By Simon Black, Sovereign Man
Are you ready for this week’s absurdity? Here’s our Friday roll-up of the most ridiculous stories from around the world that are threats to your liberty, risks to your prosperity… and on occasion, inspiring poetic justice.
YouTube censors panel of medical experts over Covid-19 “misinformation”
The Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis recently held a panel discussion to discuss recent research findings related to Covid-19.
The expert panel included four professors of medicine from Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford Universities, who are all PhDs and experts in a field of disease research. And that just scratches the surface of their credentials relevant to being considered Covid-19 experts.
The panel spoke against forcing children and vaccinated people to wear masks, and said there was no proof that lockdowns reduced the spread or death rates of Covid-19. They cited specific, peer reviewed scholarly research on which they based their opinions.
But YouTube decided that these experts were spreading misinformation, and took down the video, “because it included content that contradicts the consensus of local and global health authorities regarding the efficacy of masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
This, of course, is an absurd statement, as the video itself proves there is no scientific consensus.
Earlier this week, Gov. DeSantis reconvened the panel to discuss not just Covid, but also the censorship of the scientific debate on Covid-19 best practices.
The panelists pointed out that the censorship of scientific debate is responsible for some percentage of Covid deaths over the past year, as well as deaths from suicide, and untreated medical issues.
That’s because the scientific community and public were not allowed to discuss best practices in a free and open environment, which according to the scientific method, leads closest to the truth.
You can watch the full original panel discussion here (on YouTube alternative Odysee).
And you can watch the follow up conference here (on YouTube alternative Rumble).
Australian government could require ID for social media use
The Australian parliament released a report called “Inquiry into family, domestic and sexual violence.”
In it, the government recommends forcing social media companies like Facebook, Twitter, and even dating apps like Tinder to require government ID in order to use the services.
“In order to open or maintain an existing social media account, customers should be required by law to identify themselves to a platform…”
The report claims this would cut down on cyber harassment, trolling, and sexual violence.
This is pretty ironic given that requiring an ID to use a dating app is totally fine, but requiring an ID to vote in the United States is now considered racist.
That makes total sense.
Click here to read the full report.
Evacuation from deadly volcano eruption is only for the vaccinated
The Prime Minister of St. Vincent ordered an emergency evacuation from areas of the Caribbean island last week as a deadly volcano began erupting.
Cruise ships responded to the emergency to help evacuate residents, and neighboring countries like St. Lucia, Grenada, and Barbados agreed to give shelter to those in need.
But according to the Prime Minister, there was one condition.
Only those already vaccinated against Covid-19 would be eligible for the emergency cruise ship evacuation, and relocation to other islands.
All the other heathens would presumably have to rely on land evacuation, through dangerous, ash-covered island roads.
The Prime Minister later told reporters that St. Vincent has had a total of ten deaths from Covid-19, among a population of 111,000.
If a handful of deaths makes Covid seem riskier than an exploding mountain of lava, you may have Covid derangement syndrome.
Click here to watch the video of the press conference.
University locks students out for missing weekly Covid test
The University of Michigan announced to students that 718 of them would have their access cards deactivated for all non-residential campus buildings.
These students had failed to take the required WEEKLY Covid-19 test. So now they cannot access cafeterias, classrooms, gyms, and other campus amenities.
“To attend any upcoming in-person event or activity on campus, all students will be required to complete the daily ResponsiBLUE app health questionnaire and weekly COVID-19 testing to meet U-M requirements for accessing campus buildings and facilities.”
It’s almost like China’s social credit system. Citizens require government credentials to access basic services like transportation and housing. But if their citizenship score drops too low, they are relegated to the bottom rung of society.
Click here to read the university’s announcement.
Masks Forever
In an article for NBC, Brown University professor Dr. Megan Ranney argued that masks should stick around in certain situations, even after Covid-19 is brought under control.
Fair enough— people with higher risks should feel free to continue to wear a mask. And it might make sense for people who are sick to wear a mask if they must go out in public.
But that’s not good enough for Dr. Ranney. She thinks everyone should keep wearing masks so that no one feels singled out.
“By maintaining masking in crowded places for the rest of us — on public transportation, in malls, or in other indoor locations — we destigmatize protecting the vulnerable.”
That’s right, even when we aren’t sick, we should cover our faces in public, just to make the mask-wearers feel better.
That way:
“It no longer signals that a person is sick, or that a person is strange… It is no longer scary or felt to be an imposition on our rights. Mask-wearing can simply signal that we care about others’ health, and about our own.”
Let’s keep an uncomfortable, dehumanizing, air-restricting custom of masking in public, just as a little signal of our empathy. And conversely, if you aren’t willing to mask up for no good reason, you’re a selfish aggressor.
But there’s one more benefit that Dr. Ranney adds in case you’re not sold.
“[Masks have] become a form of self-expression or a marker of being part of the in-group.”
