Congruence in beliefs is reassuring to onlookers. Discrepant beliefs highlight the much clichéd term, “cognitive dissonance” of the people that hold them. One such set of beliefs is the idea that SARS Cov 2 is a bioweapon, but is safe for kids and adults to get, and that the vaccine is more dangerous. Nevertheless, we have many people that believe sars cov 2 has become a common cold but is also a bioweapon. Of course, these discrepant views can be rationalized, but on the surface they are contradictory.
Let’s enumerate the people that seemingly believe both cov 2 is ‘mild,’ a ‘cold,’ and an engineered bioweapon. A general group of people would include Trump followers. Nevermind that Dear Leader actually took the virus seriously and said it was much worse than the flu.
Our dear X leader, Elon, also believes Fauci should be prosecuted, probably for his advocacy role in gain of function research, which may have begotten sars cov 2. Yet, Elon downplays covid and believes it is overly hyped.
Before I mention another individual who fancies themselves a leader, I am noticing a pattern here. People that consider themselves patriarchal leaders have a tendency to downplay what they publicly believe to be a bioweapon. Perhaps in America’s evolution from the Angloshpere the “stiff upper lip” became misconstrued into outright denial. Maybe that explains it.
Indeed, there are individuals who fervently posit that covid was created in a lab, like Zeynep Tufekci but also attest that “kids aren’t superspreaders”, “We need to go for herd immunity,” and that kids must be back in the classroom, even better so inhaling covid to build their immunity.
Every one of these individuals undermines their own arguments because they are beholden to the special interests of billionaire donors, shareholders, or that their own companies face profit losses. For example, Elon stood to lose productivity from the reaction to Covid. Others received big monies from people with special interests and endowed chairs. The true position of privilege is to be able to hold a belief that you are not employed to hold and to have beliefs that are consistent with one another. Such congruent belief systems are developed through living an examined life. Examined by yourself, silly.
Of course, this is murky with moral relativism. For example, I would view it as a moral and intellectual failing for me to catch covid and give it to someone else. I have yet to catch covid. I am simply capable of avoiding it, but I do not hold others to this standard. As a counter example, Professor Balloux probably sees it as a moral failing for “healthy children” to NOT be exposed to covid “sooner,” to achieve what he refers to as “endemicity.”
Let me make my position clear. Based upon publicly available information, sars cov 2 is enough of an anomaly and is sufficiently harmful physiologically to warrant avoidance and to be considered man-made. Woe to the obfuscators who hold discongruent beliefs; for reality will assert itself in the form of Long Covid or FOIA.
Faithfully Yours,
Dr. Anthony J. Leonardi, M.B.B.S., Ph.D.
FOIA or FAFO?
Spectacular picture at the top. Get your bowl of SARS-CoV-2 for breakfast.
I fear we may need to expand your portfolio to cover HPAI.
With a little imagination, it is not too difficult to speculate how this could develop into a mass extinction event. Onward and Upward, Dr. Leonardi.