The reason for denial probably is much simpler than we think; people all over the world are loath to admit they were horribly wrong, that they were taken for a ride, and to their embarrassment for such a long time.
The perpetrators of course had the necessary incentives that they refuse to reveal.
I hope and pray that you are right, Dr. Natarajan. If you are, then there is hope for the next time. "Fool me once, shame on you..."
But I'm afraid that most people still truly believe that masks work, that the fake vaccines work, that lockdowns work, that footprint stickers on the floors of stores work, that half the population of Sweden died, and on and on. They don't read the things that we read. They are still hypnotized.
I wonder to what extent this is caused by lack of clarity regarding concepts on one hand and fallacies of intuition on the other. We understand the concept of vaccine in a certain way and fail to realise it when a vaccine isn't really one. The belief in masks is strongly influenced by a fallacy of intuition; intuitively a mask should work, therefore we believe it does. Same with lockdowns and footprint stickers. In fact I published a short piece on this a good while ago: https://thorsteinn.substack.com/p/two-fallacies-of-intuition
Thank you for the link. Somehow, too many people have lost the childlike reflex to ask “Why?” And in the case of lockdowns there is a germ of truth (pun intended). If I never got within a mile of another person, I doubt I would get covid. But of course that degree of separation society-wide would be impossible. Come to think of it, the masking intuition is the same way. If I put a plastic bag over my head and had somebody secure it with tape around my neck, I probably wouldn’t catch a respiratory virus. But…
When I started flying, my intuition was to push on the right rudder pedal to turn left. It felt right, because it seemed that I would be pushing the nose of the plane around from right to left, as with a steering wheel. But that’s not how rudder pedals work. To turn right, you push on the right pedal. I never obtained a pilot’s license, but now fly with a simulator. My flights would be chaotic and short if I trusted my intuition.
Your writing is insightful; please do carry on; I was so moved by your piece this morning that I was compelled to highlight it on Twitter; I have never done this before.
The world is falling apart, it really is. I am no doomsayer, but we have been badly let down by chaps who have the platforms to perform and explain the realities to the public.
Who would have imagined so many would be so dishonest despite having so much fame, applause and lucre. The motivation to lie and mislead has been money pure and simple. They may appear articulate, even pretty, but are dumb as hell.
Thanks a lot for sharing. I totally agree with you that the world is falling apart, and to what extent money has to do with it. The only way out of this is for the general public to wake up.
We are all able to think rationally. But 99% of us never do. Why? Because it is hard. My job is training executives in rational thinking. Not in winning arguments, but in rigorously analyzing the logical foundations needed for valid conclusions. Our students are some of the most highly educated and intelligent people in the world. Still, they find it hard. But, with training and practice, they can do it.
Oddly enough, Dr Deepak, I don't think conventional intelligence has anything to do with it: this is not about classic social polite careerist reasoning skills, (such as conform, say little, and do the right thing) - rather this is about deeper human instincts of self-preservation and survival. These skills are totally different from the social conformist intelligence required to thrive in modern urban cultures like India and Europe. 'Don't rock the boat, suck up to the boss' you know!
They are wilder more primeval 'boy scout' skills: like Mowgli: being able to sense animal dangers in the jungle (whether the real Indian jungle with tigers, or even the urban jungle with bad actors and scammers). Some people have good senses for survival, others do not.
I'd call this 'animal intelligence - or intuition'.
I am astounded by recent & remote historical evidence of every bad thing: socialism / communism / fascism / totalitarianism w/ even real time examples like Cuba or Venezuela & yet the geniuses in charge hubristically believe they’ve never worked because THEY were not in charge & utopia will work under their enlightened & so much smarter “leadership”.
They don’t want to learn because power & control are all that matter. Nothing about doing good for humanity & flourishing
I'm not sure why you call Communism in Cuba a bad thing, when a revolution was needed to topple the corrupt dictatorship - who else was able to lead a revolution if not revolutionaries? Little girls with flowers? Well , we saw what happened to them in Iran recently - peaceful revolutions rarely shifts an absolutist and totalitarian government, armed insurrection is often the only way.
Undoubtedly the implacable hostility of the USA/C IA to the Castro regime did not help the regime become more liberal and tolerant over time.
I'd rather live in a benign democratic socialist state (like e.g. Sweden or the Netherlands) than a raving authoritarian one, (like say Indonesia or China ) for sure.
However its a trick question, because true communism has never been implemented, in the sense envisaged by Karl Marx.
In practice few states are absolute extremes: most like the UK are hybrid compromises.
I think it is bound up in the human desire to conform, and seek purity and be part of the group.
I mean, look at the Puritan Witch Hunts, the 'Reds under the beds' McCarthy Era, Pol Pot in Cambodia, or the ISIS terror group, or the Rwanda disaster.
Human being are fragile and vulnerable to command and control.
It is primal, and predictable, and it will happen again - you cannot stop it except by exceptional leadership and civic controls.
Clever despots engineer the despair first and then offer an alternative to it.
1930's Germany, post the Great Depression, was riddled with unemployment , crime and poverty: homeless WW1 veterans were sleeping rough in the woods and begging - or worse.
About the 93% buying the lie reminds me of a CS Lewis quote
"You see," said Aslan. "They will not let us help them. They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their own minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they can not be taken out. But come, children. I have other work to do." (CS Lewis - The Last Battle - Narnia – 1956)
Fear of course is one of the links in the chain restraining many from breaking free. Believing prosperity in the present/material world is ALL there is, is another link...
Bill Gates? The same guy who goes on and on about overpopulation? Naw, he got exactly what he wanted. Excess mortality and more money and power. As for your fellow countrymen and women? That’s a harder question. Here in the US, I think it’s a combination of relying on the “nanny” state (an absolute fear of having to take responsibility for one’s life), group think, and not wanting to jeopardize a cushy lifestyle. For the elitist types in DC, LA, NYC, etc, we can’t count out the fear of not getting invited to the fancy parties. I wish it weren’t true, but that is a serious hurdle humans have to cross. It’s taken me over 45 years to be able to fully stand in my truth...knowing full well if will lose many relationships I hold dear, and be ok with it.
The writer of those lyrics would be proud to know they still resonate with so many people, but sad to learn so many will apparently never learn. But we can't stop trying.
I hope you'll watch Marlene Dietrich's performance which I posted. Not only her voice, but also her expression tells us so much about her deeply felt experience.
It's astounding isn't it? People throughout the western world believe all the horrors inflicted on them were necessary and useful. In fact, many of them think everything should have been harsher, more totalitarian. They believe their masks worked. The lockdowns worked. The dead could have been saved if only the authorities had been more stringent. They believe the jabs work. They would/will do it all again at the drop of a hat. Why do they think this way? Well, they wanted to be scared and excited back in early 2020 and then they actually got scared for real because of the fear campaigns. Now they don't know what is true and what isn't. All their critical thinking skills, all their common sense about how to treat a cold, has been wiped out. Apparently, many of them are still testing themselves with useless lateral flow tests. I am going to a concert on Sunday and have been emailed by the venue that the conductor has tested positive for covid and so has been replaced. They emailed me on Wednesday. Is he testing himself daily? Is it a requirement of the venue? It's just another thing people do now. They don't even talk about it because it's just part of their lives. I don't think they know they were taken for fools. Which proves they are fools - a world of mostly trusting good natured fools willingly being led to the slaughter.
It's the weird thing that people seem unable to explain what they are doing or why.
Why are you still carrying a mask in your bag?
"Er, because I might need it."
But surely you know by now they don't work and are really unhygienic?
"Er, no, they do work."
How do they work?
"They stop the virus."
How?
"Well, it can't get through."
Really? How big are viruses?
"Don't know. But why did they tell us to wear them if they don't work? So they must work."
And then they just repeat the last sentence regardless of the question! And they sound really confident that they are right and I am wrong and irresponsible. Even now, after 3 years of nonsense they are confident they know the truth. Someone said it was proof of how abysmal the education systems in the west have become over the last 50 years. I think they have a point!
Ah well, that's what happens when humanity thinks it doesn't need God. It has to find something else to follow, obey and worship! Clearly most humans need something to believe in and to give them guidance. Wasn't the Enlightenment meant to cure us of blindly following without asking questions?
Profound. Thank you. I'm at a loss as to why they still believe. I have a niece, university educated and working in the medical profession, who believes that the jabs killed/harmed no one and that the unjabbed are the reason anyone becomes sick from the virus. She's young and too arrogant to consider she may be wrong. She would have the likes of me in concentration/detention camps and forcibly jabbed. I find that blinkered thinking, that because I question the narrative I am a crazy conspiracy theorist and to be mocked and ignored, astounding. It matters not one whit to her that I have an PhD and may just be able to engage in independent, informed thinking.
For one, wanting to lock up your relatives in concentration camps is simply evil. There is no way around that. It reminds me of the story Mattias Desmet has told of the Iranian mother who willingly put the nooze around the neck of her son, being hanged for "blasphemy" during the revolution. The difference though is probably that her son's "guilt" had been proven, but in your case your judge won't even look at the evidence you present.
The ability of most to ignore easily observable reality and unquestionably believe what they are being told has been simply amazing, but nothing new I’m afraid. History is littered with tragedy stemming from the same blind allegiance to authority. Here it comes again...
Great piece. As depressing as your Icelandic survey may be, I must sadly report than in the UK more than half of voters for the opposition party believe the restrictions were not only necessary but also that they only failed because they weren't more strict. This is the hopelessness of trying to tackle this struggle on the platform of conventional politics. More than ever, we need unconventional support networks that can kindle the flames of resistance long enough for us to find some viable path out of this ongoing disaster. Stay resilient!
Why? My friend you know as well as I without water nothing flourishes and for mankind without love our world is a ghetto. No governance or even parent "makes us" free. Born free but everywhere everyone is talkin' at us but not listening to our questions. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VIIbT89V7EI
There are too many blokes like Gates and Fauci and their ilk, that have protection. These megalomaniacs are all part of the same eugenicists club run by the UN. Pure utter evil personified.
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."
-- George Carlin
93% seems quite high. I would question the statistical validity of that poll. 70% might be more realistic. Still too high a number but such is reality.
The reason for denial probably is much simpler than we think; people all over the world are loath to admit they were horribly wrong, that they were taken for a ride, and to their embarrassment for such a long time.
The perpetrators of course had the necessary incentives that they refuse to reveal.
I hope and pray that you are right, Dr. Natarajan. If you are, then there is hope for the next time. "Fool me once, shame on you..."
But I'm afraid that most people still truly believe that masks work, that the fake vaccines work, that lockdowns work, that footprint stickers on the floors of stores work, that half the population of Sweden died, and on and on. They don't read the things that we read. They are still hypnotized.
I wonder to what extent this is caused by lack of clarity regarding concepts on one hand and fallacies of intuition on the other. We understand the concept of vaccine in a certain way and fail to realise it when a vaccine isn't really one. The belief in masks is strongly influenced by a fallacy of intuition; intuitively a mask should work, therefore we believe it does. Same with lockdowns and footprint stickers. In fact I published a short piece on this a good while ago: https://thorsteinn.substack.com/p/two-fallacies-of-intuition
For Sweden it is simply due to misinformation.
Thank you for the link. Somehow, too many people have lost the childlike reflex to ask “Why?” And in the case of lockdowns there is a germ of truth (pun intended). If I never got within a mile of another person, I doubt I would get covid. But of course that degree of separation society-wide would be impossible. Come to think of it, the masking intuition is the same way. If I put a plastic bag over my head and had somebody secure it with tape around my neck, I probably wouldn’t catch a respiratory virus. But…
When I started flying, my intuition was to push on the right rudder pedal to turn left. It felt right, because it seemed that I would be pushing the nose of the plane around from right to left, as with a steering wheel. But that’s not how rudder pedals work. To turn right, you push on the right pedal. I never obtained a pilot’s license, but now fly with a simulator. My flights would be chaotic and short if I trusted my intuition.
Your writing is insightful; please do carry on; I was so moved by your piece this morning that I was compelled to highlight it on Twitter; I have never done this before.
The world is falling apart, it really is. I am no doomsayer, but we have been badly let down by chaps who have the platforms to perform and explain the realities to the public.
Who would have imagined so many would be so dishonest despite having so much fame, applause and lucre. The motivation to lie and mislead has been money pure and simple. They may appear articulate, even pretty, but are dumb as hell.
Thanks a lot for sharing. I totally agree with you that the world is falling apart, and to what extent money has to do with it. The only way out of this is for the general public to wake up.
I agree, most people ( my country India included) are not only lazy but are of minuscule intelligence.
They refuse to realise what can and shall hit them in the near future. They are oblivious and blind to what is going around them.
If they do not pay heed to your warnings they sadly shall suffer, actually we all will.
We are all able to think rationally. But 99% of us never do. Why? Because it is hard. My job is training executives in rational thinking. Not in winning arguments, but in rigorously analyzing the logical foundations needed for valid conclusions. Our students are some of the most highly educated and intelligent people in the world. Still, they find it hard. But, with training and practice, they can do it.
Oddly enough, Dr Deepak, I don't think conventional intelligence has anything to do with it: this is not about classic social polite careerist reasoning skills, (such as conform, say little, and do the right thing) - rather this is about deeper human instincts of self-preservation and survival. These skills are totally different from the social conformist intelligence required to thrive in modern urban cultures like India and Europe. 'Don't rock the boat, suck up to the boss' you know!
They are wilder more primeval 'boy scout' skills: like Mowgli: being able to sense animal dangers in the jungle (whether the real Indian jungle with tigers, or even the urban jungle with bad actors and scammers). Some people have good senses for survival, others do not.
I'd call this 'animal intelligence - or intuition'.
I am astounded by recent & remote historical evidence of every bad thing: socialism / communism / fascism / totalitarianism w/ even real time examples like Cuba or Venezuela & yet the geniuses in charge hubristically believe they’ve never worked because THEY were not in charge & utopia will work under their enlightened & so much smarter “leadership”.
They don’t want to learn because power & control are all that matter. Nothing about doing good for humanity & flourishing
I'm not sure why you call Communism in Cuba a bad thing, when a revolution was needed to topple the corrupt dictatorship - who else was able to lead a revolution if not revolutionaries? Little girls with flowers? Well , we saw what happened to them in Iran recently - peaceful revolutions rarely shifts an absolutist and totalitarian government, armed insurrection is often the only way.
Undoubtedly the implacable hostility of the USA/C IA to the Castro regime did not help the regime become more liberal and tolerant over time.
You think communism anywhere is a good thing? Certainly for those in control it is. Average citizenry, not much
I'd rather live in a benign democratic socialist state (like e.g. Sweden or the Netherlands) than a raving authoritarian one, (like say Indonesia or China ) for sure.
However its a trick question, because true communism has never been implemented, in the sense envisaged by Karl Marx.
In practice few states are absolute extremes: most like the UK are hybrid compromises.
I think it is bound up in the human desire to conform, and seek purity and be part of the group.
I mean, look at the Puritan Witch Hunts, the 'Reds under the beds' McCarthy Era, Pol Pot in Cambodia, or the ISIS terror group, or the Rwanda disaster.
Human being are fragile and vulnerable to command and control.
It is primal, and predictable, and it will happen again - you cannot stop it except by exceptional leadership and civic controls.
My wife and I were discussing this over our morning cup of tea.
We arrived at the same conclusion. Humans are wired to conform, lead and be led, and self organise into hierarchies.
And are vulnerable to indoctrination as a result.
"Patriotism" is a complex condition.
Hitler got it right. How could such a well educated, religious, hardworking country be swayed by such a person?
from despair, to hope.
Clever despots engineer the despair first and then offer an alternative to it.
1930's Germany, post the Great Depression, was riddled with unemployment , crime and poverty: homeless WW1 veterans were sleeping rough in the woods and begging - or worse.
Yes. But the intellectuals and well off bought into the myth.
Just as they do now.
Great speech here that goes in depth into this whole issue, by a retired senior British Judge: worth listening to.
Watch it with your wife: I'd love to know your response.
https://youtu.be/yWq3wFPlVTQ
About the 93% buying the lie reminds me of a CS Lewis quote
"You see," said Aslan. "They will not let us help them. They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their own minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they can not be taken out. But come, children. I have other work to do." (CS Lewis - The Last Battle - Narnia – 1956)
Fear of course is one of the links in the chain restraining many from breaking free. Believing prosperity in the present/material world is ALL there is, is another link...
Bill Gates? The same guy who goes on and on about overpopulation? Naw, he got exactly what he wanted. Excess mortality and more money and power. As for your fellow countrymen and women? That’s a harder question. Here in the US, I think it’s a combination of relying on the “nanny” state (an absolute fear of having to take responsibility for one’s life), group think, and not wanting to jeopardize a cushy lifestyle. For the elitist types in DC, LA, NYC, etc, we can’t count out the fear of not getting invited to the fancy parties. I wish it weren’t true, but that is a serious hurdle humans have to cross. It’s taken me over 45 years to be able to fully stand in my truth...knowing full well if will lose many relationships I hold dear, and be ok with it.
The writer of those lyrics would be proud to know they still resonate with so many people, but sad to learn so many will apparently never learn. But we can't stop trying.
I hope you'll watch Marlene Dietrich's performance which I posted. Not only her voice, but also her expression tells us so much about her deeply felt experience.
It's astounding isn't it? People throughout the western world believe all the horrors inflicted on them were necessary and useful. In fact, many of them think everything should have been harsher, more totalitarian. They believe their masks worked. The lockdowns worked. The dead could have been saved if only the authorities had been more stringent. They believe the jabs work. They would/will do it all again at the drop of a hat. Why do they think this way? Well, they wanted to be scared and excited back in early 2020 and then they actually got scared for real because of the fear campaigns. Now they don't know what is true and what isn't. All their critical thinking skills, all their common sense about how to treat a cold, has been wiped out. Apparently, many of them are still testing themselves with useless lateral flow tests. I am going to a concert on Sunday and have been emailed by the venue that the conductor has tested positive for covid and so has been replaced. They emailed me on Wednesday. Is he testing himself daily? Is it a requirement of the venue? It's just another thing people do now. They don't even talk about it because it's just part of their lives. I don't think they know they were taken for fools. Which proves they are fools - a world of mostly trusting good natured fools willingly being led to the slaughter.
Is it the Stockholm syndrome? Interestingly it's popping up everywhere but in Stockholm these days.
It's the weird thing that people seem unable to explain what they are doing or why.
Why are you still carrying a mask in your bag?
"Er, because I might need it."
But surely you know by now they don't work and are really unhygienic?
"Er, no, they do work."
How do they work?
"They stop the virus."
How?
"Well, it can't get through."
Really? How big are viruses?
"Don't know. But why did they tell us to wear them if they don't work? So they must work."
And then they just repeat the last sentence regardless of the question! And they sound really confident that they are right and I am wrong and irresponsible. Even now, after 3 years of nonsense they are confident they know the truth. Someone said it was proof of how abysmal the education systems in the west have become over the last 50 years. I think they have a point!
Education is part of it, but this is deeper. This is religion.
Ah well, that's what happens when humanity thinks it doesn't need God. It has to find something else to follow, obey and worship! Clearly most humans need something to believe in and to give them guidance. Wasn't the Enlightenment meant to cure us of blindly following without asking questions?
Profound. Thank you. I'm at a loss as to why they still believe. I have a niece, university educated and working in the medical profession, who believes that the jabs killed/harmed no one and that the unjabbed are the reason anyone becomes sick from the virus. She's young and too arrogant to consider she may be wrong. She would have the likes of me in concentration/detention camps and forcibly jabbed. I find that blinkered thinking, that because I question the narrative I am a crazy conspiracy theorist and to be mocked and ignored, astounding. It matters not one whit to her that I have an PhD and may just be able to engage in independent, informed thinking.
For one, wanting to lock up your relatives in concentration camps is simply evil. There is no way around that. It reminds me of the story Mattias Desmet has told of the Iranian mother who willingly put the nooze around the neck of her son, being hanged for "blasphemy" during the revolution. The difference though is probably that her son's "guilt" had been proven, but in your case your judge won't even look at the evidence you present.
What a horrifying story! Evil is taught as we have seen over the past three years. How that woman lives with herself I cannot imagine.
The ability of most to ignore easily observable reality and unquestionably believe what they are being told has been simply amazing, but nothing new I’m afraid. History is littered with tragedy stemming from the same blind allegiance to authority. Here it comes again...
Great piece. As depressing as your Icelandic survey may be, I must sadly report than in the UK more than half of voters for the opposition party believe the restrictions were not only necessary but also that they only failed because they weren't more strict. This is the hopelessness of trying to tackle this struggle on the platform of conventional politics. More than ever, we need unconventional support networks that can kindle the flames of resistance long enough for us to find some viable path out of this ongoing disaster. Stay resilient!
Why? My friend you know as well as I without water nothing flourishes and for mankind without love our world is a ghetto. No governance or even parent "makes us" free. Born free but everywhere everyone is talkin' at us but not listening to our questions. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VIIbT89V7EI
There are too many blokes like Gates and Fauci and their ilk, that have protection. These megalomaniacs are all part of the same eugenicists club run by the UN. Pure utter evil personified.
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."
-- George Carlin
93% seems quite high. I would question the statistical validity of that poll. 70% might be more realistic. Still too high a number but such is reality.