It is just a matter of time until the “Lockdown Files” scandal exposed by The Telegraph in the U.K. comes to North America.
The Telegraph gained access recently to 100,000 WhatsApp messages leaked from former U.K. health secretary Matt Hancock. Many of those messages point to policies being enacted based on political motivation, rather than in the interest of the common good.
In the months ahead, I think we will see tales of deliberate misinformation campaigns and coverups among North American politicians and health officials. That is, IF there are media organizations in the U.S. and Canada willing to acknowledge that they blew it on their COVID coverage – and that the truth is actually quite sensational.
It will take some digging, but the truth is out there – and it is ugly.
Similar to oncologist Karol Sikora, whose first-person account is featured here (Lockdown supporters called me a killer – they should be disgusted with themselves) I was called a “killer” and “murderer” by many for daring to push back against the lockdowns that I knew in my heart (and brain) would end many more lives prematurely than they would ever save.
One Canadian doctor mocked publicly my anti-lockdown stance, suggesting that he was tired of hooking up patients to ventilators and treating people with long COVID. Some quick research told me that he was lying, and when I commented that his colleagues at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons would surely be disappointed with the gross exaggeration of his medical credentials and experience, he immediately deleted his comments, and delivered direct messages, an email, and voicemail apologizing profusely and asking that we keep the discussion between us. Apparently, he was not used to having his authority questioned.
My fact-focused commentary in 2020 was consistently met with a barrage of verbal attacks from the misled masses. Many of my social media posts were deleted, despite not containing any falsehoods. The truth is, they were too accurate, therefore flying in the face of the prevailing hysteria-inducing (and remarkably profitable for some) narrative.
The fight against misguided COVID and climate change alarmism (the same propaganda-powered principles are at work on the two topics; both are real issues, but the threat has been exaggerated to utterly absurd levels in both cases) led to my launch of BIG-Media.ca, a truth/integrity-focused news platform at which readers have been consistently exposed to verifiable facts and logical interpretation regarding the big issues.
Our readers were not fooled into criticizing or shaming their associates for objecting to the lockdowns.
Some of you will say, “But imagine how bad it would have been had we not locked down.”
That line of thinking does not fly any longer. So, yes, I can imagine how it would have played out;
I imagine there would be a lot more people still breathing.
For more on the topic, my brilliant business partner Laurie Weston provided industry-leading analysis on excess deaths just over one year ago:
Analysis of excess deaths reveals surprising deviations
Causes of death in the first year of the pandemic
Earlier, Laurie and Skye Thompson helped us understand that severe outcomes from COVID-19 were almost exclusively occurring among people who were very unhealthy:
COVID context; how concerned should we be about dying from this virus?
Assessing the relative lethality of COVID-19
From March 2020 onward, I pleaded publicly for policies focused on education, protecting the vulnerable, and helping people become less vulnerable (i.e. improving physical and mental fitness); NOT major lockdowns that we knew would cause wide-ranging societal harms (including an obvious increase in the number of vulnerable people from a rise in obesity and other risk factors associated with physical and mental inactivity).
Government data accessed easily throughout the COVID-19 crisis made it evident that politicians, health officials, and media organizations were getting it wrong by perseverating on (and exaggerating) the most alarming COVID numbers while ignoring critical context and countless other public health concerns.
On the flip side, I join Dr. Sikora in tipping my hat to those who stood steadfastly against the lockdowns:
“To those of you who took a brave stand speaking out against various restrictions and policies – from me, a sincere thank you. We comprehensively lost the argument in the court of public opinion, but hopefully a small difference was made. I suspect the national mood may have significantly shifted over the last week. Sunlight is the best disinfectant after all, and spring is on the way.”
These WhatsApp messages illuminate what people at the highest levels of government were willing to do to maintain a “message”. No compromise. No admission of getting it wrong. Nothing. It makes me wonder how pervasive similar attitudes were in other countries? There is a great interview with Isabel Oakeshott (the journalist who is the ghost writer of Hancock’s book “Pandemic Diaries”) on a UK platform called UnHerd (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqMI9pIyi30&t=1184s). I think it adds context, from a ground-zero perspective to the Lockdown Files. She’s endured a lot of professional criticism, and I think, needs her voice to be heard.
Yes, David, the lack of accountability is stunning. I will check out the interview, thanks!