The Onset of Wisdom

Every generation that follows ours is doing something wrong. It has always been that way. The World War I generation (my grandparents) undoubtedly thought that the World War II generation (my parents) was filled with ne'er-do-wells, while the World War II generation knew that the Baby Boomers (my generation) were lost causes. What is it with all this loud music, long hair, dope smoking and the like? We Baby Boomers are, of course, sure that our high standards are not being met by the generations that followed us. (Forgive me, but since I do not know the differences between Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z, the Millennials, etc., I will just lump them altogether.) But I do see a glimmer of hope in the current generations of younger people. About that, more later.

My favorite philosopher, Clint Eastwood, had a classic line in one of the Dirty Harry movies: "A man's got to know his limitations." There is not an elected politician within a 100 mile radius of Washington, DC, who knows his or her limitations. Acknowledging one's limitations is not how one gets elected. For proof, see the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Government's first response to any problem is "We've got to do something!" In many cases, though, there are very few things the government can do to help a situation, but very many things a government can do to make a situation worse. In the case of this pandemic, the government threw its considerable resources behind developing and bringing to market quickly a shot, orginally thought to be a vaccine, for the Wuhan Flu. That was one of the few things the government could do to make the situation better. Many of you will argue the opposite, and I can certainly see your point.

Most of the rest of the government's response, in my opinion, only made matters worse. Shutting down the economy and forcing people to isolate was a disaster. A recent study from Johns Hopkins University makes that point. Some of the recommendations that we still follow today - masking, social distancing - had little basis in science. But the worst effect of all this was the transfer of power to the Federal government, at the cost of our individual liberties. That happened because the population was dreadfully fearful of the Wuhan Flu. And that was primarily the result of a press corps that slanted the news to hype the fear. Everyone fears death, and the death toll from the virus (we were told) was horrendous.

Within the last couple of weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been a bit more forthcoming regarding the statistics on death from the Wuhan Flu. We discovered that some of the deaths attributed to the virus were deaths in patients caused by something else: the patient tested positive for the virus, so the death was listed as due to the virus. And in a remarkable bit of honesty, the director of the CDC discussed the role of comorbidities, other illnesses that contributed to the fatal nature of the infection.

In an interview on the television show Good Morning America, the director of the CDC discussed Covid deaths between December 2020 and October 2021 for those who had received two jabs. Of those who died, 100% had at least one risk factor or comorbidity. Seventy-eight percent of those who died had at least four comorbidities. If these are the numbers for those who were "fully vaccinated", what are the numbers for the "unvaccinated" who died? One can imagine a similar trend: those who are weakened by other risk factors are more likely to succumb to the virus. This, by the way, is true of influenza in general.

And there are the deaths caused by stupidity. The governor of New York issued an order requiring nursing homes to take patients who had tested positive for the virus. A couple of other states did something similarly stupid, placing those who were contagious in a population with the pre-eminent comorbidity: old age.

If the goverment had been honest about the statistics, and if the press had shed its "If it bleeds, it leads" mentality, there might have been less fear of death from the virus, less power transferred to the government, and a more rational approach to the pandemic.

I have talked with students who, to this day, are frightened to death of catching the Wuhan Flu, even though there is little reason to be afraid of dying from the disease. I have seen students withdraw from their classmates and become less social. I knew one student who committed suicide during the pandemic, though no one can say with certainty that the suicide was a result of the pandemic. The atmosphere of fear is the worst of the pandemic's outcomes for young people.

But there is hope that the current generations of young folks are turning a corner. Recently I witnessed two examples of young people who have had an epiphany. The first has to do with the Wuhan Flu, and the second has to do with government power in general.

I know a young lady who believed the recommendations the various government agencies issued. She had the shots, she wore the mask, she socially distanced, she did everything requested of her. She did not get the Wuhan Flu, but she did suffer some medical consequences that her doctor believes are associated with the Wuhan Flu shots. She now wonders why the government pushed hard for everyone to be jabbed when the long-term consequences of the shots were unknown. And now that we are beginning to see some of the medical consequences of the shots, all the while noting that the shots seem to be ineffective against the omicron variant, she asks why does the government continue this push to get the jabs?

She is beginning to see that our government is not the fount of all wisdom. She sees that this is not a kind and benevolent government, but a government intent on forcing its citizens to do as it wishes.

A student of mine, taking an economics course, had to do a bit of role-playing. His teacher assigned the student a job, earning excellent money, and told the student to take this money and plan his life. Based on data from government websites, the student “bought” a house and a brand new muscle car. He was living the good life, until one of the other students in the course pointed out that the student had not deducted taxes from his imaginary paycheck. After the taxes were deducted, the student went from buying a house to sharing an apartment, and the new muscle car gave way to a second-hand Toyota Corolla. He no longer had the disposable income to travel, or to attend concerts, and the like. He then asked the key question: where does all this tax money go?

These two members of the post-Baby Boom generations are beginning to experience the onset of wisdom.