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| "Abbot Armand-Jean le Bouthillier de Rance" by Hyacinthe Rigaud (17th century) |
Science is the “the systematic study of ... the physical and natural world through observation and experiment” (Oxford Dictionary) – it is a method by which hypotheses can be either plausibly dreamt up or validated. Scientism is an “excessive belief in the power of scientific knowledge” (Oxford), and there now seems to be a large body of people professing to hold such sacred knowledge. They are our “experts” (typically scientists and doctors of one kind or another) who are more than willing to present themselves as the true holders of the only kind of knowledge worth having any faith in. The worst among them are the de facto astrologers and haruspices of our time – these priests of our secular age who tell us they know how to confidently predict, via the magic of modelling, variable and unpredictable things, such as controlling the spread of a highly contagious virus.
Grey-faced epidemiologists and health experts who might otherwise have been destined to obscurity are now trumpeted regularly by the media to proffer their gloomy predictions if suitable penances are not undertaken. The best of penances is generally held to be city-wide lockdowns involving forced closures of non-essential businesses and schools, as well as near total social isolation of individuals. The longer the penance the more likely “the science” is to save us, so we are told by most of these doomsayers. Sydney is currently in week 8 of such a lockdown. Our penance must continue until … we are unsure when, but “the science” will surely let us know. Initially the modelling declared that if at least 70% of us underwent (the rites of) double vaccination then our period of penance would finally end. But “the science” is apparently a capricious God, for now we are told even an 80% vaccination rate may not be enough. These essential rites must also be supplemented by continuing “restrictions”.
The 2021 Sydney lockdown started with a handful of cases in late June, but by the end of July (after a month of lockdown) cases per day were more than 200, and as of late August cases are more than 800 a day. The priests told us if we locked down “the science” would save us and yet instead our predicament has become worse. The reason for that, say many of the grey-faced priests, is that we were not penitential enough – our 8 week lockdown has apparently been too soft. More radical acts of penance are required, hence fines for lockdown breaches have been increased, the once inviolable right to protest continues to be on hold, surveillance and police action is more visible and more intense, the lockdown timeline is ever more vague, and the rules of lockdown routinely change in some important way – gripping the attention of law-abiding citizens to the depressing govt updates that occur daily at 11am.
Like most Sydney-siders I was originally more or less content to endure all of this for the first couple of weeks. I dutifully made a booking to get vaccinated (and kept that appointment). I chided a dear friend who sent me an anti-govt meme at the start of the lockdown. I explained to my increasingly unhappy son that we just need a bit of time to get vaccination numbers higher so the death rate could be minimised. The State appointed High-Priest had seemed so sensible and seemingly did such a good job in protecting us from the invisible enemy in 2020 – her contact tracers were said to be second to none. Government trust and trust in “the science” was high. But the more punishing this lockdown becomes (and it is the children who suffer the most) the less faith I have in the benevolence or wisdom of our secular priests.
What is particularly frustrating is that the religious flavour of the whole thing is so obvious to me, but so many people have such myopic faith in scientism, wherein we must all “listen to the experts” and “follow the health advice”, that they cannot see that they are as bound by the tenets of faith as it is possible to be. When “the science” is revered to such a degree, democratically elected politicians are tempted to simply hand over crucial decisions to a priesthood whose only concern seems to be preventing as many deaths as possible, no matter the cost to the quality of lives. Unfortunately these priests are absolutely awful at running a State – it’s not their wheelhouse after all. What results is what we have in Sydney in August 2021, and it feels more dystopian than I could ever have plausibly imagined.
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| (Actually the High Sparrow talking to King Tommen in HBO's Game of Thrones) |
Written by M' Sentia Figula (aka Freki), find me at neo polytheist and romanpagan.wordpress.com
I understand how frustrating and psychologically debilitating lockdown must be, but please allow me to inject a different perspective. I'm in the States where public health officials have failed to convince a wide swath of the citizenry to take the virus seriously. We are too spoiled and self-centered to do what is best for the group, so an 80% vaccination rate will never happen here. As of this morning, there are 891 new cases of the virus in Australia, with a seven day average of 637. There have been three deaths reported. In the U.S. there are 87,011 new cases, with a seven day average of 151,227. We had 469 deaths reported this morning. In my tiny state alone (West Virginia) we had 925 new cases as of Friday evening since there's no reporting on weekends (Monday evening there will be a huge spike from the two day break) and seven deaths. For those of us in the States attempting to follow best practices the futility of so much rampant illness and deaths going completely unheeded by a large portion of our populace is equally mentally and emotionally debilitating. We have vaccines here that health officials can't even give away because of the ignorance and paranoia of far too many. Many of our state governors have implemented lottery incentives, such as cash prizes and give aways to encourage people to get vaccinated. It's unbelievable at times.
ReplyDeleteMost modern nations including your own have out-performed the U.S. over and again in implementing and following public health mandates. Your health officials are doing their best and Australian citizens- for the most part- are doing their best. Believe me, your outcomes could be so so much worse, but nothing anyone can do at this point is fool-proof. Perhaps we should reconcile ourselves to the horrible notion that the most effective measures against this virus should've been implemented decades before, ie. slowing global climate change, extreme human population growth, and human encroachment into previously uninhabited areas. We're just far too reactive as a species as opposed to proactive, but many of us are doing the best we can given the circumstances. For what it's worth, this one stranger is sending you her best and a virtual hug of encouragement. Hopefully, we will get through this.
Thanks for these encouraging words - I agree it would be nice if people were more proactive in relation to troubling issues. Deaths from the virus are coming for Australia for sure though so I wouldn't say Australia has done well just yet; it's just that we've managed to keep it out really well until now (mostly due to border closures and enforced quarantine on Australians returning from overseas) so everything here is delayed. My friend's mum (in her 70s) went and saw her doctor and decided she didn't want to get vaccinated and there will be a lot of people like her. I think she has made a bad call, but it’s her call to make and I respect her choice.
DeleteIt’s probably true that Australians are more likely to do stuff for the benefit of the wider community, but most of us also know that vaccine passports are almost certainly about to be rolled out so may as well get on the train early. Tbh I quite like the US reverence for freedom and the Bill of Rights (which Australia does not have a parallel to btw – I wish we did) and I wouldn’t want you guys any other way, ‘cause you’re kinda awesome:)
I've been a nurse for years. The hospitals are in far too big of a hurry to intubate people. HOSPITALS are what's killing these people by being way to medically aggressive. My brother-in-law (who is not a medical professional), just loved to lecture people about why they should wear masks and he made fun of a relative of his that thought this was just another flu. He even got the vaccine along with my sister and their kids (I never got the vaccine. I did get "sick" with the COVID when it first came out; I wasn't that bad off, and probably wouldn't have really realized the mild symptoms I had were the COVID if they weren't talking about it constantly on the news. So I got tested and I was positive. I didn't feel that ill so I went to work and didn't tell anyone I had COVID. Because years ago I wouldn't really realize I was sick or carrying anything which means I would have gone to work anyway. Also, I work in a prison, so I'm not working with the elderly). Anyway, my brother-in-law, sister, nephew, and niece ALL got the vaccine when it came out. Guess who is sick this week with the COVID and has more symptoms than I ever did ? My brother-in-law and my niece, lol. Hardly worth it getting the vaccine and lecturing people. Viruses mutate. You will probably wind up getting sick with the flu eventually. Unless you are lucky or have a great immune system. Duh. This has been knowledge for DECADES. I'm not sure why we're choosing to forget this.
ReplyDeleteAnd the areas of the United States where they weren't taking COVID too seriously and therefore weren't wearing masks...they're not dying in larger numbers than the "worried" states. The people lecturing us about wearing masks may be able to say that the non-mask wearing states have higher numbers of COVID (maybe), but those states are still SURVIVING at LEAST as well ! We've kept children out of school for a LONG TIME because of this BS. Shame on the states that told us to do so ! We already have the worst educational system in Western civilization and now we're keeping children out of school longer.
ReplyDeleteCommiserations on the school shut downs - these had a terrible impact on my son. He had just started getting excellent grades for the first time in years when the schools were forced to shut down and he fell into a depression - his interest in schoolwork vanished and has not returned even though it is now a year later. The impact of losing interest in grades could be lifelong. One of the girls in his class came back to school (when they reopened) covered in cuts and she is still cutting herself a year later - she is now also on meds which have caused massive weight gain. The teenage daughter of one of my friends attempted suicide during the lockdown. Humans are deeply social creatures and none more so than teenagers. I will never forgive the Australian govts for the lockdowns and forced school shut downs. Only a deeply sick society puts the needs of the elderly before the welfare of the young.
Deleteare there muslims in autralia?
ReplyDeleteyes, but not all that many (less than a million). Many of them live in the SW of Sydney - where the lockdowns were especially harsh from quite early on. I suspect the govt went especially hard on them because they thought many other Australians wouldn't care much about their suffering. However, imposing a crushing lockdown on SW Sydney set a precedent, and within a month or so the lockdown in the rest of Sydney was nearly as harsh as in SW Sydney. This is a great example of why we need to fight for the rights of all our fellow countrymen because if we don't we will eventually lose our freedoms too.
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