The Revelation
The COVID-19 era has revealed the worst of humanity, but also the best.
Shortly before he died, Dr. Vladimir “Zev” Zelenko told me he thought the pandemic—and especially the pandemic response—had revealed the corruption that was always there, but obscured by normalcy. I think I understood what he meant. When everything is going well and society is functioning properly, it’s easy for people to behave well and present themselves as reasonable and decent.
It’s only during a time of stress, when fear is in the air, that people show their true colors. Then we discover who are our true friends, and who were merely agreeable cocktail party companions. During times like these, we are reminded that most of history has been a battle of good vs evil, liberty vs tyranny, reason vs archaic emotions.
Recently I’ve seen a lot of commentary about the Atlantic piece, Let’s Declare a Pandemic Amnesty with respect to those who advocated the stupid, inhumane, and tyrannical pandemic response. For those who committed acts of fraud, concealment, negligent homicide, and even willful homicide, there can be no amnesty. They should be tried in a court of law and justly punished.
As for those who are merely guilty of moral and intellectual imbecility—they don’t need reasonable grownups to grant them amnesty; they need to grow up and learn how to live with cognitive and ethical discernment. As the COVID-19 data analyst Edward Dowd recently told me over dinner, “I will certainly forgive such people, but I’m done hanging around with them.”
Dr. Zelenko thought the pandemic response was clearly delineating good and evil. Now we see who among us is decent and who is depraved. I hope the dividing line isn’t as immutable as he perceived it to be. I see grounds for hope in Viktor Frankl’s observation that the rift dividing good from evil goes through all human beings, because it suggests that we can learn to become better.
Under certain circumstances we are all capable of doing terrible things. And though at first glance it may seem like a paradox, those who acknowledge their capacity for immoral conduct are best equipped to refrain from it. It’s the smug virtue-signalers who we need to watch out for.
While the pandemic revelation has laid bare terrible corruption in our institutions and people, it has also provided an opportunity for the angels to shine forth. Since I started working with Dr. McCullough, I’ve been frequently amazed at the extraordinary grace and generosity of many we have encountered—not only doctors and nurses, but people of all walks of life who have sacrificed their time, money, and even professions to serve their fellow man and defend our beleaguered constitutional republic. I’m thinking of a real estate professional in McKinney, Texas, a philanthropist in Phoenix, Arizona, and countless others who have gone out of their way to help. Their exceptional virtue has also been revealed to us.
Dr. McCullough and I hope that such people will—by their example and with clear communication about what has happened—lead humanity out of this dark period.
 | A guest post by
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I spent a quarter century in academics as a physicist. I'm not a medical expert, but I understand data and statistics. I also know what a bad idea it is to make "the science" the principle driver of a problem that has huge social and economic implications. The early data, upon which hugely consequential decisions were being made, was lousy. So were the official reactions to it. When I and others pointed this out, we weren't debating, we were shunned as kooks. My favorite quote from an erstwhile colleague, "When did you forget everything you knew about science?" I may forgive some of this, but I'm not forgetting any of it. Amnesty? I think not.
I really appreciate this.
I think one of the things that bothers me so much is that I don’t think there’s ever going to be any sort of apology or even recognition of what transpired and how horrific it was. None of my friends seem to even be aware of what they participated in. There is no understanding of how their support of the draconian measures is what made it all possible. Because there is no acknowledgement, we remain susceptible to their ignorance when the next “current thing” comes along, like supporting war, “climate change” controls, digital IDs and central bank digital currencies, etc. That’s my concern moving forward.