To speak about the beginning of a push-back to the Branch Covidian cult is somewhat misleading simply because not everyone was into it in the first place, and many were always pushing back. In fact, when it comes to what we have all been through over the past three years, we can say there are at least three groups of people:
- Those who questioned the whole Covid narrative pretty much from the beginning.
- Those who bought the whole Covid narrative but later admitted they may have been wrong.
- Those who bought the whole Covid narrative and still do.
As to that final group, they can be broken down into two more groupings: those who may yet see the light and admit their mistakes, and those who will never change. Those refusing to face reality, of course, cannot be reasoned with, and there is no use in trying.
We all know that the three hardest words to say in English are “I was wrong”. Admitting you erred or fell for a con job is never easy. But it is the mark of intellectual integrity to do so. To stubbornly live in a world of denial tells us all that we need to know about what sort of person some folks really are.
And it is not just individuals of course: groups and organisations can also latch onto particular narratives and ideologies, and refuse to let go, regardless of any counter-evidence and facts. Consider “our” ABC for example. We know it is a hothouse of secular left orthodoxy, and no other points of view will be allowed.
So no matter what the issue, we know where they will always stand – regardless of truth and reality. The trans issue is a case in point. A short but revealing video on this is well worth watching.
This is how Sky News speaks to the video:
It’s a “sad reality” that the ABC refuses to broadcast anything that “contradicts transgender orthodoxy”, says Sky News host Rita Panahi. Ms Panahi said this is despite being the “beneficiary of more than a billion dollars of taxpayer money every year”. “And what’s worse, the organisation has seen fit to attack publications like The Australian that do cover this important issue from all angles.”
But let me get back to the Covid cult. There will be true believers here, no matter what we have already learned or will learn in the days ahead. As I say, it is not worth wasting time with these folks. It is like trying to have a rational debate with a zombie.
But others are or may well soon come around. Let me mention a few who have had a bit of a change of heart, although they do not yet seem to have actually come out and said they were wrong. One such person is Joe Hildebrand. A few days ago he had what seemed to be a pretty good piece on the “Covid lies”. He wrote in part:
The thing about the truth is that it always comes out. It may take years, decades or even centuries but reality has a way of asserting itself. Lies inevitably fall apart. And so more than two and a half years after Covid-19 first came to Australian shores the truth has finally emerged about our various governments’ response to it and the lies have been exposed. Lockdowns were wrong. School closures were wrong. Border closures were wrong. Poor people were hurt the most.
These are the findings of the first and so-far only full inquiry into Australia’s response to Covid, an independent review funded by three major philanthropic organisations and headed by Peter Shergold, previously the most senior public servant in the country and now Western Sydney University chancellor — an eminent and highly qualified mind deeply respected on both sides of politics.
They are unequivocal, they are damning and they are almost word for word exactly what I and a few other brave souls have been saying from the very beginning of the pandemic. As I have been shouting from every platform I can since 2020, the most egregious act was that committed against our children — the mass shutdown of schools on the basis of no evidence whatsoever. To their eternal shame, state premiers and chief health officers were both complicit in this.
Hey, sounds good, Joe. But those of us who have followed you on Sky News and elsewhere over this period also know that you were often part of the problem. The truth is, he has never been a solid conservative, as he himself freely admits, and often pushed the narrative. On August 7, 2021, for example, we had this piece from him: “People who refuse to get vaccinated are no longer decent members of society.” He said this:
If you’re scared of getting Covid, get vaccinated. If you’re scared of getting locked down, get vaccinated. . . . Every single adult in Australia has now had weeks or months to get their first dose of vaccine – something that will give them a 70 per cent chance of protection against serious disease from Covid-19 and an immeasurable protection for their loved ones….
We are fast approaching a point where anyone who refuses whatever vaccine they are eligible for can no longer consider themselves a truly decent member of society. Because if you care about your country, if you care about your community and if you care about your family there is only one thing you need to do to prove it. So do it. Today.
Hmm, on the one hand, he wants us to be free from lockdown madness, but on the other hand, he wants to demonise, shame, and basically coerce people to get a jab when they may have genuine reasons to be hesitant about doing so. So much for freedom Joe. So much for bodily autonomy and the right to decide for yourself what foreign substances are put into your body!
And consider British journalist and presenter Piers Morgan who has also been involved with Sky News Australia. He seems to be shifting in his views, but he is trying to do it in a sneaky fashion – and with no apologies for past mistakes. As one article explains:
Longtime British television host Piers Morgan publicly backtracked on his COVID jab zealotry and told American astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson that he did so because “facts change” and he was just trying to be “logical.” Now, before I blast Morgan for his manic inconsistency and hypocrisy surrounding his COVID jab stance, I will say that in fairness to him he does host a variety of guests on his shows, always has, and lets them speak. As insufferable as some of his opinions and temper tantrums can be, he does a better job of allowing alternative voices to share their views than most mainstream television hosts.
He claimed to Tyson that he took such a hardline stance on the idea that everyone should get jabbed previously because the narrative supported the idea that they stopped transmission. “When it was believed when the vaccines first came along that they would stop transmission, it seemed to me if you refused to be vaccinated you shouldn’t be entitled to the same rights … as those who’ve taken the vaccine and were therefore not able to transmit it … ”
Before we assess his statements about him changing his mind – and bravo to anyone who can admit they were wrong – it must be admitted that there is no basis for believing that the vaccines were the only sure way to stop transmission … even if there was evidence that they did, which we know definitively that there is not.
The whole article is worth a read. But as mentioned, that some of these public commentators are looking to somewhat shift their stance is a good thing, but I still await genuine apologies. Some of these folks just go with the wind and will change their tune if they think it is safe to do so. Not much courage or integrity there.
But let me finish on a positive note. We know that the social media giants have been just like our ABC in pushing only one side of the story, while heavily censoring and punishing those who dare to share a differing point of view. So the good news is, in America at least this is going to be challenged – big time. As one news report states:
A federal judge has ordered Dr. Anthony Fauci and a slew of other high-ranking Biden officials to be deposed over the government’s alleged collusion with social media companies to ‘censor free speech.’ On Friday, the court granted the request brought by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, both republicans.
Both accused the Biden administration of having ‘worked hand-in-hand’ with social media giants to ‘censor’ news stories that reflect negatively on the White House and called it an ‘egregious attack on our First Amendment,’ a report said.
The suit alleges that the Biden administration actively worked with social media companies and encouraged them to censor ‘disfavored’ viewpoints and speakers in violation of the First Amendment rights of those individuals. In his decision, U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty asserted that Fauci’s prior public comments in relation to national pandemic policy made him a relevant figure in the case and ordered his deposition.
‘The American people deserve answers on how the federal government has colluded with social media companies to censor free speech,’ Schmitt said. Other high-ranking officials who must sit for deposition include: Jen Psaki, the former White House Press Secretary, Director of White House Digital Strategy Rob Flaherty or former White House Senior COVID-19 Advisory Andrew Slavitt.
FBI Supervisory Special Agent Elvis Chan, CISA Director Jen Easterly or CISA official Lauren Protentis, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, CDC Chief of the Digital Media Branch Carol Crawford, and acting Coordinator of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center Daniel Kimmage are also deposed. ‘Throughout this case, we have uncovered a disturbing amount of collusion between Big Tech and Big Government,’ Landry said in a statement on Monday.
The 164-page lawsuit was filed late last week, but an updated Monday filing indicates that the Republican officials are widening their legal efforts to target 47 more government departments, agencies and officials in addition to the 20 defendants originally listed. President Joe Biden, current Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Nina Jankowicz, who was meant to head Biden’s now-defunct Disinformation Governance Board, are among the dozens of defendants listed in the suit.
That is good news indeed and we can all hope for a positive outcome. In various ways, the resistance is nicely taking shape and fighting back. And not a moment too soon.
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