Fear is a package on the doorsteps of many minds. It is tied up with string of loathing. It cuts a wide swath, from the poor to the rich, to every stripe of politics, it invades the religious and the atheist’s thoughts. Fear is the pathos of our era. If you don’t believe me, you have not been reading the many blogs and essays, nor the plenitude of videos on Youtube, telling us to be fearful of food, drugs, vaccines, shooters, Trump, Putin, Biden, Xi, banks, terrorists, government, extremists, the right, the left, Soros, the weather, CRT, DEI, the Federal Reserve, and the eternal Covid.
The good news is, I haven’t heard the word Antifa in a while. And the Islamic folks have taken a back seat as well, which tells me, they have passed through our consciousness, because we got tired of them. Everyone did.
Covid is the next thing on its way out. This sweet coronavirus never goes far, because it is the common cold. There are more than a dozen variations on its theme, and likely to be more. As soon as we get rid of the common cold, we get rid of Covid. However, we have been trying to get rid of the common cold for such a long time that research scientists topped trying. Like any conversation that goes on and on, we are tired of it. Tired of the constant harping about getting the next booster, blah, blah, blah. Out of the 8 billion people on this Earth, according to the WHO, 762 million folks got the disease, 6.9 million died from it. Percentage wise, less than 10% were sick, and less than 1% died from this new common cold. This would not have frightened you if the bureaucrats had not made an effort to. Conclusion? A few arrogant buffoons working for “the government” got away with lies, theft and in the case of all those suicides, murder.
If you want a disease to really, truly scare you, it has to be something on the order of bubonic. Now we are talking a real death toll, in the 30-50% range. No virus, so far, can boast those kinds of numbers. Nope. To be really sick, get in the time machine, and go back to 1346, when the plague started making its way around Europe. The plague, however, is a bacterium. A nasty little bug that gets into the blood stream and makes a body really, really sick. Like all these disease, you can survive it, unless it hits the lungs and turns into pneumonia. When the disease is transmitted through the air, like if someone with the plague sneezes on you, consider yourself dead, many times within 24 hours. Best to have the flea bite you instead.
Quarantines, aka lockdowns, didn’t help because those pesky fleas were everywhere. The best hope was to get out of town. Back then, towns and cities had filth in the streets - think of every street as a place the homeless encamp - so the rats had a feast day every day, just picking up the garbage that was dumped in the streets and alleyways. Cats were helpful, but the rats out numbered them. Besides, the fleas could jump to the cats and dogs, and where did that leave folks, except twice as vulnerable.
Putting the percentages of deaths in today’s perspective, of 8 billion people, how would you handle it if half of the world’s population succumbed? Close your eyes, and imagine 4 billion bodies that need to be buried. Imagine yourself with a family one week, and no one left the next.
How scary is Covid now?
Along with tuberculosis, another bacterium disease, and still the number one killer in the world, and small pox, our ancestors had plenty to fear. And yet, they went on with life as they nursed the sick, got sick themselves, and died. They were fearless.
Some folks were just stubborn, like with Covid, thinking the rules did not apply to them. The king of Castile was one such fool, Alfonso XI, decided to stay in the camp with his army, got the plague, and died. Which proved, no one was immune, there was no white privilege of any color.
After the plague went its way, those who were alive were left to deal with the fundamental changes which were brought about by the depopulation. The feudal system broke. However, that brought on positive changes for those who had once been tied to the system. Serfs were needed everywhere. Serfs would leave their ancestral homes for new opportunities in other places.
Come to think of it, the American way of life has changed too. Economists warned us that the lockdown would bring on its own issues, like lost incomes, lost businesses, suicides, a shift in the way, and the where, people work. It also instilled fear in Americans who are supposed to be fearless. That motto we once had, “Land of the free, home of the brave,” no longer applies. It’s more like, “Land of the lackluster, and home of the fearful.” We have turned into the zombies. But there are not enough zombie chasers and killers. Looking down the barrel of a shotgun is a good way to wake a zombie up.
The hope for America, and for the world in general, lies in the best medicine out there: laughter. It is time for you to laugh. Out loud, with a gusto that puts piss in your pants and tears in your eyes. You know what I talk about here. The stuff that comes out of a Falstaff, with lines written by Oscar Wilde, or Neil Simon. As Jordan Peterson has said, comedy is the canary in the coal mine. When we humans are not laughing, we are in trouble. We have all felt it, for a rather long time now, way before Covid was the thing, the ennui of our nation, and of the West in general. We have felt that thing that communist nations always feel; the lifeless existence with no future in sight. Sleepy nations, yawning and waiting for someone else to make a decision for them. They limp along. Or they live on the streets, so they can numb out with drugs. The Big Sleep becomes the goal.
America was not known for limping along. We built stuff, and celebrated it, and went to dances on a Saturday night, and to church the next morning, with a hangover. We were tough enough to sit through a service and a preacher’s haranguing with a splitting headache. Now? We have turned into a nation of fearful complainers, little puffballs, who have no gumption. The bickering is endless, the hypocrisy is front and center. And no one suggests a course of action among the hundreds of bloggers out there. Their preaching is to fear, to be afraid, and then keep you there so that you will keep reading their words about fear. Very few tell you what to do about these circumstances. After all, if you come out from under your bed, you will stop buying the fear mongering.
Am I triggering a few of you? Are you pissed that I would put into words what I see around me? That fear is the obvious commodity being sold?
I am here to give you a course of action, to end the fretting, and to start acting like the Americans of old who could take shit, and punch back with a swift wit. Like Chris Rock did in his performance in Baltimore, produced by Netflix. Chris Rock is a canary in the tunnel, telling us there is danger. He’s not the only one making fun of the PC and woke crowd. Even Bill Maher has pointed out the hypocrisy rampant among the left, and the right.
Most people know the tunnel has a gas leak. Because gas makes you sleepy before it kills you. The canary is what tells you to get out and get some fresh air. Sure, that is tough. It is an effort, to force yourself up, out of the darkness. Sleep is so peaceful.
Truth is, you won’t sleep. You will slip into the zombie life, mindless, and depressed, remembering that you were once a human being with agency. That you could push back against the rulers who would keep you in darkness. So get out now, before you reach that state. Be like those ancestors who brought us to our very easy way of life, through their own fearlessness. Indeed, you know the drill, those words that tell you to be the change you want to see.
What does that change look like?
You are not a victim, because you have agency.
Stop complaining to the choir, start stating your case to the world at-large.
Start laughing at the dumb shit, and push back.
Be honest, ask questions, and point out the obvious.
Be fearless.
Arsenio Hall, taking complete control of his show, after being interrupted by gay rights activists. Arsenio makes quite the speech. This incident happened 15 years ago. Yes, we’ve been putting up with much garbage for a generation. Go here.
Chris Rock, performing in Baltimore, his home town, with a huge crowd. There is plenty of blue words in this performance, but that is who Rock is. It is the content of what he has to say that is spot on. If you do not have Netflix, bits and pieces of the performance are on Youtube. You cannot miss the bits.
Jim Jefferies, comments on the LGBTQ and the surgeries of transitioning, pus bald men versus bald women. Go here.
Bill Maher: his pithy comments are a favorite with me. Yes, he is a Democrat, but he is points the finger at them as the leader of the madness. In this clip, he addresses meritocracy. Go here.
Key and Peele: my new fave comic team. These two are a dynamic duo of laughs. No subject is left untouched. This bit is about DEI. Go here.
As you will soon find out, everyone in this lineup is either black, Jewish or Aussie. Meaning, there is one, official white guy. The Aussie. Blacks outweigh all the comics in this lineup. Yeah, where is the diversity?!