Over the past week or so there has been a rash of protests,
groups of people congregating outside government buildings and in violation of
the current rules regarding 'distancing' and 'mass gatherings'. They gather to
publicly resist US and state policy with regard to the economic shutdown and
the various guidelines surrounding 'stay at home' policies and the like.
Many of the protestors are clearly part of the 'naysayer' or
cynic camps that believe the whole thing is a hoax. Increasing numbers seem to
suggest that Covid-19 is some kind of biological attack instigated by China –
even while they deny its validity, that it is a real and viable public threat.
It's an attack by China but it's not real. The numbers are fake. Yes, some
people are dying but there's no pandemic. It's just the cold or the flu (sent
by China) and even though more people have died in a matter of weeks than in an
annual flu season – it doesn't matter because the numbers are doctored. Doctored,
even while mass graves are being dug, coroners and funeral homes are
overwhelmed, obituaries take up whole sections of the paper and everyone in these
industries and the medical communities (in the affected areas) say they've
never seen anything like it. But it's all fake. It's a trick, a hoax.
And then of course the sceptics will start talking about
cancer numbers and things like that ignoring the fact that unlike cancer or
heart disease, Covid-19 is contagious and that there's a good reason to believe
that if it had not been somewhat contained the death tolls would probably be
far worse. That said I will freely admit that many of the official 'science and
fact based' narratives are inconsistent and in some cases incoherent and as
such there has been at least in part an overreaction, perhaps even a severe one
– at least in certain places.
And I can say in my area much of the 'social distancing' has
degenerated into a joke. In defiance of stay-at-home orders our area is overrun
by people from the cities that clearly have a chip on their shoulder and in
addition to rejecting the guidelines, they are becoming hostile to local people
that want them to stay away.
Many of these people cannot seem to grasp a concept like asymptomatic carriers – the idea that
you might 'feel fine' and yet you are carrying the contagion to other people.
In every case these people just say, "I don't feel sick," as they
proceed to ignore the medical advice. They don't understand or in some cases
just don't care if their actions harm others. It's no wonder they are fans of
Trump. They share his values and live his ethos.
I had this conversation with my auto mechanic this last week.
Refusing to follow any of the guidelines he's defiant and rambles on about
China, Pelosi, Trump and the rest. It's a Chinese Plot. It's the Democrats.
It's 'them' seeking to track us. It's an incoherent narrative because it seems
to suggest that somehow the Democrats and Beijing have collaborated to destroy
American society and overthrow Trump.
It's hard to talk to people that believe Pelosi, Cuomo,
Schumer and the various Democratic state governors are plotting to destroy
America – the very base of their power and riches. They're effectively
committing suicide, falling on their swords to bring down Trump? I saw a
political cartoon expressing as much in a Christian publication – I struggle to
call a rag like 'World' a 'news' publication.
People are upset and rightly so but failing to put in the
time to learn some history, civics and turn off the social media circus show –
they are woefully ill-equipped to navigate these confusing waters. Their
ignorance turns to frustration and frustration to rage.
I don't pretend to have all the answers but I can safely say
my mechanic who is but a representation of the many conversations I've recently
had (and is clearly of one mind with the protestors) – is wrong and dangerously
so.
The sometimes serious talk is peppered by some commentary
bordering on lunacy. He's mad because low-risk prisoners are being released. I
tell him that officials are worried that if the virus gets into prisons it will
spread like wildfire. "So?" is his response, implying that if lots of
prisoners die, that's a good thing. I explain that some guy who is in jail for
selling dime-bags of pot probably doesn't deserve a death sentence. "Well,
there's murderers and rapists in there too!" he responds. Indeed there are
but he doesn't see that this misses the point – never mind the legal and
constitutional issues surrounding cruel and unusual punishment, due process,
the nightmare of potential lawsuits and appeals, let alone the health of the
guards and the wider community. He doesn't understand how things work and so
he's lashing out – but in a democratic context that can be dangerous.
Now mind you, this is all made worse by the fact that the
mechanic – who starts falling into rounds of profanity as he's getting agitated
(and parts delivery guys and others are coming in and out) has American
flag-Bald Eagle decorations on the wall with Bible verses (the kind we've all
seen) and he and his wife are professed Evangelicals. Seriously, sometimes I
think I should go back to the pagan guy I used to give my business to.
Have the policies regarding the shutdown been inconsistent,
arbitrary and even in some cases corrupt? Without a doubt and it has played its
part in opening up a veritable ugliness in our society. My area (I fear) will
not be the same as there is the animosity between vacationer-campers and the
local population and it is escalating. Even among the locals themselves, there
have been people turning in fellow members of their community for working.
Others have grown angry as the mask policy is inconsistent. Some are mad that
stores are ignoring it or refusing to enforce it. Other customers are almost violent
in their defiance of it.
The fears regarding surveillance are legitimate. There are
always players waiting in the wings, waiting to implement legislative agendas.
A crisis for them is an opportunity. And it's not just the Democrats. Everyone
likes to quote former Obama staffer Rahm Emmanuel and yet it's a bipartisan
exercise – as well as Wall Street via Silicon Valley, Israeli intelligence and
some other players.
The Patriot Act was written before 9/11. Legislation of that
magnitude is not crafted in six weeks. It's impossible. And yet it was rolled
out for the American public in October 2001 and many including many of today's
Trump protestors (I'm certain) supported it nineteen years ago. They were
worked up and keen to support Bush and his calls for war. While there were some
of us who didn't buy it and saw the Patriot Act for the power grab and attack
on the Constitution that it was – most embraced it.
And well do I recall many on the Right embracing it with
threatening fervour. The Anthrax Attacks continued into October of that year,
lower Manhattan was still smoldering and the US was preparing to invade
Afghanistan and dropping hints about Iraq. The country was stirred up. It was a
very disturbing time and yet the warnings were not heeded. The Act was a
negation of the Constitution, a complete decimation of the Bill of Rights. 9/11
was in some respects a coup, a largely open re-taking of the reins by the
Praetorians of the Security State that had been forced to operate in the
shadows since the 1970's. They had never gone away and had never lost their
influence and in fact expanded it and made new allies – but as of 9/11 and with
the passage of the USA Patriot Act the Congressional
avoidance dance of the 1970's-1990's was over. They were back and with a
vengeance. They now could bomb, murder, steal, spy and kidnap with abandon and
they pursued these goals with near abandon.
And even if I were inclined to vote and really did care about
the Constitution and believed in its principles and its narratives – I wouldn't
vote for any politician that had supported the Patriot Act, which effectively
means you're shut out from the process as the vast majority of them have done
so, with almost unanimous support among the GOP. Russ Feingold was the lone
senatorial hero in 2001, joined by nine others (all Democrats) in 2006 but with
89 votes it was easily re-authorised. There was more resistance in the House
which at the time was under the Republicans but again the opposition mostly
came from Democratic circles that constituted 62 of the 66 oppositional votes.
That would change in 2011 when it was reauthorised once more
under Obama. It still passed easily but with growing numbers opposing – again
overwhelming among the Democrats.
But then strangely (or not so strangely) in 2019 the
Democrats helped to push through its extension – under Trump, the supposed
threat to the system, the agent for Putin. If they really believed it, they
wouldn't have expanded his powers. But for the first time ever there was a
chance of getting it repealed and yet the Democrats who had always possessed a
majority in support were able to win over the dissidents who almost
overwhelmingly changed course and voted to expand it – only ten members in
opposition. Although many would argue it was a parliamentary trick, a stunt
pulled by Nancy Pelosi. And because Pelosi had attached the extension to a
funding bill the Republicans (in this case) voted against the extension.
In terms of the Constitution it could be argued the
supporters of the legislation (and those that would flippantly treat the
Constitution as a political football) are traitors but the treason didn't start
in 2001. It's a much longer story that turned me sour on the system long before
Biblical study finally convinced me that we're to have nothing to do with the
political order. The simple fact of the matter is this – US democracy has never
been what people think it is. The myth-narratives taught by the media and the
schoolhouse are just that – myths. It was both a heartbreaking and liberating
moment when I realised during the 1990's that America, the American I thought I
knew, loved and cherished was one big lie.
Twenty years later the War on Terror has faded into insignificance
but the permanent state of war continues and all the legislation which even by
the flawed and deceptive standards of the War on Terror – should be reckoned
obsolete. But no, they keep perpetuating the act and that's not going to
change. You can be upset about a Democratic plot in 2020 but the foundations
for an authoritarian surveillance state were laid during the tenure of George
W. Bush, the warrior-Evangelical hero of the Christian Right. They should blame
him, but they won't.
In 2001 we didn't have smartphones. We didn't even really
have high-speed internet yet and so a lot of the angles regarding surveillance
were unknown to the public. The directions these things would go within just a
decade or so were almost unimaginable. Facial recognition, tracking, social
media, people more or less installing the tools of surveillance within their
households and carrying them around in their pockets – it wasn't understood.
People were warned but they didn't listen. They had bin Laden on their minds
and thus were put to sleep. The state surveillance monster they're fighting
isn't new but seasoned and more massive than they can possibly conceive.
The whistleblower revelations under the Bush and Obama
administrations didn't really change anything either. People can't break with
the technology and for those like me who have largely refused to play along (I
have not and will not own a Smartphone or any other 'Smart' device) it's about
to get a lot harder to function. In the post-Coronavirus world there's going to
be a lot tracking and a growing number of retail and social access sectors that
are going to become very difficult to utilise unless you've got a phone (a
pocket computer) and are playing by 'the rules'. There will be stores and
restaurants that will be more or less closed off to me – or at the very least
so difficult to use without a Smartphone that it's not worth the bother. This
is further exacerbated by my refusal to text – I will not lower myself to 'communicating'
in that fashion let alone by scrolling through letters on my flip-phone – and
so life get's a bit more challenging all the time. I'm near to leaving even my
flip-phone at home. The only reason I carry it is so my wife can reach me. As
far as the other practicalities of carrying a pocket computer – I'm not
interested in that kind of lifestyle.
Increasingly I can't even stand to sit a family gathering.
All the little 'blips', 'boops' and other notification sounds have made genuine
socialising and conversation almost an impossibility. I usually just give up
trying to talk for more than about thirty seconds. No one can focus much longer
than that. The whole experience is so miserable I end up just leaving the room.
I also have an aversion to being filmed and so with the younger people in the
room that have no manners – it has led to some ugly exchanges. I know, I'm just
a paranoid crank and yet unlike all of them I actually follow the news – the
international news and I read widely. Therefore unlike them I actually have an
argument and basis for the things that I do and the technologies I avoid.
We are already living on the edge of dystopia and it's about
to get worse.
Yes, there are legitimate fears of surveillance and while
there are most definitely concerns surrounding 5G networks, I'm sorry I am not
even remotely convinced of a connection to the virus.
The tech giants and titans of Silicon Valley are either in
with the Deep State or forced to submit to it. This is another huge story that
has barely been explored. Up until now a lot of people were dismissive of the
concerns people like me have continued to raise. "If you're not doing
anything wrong, you don't have to worry. You're being paranoid."
Well, suddenly a lot of people are facing the possibility
that they for economic reasons (or perhaps religious ones) are thinking about
disobeying the law. And there may (or may not) be moral imperatives for such
action. If you do believe you're doing 'right' in disobeying the law, then how
does it feel to know that you've technologically shaped your life in such a way
that you've made it very hard to lay low and go under the radar? While on the
one hand I really despise the ethos of paranoid survivalism – something I
embraced in my infidel Right-wing days – I also believe that the faithful
remnant Church will have to survive in a semi- or actual underground context
and thus I believe a new and certainly anti-Establishment mindset is called
for. I am not referring to a political posture. The Establishment will view
dissent as political but we always need to strive (like Christ before Pilate) to
emphasize that our actions are not political at all – but eschatological.
In some respects I don't want to go down this road because it
plays to the ear of the libertarians and their narratives about guns, currency,
survivalism and the like. On New Testament grounds I reject the very premise of
their philosophy or worldview. It enshrines sinful attitudes and has nothing to
do with Christianity or its pilgrim ethic. Rights are neither our concern nor
our solace.
But I am concerned about the gospel and I'm concerned about
what's going to happen in the aftermath of the Coronavirus pandemic on at least
a few fronts.
There is an economic aspect to this, issues I've talked about
before with regard to Christians breaking the law in order to feed your family
and survive – not flourish, not maintain bourgeois lifestyles, not to engage in
overt sinful behaviour – but survive. I'll return to the other issues
momentarily.
With regard to the hoaxers and protestors I have some serious
concerns. There's something of a Catch-22 at work. If they break the distancing
rules and state guidelines – which I think there's about to be a flood of civil
disobedience in this regard, it's already starting to happen where I live –
then we're looking at some potentially disturbing scenarios.
First, there could be a state reaction, like what's being in
seen in Germany. A serious even potentially violent crackdown is possible and
yet because Trump and many in his administration support the protestors for one
reason or another, the response will probably not be federal but on a state
level. And given Trump's penchant for petty, personalised and gangsterish
posturing regarding his administration and questions of loyalty and vengeance –
it could get ugly and lead to a real breakdown in government authority.
Second, if there isn't a new wave of outbreaks the protestors
and hoaxers will feel vindicated and emboldened – leading to more civil
disobedience and a general breakdown of law and order, government authority and
it will feed the rancorous individualist beast of the Trumpite crowd.
Or third, there will be a second wave of outbreaks
(undoubtedly downplayed and denied by the naysayers) and we'll see the military
deployed to enforce quarantine orders along the lines of what you see in the
movies. This will only make the protestors and gun-people all the more crazy.
And Trump for his part doesn't care if the country is torn apart in the
process. He's far more concerned with his cronies engaging in the correct sycophantic
protocol, aggrandising his 'brand' and in
lining his own pocket.