Fear the ultimate weapon in Covid response

SLOWLY but surely the truth is coming out about the Covid-19 pandemic, from the futility of mask mandates to the likely origins of the virus (US agencies including the FBI having concluded the pandemic most likely arose from a laboratory leak in Wuhan), to the manner in which authorities coerced a frightened public into accepting illogical restrictions.

Fear proved to be the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of inept politicians and public health bureaucrats. Scaring the public senseless – so much so that they’d turn on each other and blindly follow the most absurd restrictions from playground bans to outdoor mask mandates to curfews – was the preferred tactic.

Of course, it didn’t hurt that the bulk of the media fed this cycle of fear and hysteria with endless doomsday clickbait that managed to consistently misinform the public about the virulence of the virus.

But now, slowly, even the most gullible sheep are asking questions, including why the countries that locked down the longest and hardest, including Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, are experiencing a surge in excess deaths.

And brave whistleblowers are exposing the debased tactics used by those in power, including Britain’s former health secretary, Matt Hancock, whose WhatsApp messages reveal a willingness to scare the public into submission.

He wrote in a WhatsApp message to an aide: “We frighten the pants of (sic) everyone with the new strain.”

The aide Damon Poole responded: “Yep, that’s what will get proper bahviour (sic) change.”

Hancock: “When do we deploy the new variant.”

Not long after this exchange, Hancock was on TV announcing a new variant and scaring the pants off everyone as promised.

“The new variant is out of control … it’s important for everybody to act like they have the virus,” he said.

Yet such hyperbole pales into insignificance compared to what we heard in Victoria from politicians and health bureaucrats.

Who can forget Dan Andrews warning how “this hyper-infectious variant is moving at hyper-speed”? Or chief health officer Brett Sutton claiming the new strain was a “beast” despite the fact it was “less virulent than the previous strain”.

One would love to peruse the WhatsApp messages and hear the discussions Andrews, Sutton and co had before their press conferences.

We need a royal commission into our Covid-19 response – now.