From the White-PillBox: Part 20
It's time for a post-game analysis of the COVID hysteria, and to announce the losers and winners.
As I argued in my previous essay, the COVID experience is an historic example of mass hysteria. When it was published in December 2020 the hysteria was well entrenched, with no signs of it ending any time soon. I suggested that the hysteria’s persistence was sustained by several ongoing factors, including:
Public fear
The self-interest of major institutions: the State (power); the major media (audience share); health care (financial)
I indicated that the panic would subside once the virus is no longer perceived as a serious threat. As of this writing (April, 2022) it is clear that process is well underway. So the status of the above factors has changed, regarding their efficacy in sustaining a public hysteria:
Public fear of the virus has significantly subsided.
The self-interest of major institutions is far less served by COVID: the State has relaxed most restrictions; the major media continues its trend toward irrelevancy; health care’s special financial incentives are largely curtailed 1.
With the hysteria mostly behind us, there is a solid White Pill when we take stock of the long-term losers and winners 2.
The losers
We could not have hoped for a better group of losers in this COVID postmortem: the State itself; the mainstream media (MSM); the medical establishment (including Fauci).
Each of these sets of losers unwittingly helped undermine the belief in the legitimacy of the State. In a nutshell, this happened because they have all been highly discredited - or more accurately, they discredited themselves.
Loser: the State
Governments across the globe put themselves in charge of handling the COVID issue. It need not have been that way. They could have kept out of the way so individuals and groups could have dealt with the health concern on their own. Schools, businesses, churches, transportation, etc. could have done their own research, consulted medical experts as needed, and come to their own conclusions about what measures made sense to them.
Instead, governments at all levels did what they always do: used their coercive force to arrive at either one-size-fits-all measures, or inconsistent, non-scientific moving-target measures.
Anyone who has followed the COVID overreaction in an objective way, understands the State caused significant harm; pain and suffering that will ripple through society for decades. But the true scope of the damage is not yet broadly understood. So for now, the good news is: most of the public who fell victim to the hysteria (whether passively or enthusiastically) are emerging from the fog.
But it is not merely that the hysteria is ending. Another part of this White Pill is that the public has started to realize State COVID measures were largely ineffective. Whether it be lock downs, masks, testing methods, distancing, vaccines, etc., there is now a general sense that none of it worked as advertised.
To be sure, we cannot claim this public lesson has created significantly more anarchists. But White Pills do not work that way.
The experience helped the public have less faith in government.
The general impression is the response was a mess: mishandled and even manipulative. So compared to three years ago, there is less confidence in the State. It would be difficult to find any person who can seriously claim the government’s COVID response gave them a renewed and vigorous faith in the State.
Losers: major media
Prior to COVID, the MSM was already losing market share. In early COVID, they did see a boost in their audiences, but this did not last, and the decline resumed. The public largely saw through their politicization of the health concern. The MSM made it obvious they are mere mouthpieces for the State. So as the State stumbled through COVID, the MSM stumbled in kind.
Moreover, they supported the censoring and cancelling of unapproved opinions. But they could not suppress dissenters entirely; the growing universe of alternative media made that impossible.
Indeed, it was alternative media that offered the public a forum where they could obtain opinions other than those approved by the MSM. With time the public could readily see that the panic-claims throughout the COVID experience were false or overblown. And they saw that in many cases alternative views comported better with science and common sense.
Thanks to their poor showing during COVID, the MSM has all but solidified a permanent loss in public trust.
Losers: the medical establishment
By joining the State in heavily promoting the COVID hysteria, the public is likely to lose significant trust in big pharma and the medical establishment in general. A specific example of this is Anthony Fauci. He was the very voice of the so-called expert COVID response; yet as of this writing he is all but radio silent. The stain he put upon medicine will have a long-lasting impact.
The experience taught the public another lesson: be skeptical of State-favored medical opinions; and do the best research you can to make informed decisions.
Losers: the hysteria’s cheerleaders
Finally, we have anyone who promoted the hysteria. Common people took part in a moral crusade to mock, belittle, and censor anyone who challenged the narrative of panic. Unfortunately, this included many of our own friends, relatives, employers, coworkers, teachers, church officials, etc.
Whether consciously or not, the people know they were duped. We can know this simply by observing their silence.
The winners
The public
A White Pill almost by definition equates to a win for the general public. And this is no exception. Any time the perceived legitimacy of the State is ratcheted down a notch or two, it’s a win for humanity.
The State and its minions failed miserably in their COVID response. It seems impossible to imagine the public ever returning to a previous level of faith in the myth of political authority.
It is comparable to a cult member who is starting the process of questioning the cult. The first glimmers of light appear as they start to challenge their indoctrination. They may not be ready to leave the cult; but their journey to mental clarity can only move forward.
And other winners worthy of mention…
Businesses who managed to survive the mandates.
Parents who chose alternatives to public schools.
Alternative media personalities with the courage to challenge the approved narratives. Many of them gained audiences because they were more objective in their analysis than the MSM.
Fellow anarchists and libertarians who recognize this significant White Pill. We understand how difficult it is to help others out of the cult of the State. It is Christmas morning to witness the State and its cronies doing the work for us, actively and quite successfully discrediting themselves.
A White Pill for the Black Pilled
Many of our fellow travelers were (and remain) highly disappointed at the public’s ready compliance with State measures. They assumed the public had a minimum level of skepticism and desire for freedom; they feel the public fell short.
And they assume that the minute the State asks them to, the public will acquiesce again.
But review the public’s overreaction to COVID in context
We should carefully observe what happened. First, a new virus emerged. Soon after, the issue became highly politicized, with the State declaring it a global health threat, and making humanity-wide catastrophic predictions. This kick-started the worldwide panic.
But we should remind ourselves that these dynamics were as much a psychological event as a medical one. The perceived threat was sufficiently real to the majority, so as to virtually insure mass compliance. It was disappointing to most of us at the time, but in retrospect, we should not have been surprised.
Why it was the State’s one shot
The chances are slim the State can replicate mass public acquiescence with the threat of another COVID variant or other health scare. The reason is straightforward: the public would need to all but forget the inconvenience, inconsistency and damage of the COVID panic.
This seems highly unlikely. Back then, the public complied out of fear. Today most of the public understand, explicitly or implicitly, they were made to be afraid falsely. Too many charts, studies, and real world counter-examples (such as Florida and Sweden) were sufficiently publicized to insure the public is better armed for the next scare campaign.
And skepticism of the State can only grow as research, books and documentaries about the hysteria are publicized.
Also, there are many within the State that have walked back support of lock downs, school closures and vaccine passports. Too many have said the virus is something we must learn to live with, and that we must make our own risk assessments.
And we must remember the panic was over our health. Little in life is as personal and immediate as health. It took a (perceived) plague-level threat to achieve the compliance we witnessed. The State will be sorely challenged to replicate a similar scare.
As far as the State’s various other social threats (climate, war, race, etc.), none have the broad importance as our health and that of our loved ones. Everyone cares about health; not everyone cares about the rest.
Conclusion
Yes, the overreaction created mass destruction and pain. But long-term, the people came out winners. We adapted to an unnecessary global panic, created and fostered by three powerful public enemies: the State, the MSM, and the legally privileged medical establishment. The experience weakened these enemies. At the root they rely on public trust and compliance. Neither will ever return to the levels of the past…nor should they.
One exception to this are the pharmaceuticals, who continue to enjoy the State’s special favors regarding vaccines and State-approved treatments.
It is appropriate to acknowledge the true unknown and innocent victims of the hysteria. And sadly, they are innumerable. Those who suffered or died because many available treatments were discouraged or even suppressed. Those who suffered psychologically from the lock downs. Infants and young children who were forced to deal with a masked world during their critical formative months. The untold number of additional suicides, increases in spousal and child abuse, depression and addiction. Immeasurable financial suffering from unfair job loss and business shut downs. The reputational and financial damage to those who were silenced or canceled for their opinions. As yet uncounted millions around the world who died from malnutrition, illness and disease from the effects of State mandates. And of course, those who suffered side-effects of the vaccines.