“It’s more than fair to say that we are experiencing a pandemic, but not the one you hear about ad nauseam. No, the pandemic is not a virus, it is a pandemic outbreak of Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy which focuses its obsessions on the virus. Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy is a mental illness in which the sufferer fantasises that others — usually people in their charge, such as children — are suffering from serious illness and require drastic medical intervention.
“Observe what has happened over the last 7 months, and what if anything is increasing in intensity today. The obsession with COVID-19. The monomaniacal focus on ‘cases’ (usually the result of hypersensitive tests prone to false positives), with the belief that people who test positive are sick, and huge numbers of those who become sick will die. Given the actual experience over the last several months, these beliefs are wildly exaggerated — imaginary, fantasised illnesses, with fantasised severity, just the kind of thing that a sufferer of MSbP does.”
Christine concurred:
“I have spoken to at least 3 ministers/senior politicians here in SA. They know all this. They are simply not prepared to go against 70pc of the population, Twitter, Facebook, The Advertiser and other states.
“They do not control the narrative and so they are simply waiting for the hysteria to die down. Here in SA there is NO Covid and yet we remain with serious restrictions. They also know that a vaccine is not going to ‘save; us and that Covid will be back. So they keep us ‘in the habit’ so we are ready.”
David had doubts:
“I’ve been monitoring the average age of death ‘with Covid’ in Australia for a while, now and have kept landing on 85. Then looking at our overall average age of death of 82.5 and thinking ‘huh?’
“I checked and re-checked my maths regularly and kept landing on the figure. So it’s pleasing to see an article that validates my findings. There seems to be a lot of obviously flawed ‘science’ references coming from our authorities.
“It’s a nice window into the now commonly espoused mantra of ‘listening to the science’. I’m beginning to think that ‘listening to the science’ is actually code for ‘interpreting and manipulating the interpretation of the science to fit the narrative we want’. Unfortunately, I suspect that this applies to more than just COVID-19 and will be watching more hawkishly from this point on.”
Thanks from Ken:
“Another great article. Thank you, Henry. Your intelligent, reasoned article stand in stark contrast to the spin of Dictator Dan and his comrades in Victoria.”
Spake Sir Shwell:
“I think Dan has used this as an opportunity to force his ideology upon us. So heavily invested now, he has to continue the ruse. This will be his undoing, if it’s not already terminal.”
John’s two cents:
“This article, in a nutshell, sums up why I subscribe to The Australian. A sober, reasoned, erudite piece of copy if there ever was one. This paragraph in particular has knocked me for six:
“ ‘Overall, the disease reduced French life expectancy by one-tenth of a year for women and two-tenths of a year for men, which, while by no means trivial, is a smaller reduction than influenza caused in 2008, 2012 and 2015’. In addition, today I read the Great Barrington Declaration by Professors Gupta, Bhattacharya and Kulldorff. This article, along with this Declaration, should be compulsory reading for every politician in Australia.”
Prophet of Boom foresaw:
“I have signed the Great Barrington declaration and others should too. Here we have extremely experienced epidemiologists, medical professors and others advocating a sensible series of policies based on what we know now about the virus.
“Very sensible and a world away from the dead end stupid policies our federal and state govts are advocating. Why are we only listing to certain medical ‘experts’ and not those behind the Great Barrington declaration?”
MM1971 said:
“The latest estimation for the release of an effective vaccine is mid to late 2021. If you remain fearful, stay home, but for the love of Bob, please let the majority of us manage our own risk and live again. The virus is fizzling and a vaccine may not even be needed.
— beyond frustrated Victorian, broke and bereft.
“It is past time that social media is regulated and taxed, since their influence in populations all over the world is only increasing by the day. Social media and MSM have perpetuated the fear that holds so many politicians in this binary choice of lockdown or let it rip.
It is the balanced response that is missing. Getting your ‘news’ from social media is like getting your nutrition from a Chiko Roll.”
Cleve believed:
“This is a great piece of writing, thanks. This is as much a philosophical issue as it is a medical one, now possibly even more so, as we see how fear can be leveraged to great effect. The Apocalypse Industry has experienced rapid growth of late and that particular stock is way overdue for a significant correction.”
Macavity mused:
“What wimps we have become! Remember when we used to think that being brave and adventurous was a good thing?”
Arlys 1 opined:
“It has become a political tool for premiers of this country and used to keep themselves in their own jobs, by sacrificing others, and caring not a twig. All Labor premiers, they are ruthless, and the Qld Premier has the advantage of an election coming up, and is milking it for all it’s worth.
“Problem being, she is not consistent, footballers, celebs, OK, brain tumour, and other serious medical conditions, are not welcomed over the border, which has possibly contributed to the death of a twin. This is political, playing to Brisbane people, but caning the regions. Internal polling shows Brisbane will vote her back in, but she should be aware, and would be, Townsville is getting ready to vote her out.
“This region, along with so many others, has suffered greatly from border closure, and lack of police, as have many regions in the state, and it’s time this govt went. This virus, is far more than a cold, it is a weapon against the people, and should never have been allowed to become a tool for a premier.”
Ali added:
“Her strategy is about to get her four more years. It’s been tested by polling — at public expense, of course.”
From WilliamH:
“As a former intensive care paramedic I said to my wife, a former emergency dept and general nurse at the start of this episode that the key here is increased hygiene protection and support of the elderly and those with predisposed medical conditions. If everyone else then also became more aware of the need for PPE etc then life can go on fairly normally.
Nope re ‘experts’ wanted us all locked up!
“As to the death rates, the bulk of the media, along with the premiers in particular of Vic and Qld (who has nothing in her political armoury other than closing the border!) don’t highlight the ages of those who die. On the rare occasion when a young person does, they fail to highlight their predisposed medical conditions. It’s pathetic.
“Meanwhile, around 25,000 will die prematurely from our greatest cause of death which is Out Of Hospital Sudden Cardiac Arrest (OHSA). This prematurely kills the young through to the not so young who are still active and productive. Where’s the hysteria and hype for this, our nations greatest tragedy?”
–
Simon Benson described Anthony Albanese’s budget reply as a journey back to the future in an attempt to rebrand Labor as a party of nation-building vision, and an acknowledgment of how hopelessly detached Labor has become from the aspirations of middle Australia. Boris bemoaned:
“Albo and the ALP have just about blown the pea out of the old, ‘fairness’ dog whistle.”
Dean was mean:
“I thought we had gold plated the poles and wires of our electricity grid? That’s what we were told to explain recent electricity hikes. Now Labor want to spend billions on upgrading the grid. Why? I hear you ask. So that Greg Combet and the union run industry super funds can invest in renewables. The grid needs to be rebuilt to be able to cope with unreliable and irregular power. Meanwhile China buys our coal to provide cheap electricity to make the solar and panels and wind turbines. A boon industry because they will all need replacing every 20 years. Clever country NOT.”
John lamented:
“ ‘A first attempt to start unshackling Labor from the failed policy agenda and the class war political campaign that cost it the last election’? Coming from Albanese, that attempt is like a forlorn and ghostly, distant cry in the night, swiftly carried away by a cold, stiff wind. “Albanese is precisely the last person to try to represent a decoupling from their class-war approach, he of the frequent boast that ‘fighting Tories’ is what he does and what he loves.
And if Labor thinks we’re ready to fall for their ‘we’re not so different, you and I, Mr Bond’ gag all over again, with, as Simon tells us, ‘very little daylight between’ them and the Coalition on economic reform, they should think again. That sounds eerily similar to Rudd’s oft-repeated declaration that ‘there isn’t a cigarette paper’s difference between me and Howard on fiscal matters.’ And we all know how that claim turned out.
“I still don’t know how Rudd missed out on the Gold Logie that year with that stellar acting performance, before he revealed his true self and set about creating a budget black hole that took six years of responsible Coalition management to fix, right up to last year. He and Gillard made a mess in so many ways, and for Albanese of all people to try that bait-and-switch routine again doesn’t pass the laugh test.
“Indeed, it speaks volumes about Labor’s woeful irrelevance that in nearly four decades, since 1983, they have only won government from opposition the one time, and then only by pretending to be virtually the same as the Libs, with Rudd’s ‘Howard Lite’ routine. In all that time they haven’t won from opposition through just being themselves. And two of the three post-war episodes of Australians investing trust in Labor to govern responsibly have been disasters. That’s not a good record.
‘Labor presents almost the same line-up of suspects who were involved in the last Labor debacle and pretends it’s all about renewal? Please. They need a renewal — both in leadership and philosophy.”
Pamela was not pleased:
“Albo like Shorten is trying to divide us. Albo is turning women against men in his gender reply to the budget. Women run businesses, run a home, work in industry and in offices just like men. I am a woman and think trying to make out that women are treated differently here in Australia is stupid — we are all equal and the budget that was brought down by the Coalition is for all of us whether we be of any sex. No wonder we do not trust Albo.”
Michael was pithy:
“A major problem with the ALP is that it has become the party FOR public servants. Its solution to most problems is more public servants.”
–
As Eddie Van Halen tapped out his last million dollar riff and wafted up to rock’s Valhalla, Michael Hann reckoned the band’s reach was up there with Michael Jackson’s and Whitney Houston’s, far greater than Lou Reed’s and second only to the Beatles in rock. Greg thought not:
“No argument that Eddie Van Halen was a great and influential guitarist. But by no measure was his band the second most influential rock band in history. They were most certainly not more influential than the Rolling Stones, and one could also mount a more than decent argument that The Who were more influential as well.”
Jamie jammed:
“Van Halen are OK in small doses. Being able to fire off a hundred notes a second may make one a technically skilled guitarist, but not necessarily a great one. Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour can take you places with a single note held for a few seconds. Eddie Van Halen could bore you to sleep with a monotonous cacophony of melody free notes.”
Tom said:
“My opinion … as influential as VH were at influencing all the hair and hard rock of the 1980s, they were no more so than bands like Judas Priest and Deep Purple, which were also were greater influences on bands like Motorhead, Metallica which spawned a whole new genre of metal which otherwise would not exist. Further, the grunge bands of the early 1990s which killed hair/glam metal (Nirvana, Pearl Jam), have had a much longer lasting impact on mainstream rock.”
Graeme grumbled:
“The author need to listen acquaint himself with Led Zeppelin.”
Mark moaned:
“Great review of an interesting band, but as to transformational and influential … How about Joy Division/New Order?”
Mal was amused:
“Mr Michael Hann, take a bow sir. A funny, informative and passionate piece of writing.”
Robot droned:
“Give me Metallica any day over Van Halen, now there is a great band, still going strong. Helped create a whole new genre.”
Phillip fulminated:
“By ripping off Budgie and Motorhead … The entire sound and the way electric guitar is played today is the result of EVH, no one had the brown sound, and used wet effects until Eddie unleashed them on the world. Vale Eddie.”
Greg said:
“I agree Eddie was a great and very influential guitarist. But the ‘entire’ sound and manner of today’s electric guitar being his legacy? I don’t think so. There’s a guy called Jimi Hendrix who, 50 years after his death, still influences millions of guitarists, and always will.”
Last word to Simon:
“The Van Halen ‘secret sauce’? In no particular order:
Jolly singalong songs with a hint of menace.
Mind-blowing guitar TONE with enormous virtuosity.
Personality-plus lead vocals with cheerful harmonies in the chorus.
Monstrous drumming, brimming with musicality, soul, funk and groove (google Dance The Night Away, Ellen Show).
Timeless pick-me-up party music, suitable for all ages, from an audience of one reveller.
thank you for the music, Edward.”
–
Each Friday the cream of your views on the news rises and we honour the voices that made the debate great. To boost your chances of being featured, please be pertinent, pithy and preferably make a point. Solid arguments, original ideas, sparkling prose, rapier wit and rhetorical flourishes may count in your favour. Civility is essential. Comments may be edited for length.
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