In lieu of our regularly scheduled weekend show, we are pleased to present a video special featuring yours truly and Jon Roskam from Australia's IPA.
I am honored to have been associated with the Institute of Public Affairs for a decade and a half. They've hosted me on multiple sellout tours of Australia, and we've collaborated on a couple of books, too. And, aside from my personal connection, they do sterling work Down Under on a multitude of issues.
So I was more than happy to join them (in my Zoom debut!) to mull the very weird world of 2020 and its implications for individual freedom in some of the oldest self-governing societies on earth. Jon Roskam steered the show and also took questions from IPA members (and gave away a Mark Steyn Club subscription, too). We covered a lot of ground from the perversion of policing to the rise of China - with some thoughts on Trump and the US election, too. Click below to watch:
If you prefer your Steyn videos in short bites, the IPA has excerpted a few clips on lockdowns, Trump, and freedom.
Weekend-wise, I'm very happy to announce that we've booted our lousy guest-host film columnist from the building, and the great Kathy Shaidle will be returning to her movie beat tomorrow, Saturday. And of course we also have our weekend music selections. All our content at SteynOnline is made possible by Mark Steyn Club members in Australia and around the planet. For more on the Steyn Club see here.
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74 Member Comments
Great show! But shouldn't the flag or ensign to your left, actually be to your right?
Mark replies:
Not if you're on a show in the Southern Hemisphere, Marie. It's like the water going down the plughole counter-clockwise...
Great interview. Thanks Mark and IPA
Took me a few days, but glad I got around to listening to this whole interview - excellent stuff. Love the Aussie content, whether it's the serious stuff or that great cultural attache, Sir Les Patterson
Mark, this is an excellent interview/presentation. Does it ever get tiring answering the same question over and over-a version of "what can we do", when the only real answer that most people don't want to hear is 'gird yer loins' and 'do something, and 'don't leave it to your neighbour"? You don't have to answer that :)
The main point I would like to make though, and of course it's the most important part of the presentation is to comment on your lovely suit-like the grey and burgundy combination, looking sharp!
UK Bans Sex For At-Risk Couples
A spokesperson for PM Boris Johnson has issued an order banning casual sex between partners who live in separate domiciles for Tier 2 and Tier 3 regions. The Ministry of Health and Social Care is distributing packets that resemble condoms but when torn open reveal a Quick Start Guide to the complex yellow, orange and red system dividing Great Britain into ChiCom-19 severity zones. The Motto is "if in doubt, mask and glove up, shake hands and say good night." Alternative to gloves is to maintain social distancing.
This policy has forced Brit smooth operators, so common in the Mark Steyn Club, to change their pick up line from, "What's your Zodiac sign?" to, "What's your Tier zone?" This policy does not apply in zones where on-the-street burkha wearage is over 10%.
THIS IS NOT A DRILL!
Great post, W. - and you've been in particularly fine fettle lately.
Rove, on with Chris Wallace who brought Woodward to filet Trump on not protecting American people from COVID, did not mention that Europe has done no better. Rove is pro -Trump on Fox news with the niche cable audience vs. his non -supportive approach to Fox affiliates' broader audience Fox News Sunday( Wallace's show)
I know people nowadays have short memories, conditioned by the ephemeral, always changing nature of social media, but surely they can recall this past year when in January Trump halted travel from China and the Dems complained he was racist and xenophobic (yawn). Or when early on after the first lockdown in March with stay at home orders, we were told emphatically by the CDC NOT to wear masks as it didn't help contain the virus or stop its spread. This was a lie, engineered by Fauci (the Dem's hero) & Co ostensibly to ensure healthcare workers had enough PPE because people were hoarding. Of course, that made things much worse and helped to spread the virus like wildfire especially in crowded cities like NY.
Trump left the decision about how to deal with the pandemic to states and their public health depts. as he should have since each state had different rates of transmission and methodology to deal with a pandemic. I think the overall situation has improved nationwide in terms of virus spread and things are slowly returning to normal, even in my state of California where we have Herr Newsom and his one-man rule at the helm.
I sense a hint of desperation in the Dems latest tactics, they are veering from one talking point to the next hoping one of them will stick and do damage. Perhaps their internal polling is showing different results from the poll numbers being presented to the general public?
Old Woodwad really wanted to double down on the "Trump failed COVID message," even to the point that Chris Wallace smacked him around three times during the following segment of the Supreme Court
A "blizzard of lies", that is the crux of this discussion in it's entirety to me. The fact that our culture has become so inured to lies is a very ominous thing. We have outright, in-your-face lies, little "white" lies, and then we have baseless accusations and slanders and the corruption of the meaning of language, which are all sub-species of the Lie. We are engulfed by this every day. What does all this mean? To me there is no other way to look at this than spiritually. Scripture says that people who love the lie will eventually be given over to delusion by God himself. This means they can no longer be reached by the truth or respond to the truth. They then become hardened by a viciousness and hatred that is implacable. This is very dark. This likely means that their judgment has been sealed. I believe this is the spiritual reality the West and all of the world is facing in our time. Never have we had a codification and institutionalization of the lie like we have with leftism in all of it's forms and names. Jesus, after all called Satan the "father of lies". Does this construction seem quaint and superstitious to worldly sophisticates? Do only monastic scribblers and unlearned Pentecostals think about such things? Countries that went communist or Nazi or fascist believed the lie. What happened to them may have been the natural consequence of what they chose to believe, but it was more than that. It was judgment. The Lie is profoundly evil. It leads to murder, plunder, and death. It never leads to good. If we are only talking about societal and cultural ills regarding authoritarianism and the loss of freedom and not the spiritual dimension of lies we are only talking about consequences and not causes. If we don't have a culture and society in which the truth about everything has come to be what is sought and esteemed and we have also deliberately chosen to hate a lie then we may be beyond hope and are awaiting a future of untold suffering and devoid of solace, at least in the short run, for I do believe ultimately in redemption.
Don't you think that Our Father knows all things though and he knows even the hearts of the fallen, the arrogant, and those who have turned their backs on Him? Don't you think that because He is perfect he knows the hearts of all men and is forgiving and loving even to those who are weak?
I'm going to send this to everyone I know! Prescient remakes, so true, so timely. Such an important crossroads for Western Civ. What we do over the next few months will chart the course. Starts with re-electing Donald Trump. This is a must.
There's a devastatingly sad "amateur" YouTube video posted today showing the city that has been locked down harder and longer than Wuhan ever was. Worth watching the first few minutes: "For Lease - Finding a 'Covid Normal'" - by Sam McClelland of Melbourne who says, "We're not all in this together and we never were".
That was a heartbreaking video, Kate. Thank you for suggesting it. Also, the Brendan O'Neill "Je Suis Charlie" Spiked article from January. With amount of content at the MSC and the elections going on here, it's hard to keep with everyone's comments but I'm working back to them.
The scale of human suffering that's been inflicted by Dan Andrews upon Victorians - in the name of saving them - is a crime against humanity, Fran.
Brendan O'Neill also had a column - on "Samuel" - last weekend.
Yes, it's difficult to keep up!
My daughter lives in Vermont, just outside of Burlington. She was out doing her shopping today and came across a huuuuge Trump caravan winding its way through the streets of Burlington, aka Bernie Sanders territory. She said it was a surreal sight, car after car waving Trump flags, MAGA banners, etc. She heard other drivers honking their horns in support and saw them giving them thumbs-up (no, not The Finger!). Just a bit of sunshine in an ever-darkening world.
Re: "Raised to hate their civilizational inheritance..."
Long-time listener, first time caller.
The love of my life is about 18 months old. She starts talking about half an hour before she wakes up , and doesn't stop until well after she's asleep. Knows how to say "please" and loves to say "amen" after table prayers. She's already taken over the living room with her books, and is starting to (pseudo) read them to us rather than the other way around. So I like to think my wife and I are doing something right, and we will continue to try and do so.
I'd like to inoculate her with as much (age appropriate) Classic Western thought as i can before the OISE graduates get a hold of her in a few years. After that it will be a running battle between us and them during the remainder of her formative years, so we want to take advantage of our head start.
Would appreciate the thoughts of any MSC members about what tangible things they've done to raise their kids to respect and value the civilization we've inherited.
You have a huge advantage over me while raising our four during the 80s and 90s because you belong to the Mark Steyn Club now. It wasn't there when I could've used the wisdom, could've read opinions from like minded individuals around the globe. I learn so much about what I missed while I was busy raising the children in the way of culture, literature, history, music, theater and film arts that Mark and his team cover.
A few things that worked for us: We took our children to visit their grandparents often. There we were able to teach them how to behave in another family's home, respect a new set of rules, where meal planning, dinner table manners and conversation were cultivated. Sharing the meal with their grandparents, learning their rituals and helping with the clean up was the high energy point of the weekend. The entertainment was centered around after dinner table games, walks with their grandfather and listening to their grandmother tells stories about growing up on a farm in South Dakota, her experiences in a one-room school house, her favorite farm animals, and a grandfather arriving from Ireland as a stowaway. One set of great grandparents had been homesteaders and they themselves lived through the Great Depression and so the children learned what it was like to have elderly around who survived a lot of hardships and lived frugally.
The same grandparents would come visit us each month. It was an opportunity for the children to learn hospitality. They were encouraged to read out loud to their grandmother who herself once was a schoolteacher. We cherished the children as it sounds like you do.
We took them to historic sites and battlefields when we lived back East, the city museums and holiday productions at the local theaters. We signed them up for all kinds of lessons. We read a lot to them, had them write thank you notes when needed. I took them to church in their elementary grades. In high school we kept them quite busy.
I regret i didn't expose them more to the study of history and critical thinking. I assumed they revered our civilization but probably assuming wasn't enough. Public high school perhaps brainwashed them with a Howard Zinn's version of American History. I wish now we had spent more time talking with them as they got older. Something went very wrong there in the public high school. Had I known about Hillsdale College then, I would've sent them all there.
Catholic school, for starters. Or some other parochial or private school, but I've found the most conservative are Catholic ones, which you typically don't even have to be a Catholic to attend, although they will teach your kids about God, prayer, Jesus, the Saints, the Ten Commandments. Which, to me, is inseparable if you're learning about Western civilization. We just started my older one. No way in hell we are sending them to American Public schools (even though we live in a "great" school district).
Make the Bible a part of your every day life: Old Testament for all plus New Testament for non-Jews. Read it, study it, share it. Make giving charity a part of daily life, a few coins a day. Homeschool or private school. Family dinners every night.
I've not been sure whether I should venture an input, P. My own children have grown into really nice, self-sufficient adults of whom I'm very proud, and both are much better parents than ever I was, but there were anxious times. I don't have any rocket-science to offer, and my wisdom, such as it is, is hardly uncommon.
So, for what it's worth, child-rearing is not topiary gardening. Each child grows up to be her own person. Taking pride in that is important, in my experience, because children need something to push against, and they'll almost certainly push against pressure to be like this or like that, and against the source of that pressure. Each child likes to shape her environment rather than be shaped by it, and the only way to encourage and direct that energy is to demonstrate love, respect and involvement. If you can be your child's best friend, you've gone a long way. If your child thinks that her friends are drawn from her contemporaries, but relies as a matter of preference on your love, presence and wisdom, you've gone further yet.
Bad influences are rarely obvious, as of course you know. In fact, they are most pernicious when they present themselves as good influences, or, worse still, when trusted parents present them as good influences. Nobody's judgement is perfect, naturally, but there is no need to present that lesson traumatically. I therefore submit that the best way to inculcate love and respect of Western civilisation is to enact that respect alongside love for and involvement with your child as she finds her own way, makes her own judgements and becomes his/her own person.
Obviously, there will be bumps aplenty in the road, and those have to be treated as opportunities to enact respect alongside love for and involvement with your child, and staunchness in your own respect of and love for Western civilisation. It's not as easy or simple as it sounds. Also, you have to forgive yourself when things do not go according to plan. That happens a lot, but harbouring guilt is crippling and improves nothing. You also have to forgive yourself when it turns out that you cannot control everything, including your child. That happens too.
Sometimes you will have to forgive Western civilisation for not being all you thought it ought to be. We've all been there too.
You're probably wondering why you bothered to read that. There's no news there at all. Sorry.
Tintin makes good early reading.
Up here in North Idaho we are doing what we can to take back our lives: going to the gym, taking dance lessons, holding marathon/10k races, boating, and attending school. We are fighting to keep the schools open five days per week. I told the school board to read "The Great Barrington Declaration" when they started to fuss about reducing school hours.
The galling thing to me is that people from Washington and Oregon flood into Idaho to take advantage of our freedoms as they chafe under the utopian socialist rule they overwhelmingly voted for. In contrast, they refuse to take hotel reservations from people in my state (I looking at your Oregon Coast and Bend, OR) because they say we are spreading the dreaded COVID.
I'm enjoying Vernon Coleman's videos on the virus scam - he moved to Brand New Tube, the "not yootoobe" channel, after his videos kept being censored by the G-Men at Stasi-Central (that's Mountain View, btw).
Mark was asked why he is not on Parler, which Bongino is pushing. The problem with Parler is that you have to accept Apple's and Google's imposed Ts & Cs. Gab is a far better bet, but having your own platform is the best option.
Of course, many people have been forced to find new hosters for their sites. Eventually, we will be at the online Alamo, and we know how that ended.
When Mark mentioned Faustian I couldn't help but here Faucian. Speaking of which I had to mention an email I received from my kids' school district superintendent in Upstate NY (a district which celebrates Indigenous People's Day instead of Columbus Day) in which the superintendent basically states that the decision has been made that their Covid restrictions (which allow kids to physically attend school only one day per week among other draconian rules) will persist for 'at least' the entire 2020-2021 school year. No mention was made of exactly why that decision has been made at this early date but we're supposed to take for granted that our children being denied the right of in-person education (regardless of the fact that the county their school district is in has had a very low incidence rate of Covid) is just part and parcel of the bureaucrat ordered 'new normal.'
The superintendent also reminded parents (as the district does multiple times per week) to fill out the online form attesting to the fact that the kids have no fever and no symptoms prior to each day the kids are allowed to attend in-person school. Yet another reminder stated that as a condition of their kids being allowed to attend school that parents must attest to the fact that the parents are following all of the state recommended guidelines (which are constantly in flux) regarding Covid in order to keep everyone in the state safe. This made me wonder "Can a pledge to vote for Joe Biden (or some other Democrat politician) as a condition for children being allowed to attend school in person be far behind?" At any other time my answer to myself would be "No," but given how things have gone this year it wouldn't shock me at all.
Sal, reminds me of the situation here in Ontario. Elementary are back to school "as normal" BUT with masks. Secondary, back in school BUT BUT BUT each school can have only 2 cohorts of students. And then the two cohorts can only 15 students in any class. AND masks while in the school. AND masks at outdoor breaks. So, that means approximately 1 day of in school learning for one of my kids with an additional half day once every two weeks. This plan was made for the entire school year, taking into account no possibility for improvement or normalcy. Picture my face!!!!!
How do we get our children and grandchildren interested in Western civilization? Mark made the observation that education systems have been busy explaining to the last two generations that Western civilization is the new Nazi-ism. My young adult children have locked themselves down. They tell me they don't want to go around and risk infecting and killing someone else. I do explain to them that WuFlu has a kill rate of 1% at most and roughly 90% of those are in nursing homes or otherwise extremely vulnerable. Not only that, the 90% of the deaths are among a demographic that represents only 5% of infections. Thumbnail sketch....95% of the infections (i.e. children, young, middle aged and older adults with no pre-existing health issues) represent 1 death in every 1000 deaths attributed to WuFlu. 5% of the infections represent 999 in every 1000 deaths attributed to WuFlu. We can mitigate and nearly eliminate the risk among that 5% because by and large they are mostly in nursing home facilities. What do my children think of that? Nothing. They roll their eyes. Why? Because they've been indoctrinated to believe government is good, benign and should be listened to and obeyed. And it has worked. I don't think it's easy to reverse it.
It's very difficult to reason a person out of an opinion that they did not reason themselves into.
"How do we get our children and grandchildren interested in Western civilization?"
Don't use reason. To a non-westerner, Western Civilization appears magical. Just keep doing and saying things that are taboo.
In regard to your initial question, my first thought was that Harry Potter had done a pretty good job of at least getting the ball rolling towards creating an interest in Western Civilization among our youth. But the woke crosshairs have slowly been moving in Harry's direction of late, and with only minimal pushback from the author.
So I suspect that the Wokesters will be able to snuff that out with little problem. I'm almost looking forward to seeing the look on Rowling's face when her books are placed outside the green zone.
I think opposite viewpoints have to be reinforced at home. For too long, American parents have left the schooling of their children to the government, and if the government is ultra-Left to be the point insanity like in my state of California, then yes, they will become indoctrinated in Leftist ideology. Parents are too busy (or in CA perhaps on heavy meds) to bother having family discussions or let their political views be known, if they even have any. Video games, the internet/social media, binge watching Netflix/Amazon Prime (two ultra-left companies) have supplanted human contact and meaningful interaction.
My daughter is a Millennial who attended a public high school and one of the Univ. of California campuses, but she is a conservative. Although she is active on social media, she admits it's depressing to see so many of her generation throwing their lives away, choosing to slavishly follow state orders and mandates without a hint of push-back or rebellion.
Others have mentioned it on this forum, but there is definitely a lot of self-loathing going on with young adults and it's by design, as it keeps them malleable, obedient and "ready to receive further instructions". It's a weird dichotomy because those under 30 have been conditioned to be tolerant, inoffensive, accepting ("Stop Hate" "Love is Love") and eschew aggression and bullying but when they are given the okay and let loose by their puppet masters, we have seen the result.
My daughter was in college during the 2016 election and its aftermath, and spent much of her time between classes trying to avoid the violence and destruction going on around campus.To indicate just how complicit state schools really are in the brainwashing of our kids, even at the highest educational levels, the day after the election and Trump's victory, I received an email from the Chancellor assuring parents that the college was supportive of students who were angry, afraid and having panic or anxiety attacks.They had made available counselors, psychologists, nurses, therapy dogs, and, last but not least, a special "therapy building" with Play-Doh, crayons and coloring books with which to vent their rage and anguish.
This comment strikes me as a very deep and profound insight Brawndo which helps explain why it's almost become impossible to even have a rational or civil conversation with these 'pod' people. For instance recently while chatting across the fence with a usually friendly neighbor I made the cardinal mistake of mentioning my skepticism on mask wearing and she flew into a near rage which shocked the hell out of me. What quickly came to mind was that frightening final scene in that great '78 re-make of the 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' so I thought well at least she didn't break out into a terrible silent scream to bring the other neighbors running to confront the disturbing fact that we have one of THEM! living in our midst. My dear sister reacts in a similar manner. If a 'skeptics club' existed in my community I doubt we could fill an average living room. It's that bad in 2020 America sorry to say. Can America be saved? We'll find out in less that 3 weeks.
I had a somewhat similar experience when I brought up the mask wearing as a tactical maneuver by certain Governors who were getting a little too much of that taste for power and not following the science to a friend who I thought might be my one reasonable liberal friend who I might be able to convert this election time. She refused to respond to me. The ones who freak out at a different view are the ones who I do believe follow Brawndo's theorem.
Very good observation!
We have a d-i-l who was a history professor at a Southern university who after the '16 election brought her dog to her office and it served, just as you say, as therapy dog for her students. I'm no longer on her Christmas card list, in fact, since then deposited in that category called "non existe piu." You don't need to guess why.
I hate wearing a mask and only do so because it's required statewide and the stores all enforce it by giving you a mask when you enter in case you "forgot" yours. I'm terrified this is going to go on for years as I'm skeptical about finding an effective vaccine any time soon. I used to see photos and video of those in Asian countries where masks, for a various reasons, is second nature. I used to pity them and now look at us!
I wouldn't conflate wearing a mask with being liberal. I know plenty of people, many who are older, who just don't want to get sick and think "better safe than sorry", but are still Trump supporters who lay the blame where it belongs, at China's door.
Isn't Harry Potter the one about witchcraft?
"For too long, American parents have left the schooling of their children to the government.."
THIS is exactly the problem. Parents have to be very directly involved in their children's education, upbringing and not abdicate any responsibility. If you don't want a government-dictated "education" don't use government schools, or make government schools change their tune.
Conflate AlyM?!!! I'm describing first hand experience and I;m not conflating a damn thing here!! Where do you get off?
Sorry if I caused offense. Perhaps I worded it wrong. I should have used "equate". You didn't say what your neighbor's political leanings are but I assumed she is a liberal who is on board with all the government restrictions, mandates, etc.
Your analogy with the Invasion of the Bodysnatchers certainly rings true, not just regarding the pandemic, but about other aspects of life nowadays and where our society is headed in terms of loss of self and individuality, and the muting of one's ideas, opinions, etc.
The only 'offense' I took was to your unwarranted assumption that I equated this attitude I was bitching about to liberalism because I never used the 'L' word in my post. In fact my sister whom I did mention is a hard core conservative beyond question. I have not noticed any ideological division on the issue I raised on this website. I do appreciate this reply by the way AlyM and yes my neighbor is indeed a liberal and we remain good friends never-the-less.
Local news reporting yesterday that one of our hospitals, St. Luke's, had to turn away plague victims here in KC. Of course no one has the time to break it down as to age, gender, race and co-morbidity so the folks just hear this and some will panic. We'll see how the mayor handles it. Meantime, the rest of us are buzzing around until told not to. They leave it up to the counties and I don't live in one that has seen a spike.
The willingness to surrender our freedoms came out of the desire to be rid of COVID no matter the cost. People think that the experts will surrender their powers when COVID is under control but we know that won't happen. The experts will say "You're alive because of this power and to take it away will put you all at risk once again". The more we make them look good in this lockdown of freedom the more they say we don't need freedom.
"Gretchen Whitmer for President in 2024" ----Not really!
According to a Detroit Free Press's (DFP) poll of 600 Michigan voters, 50% of respondents agreed with the Michigan Supreme Court's decision that struck down Whitmer's original draconian Covid measures under the Emergency Powers of Governor Act. But according to the same poll, "...63% — say they approve of the new orders Whitmer imposed, using the Michigan Public Health Code."
When the Governor connivingly used a different law to negate the Supreme Court's decision, an even larger majority supposedly agree with her. Not surprisingly, the editorial board of the DFP, endorsed Gov. Whitmer in 2018 and Joe Biden and EVERY federal, state and local Democrat politician in 2020 including Rashida Talib.
The fake news media and the Dems are always working together at every level to either weaken, discourage and dupe a Dem gov'ts opposition or to conceal a potentially damaging truth. If the DFP poll is accurate, then the people of Michigan have lost their love of freedom (if they ever did) and accepted subjugation as the "new normal."
Europe having an enormous spike in COVID cases; why doesn't Joe Biden head over there with his "plan "and show how it works, then come back and win the election here?
He might catch it if he were to emerge from his sterile cave, P. Our budding Superman can't save the planet because it's all made of Kryptonite.
He has about as much to contribute as nipples on a nun. Nice tights, though.
Why are all the caucasian countries having such large outbreaks? How does the virus know who to infect?
Older populations is the most named factor I know of for deaths; though I saw an article today showing CDC data that 44% of U.S COVID deaths are among blacks and Hispanics. I wonder how that metric has changed since the early explosion of cases around densely packed NYC, when there truly was a higher mortality rate. Another article argued the prosperity and ease of travel in western societies, i.e., a mark of those societies' success, is a large factor. This was borne out and documented early on by a May 8 NYT article " Travel from NYC Seeded wave of U.S. outbreaks"... including all of those in Louisiana which was an early hotspot. Very intriguing, but has been shut down by U.S. media, would be exploration of role of hydroxychloroquine in the differential between US (8M) and India (7M) cases vs. deaths US 210k, India 110k ( that's not a rate, it's an absolute # and there are a lot more old people among India's 1.4 B than there are here), as well as in many of the lower mortality tropical countries where hydroxychloroquine is and has been used safely for malaria prophylaxis. That is the kind of analysis that is not allowed here. For US, expansively inclusive cause of death as COVID very well may be a factor. I'll finally shut up after recalling a 1987 midwest heat wave when St. Louis listed hundreds of heat related deaths and nearby cities which had been just as hot just as many days listed very few. It was attributed to the different,rather subjective criteria applied by coroners in the various locations.
This same correlation has been noted in Africa due to widespread use of HC due to ever present Malaria. The national press ignores it for all too obvious reasons and if we had an honest medical establishment in this country HC would be an over the counter med in mass use as the best preventative to Corona virus available. All three of our federal health agencies are corrupt beyond saving. If Trump pulls it out next month Dr. Fauci needs to go first thing. Trump should have fired his ass back in March. This brain dead 'expert' has become a regular fixture on CNN. Big surprise right?
Great discussion. The Zoom debut with Canadian Red Ensign and co-ordinating colours is impressive!
Advisedly resiling from matters sartorial, I'm with K. Maybe Australia's conservative population will feel something strange happening as a spine begins to grow.
Our "conservative" PM doesn't really inspire confidence....
No, indeed, K. I had high hopes for him, but he has disappointed just lately.
On the other hand, Earth mother and the socialists have just swept back into power in New Zealand. Clearly there are people there who have really enjoyed this epidemic, and it may prove that Prime minister Morrison has been awfully clever to have pandered to the Left. The cleverness will of course be in relation to re-election, not saving the country from an apparently irreversible slide leftwards - the slide about which you have previously commented so shrewdly. There is no comfort in such cleverness as Mr Morrison may have exercised for me. The point of a spine is to resist, not pander.
As for New Zealand, all I can say is, "What baby wants, baby gets". They want Earth mother and the socialists, they've got Earth mother and the socialists. So does Victoria, 'though in their case it's Library prefect and the socialists. And in Queensland, in a fortnight, there is a real danger that much the same thing will happen, partly because Brisbane is an agglomeration of trendy-lefty communes and partly because there are many people who have never had as much fun as the epidemic has occasioned. Ana-stasi, you said? If we can't make a fight of it, we shall have deserved what we get. May the Lord make us truly grateful.
I hope that the United States can do better, because its influence does still matter here. Meanwhile, I'm profoundly grateful for the boss-man's efforts to excite domestic resistance. I recognise, as you have pointed out, that there are native voices doing likewise, but help is needed. How did we come to be so bloody *disenfranchised*?
Remember the apocryphal line from the Vietnam War "We had to destroy the village in order to save it"? That is essentially the position of all the so-called "Leaders" pulling all this nonsense.
Exactly right.
For their local perspective, see @VicGovDHHS...
• October 16: new cases = 2, deaths = 0.
• October 17: new cases = 1, deaths = 0.
(And note 10K "likes" for a comment today by the Chief Health Officer: "One. One-der-ful." Yet has anyone even asked this government genius to define "False Positive"?)
Meanwhile, the abuse of the human rights of citizens by the state continues.
Suicides in teenage and elderly males have risen. Cancer screenings have plummeted. Businesses have permanently closed.
This is not about a virus. It's about raw power. Daniel Andrews & Co should be in jail.
#Nuremberg2020
The cure is so much worse than the disease. This is the modern version of putting leaches on patients to get rid of evil humors.
The cure is indeed much, much worse than the disease, J. Unlike the typical application of leeches, which was over and done before dinner was cooked, this cure lingers indefinitely, but it is as ill-suited to repairing the problem. On the other hand, what is the possibility of a little leech-induced sepsis by comparison with the certain consequences of lockdown?
There is evidence of successful trepanning in the stone age. Now that sounds like more fun than lockdown, equally dangerous and also of dubious benefit, 'though it pushes matters a little to suggest that its benefits, even in neolithic times, were as dubious as those of Victoria's lockdown.
But why should we confine our thinking to the evil humours of the damned 'flu? Stick around: the Victoria Labour government, thick as it is, may have realised that lockdown actually does reduce the number of fatal road accidents. There will be plenty of opportunity for creative retrofitting when it is pressed to justify its idiotic (if not actually criminal) cure.
You and Mark consistently miss the point: these temporary suspensions of some rights are granted of the people, by the people, for the people.
Temporary suspension , no one would agree otherwise. Never. Unlike Margaret Thatcher and her acolytes , most people believe there is such a thing as a society.
Do agree Andrews & Co must be held to the closest scrutiny.
There is no "of the people, by the people, for the people" without a free press. The people may have granted a very temporary suspension of freedoms for the purpose of "flattening the curve;" but then the goalposts were changed by the elitist leftist press and there has been no consensus. At that point, the press which had already misled on measures like the travel ban from China, ginned up the war of obfuscation against Trump, leading to Biden's central and so far supposedly winning argument that Trump failed to protect the American people. Suddenly, the press cannot see across the Atlantic to report on the very high numbers in Europe; Trump to blame there also? The supposedly politically virginal New England Journal of Medicine editorial board published a condemnation of Trump that was surely written by one of the editor's not very bright middle school grandchildren, purporting that "even larger" countries had far fewer cases, apparently guessing that China was one of those larger countries but not mentioning the single other larger country, India, which has almost as many cases as the US, but admittedly far fewer deaths. Perhaps the New England Journal didn't want to get into the heavy use of hydroxychloroquine for decades there. And then even the New York Times admitted that Operation Warp Speed is producing results faster and more efficiently than anyone could have hoped. The topics for the October 22 debate have been announced and of course COVID is at the top of the list. Trump will have failed if he does not make such a direct attack on Biden's "plan" and the rationale for it. He will have failed his own campaign, his voters and the country.
"We had to destroy the village in order to save it"
According to information directly from someone born in Ben Tre and living there at the time: it was not a village, it was not destroyed (just some damage to a suburb), and it was certainly not saved from the Viet Cong.
If this metaphor holds, our "leaders" are not merely following a irrational course of action: their actions are ineffective and their very claims and presuppositions are wrong.
One thing I've noticed, or at least believe to be true, is that many of the power grabbers genuinely believe it IS about the virus. Governor Beshear of Kentucky is a nice enough chap, and he certainly seems to think he's doing his best simply to protect us all from the horrors of C-19. I don't believe he sees it has an excuse for an authoritarian power grab at all, even though that is what it is.
And that is the confounding irony to the whole thing. It appears to me that only a small minority of those inflicting this disaster upon us really understand what's being done.
On the contrary, c.d, you consistently miss *your* point. You were talking about "temporary suspension of rights" 6 months ago when Dan Andrews extended your first lockdown, remember?
From The Guardian, May 2nd: "Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, says he does not intend to loosen his state's lockdown provisions, which expire on 11 May." - Calla Wahlquist.
The use of emergency powers has nothing to do with whether "the people" "agree". But you know that. If the people agree, why is the government facing multiple class-action law suits?
PS. What does Margaret Thatcher have to do with it?
And the short-term "slow-the-spread" in late March was never intended as a cure. Only a circuit-breaker.
The stealthy shift from slowing transmission to "elimination", and from hospitalisations to "cases" proves that's it's not about controlling the virus. It's about controlling the people.
The indifference to the collateral damage has been astounding.
Beshear sounds like the exception rather than the rule. In Victoria, the government has been extremely efficient in imposing an indefinite lockdown - eg. issuing "permitted worker permits", and policing them - but a total failure on averting the need for a lockdown, ie. on hotel (border) quarantine and contact tracing, which resulted in hundreds of deaths.
It's amazing how well bureaucracy works when the job involves shutting down the people.
I was gullible enough to buy into "14 days to flatten the curve". I thought it was the right thing to do, and I was wrong. Like a tax or a new government bureaucracy, once a government power is in place, it's near impossible to get rid of. I should have seen it coming.
You're not unique, J. You've been had by the pros. Application of the thin end of the wedge is a widely-used and seldom ineffective tool in the hands of even the less competent politicians. (Happily, the Ocasio-Cortez gang, like the Greens here, are too thick to have mastered this basic trick, and they flag what's coming if they have their way in its naked and complete awfulness. I count that as yet another reason why the Republicans both should win the election and must win the election.)
The Australian labour party, well, now, they're an entirely different prospect. There's no sly trick in which they're not black belt champions.
How wonderful that Kathy Shaidle is coming home to do her movie reviews again! I love her movie reviews. I love that she and I are pretty much the same age. She's had a lot of relatable experiences that I love hearing about. Her movie reviews are spot on. I can't wait to see what she reviews next.
I've been praying for her good health and comfort. I'm so grateful she's well enough to join us again.
White people in Portland are "as white as a snowman that has fallen into a vat of whiteout" because there is very little sunshine. And if you are out every night throwing rocks, you have no exposure to the sun in the summer. And... the last month of summer the sun was blocked by smoke from the fires. You wind up with a lot of people who look like the undead.
Wonderful news about Kathy! Love her columns.
Well, I feel sheepish. I come home from running errands or doing whatever else I want to do and gripe to my husband about the traffic! We are all out there, driving around and doing what we please and trying to social distance and wear our mask and wash our hands when we get home, but we are taking for granted that we may do so and we're not monitored like the folks in Victoria.
Great interview with the IPA, Mark.
The lockdown has been miserable. I miss going to the movies at the theater too. I used to write mini-micro movie reviews (i.e., they were usually only a few pithy lines) in my old office's quasi-newsletter. Writing those reviews helped me make friends at my office when people who I didn't know would ask me to join them at the movies, discuss my reviews, or solicit my opinion on some new movie before they spent $12 and two hours of their lives on it. I enjoyed the human contact and social interaction the review writing invited and encouraged.
The lockdown isolating and unhealthy, I have found a happy outlet watching and listening to every Irene Dunne movie, radio, and television performance that still exists. Alas, "Leathernecking" from 1930 appears to be gone now. I may start a fan club, and I will insist a bi-law be that the club meets in person.
Plus I have enjoyed all the SteynOnline posts. It's nice to be "in contact" with kindred spirits. And this particular post reminds me to re-listen to Mark's superb reading of Dafoe's "Plague Year" and to scream from the rooftops that everyone should listen to it for the first time or listen to it again. Imagine that we're woefully less advanced than people who lived through the 1665 London plague on handling infectious disease. Well, we don't have to imagine it.
I have to confess, Elisa. that I'm four or five episodes short of listening to the full reading of "A Journal of the Plague Year," and your comment reminds me that while it may not have been the perfect escape literature while we lived through the 2020 Chi-nah virus, it's worth hearing the concluding episodes to see the contrast between a plague ending 355 years ago and one today when the end seems nowhere in sight because of the politics involved.
I feel the manipulation from authorities is more oppressive than the fear of catching the virus. If this is living, not sure I want any more to do with it. One friend I caught up with today said her daughter-in-law in BC had to fly to northernmost Alaska to bury her pa. She was told if she was caught not quarantining properly then she could be fined a million dollars and thrown in jail for three years. Tell me this is an exaggeration. This kind of thing puts me in a black as death mood; too, from hearing all the stranger than science fiction things circulating on the internet. I wonder how many people are sick with worry over these other aspects of the shutdown.
When I hear how the big health agencies blew how they dealt with this virus, and with the advice still seven months on swinging wildly all over the map, i think it places people in a twilight zone where they don't know if they can come or go just yet. Some certainly wonder if they'll ever see their grandchildren again, those that live out of state with fragile health. It's the not knowing that drives people to the last piece of their rope with white knuckles. You almost want to let go of thinking about the little ones for worry one will succumb to heart sickness before fragile health takes you.
I'm hearing everything from vaccines containing toxins and health agencies being able to grab our DNA to getting Covid survivors microchipped so our behavior can be modified as the climate changes and increases in population threaten the planet. The junk science sure has sunk its jaws in us and refuses to release itself because technology probably is where these things could actually become a reality. Sometimes I think more has changed since March than since the plague of 1665 occurred.
Finally, I agree with you about having a happy outlet here at the club; it was key to getting through this ordeal.
"She was told if she was caught not quarantining properly then she could be fined a million dollars and thrown in jail for three years. "
Surely an 8th Amendment violation if there ever was one, but then, the government doesn't seem to care about such sentimentalities anymore.
People, serious people, tell me things and I never know if someone is pulling their leg or not for shock value. If this is true, it sounds utterly bizarre. Of course, these are bizarre times so we get used to it somehow.
Fran, You're right that having certainty or at least having a ballpark idea of what to expect is calming. Not knowing and surprises cause stress. My only advice is to hang tough through all this uncertainty, and to continue taking breaks to enjoy as much of life as possible whether it's listening to or reading SteynOnline content or finding a new hobby/interest like I did. This period will end -- and I hope it ends happily -- but in the meantime, we have to actively try to stay as sane as possible in both body and mind.
I am sorry about your friend's pa and her hardship with the authorities in BC. Maybe the silver lining in this ugly cloud will be that people get off their duffs to replace these terrible governments we have all around the world with good, smart officials who will control the government and not control the populace. It'll take time to do that, but there is no time like the present to get more active on that front too.