People are Noticing my Covid Maxims
Or at least one person has, which is flattering. I do think this list of Maxims probably explains a great deal about our New Abnormal World.
In a Reader Comment yesterday, subscriber and Substack author Kalle Pihlajasaari flattered me when he wrote he was going to add my Maxim “Officials will never investigate anything they don’t want to ‘confirm’ “ to a list of important quotes he has compiled at his Facebook site.
In response, I added that I think I’ve “coined” at least “six or seven” maxims that apply to our surreal New Abnormal. Upon reflection, I’ve authored - and repeatedly employ - at least 16 (!) original (or fairly original) Maxims.
Upon even more reflection, I think these 16 Maxims largely explain every development that created our sordid and disturbing “New Abnormal.”
As a disclaimer, I should note that many of the maxims that follow aren’t novel observations I came up with by myself (although several are). Instead, I borrowed many sage observations from other writers or thinkers … or, I refined these sentiments to show how they explain aspects of our New Abnormal world.
As readers will see, my first 15 Maxims lead to the conclusion I make in my 16th and final Maxim.
New Abnormal Maxims by Bill Rice, Jr …
1. Conventional Wisdom (aka the “authorized Narrative”) is almost always wrong … or dubious.
This maxim actually provides the sole reason I started this Substack. My “mission statement” or newsletter description reads: “Topics ignored by the mainstream media or that challenge conventional wisdom.”
By now, every pundit and poster who opines on world events has used the term “The Narrative” countless times, which is a tacit admission that everyone understands the importance of the “authorized narrative” to their lives and world. To me, the accepted Narrative of the moment is largely synonymous with “conventional wisdom,” which is “wisdom” few people challenge or question.
The maxim that “conventional wisdom is almost always wrong” began to strongly resonate with me when I bought a book published by former Washington Post and Newsweek columnist Robert J. Samuelson in 2001. The title of Sameulson’s book is Untruth: How Conventional Wisdom is (Almost Always) Wrong. (Note the fourth book review by 35-year-old would-be pundit, Bill Rice, Jr.).
Samuelson’s thesis is important only because of the obvious validity of my second maxim …
2. He who controls the Narrative(s) controls the world.
With Covid, nothing that happened would have happened unless the “the unprecedented deadly, novel virus Narrative” had first been accepted by probably 90 percent of the world’s 8 billion inhabitants.
Once a narrative is set in stone, good luck to those of us who want to challenge and debunk it. (A sub-maxim might be: “Those who want to debunk a false narrative … better act fast.”)
3. Officials will never investigate that which they don’t want to confirm.
The embalmers’ clots, huge spikes in excess deaths, turbo cancers, when people first started to become sick with Covid symptoms, flu shots that make people far more likely to get sick from a respiratory virus, where Epstein got his money or who he really worked for … I could list a thousand examples that proved the veracity of this maxim (which, I think, I did coin).
It’s amazing to me how simple the solution was to avoid potential “thermo-nuclear truth bombs” - simply don’t investigate any potentially seismic events or developments.
4. Every important “truth-seeking” organization is completely captured.
This might be the most disturbing maxim on my list. If just one “important, truth-seeking organization” wasn’t captured, it’s very possible key “untruths” and Bogus Narratives would be exposed … but all important institutions are captured.
It took decades, but the Powers that Be eventually captured every organization that might expose them.
(I don’t know if I “coined” this Maxim, but in the last three years I bet I’ve written this sentence more often than any journalist in the world.)
5. Most people will always seek the safety of the herd.
This Maxim, which has been understood by psychologists and sociologists for centuries, explains why the world’s population of dissidents is so small and why “my side” will, perhaps, never be able to mobilize “the masses” to fight, expose and defeat a world replete with awful leaders.
In a nutshell, people look out for Numero Uno and, somehow, intuitively know which way the wind is blowing and what key narratives they can’t or shouldn’t challenge.
The reason so many citizens have no trouble identifying the groups they should pledge their allegiance to is likely explained by my next Maxim …
6. Before making an important decision, almost every person will perform a personal risk-benefit analysis.
Mr. Smith, the bank vice president, isn’t going to tell the bank president that employees should eschew the Covid guidelines, a burst of independent thought that would not help Mr. Smith’s career and very well might get him fired. The same logic applies to any potentially rogue reporter at your local newspaper … or a mid-level scientist at the NIH or CDC or your average Congressman or City Council member.
While this analysis of micro psychology “is what it is,” it actually explains why many of the world’s macro, societal trends are spiraling down the toilet drain. (Per our National Anthem, America is the “home of the brave” … allegedly.)
7. Most alleged “leaders” are actually “followers.”
True leaders aren’t afraid to do the right thing and possess the principles, charisma and communication skills to persuade others they should follow them. With Covid, 99 percent of organizational “leaders” just followed the pack or did what they were told. They were all “followers” … and were actually rewarded for following the authorized guidance or for completely buying into “The Narrative,” the falsity of which never occurred to them … probably because of the next Maxim …
8. The world is being led by the obtuse.
One Maxim I didn’t include in this list (but could have and maybe should have) is that genuine evil people and organizations really exist in the world. However, I think most “leaders” aren’t genuinely evil; I just think they’re not very bright.
As it turned out, the intelligence or deductive-reasoning skills of physicians, pharmacists, professors, lawyers, political leaders, senior bureaucrats, highly-revered wordsmiths, CEOs, engineers, etc.… were grossly over-rated. As Ms. Gump tried to tell us: Stupid is as Stupid does.
For myself, this qualifies as one most depressing lessons from Covid times. Fortunately, however, I’m smart enough to now know that many of the people placed high on an IQ pedestal should never have obtained such elevated positions. Going forward, this is news we can all use.
*** (Another key to the operation for Team Freedom is getting around the “gate-keepers of the news” - which is where this red button comes into play.) ***
9. Most policies and mandates create the opposite result of the advertised claim.
If experts and authorities say Covid “vaccines” will protect the children, we know that the children are going to be in trouble. I also refer to this Maxim as “Bill’s Law of Opposite Effects.”
A positive result flowing from this Law/Maxim is that it’s often possible to detect a lie simply by noting what someone like Anthony Fauci or the New York Times says is the truth.
10. Those who are consistently right will be ignored, punished and viewed as a threat; those who are consistently and spectacularly wrong will almost always be rewarded.
The career and speeches of Ron Paul provide excellent “proof” that sage warnings are rarely if ever heeded. Conversely, the career and proclamations of people like Dr. Paul Offit and Imperial College of London’s Neil Ferguson provide proof huge sums of money can be made from preposterous and spectacularly-wrong predictions. (Al Gore’s prolific Global Warning fear-mongering provides another example.)
11. Counter-intuitively, the more people who participate in a conspiracy, the more likely the conspiracy will never be exposed.
Once upon a time, I was suspicious about the validity of many popular conspiracy theories, figuring if too many people were involved, the conspiracy would, at some point, be exposed. Then Covid happened and turned my thinking around.
Now I’m convinced the more accomplices who participated in a dystopian conspiracy, the less likely even one person will be exposed or prosecuted. “Strength in numbers” makes “crimes against humanity” not only possible, but almost makes it a sure thing nobody will be exposed or disgraced.
12. Most people will support a fraudulent leader and do NOT want to see a beloved or admired leader exposed or disgraced.
If you saw my recent “Wicked” column, that’s the key take-away from these “re-imagined” Oz movies, plays and book. Everyone in Oz is going to support the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Also, thanks to the black magic of non-stop propaganda, it’s exceedingly easy to make a “witch” out of the few people who are actually trying to protect the masses.
One take-away from this maxim: Anthony Fauci isn’t going to have to flee any irate mob via his get-away balloon.
13. Censorship is the key to the entire operation.
When it comes to advancing and protecting myriad society-destroying agendas, censorship is a must.
I will note that, by now, I’ve identified approximately 20 developments as the “key to the Covid operation,” which, rhetorically, is non-sensical. However, if forced to name the most important core psy-op, I’ll go with censorship, which is simply an operation to suppress the voices of all the “adults in the room.”
As often happens, one Maxim leads to the formation of another … such as ..
14. “Freedom or reach” is probably more important than “freedom of speech.”
It doesn’t matter if 300 Covid Contrarians have already identified all the major villains and crimes of a faux pandemic … that is, if the articles these authors pen “reach” only a microscopic percentage of the world population.
The “key to the operation” is making sure none of these dispatches ever “go viral” and influence the proverbial Man and Woman on the Street.
***
Regarding certain taboo pieces of news potentially “going viral,” one of my favorite maxims postulates that …
15. Fall out from the detonation of just one “thermo-nuclear truth bomb” could create a chain reaction that leads to all bogus and harmful false narratives being exposed.
This maxim is actually a theory, one that has never been proven (or falsified) … simply because this has yet to happen. Indeed, one strongly suspects that another “key to the operation” for the world’s real rulers is to make sure no thermo-nuclear truth bomb ever detonates.
Per this theory, proof that the Covid vaccines were very dangerous and completely ineffective could rapidly lead to the conclusion that all vaccines are dangerous and aren’t needed … or that Statins are a scam … or that anything and everything our trusted rulers have told the public could be a major lie.
Maybe it’s our own government - not the governments of Iran, Venezuela or Russia - that’s trying to take away our freedoms and liberties.
It’s been said (by me - see above) that the world’s rulers control the population via Bogus Fear Narratives. What’s rarely discussed is that the world’s real rulers must have nightmares that their true nature and schemes will one day be exposed
…Which leads me to my final maxim, the one that motivates most of the messages I bottle up and throw out into the Gulf stream.
16. The only result that will probably ensure a brighter future for world inhabitants is a Great Purge of “leaders” in all important organizations.
When every important truth-seeking organization is completely captured, modest political “reforms” are going to produce a state of affairs we’ve all come to know as the ultra-popular (sarc) “Status Quo.”
For “We the People,” the key to the operation is draining the entire swamp, a historic event about as infrequent as the extinction of the dinosaurs, but something, in one pundit’s humble opinion, that must happen.
A population that suddenly doesn’t trust the official narratives - nor almost any of its “leaders” - might comprise the most powerful force in world history.
***
In Conclusion, it seems to me all Maxims lead to one Great (Untried) Experiment: To blast narrative-changing truths into the population, a Baby Truth Grenade won’t suffice. To disable a nearly-operational Death Star, a thermo-nuclear truth bomb is going to have score a direct hit.
… Which could actually happen because the Powers that Be have created and profited from too many harmful and bogus narratives to conceal all of them forever.
Bonus Content:
Here's the mini-book review I wrote of "Untruth" at Amazon in May 2001, when I was a 35-year-old editor of my weekly print newspaper, The Troy Citizen.
Header: The (Un)Truth ... can set you free!
"Jeez - I can't believe no one else has written a review of this book, which is the most persuasive, thought-provoking analysis of the American political, social and economic scene I've ever read. No hyperbole.
I agree with what George Will said about the author: "Samuelson needs Secret Service protection ... If we lose him, we're sunk."
Samuelson's essays all ring true. He is one of the few national journalists I'm familiar with who actually possesses a "healthy skepticism." He not only routinely questions and challenges the "conventional wisdom" he shows us the negative and costly consequences of basing policy decisions on fraudulent but generally accepted premises.
The author's last column is a tribute to the college professor who had the greatest impact on Samuelson's life. This professor taught Samuelson to think about old things in new ways and not to be afraid to come up with independent thoughts. To Samuelson, this was a great gift. Mr. Samuelson has helped pass along the same gift to this humble and grateful reviewer.
P.S. This book should be required reading for every journalist, editor, issue advocate and politician. It tells us why they know not what they do ..."
***
End review. Back then the only way I could reach a national audience was to write book reviews at Amazon.com ... You can tell the themes of my essays haven't changed.
Note: My review got 35 "likes" - the most of any of the book reviews. I hope I helped Mr. Samuelson sell a few more books.
Re:
"15. Fall out from the detonation of just one “thermo-nuclear truth bomb” could create a chain reaction that leads to all bogus and harmful false narratives being exposed."
Two words: white clots.