Don's Tuesday Column

THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson  Red Bluff Daily News   12/07/2021

Give up liberty for safety?

“Big stories” of the year: President-ish Joe Biden’s radical departure from what he and Democrats promised, his visibly diminished capabilities and flawed alienation from truth; the historic military disaster in Afghanistan, abandoning citizens and supporters, rivalling Vietnam; our enemies’ renewed perception of America as a “paper tiger”; America’s economy thrived under President Trump, limping under Biden; Trump/Russia hoax.

The multi-year saga, nightmare and introductory course in despotism over COVID-19/Wuhan Flu takes top billing. Is there anything it can’t do? Any routine activity not subject to the “new normal”?

Health policy, so-called “medical science,” news reporting, political alignments, law enforcement, basic education protocols, and overly-cautious, unconstitutional restrictions of activities and religion—all have been subjected to evolving iterations of “truth.” The moorings of civilization itself are questioned and threatened.

A mid-October story flew “under the radar” as we relocated back to Red Bluff after 4-months in cooler climes: Berrendos Middle School teacher Stacy Pearce’s TikTok message (boy, am I ever glad I never started on social media) about wearing a yellow star/patch to symbolize the identification, humiliation and isolation of Jews in Nazi Germany, comparing that to mandatory Covid testing and vaccinations. Much controversy ensued; her job suspension has, I hope, been reversed. Free speech rules.

A general principle learned over years is to avoid comparisons to Hitler, Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. Apparently, those on the left, and her critics, have a selective, short memory; if they didn’t have double standards, they’d have no standards at all, as they say.

I’d like a dollar for every “Bushitler” sticker, or comparisons of Republicans and conservatives in general, and President Bush (now Trump) in particular, to Nazis, Fascists, or other tyrants. Conservatives say despotism always looms but usually lands on the left where, to progressives, it’s an all-purpose problem-solver.

Holocaust references aside, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety” (Ben Franklin). Those jettisoning liberty for safety have brought us: Uncompensated destruction of livelihoods and businesses through “lock downs,” and “stay home” orders—not laws, just “emergency” fiats and “declarations”;

Illegal “rent moratoriums,” depriving owners who saved and invested in income properties (we lost a year of rental income); countless fairs and shows vendors need to make a living, cancelled without compensation for lost income.

Many “blue state” Democrat-run locales continue to mandate nearly-useless face masks to access public commerce (the face mask “hammer” sees only facial “nails”). “Researchers shoot holes in study touted for confirming 'masks work' in curbing COVID; Study of 342,000 adults finds masks effective against COVID based on 20 infections.” Dozens of studies find minimal mask efficacy. I no longer think mask-wearers are stupid, just erroneously programmed to feel artificially safe. No masks for kids, period.

Some have insisted, even on this page, that going maskless is nearly murderous; the one-time promise of freedom from “face diapers” has been replaced by “wear them always, anywhere even after shots and boosters.” Yet, these pronouncers of “delivered wisdom” (from Saint Fauci, apparently) seem dismissive that we no longer respect their credibility and won’t cooperate absent force.

 Authoritarian policies, confirming Ms. Pearce’s larger message, are happening or proposed around the supposedly “free” world: In our sister democracy, Australia, the lockdowns continue, protesters are persecuted, and police interrogate residents whose social posts support protests.

Those “testing” positive can now be not only confined to home under threat, but can also be incarcerated in huge “camps” with dormitories, fences and total control; one’s called “the Centre of National Resilience.” “Escapes” have prompted roadblocks, car searches, helicopters, maybe even dogs, as if law-abiding citizens are wanted criminals.

Look up “Aussies Gone Mad [Updated]” (powerlineblog.com), with news quotes, photos of a huge “government quarantine facility in Howard Springs, Australia” and roadblock searches for “wards,” “fugitives.” From “abc.net.au/news” (on escaped people): “Since the confirmation of cases in the community of Robinson River and Katherine on November 15, positive cases and hundreds of household and other close contacts have been flown to the facility in Darwin to undertake quarantine. Mr. Gunner said the isolation in quarantine was ‘pretty hard for some people … used to being close to family and community.’” Really?

Tell me when the quasi-fascist targeting creeps you out: In a video, Hayley Hodgson, 26, just released from a 14-day detention, describes how police officers came to her home and took her away. They are testing technology for “smart phones” to assign “QR codes” (little squares with a matrix—curious term) to people for tracking, and scanning them for location compliance. Techno “ankle monitors”? Using your medical records?

Look up: “Think Carefully About Accepting The Concept of Vaccine Passports.” Why wouldn’t they welcome digital gatekeepers to spare human employees? Also, “European Union Debates Reconstituting Nazi Medical Policy with Mandatory Medical Procedures and Abolishing Nuremberg Code” (both articles at theconservativetreehouse.com). Seems the medical testing ban stands in the way of…what?

I’m sure the “In America people don’t have to show ID papers” crowd will laugh at pictures of Nazi soldiers checking a French man’s papers; next pic is an armed store “greeter” checking the vaccination “passport” of a young French woman.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a “National Lockdown for Unvaccinated” (theepochtimes.com). Officials back “mandatory shots for all”; failure to get boosters is cause for “exclusion.”

Unhinged “conspiracy theories”? Tweeter “Lars McMurty” wrote: “Get the shot or get shot. The unvaccinated need to be rounded up and lined up in front of open trenches…” J.R. Kolkemo: “Let them die.”