The coming out of Dr Phelps continues to make headlines:
There has been a fair amount of fallout from a news story that appeared yesterday. It had to do with a leading Australian doctor who has begun to call out the Rona narrative because of harm she and her partner incurred because of the vaccines. Many are now talking about this, and I weighed in with an article of my own last night: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2022/12/20/another-right-wing-nut-job-questions-the-jabberwocky/
The story continues to bubble along, with all sorts of opinions being expressed, ether pro or con; either quite happy with it or quite upset with it. Since I have gotten various reactions to this already, either on this site or in the social media, let me briefly discuss all this a bit further.
Better late than never?
Many are already criticising Phelps for what she is now finally doing. They say she should have spoken out much earlier. Yes, I agree, but the old ‘better late than never’ adage does seem to apply here. I am glad that she is finally willing to spill the beans, even if belatedly.
And would it have been even better if these same folks actually apologised and admitted they were wrong? Sure. I am not talking about those who pretty much always had real legitimate questions about the Rona narrative, the lockdowns, the masks, the mandatory jabs, and so on. I am talking about the Johnny-come-latelys who now seem to have changed course from their earlier position.
Someone like Phelps is one of these. And it does seem to be mainly for selfish reasons: she and her partner were harmed by the jabs, and she rightly does not like it. But had this not happened, one suspects that she would still be a full-on Rona jab advocate. Who knows for sure? But as one friend said in a comment to my piece from yesterday:
I just read her submission to the Senate. Yes, she mentions about her injury and her “wifes” but in typical lefty language and format. It’s all about more Government control needed and “victimhood”. Still going on about there is no alternative treatment other than the “vax” and Government need to give out n95 masks and work at home and masks for school children and so on. Again, supplements don’t exist, alternative medications don’t exist etc. One gets the impression the submission could have been written two years ago even though recent.
As to her past views, I did a bit of sniffing around. Earlier on with Covid she was insisting on things like mandatory mask wearing and the like. And on the ABC’s The Drum on March 1, 2021 she said this: “Please don’t go to some of the dark sites on the web, and the conspiracy theory Facebook pages because they will not be giving you the right information.” https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=470547030981211
On the same program on May 21, 2021 she was admitting that there is a real risk of side effects to these vaccines, yet she said that we should “go with government advice because it has been produced by experts.” https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-21/the-drum:-friday-may-21/13354706
One other thing I found to be interesting. On March 10, 2021 there was this headline in The Australian: “Phelps’ partner’s vaccine post on Hunt deleted”. Because the article is behind a paywall, I only could get these two sentences from it:
“The wife of City of Sydney councillor Kerryn Phelps has removed a Facebook post questioning whether a bacterial infection contracted by Health Minister Greg Hunt was connected to him receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.”
“Mr Hunt received the AstraZeneca jab on Sunday alongside former prime minister Julia Gillard in a bid to counter vaccine hesitancy.”
Hmm, so perhaps her ‘partner’ at least was asking back then about possible harms of the Rona vaccines. Those with access to the newspaper site might look it up and see what else is said there. But regardless of what she and her partner once believed on all this, and exactly where she is now at, and her reasons for speaking out, I am still glad she did decide to say something.
Encouraging others
By speaking out like this, it may well help others to also take a stand. When people speak out, that can often encourage others to do the same. An old quote by Billy Graham about biblical and spiritual truth applies here: “Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.”
Just how courageous Phelps was to speak out remains to be seen. Someone in her position can perhaps get away with it easier than others. Even if she gets fully ostracised, she would be wealthy enough to cope with it. To challenge the powers that be can always be risky.
But still, we see the flow-on effect now happening. Consider an ABC journalist and presenter in the Northern Territory. Eleni Roussos has just come out and tweeted this: “Inspired by @drkerrynphelps today I want to say I too have been in a living hell with pericarditis because of the Covid vaccine. Vaccine injuries are real and serious and I sincerely hope more people will speak up.”
Hmm, I wonder how long that will stay up! But wow, when you even get folks from the ABC starting to question the narrative, that is news well worth reporting! So we may now see the floodgates opening, with many others being emboldened to share their own stories in public – even from those who normally would have been much too hesitant or too cowardly to speak up.
In my piece yesterday I used satire to make this point: what we have here is NOT some religious right-wing conspiracy theorist who has been saying these things. She is a full tilt lefty, and a lesbian to boot. Moreover, she does have some qualifications:
–Studied at the University of Sydney, the Royal North Shore Hospital, and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
–Heads a successful general practice clinic
-Adjunct Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Western Sydney
-Former Federal Member of Parliament
–Former Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney
-Former NSW Australian Medical Association President
Thus she cannot so easily be dismissed as just some right-wing nut case and tinfoil hat wearer. So it seems the left could be in a bit of a dilemma here: do they stick with the approved narrative and denounce Phelps as a traitor, or do they give her some credence and start asking hard questions about the received Rona orthodoxy?
Of course we have other lefties who have come out and questioned the narrative. Most notably in the US we have the likes of Naomi Wolfe and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Others could be mentioned. So with Phelps in Australia now being willing to publicly question a few things, we can only hope that many more will start speaking out.
And not a moment too soon.
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