‘And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’
- John 8:32
Worlds upon worlds, realities intersect with realities, systems dovetail into systems, universes inhabit universes. We are all connected; parts that operate to make the world functional, to help the wheel of existence rotate and cause humanity to move forward. Or may be backwards sometimes. At times, the complexity of the world creates confusion even to the most analytical mind. But then again, things aren’t so complex if we observe the patterns and structures of human systems. I am grateful to the teacher who once told me that no matter the ideology, human nature persists. Ideals, if they are to be upheld by humans, soon turn foibles. Even the best democracies have autocratic tendencies. Yet we must fight autocracy (or, if you like, dictatorship) because ‘it is what it is’ no matter how it is painted or, packaged, modelled or sold.
Since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, there has been a pattern of mis/information, views and counter-views. If there is something every strategist must do in such a situation, it is to keep all views in view; never to completely discard any piece of information. And this is exactly what this pandemic has revealed. All the pieces of information that were once thought to be hyperactive or hyperreactive are gradually beginning to make sense. But I guess the memory of humans in the age of the internet is short indeed. And so they are not likely to remember that in the midst of the pandemic, there were pieces of information that the covid-19 vaccines will be forced on people by their governments. At that time, many world leaders were busy debunking such claims and dismissing them as rumours from the far right. But as I write this, vaccine mandates have become a reality, even necessitating lawsuits across the world. Never dismiss any piece of information if you must be a good strategist.
I wrote an article on New Year’s Eve entitled ‘My Perfect Essay for 2020’. In that article, I said that the administration of the covid-19 vaccines should be withheld in Africa while we wait for reports from data on the vaccines so that we could make informed decisions. At the time, the information that was put out was that the vaccines had the ability to prevent infection, and prevent the infected from infecting those who have not been vaccinated. So far data has shown otherwise. You cannot defeat facts; neither can you defeat science. The same health authorities who touted the vaccines as El-Magnifico that will bring about our health Eldorado have now eaten humble pie and have come out to take back their statements in the usual revisionist manner expected of the post-postmodern orators. Now we have the term ‘break-through infection’ from a vaccine that was once considered sacrosanct.
What has baffled me more is the revisionist rhetoric that has attempted to rename and reclassify the vaccines and thus justify why they are not one hundred percent effective and why people would need booster shots. We have now been told that it is different from the traditional vaccines and that it uses a novel technology, nanotechnology. What they imply by this is that they do not have a comprehensive information on the ramifications of these vaccines; they are also groping in the dark almost like the rest of us. If authorities deliberately withhold information from the populace in matters of life and health, for me that is criminal. When some people showed life-threatening reactions or side-effects like blood clot after taking the vaccines, we were told that they were isolated incidents and that the other side effects were normal as they implied that the vaccines were working. Now there are reports around the world of people fainting or dying shortly after taking the vaccines. Are these post-vaccine deaths also isolated incidents? Only time will tell.
I have observed with chagrin the high-handedness of the social media authorities on pages and people who hold pessimistic views about the vaccines. Accounts have been suspended, people have been banned and pages have been flagged on account of airing differing opinions on the covid-19 pandemic and its vaccines. Social media algorithms have become dictatorial in their quest to regulate and control the covid-19 narratives and their vaccine discourses. Where then is the democracy? If you have a good product to sell, why do you worry about the opinion of your competitors or detractors? I believe that good medicines do not need mandates to sell them; good medicines sell themselves because of their efficacy. The testimonies of those who took the medicine will drown the noise of the detractors. If you require dictatorial methods to sell your medicine, you force the populace to become suspicious of your intentions. And there are going to be pushbacks and retaliations. Already protests have broken out across the world in states where force is being applied, or where people are being threatened or blackmailed to take the vaccines: no jabs, no jobs; no vaccine, no vacation.
All the pro-vaccines arguments have broken down with the emergence of facts. If the vaccine cannot protect the vaccinated against the unvaccinated, why do you force the unvaccinated to take the vaccine? If the vaccinated can be infected and then go on to infect the unvaccinated, what is the essence of the vaccine? To boost immunity? Immunity against what? Except they want people to suspect that they have a higher and deeper agenda, the promoters of the vaccines should desist from forcing it on the people. Let people take it out of their own freewill based on informed decision. If you go as far as threatening people’s jobs in the name of vaccination, then you force people to think that there is something beyond the vaccine that you are not willing to disclose. We all know that making vaccines available requires huge investments in research and production, and that failure at any stage could spell huge losses for the investors. But placing human health above profit should be our watchword. It is possible that the existing vaccines were made for a covid-19 variant that is no more; it might not be effective against emerging variants. The best thing to do now is to recall the vaccines and have them upgraded or corrected to effectively protect people against the existing variants and, if possible, future variants. That is exactly what is done with cars and other products that do not work well in the consumer markets. Recall the vaccines and make them more effective and safer!
All these happenings should serve as a wakeup call to our politicians to save the healthcare system from collapse and to also invest in alternative medicine. We should, in fact, return to traditional medicine that consists mostly of herbal remedies, physical and mental wellness through healthy diet and balanced lifestyle. Western medicine is rich in chemical cocktails and their implications are far-ranging and beyond imagination. How much more with the emergence of nanotechnology and gene-editing/tricking systems? Ethical issues will always come up when human health is involved. And we in the Humanities will always be pessimistic so that the happy optimists will not lead all of humanity into the abyss of destruction. Our intellectuals in the healthcare sector should wake up and decolonise the system. Our over-reliance on western healthcare system has not solved our health issues, rather it has compounded them.
Let me end this short piece by restating my thesis: Good medicines sell themselves. . . They hardly need too much advertisement, not even to talk about mandates, which is a euphemism for FORCE, BLACKMAIL and THREAT.
Incredible.