“It crawls! It creeps! It eats you alive!!”
There is nothing as menacing as the voice-over from 1958’s The Blob. As the ooze started coming into theaters, the characters’ ran screaming into the night. But not all were able to escape. Oh, how we laughed at the exaggerated acting and poor special effects of the time. Yet, little did we know that science fiction would become science non-fiction.
Covid lockdowns and school closures caused a major psychological shift for us. Isolation meant that we reflected on ourselves more and on others less. Our fear-mongering media kept us behind closed doors equally as much as our government. Work and public school went online, safe from a virus. Meanwhile, those with “non-essential” businesses lost it all after trying to stay afloat for three years. The indelible images of priests dressed like the black plague was upon us and those in nursing homes being brought to windows to see their loved ones will stay with me forever.
We became lab animals for our psychologists and Big Pharma while our government officials became ever more powerful, having learned that if shutting down a country for its well being could be done once, it could be done repeatedly. Trump relied on Dr. Anthony Fauci’s guidance in dealing with a pandemic. A CNN headline from April 7, 2020 is all we need to know about who the media credited: “How Fauci and Birx got Trump to listen to science.”
A pandemic is an infectious disease. Fauci had been the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, so it’s not far fetched that a president would rely on an expert to “slow the spread.” But when lockdowns persisted for the entirety on 2020 based on Fauci’s recommendations, we, ourselves, should have become skeptical. Yet, anyone who dared question Fauci on social media sites were quickly cancelled as spreaders of misinformation or disinformation.
Fauci, in particular, relished the spotlight like Judge Ito at the trial of O.J. Simpson. Lest you forgot, there were Fauci and Birx dolls being sold like they were medical gods. Even after the 2020 election, the lockdowns continued. Relationships crumbled, especially for our public school children. Not only are we still dealing with their learning setbacks, but their ability to have positive interactions with others suffered, too.
As I wrote in an earlier column, I am substitute teaching and am working with a non-profit organization in Chicago. Though I saw 6th grade suburban students and 6th-8th grade urban students having the same lack of respect for adults and authority, I remembered that these are our Covid kids. These are the kids whose learning and socialization were impacted in their second, third, and fourth grades. On top of that, today, middle school and junior high public school students have all text books online. After on-line learning at home, this is the last thing they need.
Contrast those experiences with my being a substitute for a first grade teacher. First graders are incredibly open and trusting. As long as you greet them with a smile, you are their favorite teacher.
Lining up for bathroom breaks, a couple of children would get out of line just because they wanted to give me a side hug. When we were doing a lesson on immigrants in social studies, I asked how many of them spoke another language. Hands shot up. Arabic, Chinese, and Polish were the top three languages spoken at home. They were so excited to share their various cultural traditions that I admit social studies ran overtime. However, in this teachable moment, students bridged the lesson with their own personal experiences because they were given the time to share. Furthermore, indoor recess (due to rain) was a glorious time to see boys and girls playing together with items of common interest. Legos are always a hit. Even though they could have been on their tablets loaded with school-approved apps, only two children chose that option.
The divergence between age groups is startling. Our older students were kept at an arm’s length at all times while wearing masks, which is causing problems with their ability to understand social cues. Depression, changing genders, and suicidal thoughts are permeating our young people’s minds because social media became their substitute teachers and friends when they were younger.
Their school work and overall learning suffered because, to them, there was no point in doing assignments when they were all going to get passing grades anyway. Parents who juggled with what was, basically, homeschooling reaped the greatest benefits when schools reopened. Their kids were closer to grade level in reading and math.
All of this social experimentation on our children, in particular, should never have happened because of a virus. The cures were worse than the disease. Last spring Congress held a hearing about the effects of Covid-19 on schoolchildren. It may come as a shock, but all agreed that there were negative effects.
Fred Lucas of The Daily Signal was highlighted in the April 3, 2023, The Heritage Foundation article called “Congressional Probe Confirms Scientific Assessments of Damage of COVID-19 School Closures.” As written, the members of the hearing concluded that “…neither ‘masking,’ nor the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s social distancing recommendations were ‘evidence based’; that federal funding for school reopening was often misspent; and that the school closure policies apparently contributed to a series of pathologies, including increased anxiety, depression, and even weight gain among the affected children.” Our tax dollars were wasted on a hearing that discovered common sense.
I’m not using Covid as an excuse for our pre-teens and teens running amok. But Covid lockdowns and mandates contributed to their loss of connection and empathy. We are seeing violent offenders at younger ages, young people self-medicating with drugs and alcohol, and many with mental disorders. As explained by scientist Matthew Lieberman, being left out or treated poorly by peers is akin to physical pain, and “our need to connect is as fundamental as our need for food and water” (Scientific American). Being banished to your home and seeing family, friends, and teachers only via a computer screen is not the same as seeing them in person. We need a human touch.
Now, as we are faced with another consequential election, the World Health Organization is gearing up for a new pandemic called Disease X. It is a hypothetical disease that WHO is planning for in advance, and, of course, they know this hypothetical disease will cause more havoc and deaths than Covid-19. Already, Kate Bingham of the UK Covid-19 task force is blaming a lack of effectiveness regarding our handling of a hypothetical virus on the choice humans make to live in dense urban areas and an increasing lack of natural settings. Ironic, don’t you think? We’ve been wiping out trees to put up wind turbines and solar panels to save the planet.
All in all, we need to brace ourselves for another doomsday. According to WHO, it’s only a matter of time. WHO and the powers that be have learned that fear makes people submit. Prepare for a new biological warfare to be sprung, in turn, causing world leaders to cage its people. This will cause another blow to economies, schools, and relationships.
The only way to stop another lockdown, is to fight the rapidly spreading, observable blob called Gov-24. For the sake of our children and their grandparents, we can never forget how government agencies created heartache and its aftermath today. Perhaps we can freeze leaders with fire extinguishers and have them all sent to the Arctic.
Until then, hug your loved ones, see them often, and tell them you love them. Next, gird yourselves for the fight for freedom. Refuse to be alone again, unnaturally.
If you remember, when the second wave hit, when was it, after the elections, in the spring there were no lockdowns. The Dems suddenly felt it wasn’t necessary and the political appointed docs of course backed them. When this all started, way too many (myself included) knew that the end result would be what we are, in fact, seeing. Of course, we were cancelled, mocked, discounted…you name it. I’ve also noted that whenever this subject is brought up, “social media” is always brought up. I guess the key word there is media. Adding “social” only corrupts it more. I wasn’t to into Twitter but was pretty much consumed with Facebook. Spent lots of time found a lot of lost contacts. It was pretty good. All that said, one day it all changed. The best thing I ever did was to deactivate my account and walk away. I only keep it for Messenger and staying in touch with a very few. I no longer get filled up with all the woke cancel culture out there. To me, the biggest wokism is Covid itself.
Thank you! Spot on! Unfortunately, never again is improbable since billions are being invested in controlling medical treatment through RNA injections that reprogram God's blue print of life. I have been rallying against this for last three years. My UIC honored Dr. Fauci for his achievements. I no longer donate to UIC in Chicago. thomasabraunrph@substack.com