A Quick Hit: Omicron Mass Psychosis
Omicron is the booster for the mass psychosis that we didn't know we needed.
As I covered just 40 days ago, Covid is a real disease but also, more impactfully, a mass psychotic event.
Well, if the idea of a mass psychosis wasn’t clear, Omicron should be making that pretty darn clear for you.
Let me just say this about the Omicron response: Holy Fucking Shit. And sorry if swearing offends your sensibilities, there’s gonna be some of that in this piece.
Omicron is demonstrably massively less dangerous than O.G. Covid - by at least a factor of 5 according to Bloomberg’s report from South Africa.
Covid was already endemic - it’s been the case since at least February of 2020 that Covid was widespread enough that it would never be eliminated. Omicron is the arrival of a much less virulent strain that often happens as viruses mutate (because killing a host is maladaptive to a virus, less deadly versions tend to emerge).
The logical response to Omicron is one of jubilation! Eighty percent takes Covid from the level of a ~2-3x flu to a ~0.4-0.6x flu. Omicron is quite literally less than the flu. It’s a god damn head cold.
And yet, the collective freak out we see has been tremendous. Governments are issuing more restrictions, media and public health are spewing their fear porn, and midwit urbanites are masking on the streets and lining up to get tested for asymptomatic presence of the ‘roni.
We are at a turning point. Belief in the ‘roni cult was already denying the on-the-ground reality. With Omicron, this cult-like psychosis is being taken to such an extreme that we must take the (rhetorical) gloves off.
None of the people perpetuating Omicron hysteria are serious people. Those perpetuating the narrative are cogs in a power-seeking machine (government, public health, and the media) that [ostracizes those who speak out against it] and relies on the cowardice of the cogs to keep them in place.
For the urban midwits participating in the Great Freak Out, these people too cannot be taken seriously ever again. From what I’ve seen, there are two camps:
those with enough critical thinking to know this is all bull shit but who are too cowardly to stray, and
those who do not possess enough critical thinking to see the bigger picture.
Do not rely on people in the first bucket, and it is time to start mocking those in the second bucket. If friends or family are perpetuating Omicron Mass Hysteria, then it is time for some tough love. Treat them as you would someone who has joined a dangerous cult, or who has bought into a scammy multi-level marketing scheme, or someone who has developed a substance addiction. In short: confront them with facts, tell them that you hope that they gain some perspective, and do not buy their excuses or play their games. These are not people who deserve to be taken seriously.
Many people are hesitant to deploy such overt approaches. I get it. But here’s the thing: this insanity doesn’t just go away on its own. There will always be another variant of Covid, just as the flu mutates and goes around anew each season. Governments, public health, and the media will be more than happy to continue to use that to grab more and more power by swaying the minds of midwits.
This ends when the adults in the room say “No” loudly and collectively, and no sooner than that. But a collective “No” requires individuals to take the first step.