As I write this, much like the first flowers of spring begining to bloom, I see hope, once long distant, now emerging after two years of darkness and despair.
Unscientific, discriminatory and punitive measures around the world are being slowly rolled back. Here in Germany, there is the chance of restrictions being lifted at the end of March, although no doubt they will retain some of the harsher measures against those electing not to take part in the world's largest medical experiment in human history.
Whilst this is obviously good news, which let's face it, has been severely lacking for the last two years, it is now more important than ever not to forget all that has transpired and to both acknowledge and openly discuss the ramifications of the world's government's slide in to authoritarianism and outright tyranny.
It is important to remember the tyranny that was meted out to those who simply had the audacity to stand up for their inalienable human rights. Those who stood up for body autonomy. Those who stood against coercion. Who simply questioned an ever changing and contradictory narrative.
Those who, despite the abuse, despite the attacks from senior politicians, world leaders, their cohorts in the media that sowed such disgusting divisions, stood by their beliefs. They stood firm despite it costing them their jobs, livelihoods, businesses, friends and for some, even their families.
They were our work colleagues, neighbours, long time friends, lovers, fathers and mothers. Sister and brothers. And they were punished. They were made to suffer.
They were slowly excluded from more and more activities and premises. Made to jump through increasingly insane and illogical hoops just to be able to go about their daily lives. Countries that introduced vaccine passports or so called health passes, green passes or freedom passes, discrimated against millions of their fellow citizens, turning them into pariahs in their own countries within a matter of months.
Some countries introduced these passes as a condition of employment. Even the UK sacked thousands upon thousands of care home workers for failing to abide by this draconian and ineffective rule whilst at the same time introducing yet even more restrictions on citizens citing the self imposed staff shortage as justification. A truly insane situation, beyond even the most surreal parody you could imagine.
Million of people were not only made into second class citizens, insulted, blamed and othered on a daily basis, the majority of their fellow earthlings not only ignored or accepted it, many more supported it. With some even wanted them to be punished even further. A work colleague of mine rather vocally declared that unvaccinated people should be completely excluded from society, whilst our team leader said they should indeed be made to "face the consequences of their decision.". I found that quite telling.
I have written previously about my experience of being excluded from normal life in Germany since the summer of 2021. I'd worked practically everyday in the office from May 2020 until November last year. Yet my contract was terminated because the level of time I would have to work from, that was previous agreed, was deemed to long. Despite colleagues spending the majority of the last to years in "home office" my two weeks either side of my leave was deemed unacceptable. Thus, my employment after eight years came to an end. It was well known I had not seen my parents for nearly two years, yet because I was unvaccinated, I was treated not only differently, but paid the ultimate price.
I doubt I could do justice to the hurt and pain this last two years has caused. I am hardly alone and far from being the worst affected. So to those who have had a pleasant time in lockdown, enjoyed working from home, or saved money and time commuting, maybe spare a thought for those less fortunate. Maybe consider the many people who weren't able to work from home or perhaps the extra 100 million people globally now pushed into poverty as a result of the lockdowns you championed and now celebrate. Including one million in the UK alone.
These examples of the consequences our elected leader's penchant for medieval non pharmaceutical interventions is not even touching upon the millions of people that were and are unable to or those advised not to partake in this global experiment. Whether is those that cannot wear a mask or those that cannot be vaccinated, they have been grouped together with anyone simply not following the narrative and unquestioningly doing everything their respective governments demand. Nor those that have been injured as a result of their compliance and were subsequently unable to continue to do so.
I often wonder if those who name call, insult and fling around the words "antivax" to any person with a counter argument or point that they wish to say, even bother to think about the millions affected by their compliance with this affront to humanity. Their tacit support and active participation of demonising any alternative opinion is the sole reason this has been able to continue for so long. Their blind obedience, their mindless following of the rules, their complete compliance, their apathy and totaly lack of critical thinking has set us back decades.
But it is not just their actions. Nor the ever shrinking pool of media sources that pushed this constant state of panic. It's ours. Now, I know it is easy to blame the government. To blame the media. To blame one group or another. But it is harder to blame ourselves.
We, and I say collectively and even to those that have held their ground, have failed each other badly.
All the warning signs have been their for many years. A slow fog of creeping censorship, ever increasingly partisan journalism, self enforced echo chambers, the polarisation of debate, the tribalism emerging over the last decade has only aided the state of affairs that precipitated our decent into global tyranny.
And we seemed to ignore each and every warning until it got to the point that it was too late. A culture of reactionary and toxic social media, pushed by an agenda driven and activist journalist class, set up the perfect condition for this new authoritarianism to flourish.
The policing of thought, views now deemed to be problematic decried, removing people's platforms for wrong speak or perceived thought crimes was a thing, long before it was weaponised in the name of the war on Covid. And, as with all wars, the first casualty is always the truth.
Truths that we now need "fact-checkers" to certify. "Fact-checkers" backed by social media companies. Social media companies backed by politically active entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs backed by self serving politicians. Politicians backed by faceless supranational NGOs and aforementioned entrepreneurs. The very same cavalcade of charlatans that always claim to have you best interests at heart, when we are all clear that this couldn't be further from the truth.
Many people warned us of what was to come. They were often laughed at, attacked and eventually had their voices and platforms removed. Even those that were intially critical of their silencing were tarred with the same brush. Eventually it seemed that people just accepted that this was the new normal and simply shrugged. Well, now each day, the level of censorship reaches level previously not though possible. And still we just seem to shrug.
At the same time as the COVID madness begins to slowly subside, the deep divisions and wounds potentially starting to fade and heal, we find our selves being pulled apart by the familiar spectre of fear and binary thinking once again.
It is a pattern some will be very familiar with over the last two years. Yet the same people who have come to see the lies, the suffering and devastating effects of the previous campaign of fear, now seem all to happy to forget all of these things, and jump head first on to this new carousel of constant conflict and fear.
The polarisation of debate begins again. The silencing of alternative views. Group think. Relentless, daily propaganda. Emotive images posted, designed to bypass the slumbering masses logic and unite them behind a new narrative and against a new threat. More and more division is once again being sown. Once more, we see the acceptable demonisation of one group, and the propulsion of another to the status of heroes.
We forget everything we have just witnessed in the last two years. We repeat the same mistakes. We play their games. We share their posts. We use their hashtags. We signal our conformity to their current cause. We believe their lies. We fail to think critically. We turn on each other. We go back round in circles on the same damaging downward spiral of division and despair.
And all the while, they are laughing at us.
I could not have put this better myself.👍👍