Rules, Order, Discipline are Imperative for Healthy Society
Last month a financial planner had an opinion piece published at the Strategic
Culture Foundation news site titled “Coronavirus Silence Is Not Golden: The
Pathetic Truth About Americans.” It is sad that SCF allowed this piece to
squeeze through the editors, even with a disclaimer. My advice regarding Gary
D. Barnett’s bit of undisciplined authorship is to forget it immediately,
without taking it to heart— but not before I have a go at challenging it.
Some people dislike rules, order,
and discipline for themselves but are tireless in demanding that others obey “their”
orders. Rules, order, discipline are absolutely essential to a fully
functioning and healthy society.
Gary D. Barnett breaks all the
rules—rules of language, rules of accuracy, rules of rational thought. His
piece is generally lacking in intellectual rigor, and specifically lacking in compliance
with essential rules of language and literacy. Among his unruliness are the
words “evil” (eight times) and “that.” I noticed in another article by Barnett that
he seems to like the word “evil.” There must be some baggage attached to that,
which is better left for a biographical piece.
“Evil” is a word that rises from religious
allegory and from an ancient’s interpretive teachings. Barnett is no doubt is an
interpreter of an interpreter. The word should not substitute for more precise
and appropriate English language usage such as wrongdoing, infractions, transgression,
harm, misguidedness, ineptitude, selfishness, callousness; even theft, plunder,
or abuse of power, among other precise terms.
The word “that,” which he uses repeatedly (33 times!), should not be used
with persons but with place, things, events, or inanimate objects. This example
from Barnett’s text:
… [M]ost of the
extreme evil is accomplished by the
few, the few being those that are consumed by a severe psychopathic nature,
which includes certain individuals, those in power such as governments, those
elites controlling governments, warmongers, and all those that use deceit to gain nefarious
agendas ….
In language as in actions, rules,
order, discipline are important; thus “people who need people are the luckiest people in the world people.”
Gary Barnett disobeys rules, order, and discipline; and seems to disavow
concepts like cooperation and togetherness—indispensable in the current global
health crisis—preferring the American trait of “individualism” coupled with “capitalism”
and “consumerism”; “me” and “me and mine.”
His article also seems premised on
the nonsensical notions as “exceptionalism” (exceptional seven times) and the “American
dream,” which are manipulative terms that have no existence in reality, any
more than does Santa Claus and the tooth fairy.
“Is the American dream only a
farce?” he asks. “Is this the best that the so-called ‘exceptional’ can muster?”
“… What is
exceptional about hiding in their own homes fearful of doing anything normal,…
What is exceptional about not going to work and closing down all your
businesses that are required to protect and support your families? What could
possibly cause the ‘exceptional’ to bow down and beg for the state they claim
to control, to protect them from a common cold by destroying every liberty and
right they allege to have. Where are those tens of millions of ‘exceptional’ that
scream out that they live in the ‘land of the free and the home of the brave…. What
is ‘exceptional’ or brave about hiding under your bed because some politician
demands that you do as you are told?”
Perhaps one of the most egregious of human flaws is the belief, often acted out, that in order to live well, one
must slaughter others; in order to succeed, others must fail; that one’s quality
of life is determined or measured by the misery of others.
|
M
|
ust “they” hurt for “our” healing?
Gore Vidal is attributed with the
saying “It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.”
In this same narrowness of thought
is the notion that success predicated on the failure of others. Nations
advance, nations fall. Advancing nations fall nations. Advanced nations often cause
other nations to fail— the failing of
states. The US is notorious for this. Mr. Barnett seems to agree with this
dictum.
He seems to suggest that winners are the tough “exceptional(s)” and people
who sacrifice for the health of the whole society are wimps and losers. In his
argument, Barnett presents his audience with meanderings through extremism (the problem with extremism is its show of
ignorance and its omission of essentials), overstatement, and falsehood.
His scolding and counsel advice are particularly reckless.
“We are in the middle of the single biggest
takeover of humanity [wow, big talk!]
that has ever been attempted….
This takeover is due
to a fraudulent virus scare cooked
up by those seeking world domination, and whose agenda is evil.… A fake virus pandemic long planned by the
evil among us has brought this country to its knees.…
“Any that [presumably he means people who] refuse to speak out, to go to
work, to help their neighbors, to protect their families from poverty, to take
charge of a government gone mad, and to eliminate a tyranny… should be ashamed
of themselves, and should in the future keep silent and say no more unless they
stand up to this coronavirus monster purposely created by their rulers.”
Let’s take a look at his “fraudulent,”
“fake.” Reality is far different
from Mr. Barnett’s ramblings.
[Emphasis added in italics and bold font]
|
C
|
oronavirus Deaths May 2020 updates
European Centre for Disease Prevention
and Control:
An agency of the European Union
“Since December 31, 2019
and as of May 15, 2020: 4,
405, 680 cases of COVID-19 (in accordance with the applied case
definitions and testing strategies in the affected countries) have been
reported, including 302, 115 deaths.”
Countries, Continents, Counts reported
- Africa: 75 685 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are South Africa (12 739), Egypt (10 829), Morocco (6 607), Algeria (6 442) and Ghana (5 530).
- Asia: 732 064 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are Turkey (144 749), Iran (114 533), China (84 029), India (81 970) and Saudi Arabia (46 869).
- Americas: 1 943 455 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are United States (1 417 889), Brazil (202 918), Peru (80 604), Canada (73 401) and Mexico (42 595).
- Europe: 1 645 366 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are Russia (252 245), United Kingdom (233 151), Spain (229 540), Italy (223 096) and Germany (173 152).
- Oceania: 8 414 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are Australia (6 989), New Zealand (1 148), Guam (154), French Polynesia (60) and Northern Mariana Islands (19).
- Other: 696 cases have been reported from an international conveyance in Japan.
Deaths
- Africa: 2 563 deaths; the five countries reporting most deaths are Egypt (571), Algeria (529), South Africa (238), Morocco (190) and Nigeria (167).
- Asia: 23 531 deaths; the five countries reporting most deaths are Iran (6 854), China (4 637), Turkey (4 007), India (2 649) and Indonesia (1 043).
- Americas: 117 069 deaths; the five countries reporting most deaths are United States (85 906), Brazil (13 993), Canada (5 472), Mexico (4 477) and Ecuador (2 338).
- Europe: 158 819 deaths; the five countries reporting most deaths are United Kingdom (33 614), Italy (31 368), France (27 425), Spain (27 321) and Belgium (8 903).
- Oceania: 126 deaths; the four countries reporting deaths are Australia (98), New Zealand (21), Guam (5) and Northern Mariana Islands (2).
- Other: 7 deaths have been reported from an international conveyance in Japan.
Statista
“As of May 15, 2020,
the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had spread to six
continents, and approximately 304,201 people had died after contracting the
respiratory virus. Around 31,400 of these deaths occurred in Italy.”
Worldometers
|
Coronavirus Cases estimated
total:
|
4,600,243
|
|
Deaths:
|
306,987
|
|
Recovered:
|
1,739,148
|
|
Total cases (sample)
|
|
|
USA 1,472,312
|
Spain: 274,367
|
|
Russia: 262,843
|
UK: 236,711
|
|
|
|
|
Netherlands: 43,681
|
Mexico: 42,595
|
|
China: 82,933
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. Korea: 11,018
|
Denmark: 10,791
|
|
Norway: 8,206
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vietnam: 312
|
|
|
|
Greenland: 11
|
USA - PRC
Estimated population (2017) People’s Republic of China: 1.428 billion. Approximate
space: 9.6 million square kilometers (3.707 million square miles)
Estimated population (2019) United States of America: 328.2 million. Contiguous
US states total population (2010 census): 306,675,006. Approximate space of US 48
contiguous states and the District of Columbia (total): 3,119,884.69 square
miles (8,080,464.3 kilometers); (contiguous land): 2,959,064.44 square miles
(7,663,941.7 kilometers); (water area official count): 160,820.25 square miles
(416,522.5 kilometers).
Back to Barnett’s counsel to his audience
“Refuse to close your businesses and go
back to work. Refuse to take orders. Refuse to be banned from travel. Refuse to
abide by any “social distancing” nonsense. Refuse to self-isolate, and force
the state to play its hand. Refuse to vaccinate, and help destroy those like
the evil Bill Gates and his pawns at the CDC. Refuse to listen to any impotent
governor that only seeks more power and notoriety. Refuse to accept a king, for
mass disobedience will destroy the beast that is tyranny.”
We can think better than this.
|
G
|
erman President Frank-Walter Steinmeier
April 11, 2020
“[T]his pandemic is
not a war. Nations are not against other nations, [nor] soldiers against other
soldiers. It is a test of our humanity.”
May 8, 2020
“The world must draw
lessons from the past and work together to beat the coronavirus….
“For us Germans,
‘never again’ means ‘never again alone.’”
“We want more, not
less cooperation in the world
Sources
My commentary pegged to
Barnett, Gary D. “Coronavirus Silence Is Not Golden: The Pathetic Truth
About Americans” April 16, 2020 Strategic Culture Foundation (footnoted lewrockwell.com;
and “The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of
the Strategic Culture Foundation” https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/04/16/coronavirus-silence-not-golden-pathetic-truth-about-americans/
The Gary D Barnett dot com website describes the writer as a former
business owner and “retired financial advisor and estate planner, and money
manager” who has “written for lewrockwell.com, The Future of Freedom
Foundation, and several other publications.” https://www.garydbarnett.com/about/
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
An agency of the European Union
“COVID-19 situation update worldwide, as of May 15, 2020”
Epidemiological update
The data presented on this page has been collected between 6:00 and
10:00 CET
Disclaimer: National updates are published at different times and in
different time zones. This, and the time ECDC needs to process these data, may
lead to discrepancies between the national numbers and the numbers published by
ECDC. Users are advised to use all data with caution and awareness of their
limitations. Data are subject to retrospective corrections; corrected datasets
are released as soon as processing of updated national data has been completed.
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/geographical-distribution-2019-ncov-cases
Statista “COVID-19 deaths worldwide as of May 15, 2020, by country”
Published by John Elflein, May 15, 2020
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1093256/novel-coronavirus-2019ncov-deaths-worldwide-by-country/
“WHO raises global
risk level: Approximately 210 countries and territories worldwide have been
affected by the COVID-19 disease. The risk of infection is serious if you are
in an area where there are confirmed cases, and the World Health Organization
(WHO) has labeled the outbreak a pandemic. Many countries around the world have
now imposed travel restrictions, but if you have recently traveled to an
affected area or been in close contact with someone with the virus, you should
seek medical advice and try to stay away from public places.
Symptoms of the
virus
“It can take up to
14 days for symptoms of the illness to start being noticed. The most commonly
reported symptoms are a fever and a dry cough, leading to shortness of breath.
The early symptoms are similar to other viruses common at this time of year,
such as the common cold and flu – these illnesses spread more during cold
months, but it is not yet known whether or not temperature impacts the spread
of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Once again, medical advice should be sought if you are
experiencing any of these symptoms.”
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1093256/novel-coronavirus-2019ncov-deaths-worldwide-by-country/
Worldometers “COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC” Last updated: May 15,
2020, 19:30 GMT https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contiguous_United_States
DW. “Coronavirus crisis:
Germany’s president addresses nation.” April 11, 2020.
https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-president-calls-for-patience-solidarity-in-face-of-pandemic/a-53095804
Hindustan Times “German president
urges ‘more cooperation’ in COVID fight on WWII anniversary” May 8, 2020 https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/german-president-urges-more-cooperation-in-covid-fight-on-wwii-anniversary/story-cWgb5GYE38edbRl281NlmK.html
Insight Beyond Today’s News, CLB - © All Rights
Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment