this report by Emilie Dye. Two slices:
The city of Sydney is in week 12 of a harsh lockdown that has seen residents in the worst-affected areas confined to their homes 23 hours a day, with just 60 minutes permitted outside for exercise. When people do venture out, it must be between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m.
…..
The obsession with lockdowns surely saved some lives from COVID-19, but it also meant that COVID-19 became the only disease it was unacceptable for a life to be lost to. There is a human cost in terms of diseases not treated, medical appointments missed, and symptoms ignored. A “shadow pandemic” of domestic violence has emerged. An average of 40 minors a day in New South Wales are hospitalized due to self-harm and suicide attempts—up 47 percent from 2019. Our suicide hotline has hit multiple all-time records. Many are watching their life savings slowly dwindle. The restaurant where my partner and I had our first date, an establishment which has been a part of the community for 30 years, recently closed its doors forever. These businesses often represent a lifetime of effort lost.
Apparently, none of those costs matter.
Charles Oliver reports a small incident in a world of Covid hysteria.
Just look at that Oxford University study which found that 98.4 per cent of students who were sent home for 10 days under the ludicrous bubble system never went on to develop Covid. It was bubbles and mass testing of children that caused the disruption in education, not the virus.
Well, thank goodness that this young woman’s death wasn’t caused by Covid.
This is quite something.
The BMJ published a new editorial by lockdowner doctors Gavin Yamey and David Gorski, accusing the Great Barrington Declaration and AIER of being “Koch funded.” To support that claim, they linked to an October 2020 article on the website MedPageToday (along with a conspiracy blog by 9/11 Truther Nafeez Ahmed).
The problem: MedPageToday issued a correction to its original article some point over the last year, deleting the erroneous claim about Koch funding. Yamey and Gorski used and cited the uncorrected claim anyway.
That obesity is an important only risk factor for poor COVID outcomes was known early in the epidemic. Nevertheless, we adopted lockdowns which caused more obesity. The worse COVID results in turn increased demand for lockdown…
