I have been told by a health professional to forget about what happened in NZ regarding Covid-19, as it’s not good for my health, raising issues and continuing to be concerned. More about my thoughts and response later.
We all know that fear was used to control the population but we may not have thought about the powerful effect of disgust. Fear and disgust are motivating factors ‘to keep the hell away’ from something, says Jordan Peterson. If afraid of something or someone, avoid them. Nazi Germany used fear and disgust extremely well. Peterson says using disgust is much more dangerous than using fear. Avoid something if you’re afraid of it, but if disgusted, you must get rid of it, burn it, or destroy it.
In a recent podcast here, between Dr Jordan Peterson and Dr Jayanta Bhattacharya, we are reminded not to ignore what was done to damage society and traumatise some members of society during the Covid-19 pandemic. Peterson recalls how the Nazis used these two psychological emotions as weapons against those they did not like. They propagandised that the Germans must keep their race pure, their blood pure, and demonised a section of society as disgusting, filthy and an impure race. Jewishness was described as an infection or cancer, and its ‘carriers’ were likened to rats, maggots, cockroaches, lice, bacilli… and therefore subhuman and for the sake of public health the unclean must be rejected and eliminated.
The realisation was horrifying in 2020 when politicians and health officials began to use the same Nazi tactics. As the world faced an uncertain threat of a Covid-19 virus, whole healthy societies were locked down as fear and disgust was ramped up. Peterson recognises that we have a Behavioural Immune System that is to protect ourselves. A perceived threat of catching a ‘deadly’ virus from others saw much of the world retreat, isolate and take cover in their homes.
The unvaccinated in society were demonised as contagious virus carriers.
Thousands of Kiwis will never forget being publicly called a river of filth, a repulsive label given by a Labour politician, playing right along with known Nazi tactics. Disgust was being used as a weapon to tear us apart. Them and us.
I personally know 22 Kiwis who attended the protest on Parliament grounds in 2022. Not one of them are dirty or filthy. Rather they are professional, retirees, business owners and ordinary New Zealanders who simply wanted to be heard because many had been mandated out of their jobs. Neither the then prime minister nor any MPs have condemned the use of the word filth to describe these Kiwis.
It must not be underestimated how brutal social ostracisation was. Peterson and Bhattacharya opened up about the enormous stress they suffered. Losing credibility in the eyes of their professional bodies seemed almost life-threatening and unbearable. They were betrayed, lost their career status and the respect of long-standing colleagues, only because they began to raise concerns of the Covid-19 response and, in Peterson’s case, the gender pronoun issues. They were cancelled on many social media accounts. Bhattacharya later met with Elon Musk and was shown his Twitter account that had trends blacklisted tags, to prevent disfavoured tweets from trending.
Pondering this and hearing how they resolved the shock of this devastating personal trauma was enlightening. Sleeplessness, anxiety and stress left them when they determined, no matter how unpopular they became, they had to live with themselves and continued to speak out against the wrongs carried out against society. Bhattacharya found immediate relief in that.
Dr Bhattacharya, who opposed the level of lockdowns because they destroyed human connection, said:
Deploying this at a society-wide level for an extended period of time essentially destroys the underpinning of civil society.
The level of trauma these two highly qualified gentlemen experienced was horrendous. For others it was equally as traumatic. The amount of revulsion levelled at the unvaccinated was unprecedented. One day they had a job; the next they were loathed, jobless, vilified and isolated. And shocked to be on the end of such unscientific and unwarranted prejudice hurt. Aggression or expulsion carried out by fellow New Zealanders and leaders was inhumane.
Experienced neonatal ICU nurse Kristen Nagle began to speak out about how nurses were silenced over any concerns they had with the Covid-19 pandemic. She was betrayed by her colleagues and lost her job. The press was relentless in their defaming of her. Nagle has formed a huge group called the Canadian Frontline Nurses.
She says:
It was hurting my soul more to stay silent, than to speak out.
It was important to these three that they found new groups of friends and community.
Perhaps in not such a public way, but just as important, the Kiwis labelled ‘disgusting’ have found new groups in NZ, such as Voices for Freedom and the BFD, and have made many new friends.
Personally, being challenged by a professional to ignore what was wrong in the Covid-19 response, helped me to calmly decide the opposite. Rather than ignore the actions of the government and health professionals and sadly, fellow Kiwis, I determined to continue to speak up and write about my concerns. I am hoping we will hear of many more who reveal their revulsion of what has gone on.
What happened must never be just ‘swept under the rug’.
