Moments of Clarity

Life is stranger than fiction. Sometimes we see where things are going, but cannot stop it – just like watching movie. How did we end up in this mess? How could we have prevented it? What warning signs were missed or neglected? Above all – what can we do now? 
It’s not a single trigger point. Everyone of us can look back at say – this was the moment when… for me, the moment of clarity was many years before the current pandemic. Following “the sky is falling” global warming theory was my “aha” moment. It was rather interesting as at first I was really concerned about it. Then there was publicly released research and studies. Why did I read them is hard to understand. Well, maybe not hard if you know me personally, but… I clearly remember my shock. As we know, it’s all predictions and modelling. Therefore, it’s extremely important to input as much clean data as possible. Modelling still can go wrong, but at least start with clean data. Wouldn’t you agree? Even in USSR there was effort made to provide clean data, even if assumptions for modelling “needed to be made” to agree with propaganda machine. 
So now, in free country, surely they at least input observations as a clean initial point. No such luck – the further I looked into it, the more corrupt data came out. Now I watch with amusement how global warming became climate change, it was shocking to see more grants given to the same scientists, because they found another name for it… the world went along with it and nobody blinked. 
At about the same time, realisation of poor unprofessional coverage of the current events became another shock. Back in USSR we were listening to BBC’s “voice of freedom”. If we would be caught by the KGB, it would be jail for everyone (including children). So now, on another side of the border, following BBC became an eye-opening experience. Gossip, opinions, low quality writing, choosing and picking facts, showing wrong historical references – you name it. In a times before the internet, I used to write letters and send them to so called news outlets. Although it was a hard process, it was a better process as I remember receiving answers. 
Fast forward a few years, now my local government representative thinks he will get my vote after deleting my comments on his social media. Apparently asking for transparency and to allow access to antiviral in addition to vaccination program are not something we can do anymore. Yes, we sunk very low. There were many shocking new laws in between. Some of them were obvious problems – assisted suicide legalisation, abortion laws, withholding sex on birth certificate… you name it. Yet some of them I missed. Never thought twice about them. Especially granting government an ability to mobilize the country in case of emergency. 
A few short years ago, emergency was terrorism or flooding / fires. We needed to act quickly to save lives. Surely the first responders need to be able to operate without restriction as long as they’re preserving lives. Fast forward to nowadays. Gain of function research created a new wave of weapons. We are learning to live with it. Very bumpy road. Yet certain patterns are the same – unprecedented loss of freedom policies based on picking the worse possible outcome, while neglecting every other impact. 
The other part of the pattern is poor journalism. Everyone of us are asking questions, but we don’t receive the answers. So-called journalists are on Twitter now, showing absolute inability to form a statement (with BBC making spelling mistakes). What an irony for  immigrant with English as a third language to correct spelling mistakes for BBC. 
There is truly nothing new under the sun. MSM / modelling / emergency / changing data / changing advice – all a part of the pattern. Yet there is a hope as we are able to access raw footage from different outlets. So let’s watch that movie. Looks like horror at times, but it will improve. Just keep on insisting on transparency and don’t fall for watching a short clip – see what happened before and after, read opinion of people on both sides, think, analyse and don’t be scared to admit the facts regardless of how politically correct or incorrect. Remember, that 20 seconds footage you see on evening news is NOT news.
Plus always remember, the only truth is in The Torah. So this is my admission – if I would only read Parsha more closely, all the false prediction of flooding wouldn’t worry me. After all, G-d promised no more flood on global scale. As for the current situation, please don’t look for medical advice here – talk to your doctor. The only truth, don’t do to others what you don’t want to be done to you.