This Pandemic and Media

Gracia Singh said:

I hear you. My only concern is for people to be willing to tune out the media a bit more. I do feel like we are being prepped / conditioned a bit.

If you already sense that this is not quite right, you’re in a smart place. Just hold onto Christ, wash your hands, be sensible, and hang in there.

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Broken Fence said:

The Amish believe microchip is mark of the beast. They have been putting these chips in animals for years. Not rocket science, how else can they choose who buys or sales globally.

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Tom 1 said:

Yes, my dogs have chips to keep track of their vaccination record. I have yet to see any of them manifest Beelzebub.

The Amish may well think that. I believe they consider much technology to be satanic, so if you apply the same logic, then goodbye car and TV too - and fair enough, it’s a lifestyle choice. There is however absolutely nothing at all in the entire bible that, without a deal of convoluted ‘interpretation’, indicates we should see technology as inherently demonic. Certainly new technologies bring both benefits and risks, but these are actual, measurable things, not mysterious forces. Opponents of the steam engine believed it to be demonic and dangerous, you can look through history and find all kinds of examples of people assigning demonic activity to anything new or different. None of this explains why people think vaccines and computer chips are related to what the bible calls a powerful delusion. From the actual text, along with anything else you consider to have explanatory relevance, what do you believe the link to be?

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Broken Fence said:

The link is regulating who buys and sales globally.

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Tom 1 said:

Ah yes, that's the latest craze in the millennia old fear of progress - anything with 'globe' in it. What are your reasons for believing anything in the bible supports the view that globalisation is 'evil' as compared to nationalism or some other thing?

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Gracia Singh said:

Ah, then there is the “Let’s all ___ for the greater good and the furtherance of the Glorious Revolution campaign!” phenomenon.

We see a lot of that. Be careful. As I step back more and more from our media, I can see Socialist and Communistic media tactics being used to control people, and enrage us against certain behaviors.

Don’t get me wrong. This virus is real, face masks are a good idea, and washing your hands is important. But have we ever seen anything like this? Why not? I actually contracted Swine Flu about a decade ago. It nearly killed me, and I was a healthy 25 year old. It was sweeping through the country, and killing the young.

Ebola hit us. Ebola is horrific. And nurses in Africa wearing ppe and using soap and water and taking extra precautions were still contracting and dying from it. Remember that.

The virus is real. It’s also being used, in a very weird, real way. This is my concern.

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Gracia Singh said:

From another thread. But I wanted to post my thoughts on this.

What worries me is that what we are watching is an experiment in “group think”, which coincides with this virus.

Yes, this is real. Yes, it is potentially lethal. Experts also can not tell us exactly how it spreads, and thanks to the Chinese government refusing to share vital data, we still don’t know as much as we could.

We are, however, beginning to see a society in which neighbors turn neighbors in over four consenting adults who all know and trust one another and who feel fine getting together in one house to have a meal, and roast marshmallows.

This reminds me a lot of what takes place in totalitarian regimes. Turn in your neighbors over “anti-social” / “anti-revolutionary” behaviors. See a bunch of people gather in a house? They might be Christians! They might be Baha’is! Report them!

No, it’s not the same, but it reminds me of this. Wear a mask, wash your hands, if you don’t feel comfortable going out, don’t go out. If you know someone who is worried about this virus due to their age and health and who want you to stay away, do so. Be courteous, be cautious, be hygienic, and spread out.

Please, give yourself permission to unplug from the media. A little. It may help save your free thought, and someday, your life. Please. This is exactly how cruel regimes control and influence people abroad. The media. Buzz words. Controlling behavior. Convincing people that this control keeps them and their country safe. Convincing people to spy on and report their neighbors. In the interest of the greater good. Giving only one narrative and squeezing out other possible narratives. Media. Media. Media.

It’s not the exact same thing. At all. We’re a long, long way off from being like China. But there are similarities. I am afraid this pandemic is being exploited. Be careful. Don’t lose your ability to think critically. Thank you.

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Broken Fence said:

I can tell already I don't feel like talking to a skeptic today. God bless, good day.

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Gracia Singh said:

From another thread. But I wanted to post my thoughts on this.

What worries me is that what we are watching is an experiment in “group think”, which coincides with this virus.

Yes, this is real. Yes, it is potentially lethal. Experts also can not tell us exactly how it spreads, and thanks to the Chinese government refusing to share vital data, we still don’t know as much as we could.

We are, however, beginning to see a society in which neighbors turn neighbors in over four consenting adults who all know and trust one another and who feel fine getting together in one house to have a meal, and roast marshmallows.

This reminds me a lot of what takes place in totalitarian regimes. Turn in your neighbors over “anti-social” / “anti-revolutionary” behaviors. See a bunch of people gather in a house? They might be Christians! They might be Baha’is! Report them!

No, it’s not the same, but it reminds me of this. Wear a mask, wash your hands, if you don’t feel comfortable going out, don’t go out. If you know someone who is worried about this virus due to their age and health and who want you to stay away, do so. Be courteous, be cautious, be hygienic, and spread out.

Please, give yourself permission to unplug from the media. A little. It may help save your free thought, and someday, your life. Please. This is exactly how cruel regimes control and influence people abroad. The media. Buzz words. Controlling behavior. Convincing people that this control keeps them and their country safe. Convincing people to spy on and report their neighbors. In the interest of the greater good. Giving only one narrative and squeezing out other possible narratives. Media. Media. Media.

It’s not the exact same thing. At all. We’re a long, long way off from being like China. But there are similarities. I am afraid this pandemic is being exploited. Be careful. Don’t lose your ability to think critically. Thank you.

Click to expand...

Gracia Singh said:

From another thread. But I wanted to post my thoughts on this.

What worries me is that what we are watching is an experiment in “group think”, which coincides with this virus.

Yes, this is real. Yes, it is potentially lethal. Experts also can not tell us exactly how it spreads, and thanks to the Chinese government refusing to share vital data, we still don’t know as much as we could.

We are, however, beginning to see a society in which neighbors turn neighbors in over four consenting adults who all know and trust one another and who feel fine getting together in one house to have a meal, and roast marshmallows.

This reminds me a lot of what takes place in totalitarian regimes. Turn in your neighbors over “anti-social” / “anti-revolutionary” behaviors. See a bunch of people gather in a house? They might be Christians! They might be Baha’is! Report them!

No, it’s not the same, but it reminds me of this. Wear a mask, wash your hands, if you don’t feel comfortable going out, don’t go out. If you know someone who is worried about this virus due to their age and health and who want you to stay away, do so. Be courteous, be cautious, be hygienic, and spread out.

Please, give yourself permission to unplug from the media. A little. It may help save your free thought, and someday, your life. Please. This is exactly how cruel regimes control and influence people abroad. The media. Buzz words. Controlling behavior. Convincing people that this control keeps them and their country safe. Convincing people to spy on and report their neighbors. In the interest of the greater good. Giving only one narrative and squeezing out other possible narratives. Media. Media. Media.

It’s not the exact same thing. At all. We’re a long, long way off from being like China. But there are similarities. I am afraid this pandemic is being exploited. Be careful. Don’t lose your ability to think critically. Thank you.

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Tom 1 said:

What isn’t sensible? Things aren’t so bad here as in the US but the virus is still a live threat, people are getting infected. If I go into a shop, I put a mask on. It offers some limited protection should anyone near me happen to cough or something of that sort. It has zero impact on my life, it makes no difference to anything. What possible reason could there be for not doing something so basic? Until there is a vaccine, I can but choose not to visit my mother as there is the possibility I might pick up the virus somewhere on the way - this is because there is a virus for which there is currently no vaccine and no completely effective treatments. All of this, the whole thing, is basic, simple, straightforward. And yet - insanity. Over the need to take simple, basic precautions.

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Tom 1 said:

What do you think this have to do with anything? The numbers of deaths from Covid 19 are of course not known exactly. How do you think they could be? If you have some magical formula for that, perhaps you could pass it on?

It’s a contagious virus

People, when exposed to it, become infected.

Most people experience few symptoms or recover.

Some people die.

Some people develop chronic health conditions as a result of having contracted the virus.

Peaks in infection rates, due to people not taking basic precautions, lead to healthcare services becoming overwhelmed, which leads to more people dying.

Simple, basic realities.

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Tom 1 said:

Yes, my dogs have chips to keep track of their vaccination record. I have yet to see any of them manifest Beelzebub.

The Amish may well think that. I believe they consider much technology to be satanic, so if you apply the same logic, then goodbye car and TV too - and fair enough, it’s a lifestyle choice. There is however absolutely nothing at all in the entire bible that, without a deal of convoluted ‘interpretation’, indicates we should see technology as inherently demonic. Certainly new technologies bring both benefits and risks, but these are actual, measurable things, not mysterious forces. Opponents of the steam engine believed it to be demonic and dangerous, you can look through history and find all kinds of examples of people assigning demonic activity to anything new or different. None of this explains why people think vaccines and computer chips are related to what the bible calls a powerful delusion. From the actual text, along with anything else you consider to have explanatory relevance, what do you believe the link to be?

Click to expand...