Will we isolate ourselves to death?

We are embarking on a new time in human history that will potentially be remembered much like many of the major shifts in humanity be it world wars or plagues or when space exploration became known as possible.  We are currently writing this history but rather than bringing us together as a species, we find ourselves being torn apart.  Not by the disease but by the discussion of it, with the very technologies that were supposedly to bring us together.

Science now tells us that the actual death rate of the disease is quite low, .05 or so percent given current data (including asymtomatics) but the changes we continue to make to society will never likely be undone, not entirely.  The changes we choose to allow be it government control, restricted connections, tracking, limited beliefs of what is possible is not who we are.  Through all the years there have been wars that have killed millions. Tyrants who have wiped out huge swaths of people due to ideology or race or simply the desire for power.  Some not that many years ago.  Our history isn't pretty but sanitizing history has the profound ability to allow us to repeat it.  Now our history can be deleted with the ease of the delete key.  Is it too much to believe that the bad side of human nature didn't drastically disappear over 50 years but has simply been quietly waiting to reemerge?  If millions could be manipulated into being loaded onto train cars to meet their demise only 50+ years ago is it so hard to believe that it couldn't happen again?

The old adage the pen is mightier than the sword could not be more true today.  Combine that with the idea that a picture is worth a thousand words then that makes a video worth a million and you see how powerful the media has become as well as the tech giants who now filter what we see and hear and as a result think.  We, as a people, are losing our ability to debate based on core logic and critical thinking and rather connect every decision made with feelings in spite of facts.  We hold to our ideals so tightly that anything to the contrary is labeled as something horrible, while it could simply be a different idea or perspective.  Even powerful awakenings such as the Me Too movement have been first weaponized by the Kavanaugh hearings then sabotaged by elevating Biden to democratic nominee even with plausible accusations. 

Beliefs from anyone with a dissenting view of the mainstream ideals being presented are quickly being "fact checked" as wrong or simply pulled from the main media distribution.  Not because they were factually incorrect in many cases.  Even those with qualifications to  to present such ideas are being censored and discredited.  All because they didn't go along with the current viewpoint pushed by the powers that be.  We no longer need a fire to burn books.  It can happen with a simple algorithm.  And its being applauded as great because it doesn't apply to our "community standards".  Standards being chosen FOR you, not BY you.

Life is not easy.  Life can not be sanitized.  Bad things happen to good people no matter your religious beliefs.  Why?  Because its life.  There will always be the poor, the sick, the in need.  There will always be war, strife, pain, sorrow.  One can never appreciate happiness if they never feel sadness.  One can not appreciate a body without pain without having at some point felt it.  Such is the human experience.  This doesn't mean we should be callused at the reality of such predicaments such as we find ourselves in today but rather we should always work to do what we can to support each other in times of need.  It also means we must reflect on the good that happens in the world every day rather than only concentrating on where we fail.  For every video that pops up showing someone being angry with a fellow human there are instances all over of videos NOT MADE of a human caring for another without questioning it or being concerned of the potential views it would get if recorded.  Bad news gets good ratings.

We will always fail.  In one way or another it is part of the process of being human as well.  Our country was formed to be a "more perfect union".  The goal was not perfection because that is impossible.  Perfection isn't where we find our strengths.  We grow because we fail.  We fail because we try.  We keep trying and therefore we succeed.  If we never fail then we are likely not doing something right.  The question is will we learn from our failure?  Not if we burn the evidence of it.  Our history both long term as well as 2 months ago.  The computer models used to predict the death outcomes from this contagion were wrong.  The epidemiologist who made the predictions was wrong.  The use of ventilators is being proven to not be an effective treatment.  Anti-virals because they were mentioned by Trump were met with scorn.  However, more and more doctors are coming out speaking about what they are finding with their own patients through their own experiences.  And it doesn't jive with the public message that we are all going to die if we don't hide from each other.  They are finding therapeutics that work and are cheap.  What are we willing to destroy in order to maintain a false premise?  Does all this mean the virus is a hoax?  Absolutely not.  But it does put into question our response to the virus.  Again, if we don't have the guts to modify our response based on continuing mounting evidence we are doomed as a nation because the precedent will live far longer than the virus ever could.

We are more than the what is represented through the keyboard in front of us, through the FaceTime camera that connects us.  More than the masked version of ourselves we currently present to the world.  We are as limitless as our belief in ourselves and our fellow person.  

There is evil in the world.  There always has been.  Always will be.  Just because a person has a degree doesn't mean they don't have an agenda.  Just because a person has money, doesn't make them evil.  Just because they have a non-profit, doesn't make them God.  Bias cuts both ways.  Facts cut through lies.  Critical thinking helps to determine facts from lies.

Are you willing to shift your belief or mindset in the face of new information?  Are you willing to research further than your favorite news station to determine if what you are being fed is actually truth?  In my 20's I looked at politics as something that didn't really matter because both sides went back and forth and whined and cried about the other side but in the end it really didn't affect me as I could always go do whatever I wanted to do and make money however I wanted to make it (within reasonable legal limits of course) and it really just didn't matter.  So I ignored it.  After 911 I was pissed.  I wanted justice.  But then issues raised with 911 caused me to question the narrative.  The War with Iraq happened and the promises of WMD which never materialized.  I was pissed again.  But not at a radicalist across the world but at my own government for invading a nation with our soldiers on a false pretense (WMD).  This ultimately kept us at war from then on.  I voted for Obama in 2008 because it was time to stop the war machine.  We wanted "change".  Unknowingly I aided in a carrying on of villianous actions (many just now coming to light) and the change we wanted was far different than what we received.  

I voted against Obama in 2012 in fear that we were slowly losing our country through poor decisions and outright determined actions to destroy our nation.  Over the next 4 years I continued to awaken to the reality that what we are being sold has a darker truth.  The media has become a propaganda machine not for the government but simply one side of the government.  Perhaps not even a side.. But an undercurrent, a dark force that is determined to bring this country down at all costs.

In 2016, I placed my bet.  Many don't like Trump.  Many absolutely love Trump.  I personally like the policies for the most part he has implemented.  I cringe at some of the tweets.  I completely agree with his foreign policy.  From tariffs to wiping out a terrorist, I'd do the same thing given the shoes.  I would prefer not to have all the name calling although at this point, I'd probably do the same.  I'm not a racist.  I have black friends, asian friends, Mexican friends, you name it.  I do believe there is racism in America.  I also believe racism can go both ways.  I also believe that everything that happens is not automatically racist and that before labeling a person as such you better be damn well sure you are right.  I believe gangs are bad, regardless of their skin color.  I believe a child trafficker should be skinned alive, on tv.  It will never happen but I guarantee you it would reduce the occurrence.  The Super Bowl is the number one event for human trafficking in the world.  If the rich celebrities were really worried about children from 3rd world countries they would help stop it.  Putting a knee to the flag, or buying box seats doesn't cut it.  I have no empathy for a gang member who drives by and kills innocents or forces young people who have lost hope into their memberships.  I have no empathy for Coyotes who cross our border with children paired with adults who are not their parents because our immigration laws are stupid.  I believe that we should continue to have the right to succeed and fail in America.  Because it is that push that makes America great.  I believe that there should be a safety net for those who against all efforts failed and found themselves in bad situations.  I believe capitalism is good.  I believe the current implementation of capitalism is destroying America.  I believe socialism will never work, history proves it.  I believe socialism is communism lite.  We have texts from socialist leaders who tell us this.  I believe we should believe them.

Having the ability to hold 2 thoughts or opinions in ones head simultaneously allows us to do the hard part of weighing them.  If you no longer see the other perspective then the mental scales of justice in your head have failed you.  And by doing so there is no justice.

I beg of you if you have followed me to the end of this to simply question the narrative.  Regardless which side you are on because right now your "side" may be presenting the facts.  And the scales of justice may way in your paradigms favor.  But be warned, tides turn, and if you don't remain vigilant your thoughts become swayed to push someone else's agenda and then our republic falls.

With love to all who seek the truth and a dire warning to those who seek evil.  We are awake.

David