Facts versus Hype

The Prime Minister of Canada called Covid-19 an “opportunity”, hence giving credence to L.H. Mencken’s quote:  “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”  (1)

With this in mind, consider the alarmist media coverage broadcasting to the masses, contrasted with the carefree movements and attitude of elites freely travelling around the country and across continents.   What double-standard allowed both scenarios to exist simultaneously?  The likelihood is that the elites had information that the media did not convey to the general public.  Take the following excerpts from Statistics Canada for 2020 into consideration:

  1. “Covid-19 deaths also disproportionately occurred in older populations during the March-to-early-June period”.   “Approximately 94% of the deaths caused by Covid-19 involved individuals aged 65 and older”  (2)

2,  “..about 95% of the deaths directly caused by Covid-19 during the Fall involved people aged 65 and older.”   “Dementia or Alzheimer’s are the most common comorbidities associated with Covid-19 deaths”  (2)    ie:  the patients were predominately geriatric.

  1. “There were fewer than fifty Covid-involved deaths among those under the age of 45.  Pneumonia, and symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified, were the most common comorbidities among this age group.” (2)
  1. “100% of the Covid-involved deaths of Canadians under the age of 45 as of July 31 had at least one other disease or condition certified on the medical certificate of death.”   (2)
  1. “In the [WHO] international guidelines for certifying Covid-19 as a cause of death, certifiers are instructed to record Covid-19 on the medical certificate of cause of death for all decedents where the disease caused, or assumed to have caused, or contributed to death.”   (2)
  1. “when a pre-existing condition is suspected of putting a person at higher risk of a severe course of Covid-19 resulting in death, the death is counted as a death due to Covid-19 rather than a death due to pre-existing condition.  It is also possible that the death may have been influenced by Covid-19 but caused by another disease or an unintentional injury event.”   (2)   In effect, inflating death-by-covid numbers.

Yes, Covid-19 is real, and a serious threat to health-compromised individuals (whom should have been identified and properly sequestered from the outset).  However, the overall facts do not support the level of media hype that transpired.  And calling the situation an “opportunity” by Canada’s own leader is inexcusable – if not downright disgusting.

Ultimately, it appears the double-standard of the elites arose because of their apparent privilege to the facts in real time, which suggested they were not personally at risk, while the average citizen relied solely on the prescribed message delivered through the media,  and an administration seemingly preoccupied with exploiting an “opportunity”.

(1)  H.L. Mencken, In Defense of Woman 
(2)  www150.statcan.gc.ca, Statistics Canada, O’Brien, St-Jean, Wood, Willbond, Phillips, Currie, and Turcotte.

“Castle Canuck” ….. a parody

Mesmerized by fancy socks, puffy words, promises of legalized drugs, and free stuff, one third of a Kingdom was propelled to vote the village idiot in as Emperor.  Another group, downtrodden for various reasons, of their own volition or otherwise, propped up this first group, like dancing jesters performing in the castle, hoping for scraps and favours.

A third group, disgruntled, and wanting to be free from the confines of this entire royal confederation holed themselves up behind a pale of their own making, even though they opened the door readily to accept handouts for doing absolutely nothing.

Then there was the sprinkling of supercilious underlings, who jostled for position, with no hope of ever securing elected status, nipping at heels and stealing votes on all sides for their own egos because they flatly refused to get along with any of the others.

Alas, this left the last group, a quiet popular majority, standing outside the castle walls looking in at the chaos.  They did not ask for handouts, nor did they dance.  They merely desired to work for their own autonomy and self-determination but, none the less, were disliked by all the others.

What a strange rag-tag and disconnected group, for which the Emperor, naked as he was, could not reconcile.  “You ask for too much!” he cried while throwing their hard earned money to the wind, and insisting they now use only the newly approved words.

Thus, was the Kingdom of Castle Canuck, a sad and royal mess to behold.  Then the plague arrived…….

What can we expect from Government?

What can we expect from Government, and what price do we really pay?

An essential difference between those guided by common sense and those who believe that government, (ever increasing in size) can provide the essentials of life, falls between the definitions of ‘wants’ versus ‘needs.’

In this pandemic governed society, government has allowed itself the opportunity to take on ‘emergency’ powers permitting it to dictate our movements and actions in ways that we would never have considered reasonable before.  It has set aside the normal administration of justice by permitting its agents, to direct activities and levy fines and which are, by statute, the responsibility of legislatures and the courts.

We have seen federal and provincial governments use the pandemic as justification to make huge financial disbursements with no effective plan or oversight, the consequences of which will leave our great-grandchildren with the obligation of repayment.

In a democracy, we accept these actions because we accept the judgements of those, we elect to manage our society, to take the necessary action to meet the ‘needs’ of all of us.  To be effective as a democracy, we need to regularly revisit the outcomes of their decisions to see whether they simply addressed loosely defined ‘wants’ that had little to do with reasons involved with a pandemic.

In an effective democracy citizens should hold all representatives, found to have overstated the requirement, personally responsible for their actions and assign them some very heavy penalties.