Corona Alarmists: Get Your Knee Off My Neck

Today it is mandatory mask-wearing. What will it be tomorrow?

‘I can’t breathe!’ As of tomorrow that may well become true for some folks with Victoria’s latest tough lockdown measure being implemented: mandatory mask wearing – or a $200 fine. Many have already said they would rather pay the fine.

So how far will Andrews and his Labor government take this? Will the fines be raised to $1000, or to $10,000, if too many recalcitrants refuse to bend the knee? Will jail terms be next? Just what sort of draconian punishments will we see, all in the name of keeping us safe?

I have stated repeatedly that there certainly can be some measures taken by the state to protect the people in times of a public health crisis – but within limits. So let’s remind ourselves of a few basic truths. In terms of the notion of quarantine, the normal definition has always been this: “a state, period, or place of isolation in which people or animals that have arrived from elsewhere or been exposed to infectious or contagious disease are placed.”

Today plenty of governments are reversing this, as they quarantine perfectly healthy people. When healthy folks are so treated, we have moved from sensible health measures to statism and tyranny. The only thing more frightening than what so many governments are getting away with here is the sheeple themselves – the millions of submissive souls who question nothing and simply do whatever their benevolent overlords tell them to do.

Another thing to bear in mind is how past epidemics panned out and the actual numbers. In the two decades that the Bubonic Plague ravaged so much of the world in the 1300s, perhaps as many as 200 million people died. In the two years that the Spanish Flu occurred earlier last century around 50 million people died.

In the 7 months that Covid-19 has so far been active, some 600,000 lives have been lost. Compare that with annual flu deaths, which we do have vaccines for. The World Health Organization says that “up to 650 000 people die of respiratory diseases linked to seasonal flu each year.” Yet the whole world does not go into lockdown every year to deal with influenza.

Getting back to mandatory masks, one friend on the social media asked what the problem is: if they offer just a one per cent improvement in our chances of being protected, then why not? Several things can be said. Scientists themselves keep differing massively on this matter, and some have even said masks might make things worse. See here for more on this: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2020/07/17/would-jesus-wear-a-face-mask/

Also, the issue of freedom must be raised. Maybe you think that being forced to wear a mask is no big deal. But the real question is this: where will such mandatory state-enforced measures end? If we must have masks today, what about tomorrow? Will mandatory vaccines be next? Will mandatory chip implants be next? Will mandatory indefinite house arrests be next?

Consider just one recent news item: “A Kentucky couple was fitted with ankle monitors and placed on house arrest after the wife tested positive for coronavirus but refused to sign self-quarantine documents.” https://fox6now.com/2020/07/19/kentucky-couple-fit-with-ankle-monitors-placed-on-house-arrest-for-refusing-to-sign-quarantine-documents/

Let me appeal to three other voices on this matter of mandatory mask wearing in particular, and Big Brother statism in general. One anonymous piece making the rounds on the social media raises some very good points:

That woman you shamed in the grocery store, because she wasn’t wearing a mask? She already feels enough shame because she was raped. Having something over her nose & mouth triggers her PTSD, and causes her to relive that trauma. That man at the Quickee Mart who you called selfish? He’s a volunteer firefighter, and just came from the ER, after being treated for smoke inhalation. He removed his air mask, in order to help a child breathe fresh air, instead of thick smoke.

That elderly lady who you screamed at to put a mask on, or shop when it’s her turn? Her husband of 60 years just passed away. She’s doing her best to learn to live alone. Every breath is physically painful, due to her grief. That little boy you lectured about removing his mask? He’s autistic. He doesn’t understand. He simply wants it off of his face.

That little girl who screams when somebody tries to mask her? She’s claustrophobic. She came from an abusive home, where she was confined to a closet. There are all sorts of reasons for not wearing a mask. Not all are lung, or immune system related. How many of you are among those shaming, name calling, and berating complete strangers, or worse, family members? How many of you are against bullying?

If you are among the first group, and align with the second, you may want to pump the brakes, and check yourself… you have become the bully you claim to be against. Wearing a mask does not make you a kind person. You are either a kind person, or you aren’t. A piece of cloth does not determine that trait.

On the flipside, not wearing a mask does not make a person selfish, or inconsiderate. It simply means that, there may be an unseen reason why they cannot wear one. You don’t know their story, and, to be quite honest, it’s none of your business.

Secondly, this from a piece in yesterday’s Australian:

The latest harbinger of doom is said to be the surge in infections in some US states and in Victoria, which typically are reported without context about the much younger age of those being infected and the collapse in death rates. At the same time as parts of an often weakened traditional media fight for attention, a shrieking social media has made it easier for biased stories to spread, and much harder for leaders to make the tough decisions they once would have. When any death becomes their fault in the court of public opinion, you can be sure the temptation to use other people’s money to try to stop it will be irresistible.

And God, or rather a declining faith in Him, may explain much as well. If a less religious population is more fearful of dying, it naturally wants to devote more resources to living longer. Indicators of religious belief are much lower now than during the last pandemics.

Rather, coronavirus restrictions, which have little or any scientific basis, have taken on a religious hue. Public health officials have become the high priests bringing down arbitrary rules, sometimes with little basis in science. Scientists have long debated the efficacy of lockdowns and masks, for instance, although you wouldn’t realise that from some of the media. Meanwhile, those who are increasingly being dubbed “Karens”, the sort of folk who centuries ago hunted out “witches”, gleefully shame those who don’t comply to the nth degree.

Since the pandemic erupted this year, understandably generating extreme fear that justified caution, the flow of analysis has largely been good. On every measure the virus has proved less lethal than first thought.

Keynes might have changed his mind with the facts but governments and their catastrophist cheer squad, typically in comfortable employment, unfortunately have not. The French prime minister this month ruled out another national lockdown in a “second wave”, citing the massive economic and social costs. Norway will not lockdown again as it did. It’s all too late now, and diagnosing the explanation offers little hope for a better response next time. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/look-were-pretty-safe-from-covid19-lets-not-kill-our-economy/news-story/175cf8ac22854008b7651b606b77f839

Lastly, the harm being done to our children because of corona alarmism and fear-mongering needs to be addressed. As one American mother explains:

The North Carolina governor has issued a decree that all students returning to school in the fall must wear a mask and social distance. This, despite the fact that 99.9 percent of children who get COVID don’t die from it and most don’t even have symptoms. Comparably, more children K–12 die from various other forms of the flu than from COVID, yet we are perpetuating a culture of fear among children in a form of politicized mass hysteria that treats COVID as if it were the Black Plague, which had a 100 percent mortality rate in its respiratory form across ALL demographics.

I have to ask, What are we doing to our children? Some would say we’re protecting them. Others would add that we’re protecting any vulnerable adults they might come in contact with—despite growing evidence that young children are not contagious because the virus does not hang onto them like it does older people. We are also getting more evidence that people are not as contagious when they’re asymptomatic, as once believed, which means that standard protocol for any sickness would be sufficient—stay at home if you’re sick or if you’re immuno-compromised.

Instead of using common sense, we’re covering our young children and enshrouding them in an environment of fear, all the while calling it “kindness to others.” This could have damaging long-term effects on our children that far outweigh any threat from COVID. Children are extremely vulnerable psychologically and emotionally, especially when their brains are still developing and behaviors imprint on neurological connections that can cause disruptions to normal development.

They are also in the tender years of developing socially, when they learn how to be both strong individuals yet responsible within a group, when they learn to be independent and distinct from the collective, yet aware of social responsibilities and relationships that interplay with their personal responsibilities and healthy self-interest. Yet, this panic over COVID is disrupting these stages of development and can have dangerous consequences for them as adults and for society at large.

She concludes:

Some might think forcing children to wear masks lies within that balance, but this is not the case given the context. Masks aren’t necessary to protect children—not in the case of COVID. Again, one death in a million doesn’t justify face coverings that generate false fear and trauma in children who should be learning to socialize properly, engage in a free educational environment, and enjoy the wonder of growing up while at the same time having a proper and healthy fear of what is REAL.

If we are going to follow the logic of forced COVID face coverings for children, we can’t deny the conclusion that they must be worn all the time, in every season, and forever. Again, more children die of the flu. You never know when a child might be exposed. If you’re wanting to save “just one,” then mandatory mask-wearing should be the state of existence from now on—for all time. The danger of deadly viruses is lurking around every corner.

If your thought is that children are protecting adults who are vulnerable, this can be handled by quarantining the very small number of vulnerable elderly who are at risk. This is a much wiser solution than masking children, separating them from their peers, creating emotional trauma, and generating a collective mindset that’s neither helpful nor healthy.

The best thing we can do for our children is to let them live their lives with all the risk that entails, educating them about the threats of life while still properly protecting them, empowering them to face death as part of life, and to teaching them to be sensitive to the feelings of others without becoming their slaves. https://romansone.com/editorial/what-are-we-doing-to-our-children

[1890 words]

24 Replies to “Corona Alarmists: Get Your Knee Off My Neck”

  1. Love your title!
    As you say, some people will feel like they “can’t breathe” from claustrophobia, or are unable to keep masks on, or understand its rationale, as in autism.
    Also, when one has one on, he/she rebreathes their own carbon dioxide, which over time, make make one drowsy, as seen in patients with chronic lung disease, who do not have the drive to blow off their own CO2, but this is an extreme example I’ve seen in my medical practice.
    All the policy so far has been a “knee-jerk reaction” to the absolute worse possible scenario, rather than a proper risk-benefit analysis (which I constantly applied in the treatment of critically ill patients).

  2. Hi Bill, I work in the medical field with compromised residents and my husband in aged care, but i can’t get tested in my town because I’m “asymptomatic”. I might be able to be tested privately but it will cost $150…if the lab is willing to accept my test! The hospital won’t accept me to test, even though hubby works on the ward that has had a few cases.The hospital has in writing that they would test family members as well. My hubby is still waiting to be officially tested also. This is a complete schmozzle when you consider who the govt has had tested to date ie the people who are vulnerable and are too afraid to speak up and I thought the corona virus was something to fear? Anon y mouse

  3. Such an excellent report of the oppressive situation Bill. Thank you. I don’t live in Victoria and hope to not be compelled to wear a mask as I’ve tried one and feel very claustrophobic. I am 67.
    I am not at all convinced, from all I’ve read, that masks are effective. Fining 12 year olds for not wearing masks is equivalent to child abuse too I feel. This mandatory rule is so harsh and only adding to fear and panic which is completely unfounded given the high recovery rate from COVID 19.

  4. The only constant throughout the pandemic has been inconsistency. Only a few weeks ago the medical advice was, “the public wearing of masks offers no medical benefit”, now they are compulsory in Victoria. This is just one example of why many people have lost all confidence in “experts” ability to control this mess, and the confidence was lost on the day of the protests. Speaking of which, how many cases were spread from there? Strange how the media seem to avoid the subject.

  5. May I add, using one of my old favourites, the degree of force used “is like using a cannonball to kill a mosquito”!

  6. Excellent summary Bill, and John is right to point out the inconsistency of advice alone by our so-called ‘experts’ smacks of lack of robust scientific evidence. Something else not spoken of much is that always wearing a mask will concentrate dust and bacteria without cleaning. Just look at the air intakes and filters associated with air movement in machinery such as computers, microwaves and cars. And cleaning can only do so much, and damp or wet masks are of no utility. Would you put a used wet kitchen sponge against your mouth after cleaning it?

    The alternative is using a new disposable mask maybe every hour or so (consider how long medical staff in operating theatres use them on average), or every time you walk out of one shop into another – which is not only expensive, but supply for an entire city of 4 million or so people would be an impossibility at such short notice – and would possibly compromise medical facilities anyway. Never mind the fact the masks are meant more to prevent bacterial transmission, not virus particles several orders smaller and a simple mask adjustment can compromise the efficiency of.

    This exercise doesn’t appear to be based on empirical science, but looks more like politically motivated desperation by governments swept into the fear manufactured by mainstream media. The people of Melbourne would be justified to resist.

  7. I would like to see an option for ‘liking’ people’s comments. Agreeing with all the comments but not wishing to simply repeat them.

  8. Greetings Bill. The 4 most important things we need to survive are:

    Air
    Water
    Salt
    & Potassium

    The face monitors fail to see that one of our fundamental rights is to have fresh air. None of us would think of drinking water that is not filtered. But yet expected to stand in line to breath in carbon dioxide & possibly succumb to serious respiratory problems down the road.

    As always an excellent article. Thank you.

  9. Some more points to consider:

    . US surgeon general warns against wearing face coverings.

    . Moisture retention, reuse of cloth masks and poor filtration may result in increased risk of infection.

    . Cloth masks not very efficient with small particles (in some cases negligible filtering).

    . The study found respiratory infection was much higher among healthcare workers wearing cloth masks.

    . Laboratory tests showed the penetration of particles through the cloth masks to be very high (97%) compared with medical masks (44%).

    . Both surgical and cotton masks seem to be ineffective in preventing the dissemination of SARS–CoV-2 from the coughs of patients with COVID-19 to the environment and external mask surface.

    . Prolonged wearing of surgical masks causes loss of intellect potential and cognitive performance due to a decrease in blood oxygen and subsequent brain hypoxia. Note – some changes may be irreversible.

  10. A great article Brother Bill! I concur with all that has been expressed.
    I posted your article to my FB wall, which I rarely ever do, but you express so much of what I have been thinking, feeling and researching myself.

    God bless you. Kaye

  11. The best that could happen would be to place a gag order on Daniel Andrews and same on all his ilk and MSM.
    The damage they they are doing should require that they be gaged immediately.

  12. Some really good points, Bill and others, and the people who are dying seem to be mostly from aged care homes again.

  13. Hi Bill,
    Do you believe Anthony S Fauci MD is a COVID-19 Alarmist? In regards to COVID-19 Fauci stated, “It’s really frustrating when you have some public health interventions that historically in this outbreak have shown to be clearly effective, particularly when you don’t have any other tools because we don’t have a vaccine….”

  14. Thanks Sheryl. But let me jump in here and answer your question, assuming you really want an answer, and are not just asking a rhetorical question. I would call someone a COVID-19 alarmist when they pretend that there is only one point of view by the medical community on this matter. I would call someone a COVID-19 alarmist when they will not even offer some of the many countering points of view on this.

    I would call someone a COVID-19 alarmist when they disingenuously, and even rather dishonestly, cherry pick quotes from someone, pretending that this is their settled, constant view. Whether through ignorance or more malicious motives, you of course deliberately chose to NOT include his other pronouncements on this matter, such as the following:

    “Right now in the United States people should not be walking around with masks. There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask. When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection people think it is.”

    So which Fauci do you want us to run with here Sheryl? And I quoted various studies by world-class medical experts questioning the efficacy of mask wearing in the same article as well: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2020/07/17/would-jesus-wear-a-face-mask/

    Indeed, I can supply plenty of such quotes. Consider just one more: a recent World Health Organisation advisory: “Many countries have recommended the use of fabric masks/face coverings for the general public. At the present time, the widespread use of masks by healthy people in the community setting is not yet supported by high quality or direct scientific evidence and there are potential benefits and harms to consider.”

    Too bad you choose just to push the alarmist case. The simple truth is, when the “experts” continually disagree with each other, and with even themselves over time, we clearly do not need to slavishly bow down to their pronouncements, but ask hard questions and do some independent thinking.

  15. Thanks John. Well, it depends on which Jesus we run with. This has been making the rounds on the social media:

    ‘WWJD?’

    What Would Jesus Do?

    Apparently Modern Day Jesus would wear a mask.

    To believe this, would require Modern Day Jesus also obeying social distancing rules.

    Modern Day Jesus would never touch the lepers.

    Modern Day Jesus would never spit in the dirt and form a mud to spread over the man born blind’s eyes.

    Modern Day Jesus would never have touched the dead son of the widow and raised him to life

    Modern Day Jesus would never have been in crowded spaces where the woman with the issue of blood could touch the hem of His garment and be healed of her affliction.

    Modern Day Jesus would never have been at a Wedding and turned water into wine.

    Modern Day Jesus would never have allowed the children to come to Him

    Modern Day Jesus would never sit at a well speaking with an Outcast woman, revealing Himself as the Messiah, empowering her to live a life of freedom free from sin.

    Modern Day Jesus never would have got in a boat to cross the Lake to go to the Demoniac who was in chains and self harming, to purposely deliver him of the many demons that held him bound in misery.

    Modern Day Jesus would have gotten rid of 3 of His Disciples to ensure His Group numbered no more than 10.

    Modern Day Jesus would never have gone to the Cross to die for the sins of the world.

    He would have stayed home and stayed safe.

    Modern Day Jesus sounds like a nice ordinary guy doing His part for Society. He would be all ‘We’re all in this together’.

    But Modern Day Jesus is NOT the Jesus of the Bible.

    And thank God for that.

    Or we would all be up the creek without a proverbial paddle.

  16. I believe Jesus would wear the mask sometimes not to offend. But I think possibly He would draw the line if He believed the mask would eventually make Him sick. But then if He knew the mask was making people ill He would definitely warn them of the health hazards.

  17. What is next?? How about “we have created ‘camps’ to keep non-mask wearers in. They will be far from the populace and help us keep these people in a ‘concentrated’ area. They will be treated properly”.

  18. Stephen knee-jerk reactions often happen because people immediately demand SOMETHING be done they don’t care what they just want to see SOMETHING being done to reassure them. they don’t care that proper responses take time to formulate they want to be PLACATED with some action. This happens when people don’t know how to think for themselves but only regurgitate things indoctrinated into them in school houses. All of this is what social engineers what. Makes it easy to implement a (authoritarian) solution when a dumbed down populace begs for it. They revile in the sheeple begging for a regime to be ushered in that will bring about their demise. Often when there is a monster on the throne it is because people put him there. The devil and antichrist won’t have to seize power people will willingly give them power. Man refuses to LET God sit on the throne, as is his right, but are always willing to PLACE the devil there. If you are going to bring about Judgment Lord please bring it soon.

  19. Hi Bill, of all your excellent articles this one stands out. Like you I seek the Lord for the final say. Recently in a dream God sent I was at my desk & opened the drawer & inside my desk were a lot of birds laying horizontally with their wings tied behind their backs & their beaks tied shut. They could not breath, chirp or sing.

    Wondering if the birds not singing have anything to do with us not worshiping in churches?

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