"think the unthinkable..."

The utterly brilliant and insightful historian and archaeologist, Neil Oliver, once again delivers a short monologue that sums up the loss of faith and sinking realisation that many of us have come to experience after the last two years.

It's hard to think the unthinkable but there comes a time when there's nothing else for it. People raised to trust the powers that be, who have assumed as I once did, that the state, regardless of its political flavour at any given moment, is essentially benevolent and well-meaning; will naturally try to keep that benevolence in mind when trying to make sense of what's going on around them.

People like you and me were raised on the understanding that we are free. That we have inalienable rights and that the institutions of this country have our best interests at heart - will tend to tie ourselves in knots rather than contemplate the idea that those authorities might actually be working against us now. I took that thought of benevolent, well-meaning authority for granted for most of my life. God help me, not to put too finer point on it. I was as gullible as the next chump!

Neil goes on to list all those nonsensical actions that inevitably appear to favour the already wealthy and powerful. Like how the pandemic made the richest people in the world richer and saw a huge transfer of wealth away from small business and the poor. This is only worsening now with inflation after the biggest monetary binge in history.

How draconian green policy will make once productive farms far less productive and viable, potentially pushing many small farmers off their land. I'm guessing there'll be a lot of cheap farm land floating around for those big corporates to snap up...? Indeed, Dutch farmers make the accusation of a blatant land-grab done under the guise of 'green'. All this at a time of looming food shortages? We've already seen a humanitarian crisis envelop Sri Lanka with not enough food to feed their population. Do we really want that same fate? Do we really want food production in the hands of a very few?

Neil Oliver's list is posed as observations and questions. The list is one that more of us are becoming cognisant of. Something is not right. Neil Oliver is a well known historian and TV personality, publisher of many books and yet this video was taken off YouTube after close to 100,000 people viewed it in less than 24 hours. My guess is he was punished for mentioning the many people who have been harmed from those jabs. The link I've used above is the same video but on a platform that doesn't censor. If you haven't already, watch it and ask yourself what's so offensive about it? Make no mistake, increasingly you will only get to view what the Big Tech Cartel will allow you to see. This is the type of censorship you see in authoritarian China.  

Personally, I believe that the global political class are in the grip of ideologically driven Group Think and have lost the plot! It's not like we haven't seen leaders lose the plot before. Pol Pot anyone? Mao with in his Cultural Revolution? Famine and starvation was the outcome in addition to millions killed. Perhaps we've been complacent in thinking it was all left behind in the last century and couldn't possibly happen again?  

There's an almost cult-like adherence to policies that will cause immense deprivation and harm. Like everything else in our modern world, it's a global phenomena. Once upon a time politicians worked to better living standards. Now they all seemingly sing from the exact same hymn sheet as they work to lower them! The harm is already apparent with more people in first world countries needing to make a choice between heat and eat. The technical term for that is energy poverty and it's happening here in NZ too. Having stuffed energy grids and energy security with intermittent energy fantasies, our politicians are collectively now going after food production!

Most psychology students learn about Group Think in their first year of study. Who doesn't know about the Bay of Pigs Fiasco and how this almost precipitated an all out nuclear war in 1962? No small or laughing matter. Social psychologist, Irving Janis, who studied this phenomena found that in Group Think homogeneity of decision-makers was a factor - they tend to come from similar backgrounds, university education, similar cultural milieu and so think alike. Differing viewpoints are strongly discouraged. Mind-guarding to enforce conformity and self-censorship for self-protection are also present.

Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when a group of individuals reaches a consensus without critical reasoning or evaluation of the consequences or alternatives.

In NZ group think and cultural conformity is maintained via the insistence on 'consensus' (we all think the same and if you don't you're not one of Cindy's "team of 5 million"). It's promulgated by Government funding of media - formerly the independent 4th estate who used to hold Government to account. They're now simply the Government's communications (propaganda) department. The media run attack campaigns and use character smears. The orchestrated hit jobs are often what you find at the top of a Google search.

Large corporations (often dependent on the NZ Government as the biggest 'customer') use policy to push the Government agenda to their employees and other subcontractors down the line. Big tech use censorship to enforce conformity of thinking and obedience, as YouTube (owned by Google) has just demonstrated against Neil Oliver.  

You don't think we're being conditioned to be obedient? Just look at how many people are out there still wearing those blue masks or a dirty rag over their face, including outdoors in the fresh air where the virus cannot survive. It's the ultimate in signalling conformity.

The blue surgical masks that most wear (including hour after hour for those poor souls in retail), are designed to stop bacteria, not viruses. Viruses are way, way smaller and simply pass through! Inappropriate use of surgical and cloth masks, often reused many times, is simply a breeding ground for fungal and microbial infections. So, ineffective and unsafe. If the Government were serious about masking we'd all be wearing N95 masks and changing them every few hours. It would be hugely expensive and unsustainable. Continuing to wear the blue or cloth masks, that are as effective as a tissue over your face, is simply about displaying your obedience to Government diktat. That's the point of it.

Most people want to avoid the risk of being publicly bullied, which is the implied threat. I'm more than willing to have a rational conversation backed up by facts. As an independent thinker I enjoy combating Government misinformation that was designed to generate fear, obtain obedience and ensure control!

Masks serve no scientific purpose (see here for list of research evidence), so drop that mask and reclaim your freedom. Go on, it feels good and while you're at it make sure you smile at people! Everyone who does this gives someone else the courage to dissent. This is critical because legitimising dissent is how to combat group think and unthinking obedience/cultural conformity. Courage is contagious. Sadly, so is fear and don't the Government and its flying monkeys know it!

This is why the media goes hard after anyone offering an alternate viewpoint against the proscribed scaremongering narrative - be it COVID or Climate. It's to send a warning message to others who might raise their heads above the parapet. It's a psychological and deliberately intimidatory tactic. This is how tyranny gets a foothold.

If you're medically fragile and/or anxious then take your own precautions including with expensive masks that are fit for the purpose. Don't impose your anxieties on others, especially healthy children whose education, physical and mental health are suffering after two years of histrionics. Enough is enough.

We have a global political class in the grip of ideologically driven Group Think and we are being herded, somewhere. That much is clear.