The road to hell is paved with good intentions
Saving Lives:
September 30th, 2020:
Last night was our 2nd night of our yearly offsite. As McDonald's drive-through was the only food available past 9 pm on the first night of our stay, we called ahead to check the restaurants nearby. My colleagues fell upon this tapas restaurant in town and asked the question that we are now all too familiar with:
"Are you still open?"
"YES! We will stay open until THEY shut us down!"
As we stepped into the empty restaurant in the now ghost town of St-Sauveur, we were greeted with an uncomfortable level of hospitality and excitement.
Just like the reviews indicated, the food was amazing and the ambiance was... well, special. Having all the attention to ourselves is something that takes time to get used to. As dinner approaches the end, the chef/owner came out to greet his only guests of the night.
As soon as I made him comfortable by sharing my point of view on the current shenanigans, it got personal, it got emotional, and it got dark...
Stephane N. is a proud entrepreneur near the age of retirement. He had worked all his life to save up just enough money to open his dream restaurant in what used to be a vibrant tourist town. After 6 months of fear, quarantine, regulations, and fines... he lost almost everything.
On the bright side, he is "healthy". He's not part of the 175 thousand infected like I was. He's not part of the 400-something people hospitalized and he's certainly lucky that he's not one of the 7 people who died in Canada that night.
He is simply a part of the -6.7% GDP for Q2 2020. One of 8.9 million Canadians who relied on CERB to keep food on the table.
"My youngest daughter is only 16. She is so happy and has no idea what is happening... No matter how tough it gets, I don't want her to see me like this and have to worry about me..."
"Steph, you better be here next year when we come back! And we expect nothing less than what we had tonight!"
The emptiness of the street weighed extra heavy on us as we stepped out of the restaurant. I wonder if Steph will be the next on the list of "COVID-Related Deaths".
A city inspector's car slowly roams by. The man stared at us and took a peek into the empty restaurant. Steph told us about him; THEY are now looking for "infractions". I guess without the income from taxes, THEY have to pay for shit somehow...
The Stanford prison experiment
*The Stanford prison experiment (SPE) was a social psychology experiment that attempted to investigate the psychological effects of perceived power, focusing on the struggle between prisoners and prison officers. It was conducted at Stanford University on the days of August 14–20, 1971, by a research group led by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo using college students.
In the study, volunteers were assigned to be either "guards" or "prisoners" by the flip of a coin, in a mock prison, with Zimbardo himself serving as the superintendent. Several "prisoners" left mid-experiment, and the whole experiment was abandoned after six days. Early reports on experimental results claimed that students quickly embraced their assigned roles, with some guards enforcing authoritarian measures and ultimately subjecting some prisoners to psychological torture, while many prisoners passively accepted psychological abuse and, by the officers' request, actively harassed other prisoners who tried to stop it.*
Oct 1st, 2020:
As I'm chewing on my breakfast at the hotel, Comrade Legault and his crew went on national TV for the Nth time. Tomorrow, we will head back to the red zone, where all the restaurants, bars, gyms are going to be closed, where I'm not allowed to visit my mother, where we need to STAY INSIDE because some numbers just keep on going up.
So is this March 2.0? What kind of results can we expect this time? What have we learned and done since March? How long will this last? Are we sure this is the best way to go? If the death rate and hospitalization rate is low among young people, why don't you just confine the old ones?
WTF are the journalists doing? Can they ask real fucking questions? Why are you trying to scare us all the time? CAN YOU ASK WHERE IS CHECK & BALANCE WHEN YOU NEED IT!!??
Long live the CERB!
In 1935, Stalin invited his trusted senior advisors and some media henchmen to a meeting with the intent to make a point using the most evocative of methods. When everyone was gathered at the barnyard, he called for a live chicken and vigorously clenched it in one hand. With the other hand, he then began to pluck out the chicken’s feathers in handfuls. The poor bird squawked under the torment but Stalin kept at denuding the chicken until it convulsed with agony. Remarkably unperturbed by the feeling of disgust obvious on the faces of the people too afraid to express their unease to the dictator, he continued until the chicken was completely unfeathered.
He then put the bird down by a small heap of grain and stood up to finish the last act while the people curiously observed the chicken move towards the grain. As the chicken started to peck, Stalin put his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out another fistful of grain, putting it out in front of the wounded bird. To the utter surprise of the transfixed spectators, the chicken managed a weak-kneed stagger back to Stalin and started to peck the fresh grain right out of the hand that moments ago had inflicted unbearable pain on it. Stalin had made his point — loud and clear.
He turned to the people and said, “People are like this chicken. It doesn’t matter how much pain you inflict on them. The moment you offer them what they need, they will still follow you and turn to you for their survival.”
Cultural revolution 2.0
Zhang Hongbing was 16 when he denounced his mother for criticizing Chairman Mao.
They beat her, bound her and led her from home. She knelt before the crowds as they denounced her. Then they loaded her on to a truck, drove her to the outskirts of town and shot her.
Fang Zhongmou's execution for political crimes during the Cultural Revolution was commonplace in its brutality but more shocking to outsiders in one regard: her accusers were her husband and their 16-year-old child.
When her husband and son ran to denounce her, "I understood it meant death," Zhang said. In fact, he added, he called for her to be shot as a counter-revolutionary. He last saw her as she knelt on stage in the hours before her death.
Most children who turned on their parents were under political pressure, said Yin Hongbiao, a Beijing-based historian.
"Those with 'bad parents' suffered a lot and they resented their parents instead of resenting the system which brainwashed them daily," added Michel Bonnin, of Tsinghua University.
"They were encouraged to denounce their parents, so as to 'draw a line' between them and the enemy. It was the only way to save themselves. There were many cases of children who tried to protect their parents against the violence of Red Guards and were then beaten or even executed."
May 10th, 2020:
After 2 months of confinement and 3 weeks after recovering from COVID, I decided to visit my in-laws with my 7-month pregnant wife. As we gathered outside with the "2-meter" distance rule, a cop car showed up within 1 hour of our arrival.
Apparently, one of the neighbors reported us as soon as we arrived. Risking $1000 each as fines, we were forced to leave. As we drove away, I felt appalled. I was disgusted and exasperated.
What the fuck is happening? Why are neighbors turning on neighbors?
October 9th, 2020:
It's been a week that Sylvie barely slept. Since Tyson got his vaccine, he's been dealing with a stomach issue that is keeping him awake. My wife needs help from her parents. But, according to the new "rules", no visit is allowed in the Red Zone. Risking mental and physical breakdowns, we finally decided that it's best for her to return to her parents.
However, after months of constant fear-mongering, they changed too. The reality is, they don't fear contracting the virus; they fear the repercussions of breaking the arbitrary rules imposed on them by those who know as much (or rather, as little) as they do. They fear that their neighbors will once again call the police. They fear that the fines will be hefty. They fear that THEY would come after them.
After consulting the nonsensical rules, we've determined that "moving back" to her parents does not technically fall under illegal activity.
"Can you get a doctor's paper to show that you are experiencing a mental breakdown?"
"Also, if you come here, Nan can't come to visit you."
And, just like that, with a stroke of a pen from some incompetent bureaucrat sitting on a shitter while working from home, my right to see my wife and my kid was taken away from me.
On my drive home, the "breaking news" of the week was on the radio.
"Systemic racism in Quebec...."
REALLY!? Is this the number 1 issue facing Quebec right now? SYSTEMIC RACISM?! What about individual vs government rights? What about civil liberty? What about the millions of people who are out of work? What about the insurmountable level of debt for our generation? All that to save how many lives!?
"Can you put a mask on in the hallway sir?"
"Fuck you and your mother fucking rules!"
The road to hell is paved with good intentions
Every single time we question the results and impacts of failed policies and actions, we are met with sensational rhetoric justifying their failure with good intentions.
"We are saving lives!"
"C'est parce qu'on aime nos enfants."
It is the scapegoat for incompetence and it's politics at its best.
Sensationalism works because we are fundamentally animals. Especially the "woke" and "morally superior" ones who argue with feelings rather than facts. They are being manipulated with Utopian ideals and moral superiority to fill their otherwise unfulfilled life. In their righteous mind, any horrible action and result are justified as long as the intention is "grand" and "just".
Our educational system was supposed to "cure" this instinctive defect by training us with critical thinking. However, the radical left and cancel culture have turned schools and universities that were once battlegrounds for ideas into a Collectivism breeding ground. Where like-minded Fucks perform "intellectual" circle jerks and shower each other with social justice bukkake.
And for those of you laughing and smirking while reading my article, yet failing to stand up against this madness because of fear of confrontation, fear of social persecution for questioning the status quo with logic and rationality, Fuck you too!
The Silent Majority - YOU are the reason why our political parties and media outlets are being hijacked by simple-minded radicals who see the world in black and white. Your nuanced superior mind makes you hesitant to speak up. Your unwillingness to call Bullshit on people makes them feel entitled to not be offended. You are the reason why our social media, our national TV, our politicians, and the fucking crying babies are talking about non-issues while our civil liberty is being taken away at an unprecedented rate.
How many rights do we have to give up to save how many lives? How many businesses need to go bankrupt before we say enough is enough? How much bullshit do we have to take before we say: "Legault, Trudeau, Ford, you talk a lot of shit about the US but let's be honest, you don't know wtf you are doing either do you?!"
The enemy of an enemy is a friend
"Do you know that the Chinese government monitors its people with surveillance cameras and geolocation apps? Do you know that under the authoritarian regime of Putin, the government can put a death sentence on businesses for the "greater good"?"
What used to be scary tales are now becoming the status quo in the "land of the free".
People mistakenly think that such regimes can only happen in countries where people don't know any better. But in reality, we are all one economic crisis & a few failed policies away from living in a shit hole. If we don't set boundaries on power and protect our individual rights, any retarded collective movement can jeopardize decades of progress.
While I am NOT suggesting that Trudeau or Legault's intention is to create a totalitarian regime nor am I suggesting that they have the competence to do so, I am a strong believer in the fact that everyone is driven by incentives. Fear is by far the most effective tool to gain popularity. The media uses fear to maintain relevance and the government uses fear to get re-elected. The price to pay by criticizing the current administration is too high for any political opposition. Rationally questioning "the value of life" by making sense of the quarantine measures is political suicide in today's PC world.
As I am running out of words to describe my frustration and despair, I am still optimistic about our future. I'm optimistic not because there is any hope that this incompetent administration (Canadian federal and provincial) will have the integrity to admit that they don't know what they are doing. In fact, at this point, we are too deep into this "quarantine" at all cost bullshit and we have created too much fear to reverse the situation.
I am optimistic because I know that we will find a vaccine soon. A vaccine that 90% of the world won't have access to and >50% of the population who have access won't take. But, the vaccine will be a total game-changer because, once again, it will be weaponized for political victory laps. The great Triumph against COVID-19, where we potentially saved thousands of lives by destroying millions.
I am optimistic because if there is one thing I learned from this once in a lifetime (hopefully) experience, is that no matter what happens, people like me will be just fine.