Accountability, not amnesty, is what must be demanded of our elites:
Our “experts” and elites and politicians who basically brought mayhem and destruction to so much of the world in the name of ‘keeping us safe’ are now more or less pleading that we just forgive and forget. With much of the mainstream media – and even some big cheeses from Big Pharma – now coming out with the news that our political and medical overlords got things wrong, now many are fearing payback.
Well, they sure as heck should fear some payback. There is no way to properly estimate the price of all the carnage and catastrophe caused, NOT by some virus, but by statist overreach, overkill, fear-mongering, panic porn and what may well be the biggest con job in human history.
With all the tyrannical and coercive measures used on the masses, from draconian lockdowns and forced vaccinations, all contravening one basic human rights charter after another, the costs will never be fully known of all the harm that was caused. And that is not just financial, but must be measured in terms of human lives.
How many small businesses were lost forever? How many careers ended permanently? How many were forced out of their jobs? How many economies were smashed? How many people suicided? How many overdosed on drugs or binged on alcohol? How many turned to porn and other dark addictions? How many missed important medical appointments?
How many missed out on weddings or funerals of loved ones? How many could not be with a family member while they were in hospital or while they died alone? How many could not even be with close loved ones for months or even years? How many children missed out on years of schooling? How many young people spiralled into deep depression and despair? How many kids lost out on a normal childhood and were prevented from being with their friends?
How many ordinary citizens who started to march for basic freedoms, human rights, and civil liberties, were met by a police state response, complete with rubber bullets, tear gas, arrests, and imprisonment? How many were like the young pregnant mum who was subject to arrest in her own home in her pyjamas?
How many were treated like fools and outcasts and pariahs for daring to ask hard questions? How many were vilified and mocked for daring to ‘question the science’? How many suffered in so many ways for being the black sheep in the family for standing strong to one’s convictions and not just blindly going with the herd in fear and subservience?
And how many suffered adverse reactions from the rushed, experimental and improperly tested batches of vaccines? How many of those died? How many suffered horrific side-effects? How many died at an early age and experienced SADS (sudden adult death syndrome)?
I could keep on detailing all this at great length. Yet our elites and politicians simply want us to forget all about it, and pretend none of this ever happened. And the excuses are already starting to pour out from these folks. For example, they claim that they just did not have all the information back then.
Hey, plenty of people DID seem to have the information back then, but they were demonised, abused, hated on, treated like dirt and shouted down. Now of course it turns out that they were basically right all along, whether it was warning of lockdown madness, the folly of masking up, or the suppression of proven medications and so on.
So at the very least, we are owed an apology or two – big time. Indeed, in a recent piece I spoke of not just the need for some genuine apologies, but perhaps even the possibility of reparations. As one author I quoted said about this:
“I’m not kidding when I say that I believe reparations are justified. Maybe not in a cash handout, but an easy place to start would be the various businesses that were forced to fire employees offering to hire back the unvaccinated with back pay for the income lost.” https://billmuehlenberg.com/2022/10/18/lets-talk-covid-apologies-and-reparations/
Amnesty
While we are all waiting for at least some basic and heartfelt apologies, already we are hearing our elites and leaders calling for an “amnesty”. They want all those who often pushed fraudulent, panic-based and scientifically bogus rubbish on us to simply be let off the hook. ‘Let’s just forgive, forget and move on.’ Um no – ain’t gonna happen.
And one of the big talking points here centres on an article written by Brown University economist Emily Oster that appeared in the October 31 edition of The Atlantic magazine. Titled, “Let’s Declare a Pandemic Amnesty,” she said that basically ‘we did not know’ back then, so no one should be blamed and no payback should be forthcoming.
Well, as I said, many people very well DID know but they were howled down and treated like the devil incarnate. And it IS the job of our leaders, politicians, doctors and scientists to know, and to get it right, and to proceed with care, caution and restraint. But all that was thrown to the wind and millions suffered massively as a result.
So what they want now is our forgiveness without actually admitting they were wrong. Indeed, as one meme has put it, “They’re not asking for your forgiveness, they’re publicly forgiving themselves.” They are saying we have no blood on our hands, we have nothing to say sorry for, so it is time to move on.
Plenty of responses to the piece by Oster have already appeared, and many could be referenced here. For example, Republican Congressman Troy Nehls from Texas was short and sweet when he said: “They made you cancel funerals and say goodbye to loved ones over Skype. No pandemic amnesty. Accountability is coming.”
And conservative writer Will Witt also demanded accountability while rejecting blanket amnesty: “I forgive no one. It’s time to criminally prosecute all the people who turned the West into a COVID dictatorship.” But let me feature one helpful piece penned by American writer Tanya Berlaga. She said in part:
After almost everything “the experts” told us has been proven false, they demand “amnesty” because of the “uncertainty” they were facing. Yet, back then, they denied that any uncertainty existed. Back then, they claimed they knew exactly what to do — until they didn’t. Back then, they claimed that everyone who contradicted them, or doubted them, was “spreading misinformation.” They proclaimed themselves “THE SCIENCE,” and they ordered everyone to follow their orders, or else.
You don’t need to know the future — only the past — to know that science does not require “blind following.” Science involves debate, experimentation, and inquiry. “The experts” and their admirers replaced real science with THE SCIENCE, also known as dogma. And every time it clashed with reality, they turned around on a dime, and they absolved themselves of responsibility, citing “the evolution of THE SCIENCE” without providing any evidence as to how the science had “evolved.”
She concludes:
“The experts” admit they “didn’t know then,” so getting it wrong “wasn’t a moral failing.” Not knowing is, indeed, not a moral failing — but refusing to learn is. It is because of “the experts” that we didn’t learn from this tragic event that impacted a generation. And we still don’t know. We don’t know why the first wave of COVID was so deadly, and why the one still around is not. We don’t even know how deadly each new variant is. We don’t really know how COVID spreads, and how to mitigate the spread. We don’t have a definite answer about the efficacy of masks. We don’t know if COVID vaccines protect you, and for how long. We don’t know why older people seem to be more in danger than the young. We could have answers to all of these questions by now if we were allowed to ask them. There is no excuse for why we don’t know.
Because of “good intentions,” we wasted millions of lives, and millions of livelihoods, and we chose to learn nothing from this horrible event. And that is why, should the new pandemic come tomorrow, instead of relying on what we have learned, “the experts” will revert to the same game plan they used during COVID, needlessly wasting more lives. If we let it slide, more people will die.
“The experts” failed us when we needed them most. Then they demonized us for doubting their “expertise.” And now they admit they weren’t “the experts” at all — only “well-wishers.” After ruining our lives, they cry for “amnesty.” If we learned one thing from a three-year pandemic, it’s that we should not give it to them. We should hold “the experts” accountable so that all the future experts take notice. https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/11/now_the_disgraced_covid_experts_want_amnesty.html
On forgiveness
The Christian at this point might want to argue that believers should forgive and forget – end of story. But not so fast. There are at least two main considerations we must bear in mind here. First, if an individual wants to forgive a boss who fired him, or a doctor who coerced him into unwanted medical treatments, or a politician who shut down his business, that might be one thing. That is up to him.
But we are not just talking about a few bad eggs here and there. We are talking about systemic and massive harm being done by entire groups: the political classes, medical and scientific boards, and other collective groupings. Allowing an individual a free pass might be one thing, but when entire governments and elite groups are responsible for such enormous harm and damage, accountability IS the order of the day. If these groups are not fully held to account now, they will know they can get away with this at will, and their next dictatorial crackdown will be even worse.
Second, as I have discussed before, even Jesus made it clear that forgiveness should be dependent upon repentance. No repentance, no forgiveness. Don’t believe me? Well, try this for starters: “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them” (Luke 17:3-4).
As I wrote in one earlier article, this is fully biblical. I quoted John Stott on this:
We are to rebuke a brother if he sins against us; we are to forgive him if he repents — and only if he repents. We must beware of cheapening forgiveness. Although God’s forgiveness of us and our forgiveness of one another are quite different (since God is God, and we are merely private individuals, and sinners besides), yet both are conditional upon repentance. If a brother who has sinned against us refuses to repent, we should not forgive him. Does this startle you? It is what Jesus taught.
I quoted C. S. Lewis as well: “The demand that God should forgive such a man while he remains what he is, is based on a confusion between condoning and forgiving. To condone an evil is simply to ignore it, to treat it as if it were good. But forgiveness needs to be accepted as well as offered if it is to be complete: and a man who admits no guilt can accept no forgiveness.” https://billmuehlenberg.com/2018/01/22/on-christian-forgiveness/
Given the gravity of this situation, winking at these past horrific wrongs and just trying to smooth things over simply does not cut it. Those who did all this to us must be brought to justice. They should not get amnesty but must be held to account.
The Nuremberg Trials of 1945-46 sought to do just that last century when it was certainly warranted. What is needed now is Nuremberg II. Nothing less will suffice.
After writing this piece I learned that Doug Wilson has also commented on it. As usual, he is quite good:
So, to be clear.
Gina Rinehart – guilty of her father’s “racism” for words he said 40 years ago. No amnesty there.
Andrew Thorburn – guilty of going to a church where somebody preached a sermon some people don’t like 9 years ago. No amnesty there.
The media/ political/ corporate elites who lied about the virus and the vaccine, who destroyed countless lives,who stole away our basic rights and freedoms in the name of keeping us safe- well we did the best we could and anyway we didn’t do anything wrong, you just go ahead and give us an amnesty.
The left and their double standards. One rule for thee, another for me.
Quite right Keith.
‘what may well be the biggest con job in human history.’ The most successful rebrand in history and also the most misleading of a flu or common cold to COVID 19. There are penalties for misleading advertising wouldn’t barely cover anyone who lost loved ones or suffered the side effects if they took the jabs.
Yep… I know God is the ultimate judge.. but I will be more than happy to see the public health gestapo’s, Fauci’s, Dan Andrew’s, Trudeau’s and Biden’s of this world come to justice before I die…. directly and some indirectly they were responsible for so much suffering while padding their own retirements with big pharma money.
How about segregation of our community where these upstarts shouted that those who did the right thing are free to attend restaurants, clubs, venues etc. and those who did not get vaccinated (did the wrong thing) should be punished and deprived of our freedom to be treated equal and free as is provided by the Constitution of Queensland.
I also am mindful of the lie by idiots like Palascuck and Chairman Andrew that being vaccinated would protect loved ones, mates friends etc. This was clearly a lie and they well knew because the daily figures clearly show that of the 800 or so infections each day most were vaccinated and so the excuse of ignorance cannot apply.
How about the hundreds of billions of dollars they incurred as a debt to us and even our grandchildren who will be forced to pay?
I say that we should teach these so called leaders a lesson that they will never forget and that is to confiscate all their property including their savings and investments. That will hurt them enough to never venture into the kind of dictatorship/lunacy that they expressed during the so called pandemic.
John Abbott
Hi Bill, another fantastic piece from your pen. The last quote on forgiveness is great and shows that forgiveness is indeed conditional upon our repentance. R. C. Sproul was the first who brought this to my attention. Indeed a Christian must always stand ready to forgive if he is wronged, but the person must first recognise what he has done and then see his need to be forgiven, and then humble himself/herself and ask. Until then would I be right in saying that no true forgiveness is able to take place? let alone any type of reconciliation. Also regarding the well paying job I was coerced out of earlier this year, I don’t think I could ever return to my former place of employment as too much water has gone under the bridge since then. Once again great article Bill, you do the Christian Church a great service with your gift, blessings to you and yours!
Many thanks Duncan.
Good to read your article on leaders seeking amnesty for their numerous dictatorial acts against the public.
At the risk of going off topic, let’s raise the matter of accountability for leaders and activists who foisted various anti-discrimination and anti-conversion laws upon the people with the intent of tying our tongues even before we speak out.
Sounds good to me Bill.
It’s basically an admission of guilt – instead of actually saying “I stuffed up, I own my mistakes”, they’re basically saying “forget it ever happened, let’s just move on”.
It’s like the schoolyard bully who beats you up to a pulp, & says, “I didn’t really mean it” or “it’s all a joke.”.
Quite so Stephen.
Quoting a quote:
“We don’t know why the first wave of COVID was so deadly…”
This is Dr John Campbell, reporting on a thoroughly expert peer-reviewed study of early asymptomatic cases in Italy (all over Italy), which provides strong evidence of the virus being measurable as early as 3rd September 2019.
The evidence of five times the number of extant cases NOT counted in the statistics used to calculate the mortality rate indicates that the potency of the virus was possibly ONE-FIFTH what was reported at the time – a factor which would have reduced the fear factor to something approaching the Omicron level.
Yet again, we ask, how potent was the Covid bug, REALLY?
Thanks for that John.
I agree Bill, these leaders who pretended to know what they were doing need to be brought to account with a Nuremberg 11 otherwise it will happen again.
I had to leave my volunteer job with a church charity as I wasn’t vaxxed according to govt rules, they said so I have now had to look for work as I’m on this 40 point credit system for myself and husband to get paid Centrelink payments but because a lot of uni students and back packers are no longer around I got a seasonal full-time job on third job application and they didn’t care if I was vaxxed as they just wanted workers. The extra pay as a casual (15% loading) is good so God is looking after us and bringing something good out of the bad – I just have to get up at 5am and work 38hrs/wk.
Also, thanks for great article and explaining the difference between condoning and forgiving.
Thanks Lynette.
In America, Trump upheld the Constitution in some ways by affirming States Rights during Covid. So outlier states like Florida and South Dakota could do things differently and now there is a strong competing narrative about the Covid era opposing that of the Biden administration as the nation faces its mid-term elections. Yet in Australia, Scott Morrison introduced the travesty of the so-called “National Cabinet” which empowered the false narrative at the national level. There was no reasoned debate based on the objective facts. The whole nation was gaslighted by the fake narrative and the PM let them call the shots. And awareness of the truth is still dismally low in Australia. People felt domething was seriously wrong so they couldn’t vote the government back in. But they certainly did not vote in an alternative government with a clear mandate like the Albanese government is pretending to have. We were bamboozled with smoke and mirrors. Hopefully the mid-term elections in America will bring a change in focus. But the media will give a skewed interpretation anyway. Like they always do.
As the saying goes “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”.
A minority of people have joined the dots and are going to be VERY resistant to this gaslighting narrative regarding a covid “amnesty”. Nup. You ain’t gonna fool me again.
But alas the majority of Australians are still in a confused fog. We vote for people who promise us comfort and prosperity inside a promised utopian prison. We will not embrace political liberty and the personal responsibility that goes with it.
The church would have to give up their fundamental doctrine of “nonjudgmentalism” (toward government)….for this to happen.
That is not going to happen any time soon.
If there was a real church in America, businesses, churches and schools and every one else would have defied the shutdown from the start.
Lots of thoughtful material in your recent articles Bill. My personal expectation relates to your article on ‘Blindness – Religious and Ideological’ where you say “Some will ignore the evidence even when it stares them in the face”: – possibly changing “some” to “many.”
Thank you as always for providing abundant help for thinking things through.
After writing this piece I learned that Doug Wilson has also commented on it. As usual, he is quite good:
So, to be clear.
Gina Rinehart – guilty of her father’s “racism” for words he said 40 years ago. No amnesty there.
Andrew Thorburn – guilty of going to a church where somebody preached a sermon some people don’t like 9 years ago. No amnesty there.
The media/ political/ corporate elites who lied about the virus and the vaccine, who destroyed countless lives,who stole away our basic rights and freedoms in the name of keeping us safe- well we did the best we could and anyway we didn’t do anything wrong, you just go ahead and give us an amnesty.
The left and their double standards. One rule for thee, another for me.
Quite right Keith.
‘what may well be the biggest con job in human history.’ The most successful rebrand in history and also the most misleading of a flu or common cold to COVID 19. There are penalties for misleading advertising wouldn’t barely cover anyone who lost loved ones or suffered the side effects if they took the jabs.
Yep… I know God is the ultimate judge.. but I will be more than happy to see the public health gestapo’s, Fauci’s, Dan Andrew’s, Trudeau’s and Biden’s of this world come to justice before I die…. directly and some indirectly they were responsible for so much suffering while padding their own retirements with big pharma money.
https://youtu.be/3m3yi82A8Zc Neil Oliver on the same topic
Thanks Martin.
How about segregation of our community where these upstarts shouted that those who did the right thing are free to attend restaurants, clubs, venues etc. and those who did not get vaccinated (did the wrong thing) should be punished and deprived of our freedom to be treated equal and free as is provided by the Constitution of Queensland.
I also am mindful of the lie by idiots like Palascuck and Chairman Andrew that being vaccinated would protect loved ones, mates friends etc. This was clearly a lie and they well knew because the daily figures clearly show that of the 800 or so infections each day most were vaccinated and so the excuse of ignorance cannot apply.
How about the hundreds of billions of dollars they incurred as a debt to us and even our grandchildren who will be forced to pay?
I say that we should teach these so called leaders a lesson that they will never forget and that is to confiscate all their property including their savings and investments. That will hurt them enough to never venture into the kind of dictatorship/lunacy that they expressed during the so called pandemic.
John Abbott
Hi Bill, another fantastic piece from your pen. The last quote on forgiveness is great and shows that forgiveness is indeed conditional upon our repentance. R. C. Sproul was the first who brought this to my attention. Indeed a Christian must always stand ready to forgive if he is wronged, but the person must first recognise what he has done and then see his need to be forgiven, and then humble himself/herself and ask. Until then would I be right in saying that no true forgiveness is able to take place? let alone any type of reconciliation. Also regarding the well paying job I was coerced out of earlier this year, I don’t think I could ever return to my former place of employment as too much water has gone under the bridge since then. Once again great article Bill, you do the Christian Church a great service with your gift, blessings to you and yours!
Many thanks Duncan.
Good to read your article on leaders seeking amnesty for their numerous dictatorial acts against the public.
At the risk of going off topic, let’s raise the matter of accountability for leaders and activists who foisted various anti-discrimination and anti-conversion laws upon the people with the intent of tying our tongues even before we speak out.
Sounds good to me Bill.
It’s basically an admission of guilt – instead of actually saying “I stuffed up, I own my mistakes”, they’re basically saying “forget it ever happened, let’s just move on”.
It’s like the schoolyard bully who beats you up to a pulp, & says, “I didn’t really mean it” or “it’s all a joke.”.
Quite so Stephen.
Quoting a quote:
“We don’t know why the first wave of COVID was so deadly…”
Well, let’s have a look at some recent Italian data, shall we? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzPophi-9MY
This is Dr John Campbell, reporting on a thoroughly expert peer-reviewed study of early asymptomatic cases in Italy (all over Italy), which provides strong evidence of the virus being measurable as early as 3rd September 2019.
The evidence of five times the number of extant cases NOT counted in the statistics used to calculate the mortality rate indicates that the potency of the virus was possibly ONE-FIFTH what was reported at the time – a factor which would have reduced the fear factor to something approaching the Omicron level.
Yet again, we ask, how potent was the Covid bug, REALLY?
Thanks for that John.
I agree Bill, these leaders who pretended to know what they were doing need to be brought to account with a Nuremberg 11 otherwise it will happen again.
I had to leave my volunteer job with a church charity as I wasn’t vaxxed according to govt rules, they said so I have now had to look for work as I’m on this 40 point credit system for myself and husband to get paid Centrelink payments but because a lot of uni students and back packers are no longer around I got a seasonal full-time job on third job application and they didn’t care if I was vaxxed as they just wanted workers. The extra pay as a casual (15% loading) is good so God is looking after us and bringing something good out of the bad – I just have to get up at 5am and work 38hrs/wk.
Also, thanks for great article and explaining the difference between condoning and forgiving.
Thanks Lynette.
In America, Trump upheld the Constitution in some ways by affirming States Rights during Covid. So outlier states like Florida and South Dakota could do things differently and now there is a strong competing narrative about the Covid era opposing that of the Biden administration as the nation faces its mid-term elections. Yet in Australia, Scott Morrison introduced the travesty of the so-called “National Cabinet” which empowered the false narrative at the national level. There was no reasoned debate based on the objective facts. The whole nation was gaslighted by the fake narrative and the PM let them call the shots. And awareness of the truth is still dismally low in Australia. People felt domething was seriously wrong so they couldn’t vote the government back in. But they certainly did not vote in an alternative government with a clear mandate like the Albanese government is pretending to have. We were bamboozled with smoke and mirrors. Hopefully the mid-term elections in America will bring a change in focus. But the media will give a skewed interpretation anyway. Like they always do.
As the saying goes “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”.
A minority of people have joined the dots and are going to be VERY resistant to this gaslighting narrative regarding a covid “amnesty”. Nup. You ain’t gonna fool me again.
But alas the majority of Australians are still in a confused fog. We vote for people who promise us comfort and prosperity inside a promised utopian prison. We will not embrace political liberty and the personal responsibility that goes with it.
The church would have to give up their fundamental doctrine of “nonjudgmentalism” (toward government)….for this to happen.
That is not going to happen any time soon.
If there was a real church in America, businesses, churches and schools and every one else would have defied the shutdown from the start.
Lots of thoughtful material in your recent articles Bill. My personal expectation relates to your article on ‘Blindness – Religious and Ideological’ where you say “Some will ignore the evidence even when it stares them in the face”: – possibly changing “some” to “many.”
Thank you as always for providing abundant help for thinking things through.
Many thanks Alec.