Virus#26:Chapter 15:”lessons learnt from the COVIDs: Obedience and Fear”

Chapter 15 “Lessons learnt from the COVIDs: obedience and fear”

One of the best ways to control a population is through fear and it is even better when it involves their life. Stalin had executions and Siberia. Mao had re-education camps. Canada had the residential school system. In this case the cause of your death if you were not obedient was your life.

Hence on the advice of the medicos social distancing was the umbrella concept and that meant curtailment on freedom of association and a right to make a living but as I said medicos aren’t concerned with such esoteric concepts and neither did they have much compassion for the collateral damages caused by much of their advice although the politicos framed all decisions as political decisions on he advice of their “medical team”.

Of course at some point they miscalculated the vast overdoing of their propaganda made it close to meaningless hence the crowded beaches off the Alabama coast in the United States on Memorial Day in 2020 and the infamous Trinity-Bellwood’s Park in Toronto on the same week-end. Democracies are a bit flabby when it comes to effective propaganda. Unfortunately, both these incidents cased a huge surge in Alabama and in Toronto. When it comes to propaganda you can fool some of the people some of the time but you can’t fool them all the time so you have to freshen up the propaganda playbook to be most effective.

There was also fear of the COVID police who could fine you a substantial amount for violating social distancing rules. In some countries you could even be imprisoned and given the hotspots prisons were for COVID that just about amounted to a death sentence.

And the good honest citizens who cowered in fear in their homes could, along with some politicians, express their indignation at such irresponsibility leading to social ostracization of the irresponsible. Little did these good citizens realize they would be cannon fodder for the second COVID-19 in 2021.What is that expression, “There is no goodness in virtue”?

The propaganda campaigns were so effective that in Canada 64% of the population expressed anxiety in leaving the house. What a gift for the second wave COVID gods!

Chapter 14: “Lessons learnt from the COVIDs: the medicos”

Thank goodness the medicos did not run the show during COVID times. You must remember they are there and their whole essence is to save lives. So they were best kept reigned in politically particularly as they were not elected officials. They are technocrats and many quite frankly are nerds with the personality of a cucumber. But they were valuable resources and a source of excuses in the struggle assisting (hopefully) the politicos in their decision making. And as for propaganda purposes they built the basis of the propaganda machine with their obsession with social distancing and mask wearing. Their daily press conferences were about as exciting as watching paint dry. They largely failed to see or ignored the medical collateral damage caused by the shut down of economies and true to physician form most lacked compassion. It was numbers, numbers, numbers then admonishments and threats to to public if you don’t do this and that you are transformed into a killing machine.

I have no beef against my fellow physicians as they are neither economists nor politicians. And serving politicians that appointed them was a shortcoming they had no part in. One has to remember they serve the elected politicians but their duty to the public’s health should not be forgotten and long as they made that clear to the politicos that was fine. In many cases, particularly on a federal level in the United States, they were ignored or in some cases mocked by ex-President Donald J. Trump.

The Ontario COVID Lockdown: Inanity Holds Sway with the Dog Walker Stupidity

There are many of you out there that express an opinion Ontario’s lockdown is ineffective or causing such high collateral damage it simply is not worth it. The bottom line is that medical systems can’t handle the load of the infected or soon will not be able to. Is it fair to say poor medical system management and cost saving measures in countries that have socialized medicine have lead to the dire situation we are approaching? Yet I have not heard a single story in the media discussing this.

Yet the politico-medico elite seems to prefer the shaming approach that it is our fault we didn’t socially distance, wash our hands or wear masks yet some of this elite double dealt us by taking vacations this winter.

Despite your anger, frustration and fear perhaps take a moment for a chuckle when you hear that dog walking and doggie daycare is considered nonessential and prohibited. Wasn’t it Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau that said it was no business of the state in the bedrooms of the nation. The politicos have been messing with many of us causing job loss, destruction of businesses to name a few. Now they prohibit you from using the service of a dog walker and doggie daycare! So it makes sense to have twenty people walk their dogs and be out on the street instead of a single dogwalker or to force dog owners to walk their own dogs as they try to work from home and struggle with home schooling. And what are essential workers to do if they have no one to walk or care for their dogs?

If this pea brained strategy makes you angry blow off some steam. It might even mean your pooch is cooped up all day long without being able to relieve itself as you can’t leave work to take Fido on a walk. Or you might just see how inane the situation is and have a hearty laugh! I mean it is so intrusive the politicians might as well be in our bedrooms but that may be forthcoming in the next emergency order.

Dog walkers beware the COVID police are looking for you. Can the dogs be fined too! I am sure their owners can be.

Photo wavetop/Getty Images

Virus#26: Chapter 13 lessons learnt from the COVIDs : the politicos

Chapter 13:” lessons learnt from the COVIDs: the politicos”

The politicos at first glance seemed to be running the COVID outbreak. The inability of the medical system to handle the initial wave was a result of continual cuts made to the medical system by the politicos. That meant less PPE and less front-line medical workers and in effect non regulation of long-term care homes. Some politicians accepted the blame while others like former President Donald J. Trump who so tragically bumbled COVID management created a whole host of diversionary tactics to shift the blame or change the topic on American’s minds. But during the second wave of COVID-19 in 2021 he was no more as he met his deserved electoral fate in the 2020 Presidential election leading to the victory of “Sleepy Joe” Biden. He also met a nastier defeat which we will talk about shortly.

By the time COVID Plus petered out in 2025 just about any political leader in power at the outset of COVID-19 in 2019 was either defeated in election, removed by coup or subject to an assassination attempt.

So there you have it the blame game is easy to play in retrospect and I place it on the politicos for a variety of reasons the primary being lack of proper funding, the deregulation of long term care facilities,  ignoring the severity of COVID calling it a nasty flu and in many countries the lack of socialized medicine making the lower groups in the socio-economic scale easy targets for the virus.

But I am not sure how apportioning the political blame will help deal with the next virus. I’d rather add up our collective lessons and learn from them.

Whether a democracy or authoritarian government most of them played it the same way with some willing to accept more risk than the others.

“Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time”: Hungarian Psycho Thriller?

Márta (Natasa Stork) a brilliant 40 year old neurosurgeon who leaves her practice in New Jersey to meet  Dr. János Drexler (Viktor Bódo) in Budapest returning to her home she never thought she would return to after some 20 years in the United States.

Did Márta actually meet Drexler at a medical convention in New Jersey or is this some obsessive fixation? Why did she quit her job as a leading neurosurgeon?

Márta was to meet Drexler at the Liberty Bridge in Budapest a month after their New Jersey medical convention but after flying to Budapest and going to the bridge at the appointed hour he is not at the bridge. Is the brilliant neurosurgeon suffering from some obsessive-compulsive disorder? There is no actual proof they met but Márta’s search of the convention shows Drexler was there. She confesses to an instantaneous connection to Drexler.

Márta is soon in a psychiatrist’s office relating her story instantly adding a psychological element to the story. Is she suffering from some metal illness that even highly educated neurosurgeons can fall prey to? Did she really have a conversation with Drexler at the convention or was it imaginary?

Well at least Drexler does exist but at their first meeting at the Budapest Medical Institute he claims no knowledge of her. Is Márta imagining the meeting and agreement to meet at the Liberty Bridge in Budapest?

As Márta rents an apartment in Budapest and settles into her new hospital job during a complicated neurosurgery Drexler shows up.

Despite Márta’s reflections to her Hungarian psychiatrist she ma be imagining everything Drexler shows up and eventually there is a torrid love scene. A result of a real Hungarian encounter or a mythical New Jersey meeting? I think the New Jersey meeting was real as Drexler admits to it but says he never took seriously the meeting on Liberty Bridge. But what is reality and fiction is becoming difficult to determine.

It so difficult to make a decision with this Hitchcockian inspired film. I watched it twice and the ending four times!

The film ends with Drexler looking for Márta at Liberty Bridge and she fails to show then switches to a scene with Drexler delivering an enormous speaker to Marta’s flat or is this imaginary?

A confusing film as it what is reality and imagination.

My take is that Márta is on track with reality and there was a meeting with Drexler and an agreement to meet at Liberty Bridge despite her meeting with a psychiatrist. Whether this was there any mutual intent to meet I will leave to your answer

However in a psycho-thriller I may be way out of bounds and that makes your interpretation of the movie precious.

Madness? Obsessive compulsive disorder? Reality with Drexler protecting his upstanding identity. Perhaps it is one over the other or a complicated selection of bits and pieces of what I have suggested.

As a viewer I feel this is in the Hitchcock tradition and like Jimmy Stewart in “Rear View Window” I am watching a thriller I can’t quite pin a finger on!

The film has been selected as the Hungarian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards,

You can see the trailer herehttp://www.filmswelike.com/films/preparations-to-be-together-for-an-unknown-period-of-time

The film is in Hungarian with English subtitles and stats with digital TIFF Bell Lightbox on January 22 and after that virtually throughout Canadian theatres including the Vancity theatre in Vancouver, the Subury Indie Cinema and the City Cinema in Charlottetown all on January 29th..

This Lili Horvát film is 92 minutes long and is in Hungarian with English or French subtitles.

Virus#26: Chapter 12 lessons learnt from the COVIDs: the cult of the front- line worker

Chapter 12 “lessons learnt from the COVIDs: the cult of the front-line worker”

There are the medical professionals and politicians who form the top of the pyramid in the COVID narrative but there are also grocers, gas station attendants, bus and taxi drivers and a whole host of people in “essential businesses” that remained open throughout the COVIDs.

Hey I was one of those front-line workers as a cardiologist at a major Toronto hospital so I am the last one to express an uncaring thought or word about front-line workers. Indeed I’ll even go along with the politico propaganda campaign that called them heroes because given the poor planning and hospital cuts of the politicos for most countries in the world that had a decent healthcare system there simply were not enough front-line workers and a lack pf personal protective equipment (PPE) to fight the battle. Budget cuts or “rationalizations” if you prefer

However these medical front-line workers were manufactured into a cult by the media and the propaganda. Again back to my travels in the 1970s in the Iron Curtain countries where socialist realism art played a predominant role in the “education” of the proletariat. Brave factory workers with the hammer and sickle flag in one hand and a hammer in the other striving to meet the objectives of the Central Committee’s 10-year plan.

The media had a field day showcasing the brave front-line medical workers with sappy music and dialogue and special 3-minute specials like “Our Heroes”. I can tell you we were all simply doing our job under difficult conditions and for the non-physicians for substandard pay, no life insurance of short- or long-term disability plans. Although many jurisdictions did come through with some increases for medical staff battling the COVIDs. What good is a few extra dollars for your family when you die when you have no life insurance or are disabled without disability plans?

My thoughts on this was that the front-line workers were used as a propaganda tool for morale purposes for the politicos and for touching and emotional stories by the media. And as people are amoebas, they lapped it up.

What was disturbing was the militarism developing in terms of the vocabulary used for COVID such as “battle”, “war”, “skirmish” “front-line” and like the Americans in Vietnam we had daily kill and wounded counts. And then the inane flights of the American Blue Angels and Canadian snowbirds to “boost the morale” of the population or should we say troops. Speaking of war were the budget cutting politicos traitors? Some countries might call the politicos who had whistle-blowers and critics of government management of COVID disappear or fall out of windows murderers. Don’t get me wrong front-line workers are heroes as anyone with a brain realizes that. What bothered many of us these heroes were an agent of political control and shamefully used as propaganda.

“Draw with Me”: Transgender Coming Out

Jennifer Lopez, Brendon’Scholl’s Aunt

Brendon Scholl takes the difficult journey of “coming out” as a transgender teen youth initially a she but now preferring a pronoun of he. In between one uses the pronoun “they” when the trans person has not yet accepted a preference for a particular sex.

Coming out as gay is not easy but that is a matter of sexual preference but trans is more of a difficult question of identity.

Branon has Jennifer Lopez as an aunt who opens the film unfortunately for a moment making this short appear a bit like a public service announcement. But as Lopez says “This film is timely and important in its story and message and can have a huge impact. It’s a story that is very close to my heart, because it is a family affair. It’s about accepting change and challenges with love, and knowing when we do, everything is possible.”

It almost wasn’t possible as Brendon unsuccessfully tried to end the pain and confusion by attempting to commit suicide. It was art that helped Brendon get out what he couldn’t articulate but simply had to get out of his system.

This film is an official Oscar entry for Documentary Short Subject.

It was far from easy for Brendon first discovering he was trans and then coming out. Thank goodness he had a supportive family to help him through this but the acceptance was difficult for his mother and father and was far from spontaneous.

Brendon’s mother Leslie Ann Lopez hits the nail on the head and perhaps summarizes much about the film when she says, “Talking about your identity as a person- sexual preference has to do with who you go to bed with, and your identity is who you go to bed as.”

Brendon has turned into a trans activist and Director Constantine Venetopoulos makes a poignant comment when he says, “What I truly believe drew me to the story, though, was Brendon’s confidence in knowing who they were at such a young age, and being ready to use their experience as a tool for other youth who were struggling with their identity and coming out. I thought ‘I wish I had someone like Brendon to talk to when I was struggling in the closet as a kid.”

Again the director states he had returned to his high school in Greece for a screening of the film. After the film his older brother asked what a parent should do if their child comes out as gay or trans and his reply was, “It’s not about what you should tell them, it’s just about listening to them.” As Brendon says, “Believe us when we say who we are.”

You can catch the trailer https://vimeo.com/450714908 and the film https://vimeo.com/ondemand/drawwithme/483848439

Virus#26:Chapter 11 lessons learnt from the COVIDs: the failure of social distancing

Chapter 11: “lessons leant from COVIDs: the failure of social distancing”

During the COVID-19 waves there was a politico-medico obsession with social distancing to the extent failure to adhere to it could result in warnings from COVID-19 “police forces”, fines, imprisonment and of course the dressing down given by “outraged” municipal, state, provincial and federal governments. These dressing down tantrums were as tedious as the propaganda supporting social distancing. Mayor John Tory of Toronto was on the public stage and seemed to revel in indignation to the point of absurd comedy. Premier Ford of Ontario looked like the big bad wolf ready to huff and puff and blow the house down i.e. close the economy again.

There is a bit of contradiction in the term “social distancing” in that yes it enabled crippled hospital systems ravaged by the financial cuts imposed upon them by the politicos to barely hold and treat the infected and that fitted the political agenda which almost always was short term. The contradiction is that social distancing protected many from immediate infection but made them easy targets for subsequent waves particularly after economies began reopening. Once reopening occurred any pull back would not be tolerated by populations ravaged by unemployment and its consequent suicides, depression and anxiety. So it was short term pain for even longer term pain. Social distancing ruined millions financially as well as psychologically. It also bankrupted governments.

It introduced a stubborn and pervasive nasty streak in both politics and social life. Demonstrations became violent and food lines were a breeding ground for extremism which we will deal with later. Although we have no data backing this up the thought by many of us physicians in 2030 was that had there been no social distancing herd immunity, as ugly as it would be to develop, would have reduced the decimation caused by social distancing.

Lastly we must ask why was social distancing so widely accepted during the early COVID–19 days? Aside from the long arm of a pathetically small group of COVID police it was fear that kept many in a state of what seemed to be eternal lockdown. And the fear was fuelled by governmental propaganda, people’s ignorance and the never-ending media stories about doom and gloom with real time spinning casino wheels spewing out deaths and infections. Just when the curve had flattened in many countries then horror stories about India and Brazil flooded the telescreen with mass burial grounds being the topping on the fear flavoured sundae. You gotta scratch your head and wonder why COVID-19 was really any worse that many other pandemics where there was no social distancing? I mean the conspiracy theorists had many holes in their arguments but one that made sense to me was bring the fear to a feverish (no pun intended) pitch and set  the way for Big Pharma to develop a most profitable vaccine.

New Italian Grape in My Hood: Nero di Troia

Yes from Puglia in Italy comes a new grape in my hood called Nero di Troia which is primarily found in the Apulia region of Italy and is according to some rustic, tannic and very productive. It translates as “black of Troy” but DNA analysis shows no relationship to Greek grapes.

On the nose a good dose of black earth, black cherry and blackberry. On the palate the tannins are widespread in the mouth but not exactly forceful. This is the first wine I can say I have noticed “spread out tannins” in that they coat the entire mouth. Interesting. It is a very easy drinking wine and certainly could be appreciated as a sipping wine. But I would not call it rustic. With notes of black cherry, Ontario sugar babe watermelon and Ontario purple plums and a certain smoothness. Medium length finish but again rather strangely it coats the entire mouth. There is a very slight sweetness to it. 6 months in New American oak but done so well I can’t detect it so perhaps the oak has wrestled with the rustic and tamed it? The Liquor Control Board Vintages catalogue suggests it is a good match for pizza topped with steak or mushrooms. Mushrooms as a topping but steak? Never heard of that topping before but it would match the wine. I’d go with a shrimp and okra gumbo many recipes of which you can find on the internet but remember when sautéing the okra do it long enough to deslime the little buggers.

All in all the year is very young but this is the most interesting red so far!

If I owned a restaurant, I’d seriously think of making this my red house wine.

(Zensa Nero di Troia 2019 (Vegan) IGP Puglia, Orion Wines, Lavis, Italy, $16.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 17390, 13%, 750 mL, Robert K. Stephen a little birdie told me so rating 90/100).

Virus #26: Chapter 10 Lessons to be learnt from the COVIDs: Propaganda’s effect

Chapter 10 “Lessons learnt from COVIDs: propaganda’s effect”

In the guise of an advertising campaign Canadians were bombarded with an incessant stream of propaganda. Propaganda is primarily a tool of totalitarian governments to maintain control of its citizens. The volume of it will dim independent thinking. However, at some point, particularly with people not familiar with it, it just becomes noise.

As for COVID-19 it had some effect at least for wave 1 and 2 but after that point it was resented and rejected by those who previously lapped it up. Masks have been proven to have almost no beneficial effect. Social distancing was manslaughter for those “in shelter”. About the only truth was the benefit of washing your hands.

It was really disturbing for me that so many people blindly accepted the propaganda for so long. In the end social distancing and mask wearing were tired old phrases and too bad so many millions smiled like deer in the headlights. Many of these people were highly educated (and well paid until they lost their jobs) and what a shock to see them parrot what was being rammed down their gullet.

So why all the propaganda? Firstly it was a legitimate excuse to reward advertising agencies run by the friends of the politicos. Secondly it was an attempt to silence anyone who had different ideas about social distancing through shame and ostracization. Thirdly it justified all decisions taken by the politico-medicos. It also showed the paternalistic attitude of the politico-medicos. I think it also had people in so much fear they were easier to control.

At the end of the day it served to justify the decisions of the politico-medicos and crush anyone with opposing views.

But what is the expression? You can fool some of the people some of the time but not all the people all of the time?

I had the great opportunity as a long haired knapsacker to spend a year in the Iron Curtain in the 1970’s. Czechoslovakia in 1974 was particularly bad with propaganda being blared over loudspeakers in the street Gustáv Husák communist leader had witnessed the Czech uprising of 1968 and decided to try crude mind control through propaganda being blasted out to the street in loudspeakers.  In Canada’s case television and radio were the loudspeakers bolstered by an unthinking and compliant media. Even my favourite classical and jazz stations had their announcers cozy up to the party line. The sad thing was they actually believed the loudspeakers and became the loudspeakers. So much for the integrity of the media!