normally afraid?

 Masking, social distancing, vaccinating, boosting and testing! Each action fuels the paranoia. It has been quite the effective strategy. A whole lot of people are 100% convinced their lives are in eminent danger. Despite the scientific fact that this virus has a survival rate well over 98%, people have been convinced. Perhaps even more amazing is, after being vaccinated, being boosted several times, wearing a mask, having others wearing masks, closing businesses, isolation and hearing about an endless string of variants, many people still believe ever bit of it. 

 I'm thinking that people are finally starting to wake up and smell the roses. Not because of any information, any logic employed, but because they are getting tired. Tired of being afraid. Yes, even the most timid of people will strike back, eventually. Inflation will defeat fear. Yes, it's true. Eventually when it costs too much to be afraid, the people will say, enough. When the government quits giving handouts, when the people are on their own once again, they will toughen up! Like children, they will grow up when made to do so. All this talk of empowerment has been smoke, what has been going on is enabling. The government, with their directives, guidance, stimulus, and mandates have enabled the population. No different than providing alcohol to an acholic, the government has enabled all of this. It's a method of control.

 Testing, you have to do testing. Testing is the fuel of paranoia. That is the real purpose of all this testing, to keep you worried, anxious and afraid. What other reason would you have people testing for a virus that they don't feel like they have, but they might? Why would the government be mailing "free" test kits to millions of people? Guess I should test if the government sends them. Can I trust the results of these tests? Well, better to be safe right? Never mind that it has already been reported, and an entire corporation investigated for providing false test results. We are supposed to just ignore that. Free masks for all! You can get up to three free masks every time you walk into a Walmart. It's the N95 now determined to be the only effective mask. Do surgeons wear an N95 mask? No, they wear sterile cloth masks and change them frequently, especially if they get any moisture in them. Scared yet? Scared that the mask you bought last week isn't good enough? You should be, that's the messaging here. 

 The unseen. That's usually a very good thing to use to instill fear. Works real well with children doesn't it? The boogey man. Now this Coronavirus, Covid-19 sounded pretty threatening until people got used to hearing that. Then it became the OMICRON! Now that sounds bad. Not only that, there are the variants! We haven't even discovered them yet, but they are there. That's why you better test. Never mind that the tests being provided for free are questionable, at best, in detecting Covid-19, I'm expected to believe they can detect a virus that hasn't even been discovered yet! The son of the boogeyman. He's out there.

 There is a mental condition recognized by all the leading psychiatrists and psychologists in the world. This condition is generally believed to be caused by anxiety and isolation. It's called paranoia! Now, that isn't the only things that can cause paranoia, I'm not suggesting that, but they are two of the leading causes. And what have we been subjected too, for the last two years? Anxiety caused by reporting death totals like the score in a football game, reporting hospitalizations and saying the hospitals are overwhelmed, doctors and nurses on television saying how exhausted they are. We are told to stay six feet apart or to avoid people altogether. Test, test, test and stay afraid, stay very afraid. Paranoia can also lead to delusion and being irrational. Alcohol and drug use only adds fuel to all of that. Having folks stay home, isolated and afraid can lead to that usage as well. It has already been reported that there has been a rise in that. 

 The bottom line is simple enough, control the fear, control the population. First create a dependence, this is the only way out. Get the people to believe in that, without hesitation, without question. Even better if you can turn the "believers" against the non-believers. No different really than the whole "infidel" narrative. And we all know that it is our duty, our sacred obligation to defeat the infidels! And must do that by all means necessary. They are out there, the infidels, they walk among us and can be anywhere. You can't always spot them. Until we can be sure, have everyone registered and accounted for, you should keep testing. Stay afraid, stay paranoid, just act natural. Well, when the majority are paranoid that is normal, I suppose.