Dear Friends,
It seems to me, soon we can judge the wisdom of Ben Franklin’s words, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Ancient Rome had a means of dealing with emergencies that required Romans give up their liberty for a limited period of time… the dictatorship. For the most part, it worked, saving Rome from the Gauls for example. It didn’t always work though, and the more the dictatorship was used, the more destructive of Roman liberty it became, until it utterly wiped out all Roman freedom, resulting in the post republic period. From that historical example we can glean the insight, that using dictatorship to negotiate an emergency is often more dangerous to the liberty, prosperity and independence of the people, than the emergency itself.
Fear is a powerful motivator of human beings. Put the fear of death into us, or more fittingly, the death of our loved ones, and we become putty in the hands of our masters. They know it… we don’t. How many wars have been fought over fear alone? In ancient Rome, if a plague would sweep through, the Romans would find a Vestal Virgin who “wasn’t chaste,” and kill her, to satisfy the gods. Then, miraculously, a month or two later the plague would go away. Obviously, killing the woman had nothing to do with the plague going away, but it made the people feel better by assuaging some of their fear. That emotion is so powerful because it is generated when we are in mortal danger from a lion, and even when we imagine a lion, both causes can result in panic that overrules our rational minds.
Criminal organizations work through the judicial use of fear. They display their violence so everyone else will see it and fear them. Then wield that fear like an epee to control people. That is why when there is a killing in a ghetto, the old saw is… there are never witnesses. Because everyone is too afraid to speak. So the criminal enterprise can continue unimpeded by the law. This is a way of using fear to get people to willingly give up liberty and become a slave of criminals. How many Zatoichi movies are based on this theme? Almost all of them? Since fear is a tool of organized crime to forward immoral and illegal acts, it is not a stretch to conclude that using fear as a weapon, is probably immoral as well. By the dictates of the golden rule… it certainly is.
Those who capitulate to fear of evil, to stay “protected” from that evil, only allows evil the time and space to become powerful enough to become an existential threat, rather than a nuisance. In the case of organized crime, clearly, exchanging liberty for safety gets one the opposite. It destroys liberty as well as making everyone far less safe. In the case of becoming cannon fodder to participate in a war out of fear… only empowers those who would manipulate you by fear. Becoming a quivering bag of jelly might not be wise though. Despite the magnificent banquet of fear, fed to us by the unbiased media, the cleptocracy and the bureaucracy, which we all know are totally on our side, not at all psychopathic or manipulative, so we can trust them. Regardless of the steady parade of lies they ply us with.
Is it possible that giving up all our liberty, out of fear of a pandemic, will lead to a good place? Maybe if we sacrifice a few more babies to Moloch the Wuhan flu will go away. That certainly is Planned Parenthood’s answer. Which is why they are demanding abortions be considered essential. The WHO has been astoundingly wrong, else have lied through this whole thing, so, they are either incompetent… or liars. The bureaucracy has passed us a few whoppers as well, like masks don’t work, before they ordered us to wear a mask, did they lie then, or now? Our central planners are deciding for us what is essential, and barricading off “non essential” store isles, for our own good. What do you think… can we trust liars, criminals and manipulators to restore liberty once taken?
Sincerely,
John Pepin
