A Masterclass in Manipulation?

When you think about the past few years' events, it is easy to draw one of two conclusions.

It's either a masterclass in total political incompetence or a well-executed strategy to embolden elites and enslave the rest of us.

You'll have to consider the evidence and make that determination for yourself.

Here's some of what you need to consider.

Virus Released

There is no universal acceptance that the virus was developed in a lab in Wuhan. If you even said that publicly a couple of years ago, you were condemned as a racist conspiracy theorist and cancelled from the public square.

Experts queued up to say it wasn't true even though some were directly involved in funding the gain of function research, which led to the virus. Whether it escaped the lab or was deliberately released is still a matter of quiet discussion.

Shutdowns

These same experts pretended to be baffled by this previously unknown threat to humanity and released modelling suggesting it would kill a large percentage of the population.

That was then used to justify an unprecedented curtailing of civil liberties, effectively imprisoning people in their own homes. This destroyed businesses, shut down cities and left people without incomes.

Money Printing and Universal Welfare

Big government rode to the rescue with an unprecedented print and spend binge that threw money at everyone. The unemployed got a massive pay rise, as did the underemployed. The full-time workers and many business owners went backwards as their debts increased, but their revenue dried up.

The government tried to ease the pain for this latter cohort via cash handouts, tax clawbacks and various other mechanisms. At the same time, they prevented landlords from upholding property rights by preventing tenancy defaults from being justification for eviction.

Vaccine Passports

Hundreds of billions of dollars were spent convincing people that the only way back to normal was to undergo a global medical experiment with hastily cobbled-together 'vaccines' using never-before-released technology.

They didn't tell us the reason it hadn't been released previously was because it was dangerous and ineffective.

Instead, the propaganda repeated the mantra 'safe and effective' until the population was brainwashed into acceptance. Media outlets were paid to promulgate only government messages, while those with concerns were silenced and marginalised in almost every sphere of life.

Encourage Debt with Cheap Money

As the unsustainability of past practices became apparent, the authorities realised the economic damage and undertook desperate measures to stimulate the economy. This included artificially low interest rates they assured would remain in place for several years.

This was coupled with even greater government incentives for the least creditworthy to access debt for housing, even if they couldn't save a regular deposit.

Workers became accustomed to getting money for little and knew that the government would pay them even if they didn't turn up to work because of being a 'close contact'.

Change the Rules

To keep the population on their toes, it makes sense to keep changing the science the authorities claim to be following. Be it mask mandates, vaccine mandates, how death stats are determined, hiding the vaccine side effects or who is really at risk, few could follow the science, so they just gave up trying.

That way, no one would question the insanity of what they had been put through and instead would 'hopefully' remain grateful to the experts just for being alive.

Inflation

Inflation emerges with supply chain problems resulting from shutdowns and money sloshing around in the system, chasing fewer available goods. The authorities ignore it until they can't.

This 'surprise' price rise forced them to renege on their low-interest rate promises, impacting household budgets even more. It also causes asset prices to crash as the highly indebted investor is often forced to reprice loans and gearing levels.

This leads many regular people to be barely solvent and unable to cover their borrowings.

The Great Distraction

Fearful they will be blamed for the unfolding disaster, politicians need a magnificent distraction.

They decided to use the eight-year civil war in Ukraine to goad Russia into launching an invasion to protect the pro-Russian civilians from sustained attack and prevent Ukraine from joining NATO.

A relentless, coordinated and dishonest global propaganda campaign ensues, casting the Russian President as the cause of the world's woes.

Illegal Sanctions Lead to a Power Crisis

This led to the West illegally seizing the property of some Russian citizens and even preventing them from participating in some sporting events (Wimbledon).

Despite much of the West's reliance on Russian oil and gas for power and heat, they also severed Russia's ability to participate in the global financial system.

This leads to even more significant energy dislocation because, despite the claims of the past decades, renewable energy is hopelessly inefficient and unreliable. Despite the trillions spent promoting it as the solution, global fossil fuel reliance has only dropped a few per cent in the past decade. It still delivers 83% of energy needs.

Coal is Back

After decades of demonising coal power, the most 'progressive' renewable nations suddenly demand it is turned back on. Rather than admit they got it wrong, they insist it is Russia's fault and that renewables are the future.

Few can be bothered calling out this new lie.

I know many more aspects of these past few years need scrutiny, but the overwhelming theme is that politicians, experts and bureaucrats have done a terrible job.

Or maybe they have done the exact job they set out to do - condition the populace to accept almost anything from the elites with nary a whimper.

That's something only you can decide.