Pandemic Amnesty

This was written in response to Emily Oyster Oct, 31 articles in the Atlantic calling for pandemic amnesty

The word amnesty is derived from the Greek Amnestos, meaning forgetful. It’s also where we get the word amnesia from. According to Oster the current mascot of Covid apologists this is the time to grant amnesty to all those who used this time to abuse their power. We should just forget the last few years and not learn any lessons from all this. Of course, forgetting isn’t even a remote possibility. Absolutely no one, who lost their livelihood for not willingly undergoing a completely experimental medical treatment at a time when anyone who wanted to, could intelligently predict their vulnerability to Covid. No one who lost loved ones to myocardial shortly after being injected with something that was understood to be “safe and effective” with the same degree of certainty that nighttime is darker than the daytime is going to forget. No one who was ridiculed for taking actual safe medications that showed hints of effectiveness is going to forget. The children who went through formative years without witnessing facial expressions, will not remember this of course, but they won’t forget. The "new normal" was their only normal.

Nobodies going to forget Covid and what it brought out in people. But there is no point in stating that. If all I do is mock and deride this suspiciously timed article I will be merely one of the infinite voices. Covid and the pseudo-medical totalitarianism that grew out of it will be remembered for quite some time without my help. I also see no benefit in salting anyone's wounds. What motivates me to write is the fear that despite everyone remembering clearly the insanity of the last few years we will fail to grasp the lesson that will prevent this from happening again. This is true no matter what side of the cultural narrative anyone falls on. But it's especially true if after being wrong on so many life-and-death issues you still see yourself as an "authoritative voice." that should be trusted

So what is the lesson of covid? Who you choose to trust can be a life-and-death decision. It is comforting to play the game of civilization where we pretend our everyday decisions will all work out if we trust authority. This relieves us of the burden of trying to orient ourselves to what is true or at least to what is beneficial. If we just do what the doctor, or the priest, or teacher, or lawyer says, we will be safe. Of course, this has never been true. More often than not those who blindly follow the voice of authority will be sacrificed to benefit that same authority.

This does not mean being blindly cynical towards authority either though. In any profession, there are those who earned their authority by transmuting wisdom into beneficial action. Ultimately it's not the rank of the character we are dealing with that matters but the charter within someone's rank that counts. When we lose sight of this obvious principle our institutions become corrupt. When this happens they go from safeguarding us from danger to the danger itself.

So how can we discern what is true information from what is propaganda? Interestingly in her pleas for amnesty Oyster never outlined the thought process that led her to so many false conclusions. The closest she does to this is claim that sometimes “the right people were right for the wrong reasons. Who exactly are the right people? Those in positions of power? This is an assumption on my behalf but I can’t think of any other criteria she would have. Of course, anyone who looks not just at this but any situation with any objectivity understands that power and virtue are distinct, and often estranged energies Sometimes these energies inhabit the same person, but it's not uncommon for somebody to be heavily dominant in only one of these traits.

If Instead of orienting herself in the direction of power and she used critical thinking as so many of us who are the wrong, a priori, she would have had a much more realistic understanding of covid. She would not have to plead amnesty. But on a practical level what does this mean? What could she or anyone else have done to have had a better grasp on Covid when it mattered?

In no particular order here are a few of my cognitive suggestions for Oyster and anyone else who got swept away in all of this :

1. -Look for conflict of interest when listening to someone. Are the authoritative sources telling us the jabs are "safe and effective" being paid by the people making money off the jabs? That's not news. It's an advertisement at best and likely a bribe to not do certain research.

2. -What are the track records of those providing information? Have they in the past lied about little things such as: weapons of mass destruction, soldiers throwing babies out of incubators, Russian interference in elections, psychedelics burning holes in people's heads, prenatal medications that caused "lobster babies", college being a universally smart decision or any other dangerous nonsense. If so maybe take what these people have to say with a grain of salt.

3. -Are you in an echo chamber? With all the chatter about echo chambers, it's easy to forget there has never been an easier time to not be in one. If you lived a thousand years ago everything you knew about the world that you didn't learn from direct experience almost certainly came from one of the 100 or so people that would take the time to talk to you over the course of your life. You couldn't simply read an E-book or listen to a podcast. Why should anyone now get all their information from media that is owned by the same handful of interchangeable conglomerates? Seek out divergent voices on any subject.

   Obviously, there are some crackpots with microphones out there. But know what. Listen to them too. If nothing else you can learn where their thinking went wrong. And occasionally those crackpots have really interesting ideas that even if you don't believe are still worth pondering. If you cannot think about an idea without believing it your only defense against propaganda is willful ignorance. And if everyone is ignorant then the evil powers that be don't even need propaganda to control us.

4. -Stop assuming that every decision was made with the best of intent and just lacked quality data points. Sometimes politicians make self-serving decisions that are influenced by secret deals we will never find out about. Did any Governor get a free month of amazon prime for effectively shutting down all their competition in an area? Not necessarily. I don't have proof but is such a thing so left field that we don't even have to entertain it. Anyone who doesn't understand how people who seek power can be corrupted by power has a childish understanding of the world. Children can live in such mental luxury because they have someone else protecting them. Adults have to be skeptical.

5. -Finally, stop pretending people drinking bleach was a real problem. Even if a few knuckleheads were seriously injured from drinking bleach this in no way justifies the suppression of information that would have helped far more people out. Information such as Vit D levels was linked with Covid outcomes. Anyone who drank bleach is certainly training for a Darwin award or much more likely killed by someone who saw a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get rid of someone with minimum legal risk. On the other hand, many people died unnecessarily simply because they had depleted Vit D levels from staying inside like they were told for too long.

All of this should be common sense. In an age of media saturation, we should understand these ideas the way a fish understands how not to drown. If we don't we will, like a really dumb fish find a way to drown it in what should be our most optimal environment. An environment that is abundant with information. Of course, if this process isn't embarked on there will be an amnesty of sorts. Simply put, all these institutions that we have culturally invested in for generations will be forgotten. People will naturally divest their attention from media, education, and healthcare institutions that lead them so estranged that they have to plead with their friends and family for forgiveness