“An effective mass movement cultivates the idea of sin. It depicts the autonomous self not only as barren and helpless but also as vile. To confess and repent is to slough off one’s individual distinctness and separateness, and salvation is found by losing oneself in the holy oneness of the congregation.”
-Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
“Unvaccinated are not welcome” rapidly, and alarmingly, is becoming the new “[insert demographic group] need not apply” - both sentiments contradictory and objectionable to modern sensibilities. If fully vaccinated, why do you care about the status of those who have chosen not be? You either believe that vaccines protect you, and thus “trust the science” backing them, or you do not. Yet, walk into any place of business without wearing a mask and watch people fill with anxiety and indignation - an odd phenomena that does not happen with other, more lethal seasonal diseases like influenza and pneumonia. This amounts to nothing less than collective peer pressure, rather than being about personal responsibility and individual choice.
Discrimination in any form is ugly, but to single out those who are hesitant about these “emergency” vaccines - mind you, all still unapproved by certifying entities like the FDA - is truly awful. With little to no understanding of any long-term effects, they nevertheless are being used to brand and segregate those unwilling to participate as guinea pigs in this mass societal case study. We have witnessed this form of discrimination before, most notably with the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. Could a Philadelphia-esque remake indulge the notion, with a main character instead portrayed as an unvaccinated “deplorable” in such a reimagining?
Over the course of the current global pandemic, the fluctuating and nonsensical extremism of political “leaders,” scientific “experts,” and general population of sheepish “activists” has progressively worsened. Deep into year two of “15 days to flatten the curve,” there is no fathomable end in sight of that misguided and deceitful proposition. Again quoting Hoffer, “Crude absurdities, trivial nonsense and sublime truths are equally potent in readying people for self-sacrifice if they are accepted as the sole, eternal truth. It is obvious, therefore, that in order to be effective a doctrine must not be understood, but has rather to be believed in.” In the beginning, temporary measures implemented made sense, and with majority consensus, to urgently confront the imminent threat of an unknown pathogen. Now, though, it has taken on the appearance of controlling and suppressing anyone who dissents from the extended agenda and narrative of the aforementioned conglomerate.
Speaking of control and mass studies, mask wearing is the visible yet subtle testimony to how average citizens and a society in general, both past and present, can be duped by the convictions of and fidelity to those in positions of authority. For these crazed adherents, they will not remove their masks until their sacrosanct masters tell them otherwise - and will attempt to intimidate and shun anyone who deviates from and opposes that absurd dogma. From childhood diseases to seasonal ones, we rely upon and trust vaccines to protect us from illness without any extra outerwear for protection. Yet, despite the hypocritical rhetoric to do our part and get vaccinated so that life can return to normal, why is the opposite - to doubt the efficacy of that modern-day safeguard - ostensibly the current standard? In that case, health officials should instead dole out placebos with lollipops and unicorns alongside their irresolute propaganda that continues to cause hesitation to “get the jab.”
Rather than creating a unified front, this state of affairs has devolved into one of friction and suspicion at every level. President Joe Biden and the duplicitous lackeys in his administration have been at the forefront of this circumstance, but, admittedly, they are not the sole culprits. China - a forthright bastion of righteousness and mutuality in its efforts to enslave minorities, silence citizens and overwhelm sovereign neighbors - still has not faced any significant punishment or sanction from the international community for its primary role in this worldwide upheaval, as Chinese leaders simultaneously attempt to place blame elsewhere and continue their push toward global domination with impunity. Meanwhile, China’s international co-conspirators - the United Nations and the W.H.O. - continue to evade and lay cover for its actions both in causing the pandemic and thwarting any serious investigation into an origin that points increasingly toward lab creation than any natural occurrence.
Tyranny, unfortunately, oftentimes does not announce itself with thunderous applause, preferring to seep in by incremental degrees and latent persuasion of the willing, and oblivious, populace. Right now, the issue, more or less innocuously, is about masks and vaccines, but it serves as the foreboding antecedent that potentially leads to further infringement and nullification of shared liberties and inalienable rights. This has happened before, and it can happen again; denial and deflection of that history by proselytizing sycophants is nothing less than foolhardy ignorance. Continued obedience to these authoritarian hypocrites will be the eventual, but hopefully not inevitable, collapse of civilization they pretend to want to save. To stand against corrupt, unelected autocrats and loathsome, petty tyrants is the true communal benefit in the long-term.
©2021 Steve Sagarra