Assuming Nefarious Purposes Behind Everything Government Does Isn’t Critical Thinking

I’ve seen this post floating around Facebook. I try to take things other people think seriously even when I disagree to try to at least understand their perspective. So I decided to look at this post piece by piece and add some responses.

Overall, I find these kinds of hyperbolic things unhelpful and at least somewhat hypocritical. In trying to say that people shouldn’t be afraid of one thing, they incite fear in something else. A fear that could lead to some very negative self-fulfilling prophecies.

My intent here isn’t to suggest that there’s nothing to be concerned about. Rather, I hope that people who are concerned will take a step back and try to see another perspective, as I did in reading this in the first place. I don’t think that most concerns are unwarranted, but I think that some of the conclusions are. And I hope that we can all step back and try to find ways to address the problems and/or potential problems rather than build up hyperbolic straw men to tear down and beat up.

Anyway, here’s my analysis…

Call me a conspiracy theorist, call me a crazy idiot, delete me or unfollow me, but I think you are crazy if you don’t even consider this a possibility. Wake up! The government doesn’t want what’s best for you, it wants what’s best for the pockets of those who run it.

How do masks and slowing down the economy help line the pockets of elected officials?

It’s not about masks. In 4 months, the U.S. transformed into an obedient socialist country.

Socialism is the government controlling economic output. That’s not happening. We have a mixed economy with elements of socialism, but far less than many places. Beyond that, just because the totalitarian regimes of Stalin, Mao, etc… used a form of socialism doesn’t make socialism inherently totalitarian… but that’s for another day.

Government dictated what events are acceptable to attend. Violent protests that instill fear are OK but church services, family funerals and patriotic celebrations are dangerous. And you bought it without a fight.

Many normal functions of society were shut down to try to stop the spread. This is unfortunate, but reasonable.

Yet, fundamental constitutional rights like protest maintained…

Anti-government protests complete with semi-automatic rifles and screaming protesters at state capitals were happening before BLM protests. They weren’t shut down.

BLM protests were generally peaceful on the side of the protesters and the images and video show a lot of masks in those outdoor settings. Things turned violent, but we can see a lot of video evidence out there of police starting and escalating that violence. But people afraid of government overreach seem to find excuses for the police beating the snot out of people who weren’t resisting…

Violence also erupted from outside agitators. In many cases there’s documented evidence of right-wing groups posing as left-wing groups to shed a negative light in the BLM movement.

Standing in a graduation line is a “safety hazard”. Small businesses were forced to close but crowds to support the corporate money machine at WalMart, Lowes and Home Depot are OK.

Small businesses weren’t forced to close because they were small businesses, but many small businesses don’t fill a society need, but rather wants. But let’s recall that the government, namely Democrats, worked to pass legislation that would give loans and grants to businesses to help them stay afloat. Big businesses just found loopholes to get that money for themselves instead and political maneuvering made sure the system was too complicated so that small businesses had a tough time figuring out how to get it and only the big businesses has the resources to get the money.

Beyond that, many small businesses seem to have thrived in the online marketplace. I don’t have data to show that, but anecdotally I saw a lot of stuff sold out while I was shopping for home workout solutions among other things and many places saying that they were experiencing higher than normal volumes so things would be delayed… businesses ebb and flow. A problem for one is a solution for another.

Come on. It’s “just a mask” & “safety precautions”. How about a little hush money. Here’s $2,400 that we stole out of your pay check in the first place. Enjoy. Buy something with it. From a big corporation.

One $1,200 stimulus payment is pretty pathetic hush money. I’m not getting into the taxation is theft thing… I get the line of reasoning, I just think it’s a stupid and myopic argument.

Cash is dirty. We can’t give change. There’s a coin shortage. Use your card. In 4 months, they convinced you to use a traceable card for everything.

Cash is dirty. That’s not new. There’s a coin shortage. Which makes complete sense. People are spending more time at home and ordering things online, which requires cards. This is, again, anecdotal, but I’m seeing a lot more SHIPT shoppers again, which means more cards. Also, the mints are running at lower capacity to keep their employees home. And with more people home that’s less loose change going into vending machines and gas stations. Some people use mostly cash, but a lot of people just use it for little things that we’re not doing right now.

I understand that some people are afraid of government tracking them, so I can see where this fear comes from. But ultimately, it’s makes sense without any conspiracy required.

In less than 4 months, government closed public schools then “restructured” education under the guise of “public safety”.

I’m a teacher. Education wasn’t restructured. We built an airplane while it was flying and did the best we could. In a very short period of time our teachers and administrators demonstrated just how quickly and effectively we can adapt. That’s a testimony to just how good we are in spite of our low pay, low funding and general disrespect by society.

And beyond that, for people that want public school funds to follow their kids to private and homeschooling environments, this offers a lot of potential arguments to break down public education into Betsy DeVos’ dream of for-profit education.

In less than 4 months, our government demonstrated how easily people assimilate to “guidelines” that have NO scientific premise whatsoever when you are fearful.

I’m guessing these “guidelines” being referred to are masks. There is ample evidence for the usefulness of masks… Not to mention common sense. The virus travels on respiratory droplets. Putting something in front of your face decreases the amount of droplets going from your face to someone else’s. It’s pretty simple.

In less than 4 months, our government successfully instilled fear in a majority of the population in America that allows them to control every aspect of your life. Including what you eat, where you go, who you see and your toilet paper.

The government hasn’t instilled fear in me. The number of people refusing to adhere to scientific guidelines under the guise of freedom and liberty, however, has me a bit concerned. I’m worried for society because of the number of people who find nefarious reasons behind all government action — except Trump’s obvious ones, of course.

And the most dangerous and terrifying part? People are not afraid of the government who removed their freedom. They’re afraid of their neighbors, family and friends.

What I’m afraid of is that government has to do too much because too many people see everything that government does as a power grab and fight against it for no good reason, this requiring further steps by the government. I’m afraid that there are so many people crying wolf about so many stupid things (while ignoring other far more obvious stuff) that they’re going to create a self-fulfilling prophecy. I’m concerned for people who have a legitimate medical reason for not wearing masks feeling scared about not wearing one because so many people made not wearing one a political thing as some sort of sign of their liberty. It’s wild.

And they hate those who won’t comply. It’s absolutely terrifying to me that so many people don’t question “authority”. They are willing to surrender their critical thinking skills and independence. They just… gave up without thinking. Without a fight.

I don’t hate anyone who doesn’t want to follow the rules. But I’m wary of their decisions and question their judgement.

I don’t know a lot of people who don’t question any of what’s happening, but two things…

1. Why aren’t you questioning the lack of a plan and the mixed messages coming from the federal government?

2. I’d suggest that buying into these notions of some kind of totalitarian regime takeover is just as much of a surrendering of critical thinking as questioning nothing.

Ultimately the world is complex. People are complex. Society is complex. To simply go forward without questioning anything is easy. But the other side of that coin is to assume that everything is a massive conspiracy because that’s easy too. But neither take any real critical thinking.

Do you know what’s coming next? “It’s just a vaccine. Come on. It’s for the greater good”. Wait until you’re told that you can’t enter any store or business without proof of the Covid-19 vaccine. Wait until you can’t go to public events or get on a plane without proof of receiving the vaccine.

That’s certainly possible. I would be against that. But this is that boy-who-cries-wolf thing. You rail about stupid stuff like masks and slowing some economic activity (with safeguards ideally in place) and the government takes harder steps going forward. Pick your battles better and you’ll have more people on your side IF it comes to these real issues.

To everyone that doesn’t believe this is possible — DO YOU UNDERSTAND that government successfully dictated to people WHEN they were allowed to be outside, where they were allowed to go, and how their children would be educated in less than 4 months? And that a majority of the population followed blindly because they were told to do so.

This is incredibly hyperbolic… I can only talk somewhat intelligently about what happened in my state, Michigan, but no one ever said when we were and weren’t allowed outside and people were encouraged to be outside during the stay-at-home orders. The exception is some curfews after rioting following BLM protests — but you’re probably okay with that.

There were some limits on where we could go to limit transmission, but they weren’t really enforced and creating some short-term limits is a far cry from deciding where we’re allowed to go… especially since there are always limits.

School was already dictated too. Where school happened was changed, but how education happened wasn’t fundamentally changed at all… and quite frankly this opened the door for more options for education, which a lot of people should be happy about.

You’re kidding yourself if you think this behavior won’t be repeated with a vaccine. Or whatever the next step is.

“I don’t follow politics.”

“Who cares about that stuff?”

“I don’t like to think about it.”

6 million Jews were exterminated in Germany because 97% of the population cowered to populist control. Nobody wanted to think about it. It’s easier to just ignore it.

But that couldn’t happen here, right?

They got you. Without a thought. Without a fight. Just like France. Just like Russia. Just like China. Welcome, comrade.

You want to talk about inciting fear… this is inciting fear. The government isn’t trying to scare people, it’s trying to get people to take reasonable precautions. People who inherently distrust every government action are trying to scare people. And apparently it seems to be working…