The Crime
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The Lockdowners' Unforgivable Crime Against the Young
Opinion article
Written by Tom WoodsBy now we’ve all gotten the message: you’re selfish if you’d like to do the kinds of things that once gave your life meaning.
For these people, life is about nothing but the avoidance of death.
Virtually everything you’ve looked forward to has been canceled, and nobody will tell you when you can have those things back. “When we have a vaccine,” comes the raving lunatic’s answer.
Nobody was giving you that answer when they were pushing “15 days to flatten the curve.” They didn’t dare.
Instead, they kept us in our homes for those 15 days, and then 15 days after that, and 15 days after that. Each time they pushed the date back we grew more demoralized, more resigned to a barren life without “large gatherings” – i.e., everything that makes life fun – and “virtual” events over Zoom.
Oh, and no hugs, no weddings, 10 people at your father’s funeral, and a long list of other grotesque demands.What metrics were they using to decide when we’d be allowed back out again, when our businesses could open (and when they could operate at a level that made profit even a remote possibility), and when those life-giving pleasures that bring us meaning and fulfillment could be resumed? Who knows?
All we heard was: everything is canceled.Maybe you can have it in 2021.
Maybe you can have it when there’s a vaccine – as if there’s a guarantee of that.
Well, a terrifying statistic came out last week showing the grim – if entirely predictable – effects all this inhuman regimentation has been having on the young, particularly those between 18 and 24.
The federal government's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has compiled percentages of people who have considered suicide within the previous 12 months, organized by age. The 18 to 25 group fluctuates between 6.8 percent and 11 percent over the past several years.
Now, from the Centers for Disease Control, we find that that percentage (for the 18-24 group) has leaped to 25.5 percent -- and this survey asks not about the previous 12 months, but whether they've considered suicide just in the past 30 days.
There's also a huge jump in the numbers for people in their mid-20s through their 40s.
We’ve taken away everything they love, deprived them of the opportunity to socialize and to experience those irreplaceable moments of youth, and demanded they accept this dystopia as the “new normal.”
Now THAT'S selfish.Part of the natural order is that parents make sacrifices for their children, not the other way around. If vulnerable people wish to isolate themselves – a perfectly sensible course of action for some individuals – then they should isolate themselves, not demand that young people sacrifice everything dear to them and live atomized existences for a period of time that our overlords refuse to specify.
As I pass through middle age, the thought would never occur to me to make these demands of younger people. Am I prepared to tell them that while I enjoyed these pleasures when I was young, for the sake of my comfort they cannot have them? Who thinks like that?
Some of us – yes, even many of us in middle age and beyond – are prepared to say: this is no way for anyone, young or old, to live.
We want a life that includes weddings, family celebrations, hugs, live concerts, drinks with friends, thriving businesses, the arts, school dances, theater, and friendship from less than six feet away – and we’re willing to accept whatever risk accompanies these things, because no other kind of life is worthy of a human being.
And it’s not just the deprivation of basic, non-negotiable joys that the lockdowns cause. Even the New York Times admitted that lockdowns will lead to 1.4 million excess TB deaths, 500,000 excess HIV deaths, and 385,000 excess malaria deaths.
That’s on top of the 1.2 million children UNICEF expects to die as a result of the lockdowns.
Not to mention how many people have been prevented – by deadly regulations driven by irrational fear, or by irrational fear itself, drummed into them by a grossly irresponsible news media – from receiving major medical care they need. In the UK they’ve been predicting more avoidable cancer deaths than COVID deaths because of this problem.
Meanwhile, Doomers have been peddling a comic-book version of the virus. When Wisconsin courts said bars could reopen, this was supposed to lead to a massive spike in deaths there. All the social-media scolds said so. No such thing happened. Did this cause them to rethink their comic-book approach? You can guess the answer.
They practically cheered when spikes hit Arizona, Texas, and Florida, and they blamed those states’ reopenings – even though those states had been open for eight weeks before the spikes occurred.
Those spikes are over now, and they were brought down without lockdowns. Yes, some bars were closed, but what really happened, as Alex Berenson put it, is that they simply pretended they were restaurants.
South Dakota never closed at all. They had an outbreak at a meatpacking plant, but those are unrepresentative of society at large when it comes to the virus. The state is doing great – just 17 deaths per 100,000. Oh, they have low population density, you say. Well, Rachel Maddow insisted that disaster was bound to strike there, even mocking the governor: “You realize it’s an infectious disease?”In fact, Governor Kristi Noem is now using her sensible approach as a selling point to recruit new South Dakota residents.
Everybody wants to criticize Sweden for not locking down – and no wonder: if a country can have good results without locking down, it makes the lockdowners look like the crazed sociopaths they are.
Oh, Sweden had a high death rate! That’s what they say. Well, around three-quarters of the deaths in Sweden occurred in some kind of long-term care facility, and the Swedes admit their failure there.
But that has nothing to do with the overall soundness of Sweden’s approach, since those facilities are isolated from society. How did society at large do? Extremely well. Number of people under 50 who died, out of a country of 10 million? Seventy.These days there are barely any deaths at all in Sweden.
The virus does what it will do, despite the ad hoc destructionism of our control freaks with their white coats and clipboards.
There’s a sickness out there, all right, but I’m not talking about COVID-19.
I’m talking about the irrational, fact-free response.
Demand your life back.Take your life back.
That isn’t selfish. You get one life. You want to live it. That’s normal.
What’s selfish and abnormal is the presumption that other people are entitled to your life.
If they want to live as prisoners in their own homes and experience life over Zoom, they can be our guest.
The rest of us intend to live.
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A lot of places are still under restrictions and schools are all over the place, in regards to opening, closing, etc.
“Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”
Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton
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For these people, life is about nothing but the avoidance of death.
Well, nobody actually thinks or believes in those terms, but gosh millions of people will gladly propagate messaging that is exactly in those terms. So I don't give these people a pass because after they're done propagating that messaging, they say that actually, of course, obviously, duh, it's way more nuanced than that. They hit people over the head with a big club of a meme, then claim to actually be very gentle and well thought out people.
Education is extremely important.
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A lot of places are still under restrictions and schools are all over the place, in regards to opening, closing, etc.
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For these people, life is about nothing but the avoidance of death.
Well, nobody actually thinks or believes in those terms, but gosh millions of people will gladly propagate messaging that is exactly in those terms. So I don't give these people a pass because after they're done propagating that messaging, they say that actually, of course, obviously, duh, it's way more nuanced than that. They hit people over the head with a big club of a meme, then claim to actually be very gentle and well thought out people.
For these people, life is about nothing but the avoidance of death.
Well, nobody actually thinks or believes in those terms, but gosh millions of people will gladly propagate messaging that is exactly in those terms. So I don't give these people a pass because after they're done propagating that messaging, they say that actually, of course, obviously, duh, it's way more nuanced than that. They hit people over the head with a big club of a meme, then claim to actually be very gentle and well thought out people.
A global pandemic fucking sucks. There's no way around that. But I'd say that increased isolation in the age of technology we live in is better than death, crippling medical debt that does you in, and/or permanent damage from a virus we don't fully understand.
I don't look down at my friends who have physical jobs and have to show up to pay rent, or folks who go to stores because deliveries aren't available where they are. I also understand the cost/benefit of checking in on lonely loved ones. But yeah, biker rally attendees can eat shit. If that's me virtue signaling then let me make some google ad banners to make it more obvious.
Please love yourself.
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For these people, life is about nothing but the avoidance of death.
Well, nobody actually thinks or believes in those terms, but gosh millions of people will gladly propagate messaging that is exactly in those terms. So I don't give these people a pass because after they're done propagating that messaging, they say that actually, of course, obviously, duh, it's way more nuanced than that. They hit people over the head with a big club of a meme, then claim to actually be very gentle and well thought out people.
A global pandemic fucking sucks. There's no way around that. But I'd say that increased isolation in the age of technology we live in is better than death, crippling medical debt that does you in, and/or permanent damage from a virus we don't fully understand.
I don't look down at my friends who have physical jobs and have to show up to pay rent, or folks who go to stores because deliveries aren't available where they are. I also understand the cost/benefit of checking in on lonely loved ones. But yeah, biker rally attendees can eat shit. If that's me virtue signaling then let me make some google ad banners to make it more obvious.
@Aqua-Letifer said in The Crime:
For these people, life is about nothing but the avoidance of death.
Well, nobody actually thinks or believes in those terms, but gosh millions of people will gladly propagate messaging that is exactly in those terms. So I don't give these people a pass because after they're done propagating that messaging, they say that actually, of course, obviously, duh, it's way more nuanced than that. They hit people over the head with a big club of a meme, then claim to actually be very gentle and well thought out people.
A global pandemic fucking sucks. There's no way around that. But I'd say that increased isolation in the age of technology we live in is better than death, crippling medical debt that does you in, and/or permanent damage from a virus we don't fully understand.
I don't look down at my friends who have physical jobs and have to show up to pay rent, or folks who go to stores because deliveries aren't available where they are. I also understand the cost/benefit of checking in on lonely loved ones. But yeah, biker rally attendees can eat shit. If that's me virtue signaling then let me make some google ad banners to make it more obvious.
Sure, I'd prefer people not do those things as well.
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It is time.
You can't run, you can't hide. the goal was to flatten the curve, because anybody with any infection control training at all knows you cannot eradicate a highly contagious virus until it burns itself out...And with mutations, that may never happen.
Many of the people calling for a return to "normalcy" are not snowflakes, nor are they idiots. They are tired of living a restricted life, one that may have restrictions in perpetuity. At some point, it ceases to be life and turns into a Howard Hughes nightmare scenario of Chinese water torture via coronavirus.
“Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”
Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton
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What are you constrained from doing at the moment?
Here even the gyms are open starting tomorrow. Schools allowed to open statewide. Bar service if it’s a restaurant too. Pools open, beach open. Trains running.
Ok no crowds at the Yankees games. No broadway. Neither figured large in my day to day life.
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It is time.
You can't run, you can't hide. the goal was to flatten the curve, because anybody with any infection control training at all knows you cannot eradicate a highly contagious virus until it burns itself out...And with mutations, that may never happen.
Many of the people calling for a return to "normalcy" are not snowflakes, nor are they idiots. They are tired of living a restricted life, one that may have restrictions in perpetuity. At some point, it ceases to be life and turns into a Howard Hughes nightmare scenario of Chinese water torture via coronavirus.
Many of the people calling for a return to "normalcy" are not snowflakes, nor are they idiots. They are tired of living a restricted life, one that may have restrictions in perpetuity. At some point, it ceases to be life and turns into a Howard Hughes nightmare scenario of Chinese water torture via coronavirus.
So you're saying they have a right to demand to do everything they want to do and not be inconvenienced anymore because it's hell to not go to baseball games. Give me a fucking break. Yes, they're a bunch of damn sissies and snowflakes. For all the big talk about bootstraps, these people wouldn't survive a week of 1940s blackout drills. They'd be lighting Freedom Fires and getting blown to shit by the Germans. Selfish ninnies not accustomed to the concept of social cooperation.
It's not "restrictions in perpetuity," things have almost completely relaxed already. And we're months away from a vaccine. If that never happens, okay, fuck it, let's roll the dice with herd immunity. But a couple months of being careful isn't Auschwitz for shit's sake.
Please love yourself.
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Many of the people calling for a return to "normalcy" are not snowflakes, nor are they idiots. They are tired of living a restricted life, one that may have restrictions in perpetuity. At some point, it ceases to be life and turns into a Howard Hughes nightmare scenario of Chinese water torture via coronavirus.
So you're saying they have a right to demand to do everything they want to do and not be inconvenienced anymore because it's hell to not go to baseball games. Give me a fucking break. Yes, they're a bunch of damn sissies and snowflakes. For all the big talk about bootstraps, these people wouldn't survive a week of 1940s blackout drills. They'd be lighting Freedom Fires and getting blown to shit by the Germans. Selfish ninnies not accustomed to the concept of social cooperation.
It's not "restrictions in perpetuity," things have almost completely relaxed already. And we're months away from a vaccine. If that never happens, okay, fuck it, let's roll the dice with herd immunity. But a couple months of being careful isn't Auschwitz for shit's sake.
@Aqua-Letifer said in The Crime:
Many of the people calling for a return to "normalcy" are not snowflakes, nor are they idiots. They are tired of living a restricted life, one that may have restrictions in perpetuity. At some point, it ceases to be life and turns into a Howard Hughes nightmare scenario of Chinese water torture via coronavirus.
So you're saying they have a right to demand to do everything they want to do and not be inconvenienced anymore because it's hell to not go to baseball games. Give me a fucking break. Yes, they're a bunch of damn sissies and snowflakes. For all the big talk about bootstraps, these people wouldn't survive a week of 1940s blackout drills. They'd be lighting Freedom Fires and getting blown to shit by the Germans. Selfish ninnies not accustomed to the concept of social cooperation.
It's not "restrictions in perpetuity," things have almost completely relaxed already. And we're months away from a vaccine. If that never happens, okay, fuck it, let's roll the dice with herd immunity. But a couple months of being careful isn't Auschwitz for shit's sake.
They have a right, after a certain point, to take their chances with the disease, since they cannot avoid it. If you (generic you) wish to take precautions, by all means do it. If the most vulnerable among us, nursing home oatient, etc., need special precautions accommodate them.
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@Aqua-Letifer said in The Crime:
Many of the people calling for a return to "normalcy" are not snowflakes, nor are they idiots. They are tired of living a restricted life, one that may have restrictions in perpetuity. At some point, it ceases to be life and turns into a Howard Hughes nightmare scenario of Chinese water torture via coronavirus.
So you're saying they have a right to demand to do everything they want to do and not be inconvenienced anymore because it's hell to not go to baseball games. Give me a fucking break. Yes, they're a bunch of damn sissies and snowflakes. For all the big talk about bootstraps, these people wouldn't survive a week of 1940s blackout drills. They'd be lighting Freedom Fires and getting blown to shit by the Germans. Selfish ninnies not accustomed to the concept of social cooperation.
It's not "restrictions in perpetuity," things have almost completely relaxed already. And we're months away from a vaccine. If that never happens, okay, fuck it, let's roll the dice with herd immunity. But a couple months of being careful isn't Auschwitz for shit's sake.
They have a right, after a certain point, to take their chances with the disease, since they cannot avoid it. If you (generic you) wish to take precautions, by all means do it. If the most vulnerable among us, nursing home oatient, etc., need special precautions accommodate them.
They have a right, after a certain point, to take their chances with the disease, since they cannot avoid it. If you (generic you) wish to take precautions, by all means do it. If the most vulnerable among us, nursing home oatient, etc., need special precautions accommodate them.
But they're not just taking their chances. They're a risk for everyone they get into contact with.
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They have a right, after a certain point, to take their chances with the disease, since they cannot avoid it. If you (generic you) wish to take precautions, by all means do it. If the most vulnerable among us, nursing home oatient, etc., need special precautions accommodate them.
But they're not just taking their chances. They're a risk for everyone they get into contact with.
@Aqua-Letifer said in The Crime:
They have a right, after a certain point, to take their chances with the disease, since they cannot avoid it. If you (generic you) wish to take precautions, by all means do it. If the most vulnerable among us, nursing home oatient, etc., need special precautions accommodate them.
But they're not just taking their chances. They're a risk for everyone they get into contact with.
People are at risk, anyway. The question is how much risk is tolerable?
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@Aqua-Letifer said in The Crime:
They have a right, after a certain point, to take their chances with the disease, since they cannot avoid it. If you (generic you) wish to take precautions, by all means do it. If the most vulnerable among us, nursing home oatient, etc., need special precautions accommodate them.
But they're not just taking their chances. They're a risk for everyone they get into contact with.
People are at risk, anyway. The question is how much risk is tolerable?
@Aqua-Letifer said in The Crime:
They have a right, after a certain point, to take their chances with the disease, since they cannot avoid it. If you (generic you) wish to take precautions, by all means do it. If the most vulnerable among us, nursing home oatient, etc., need special precautions accommodate them.
But they're not just taking their chances. They're a risk for everyone they get into contact with.
People are at risk, anyway. The question is how much risk is tolerable?
I would say some risk. But they don't get to do everything they damn well want because they don't have the fortitude to be considerate. Sorry. It's gross just how little people are willing to do: no masks, no holding off on mass events, no holding off on visiting the elderly after you've gone to said mass events, etc.
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I think down here, the major inconveniences are church, bars, sporting events and school...Not necessarily in that order.
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I think down here, the major inconveniences are church, bars, sporting events and school...Not necessarily in that order.
I think down here, the major inconveniences are church, bars, sporting events and school...Not necessarily in that order.
School's definitely an issue. I'd say sure, Church too, but up here, open-air services have become a thing. I don't see why that can't be done down there.
As for bars and sporting events... suck it the hell up.
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This is Louisiana. Football and bars are akin to church.
