The Arts and the Creative Industries in the UK, amidst a UK Government Policy of Herd Immunity, Voiceless.

What on earth is our government thinking??? pic.twitter.com/qUD0wptJsN

— Rob Brydon (@RobBrydon) July 3, 2020

The outcome of current UK Government policy is placing producers, singers, dancers, booking staff, sound engineers, riggers, buskers, hospitality staff, writers, choreographers, lighting engineers, technicians, set designers, graphic artists, poets, copy writers, actors, musicians, empresarios, directors, hosts, comedians, cameramen, cleaning staff, ushers, set painters, make up artists, wardrobe directors, tour managers, security staff, catering staff, poster makes, printers, flyer distributors and  many, many others - the Creative Arts Industry - in a stress position where we will, due to impending economic poverty  as a direct result of lack of adequate support be forced to demand to be able to return to work in unsafe situations.

This will without doubt increase the risk of spreading the virus, and then we and our customers will be blamed for spreading the virus, for our lack of 'common sense', and then our businesses, theatres, recording studios, clubs, halls, festivals and pubs will be shut down a second time, and there will be no furlough offered - everyone will be expected to move onto Universal Credit.

Then the Industry will be ripe for a business take over.

The Creative Industries are a potential bonanza for those with the cash to buy up existing yet struggling enterprises at knock down prices.

Those who have cash reserves will be in a position to buy up what ever is left, at very low prices, to be held until the economy opens up again, and then make investment gains for the purchasers as those assets regain value. The kinds of people who bet against industries failing, and make a lot of money doing so.

Jacob Ress Mogg and Pater,  aspirant minnows among that shark infested pool of avarice.  Government issuing muti-million pound contracts to tiny companies with little experience, no staff, minimal turnover. Clearly the shock doctrine opportunists are in full flow.

European countries have seen this threat and are taking steps to protect their native Arts and Creative Industries. Not the UK. They have abandoned the Arts and Creative Industry.

When what was needed, and what is still is needed, is to pay everyone to stay home, to be able to be comfortable enough to stay safe for 12 weeks, to follow the proven eliminate the virus from community transmission protocols,  which includes, of course ,strict quarantine of incoming travel, as have other states done, as Scotland's First Minister will have to do very soon to protect her people, those she genuinely serves.

Then, when the country is made safe, we can return then return to work, to live and to play in a happy State, having succeeded has New Zealand has, in eliminating community transmission, with secure quarantined borders (taking back control) and with vigilant systems in place in case of any outbreaks. This is all eminently feasible, and necessary - with the UK population of 67 million still only at under 5% infected, there is 95% and more to play for.

Bearing in mind that elimination of community transmission will protect people and the economy and make the wait for a vaccine so much less burdensome and frightening.

Rather than making the economy scream so that Hedge Funds and others can game the situation, which is the existing policy stance of the Johnson Government - they are not the UK Government, they are the Hedge Fund Mining Giants Government in occupation.

https://bylinetimes.com/2020/07/03/sagegate-how-government-neutered-science-to-save-the-economy-and-chase-the-ghost-of-herd-immunity/

An interesting article on what is known as Sage Gate. The gaming of a novel infectious viral disease.

One Voice

With that in mind, I feel a deep and painful frustration, a pain in my heart that is heavy with dismay and disillusionment, as I look at the 70,000+ excess deaths that have 'happened', each and everyone avoidable.

How can the Arts community stand to look at itself in the mirror, aware as we all are of so much avoidable death and taking notice of the lack of a voice in the UK and in Ireland, a clear speaking voice, a creative communicative voice grounded in the evidence of epidemiology, virology, public health, social care and economics, a hearty voice speaking out for the suppression of infection rate leading to eliminating community transmission of the virus within the island population of England,  Wales, Scotland and Ireland as a whole bloc as the most appropriate policy to protect both people and economy alike.

What is Art if it is not a voice? Mere entertainment? If so, then the typification of the role of artist as non-essential is a correct typification, for we can all entertain ourselves if push comes to shove. Boredom is always a choice.

Why is the Arts and Creative Industries collective unable to find a common voice, unable to use it's vast talents to speak up for the vulnerable, the disabled, the teachers, the students and the parents who are all being placed at great risk by this governments odious behaviour?

When any figure has a public voice, and there exists a verified threat to the public, to the commons, then it behoves that voice to speak up.

The sound of silence is deafening.

So I wrote these a while ago, trying to suggest we push for the kind of policies New Zealand have proven. Why not? Otherwise it's just more death, sadness, greed and gas-lighting? What have we go to lose?

coreluminous · Jacinda and The Little Bugs

and

coreluminous · Be Alert!

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's your gift to Universe.

Living with the English Ruling Class Corporate Kleptocracy is living within an Abuse Relationship Dynamic, at scale..

"The grooming (gaslighting) of human vulnerability is one of most vile things any human being can do to another."

#JohnsonVariant

In this piece I want to describe what I see in 2020 England - that we are a population are enduring an abusive situation, which is similar in dynamic to that of a family living with an abusive parent where the parent dominates the household, where the members of the family cannot leave and are therefore forced to adopt distorted roles within the situation, where the parent denies the abuse, and gaslights the family members to deflect criticism, awareness and action to address the abuse.

Johnson is symptom, the problem lies deeper than him and his cronies. Living with the English Ruling Class Corporate Kleptocracy is living within an Abuse Relationship Dynamic, at scale. Robber Barons Magna Carta Libertarianism at it's worst.

The current political policy decision making system in England, as it stands, is not fit for a healthy 21st Century Democracy and  it cannot protect the people's human rights, or our right to health from an adverse Government. These two papers examine the Right to Health betrayal of this English Government.

https://www.hhrjournal.org/2020/11/the-right-to-health-in-times-of-pandemic-what-can-we-learn-from-the-uks-response-to-the-covid-19-outbreak/

"Using the UK as a case study, we examine critically the extent to which the government’s response to COVID-19 complied with the legal framework of the right to health. We review further key states’ obligations on the right to health and assess its suitability in times of pandemic. Finally, we offer some recommendations for an update of the right to health."

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.646285/full

"The concerns caused by the profoundly disturbing announcement of a herd immunity strategy in March 2020 (3) were worsened by the consideration that such medical strategy might have been shaped without peer review and adequate multidisciplinary input. This highly disputable decision supposedly was taken following the guidance of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergency (SAGE). The legitimate concerns were accrued by the perceived lack of transparency as the members of the group remained secret for a considerable length of time, being publicly revealed only in April 2020 (4). Unsurprisingly, the quality of the scientific advice to the British Executive Authority has been openly criticized by numerous professionals holding international reputation; to the extent of being publicly challenged by the spontaneous constitution of an alternative and independent advisory group (5). Such events remain unique to the UK"

They make it clear that democratic institutions in England have failed to protect the population.

October 2021 - Parliamentary Select Committee's on Health and Science issue a report excoriating the policy choices of the English Government in the early stages of the pandemic, but stop short of demanding accountability or change in the current status quo.

October 2021 - this article describes the English Government as a plundering entity.

https://99-percent.org/malice-in-plunderland-a-new-kind-of-government/

"although the Johnson government has been reluctant to spend even relatively small amounts on some issues – such as school meals for the poorest children during holidays, pay rises for nurses, or benefits for the poorest – they did not hesitate to spend money in large quantities on a new ’Royal’ yacht which the Royal family does not want (£250 million), on PPE (well over £1 billion), on the so-called “NHS test and trace” (£37 billion ) – when this spending was directed into the corporate sector, via a special VIP lane which crowded out experienced suppliers in favour of donors and contacts of ministers. As a result, much of the money spent was (from the taxpayers’ perspective) wasted.

Indeed, the government’s attitude to NHS spending – or indeed to any spending which can in some loose way be linked to the NHS – seems to be: “tax-funded spending is fine, as long as we can direct it to whom we want and as long as the tax burden does not fall on the wealthiest.”

Taken together these all indicate a serious situation, where duty of care to the population is denied. To deny that duty of care to the population, whilst enriching associates, is abuse of power.

A healthy deliberative democracy involves the people as a whole, including our best experts and minds, as well as each and every citizen, active and engaged in policy design and implementation, nationally and locally, especially where it impacts our lives.

We, the ordinary people, have understood this long time.

We have the elements of a solution - we laid it out in some detail in 2006. Much of Corbyn's policy agenda was designed by people, by the Labour Party general membership working with experts in the various areas of concern, and Momentum's trajectory aimed to empower people in political decision making. Scottish Independence is driven in large part by the ill effects of Austerity, unjustly imposed by the few upon the many. They want to be free of such adverse imposition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Inquiry - making democratic power safe for people.

It doesn't have to be this way, The current situation is not inevitable, it is not set in stone, it is not inherent or innate to our humanity. 

Today we see the problem - in excess deaths, avoidable chronic disease, economic harm and expanding poverty, even as the class of millionaires and billionaires grows wealthier and politically stronger.

COVID19

The English Government's reliance on the Vaccine and their rejection of Elimination of Community transmission strategies is, in part, a tacit admission of a deliberate failure rather than incompetence. The English Government is quite clearly exploiting the situation to preserve their power, to enhance their personal and collective wealth and choosing, repeatedly, to let the 'herd take it on the chin.' This is abuse of power.

Under the guile of 'personal responsibility' they have withdrawn all support for limiting the spread of the virus. Even people who have been vaccinated will be exposed to the virus. Those who survive, survive. That is and has always been the plan. Herd Immunity via infection, mitigated by the Vaccine.

The people have not chosen this plan. The people have done as much as we could to stop the spread. 

Our behaviour has been communitarian, and the Government's ministers have behaved selfishly, arrogantly, dishonestly. The Government rejected the best strategy, out of hand, with no public discussion on the matter. 

Elimination Strategy Works Best.

Elimination of community transmission within any given population or district is the go to strategic policy - because it is a proven strategy. 1.8 billion people and their economies are being better protected by elimination of community transmission strategy than those that have allowed the virus to spread. It is a complex operation because it requires providing support to meet a wide variety of social and economic needs.

It is made complicated and rendered almost ineffective if tainted by considerations of retaining power and pursing economic gaming, as Test and Trace and as Crony Contracts for PPE and other kit have demonstrated.

Civil Liberties and Economics

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00978-8/fulltext

"Among OECD countries, liberties were most severely impacted in those that chose mitigation, whereas swift lockdown measures—in line with elimination—were less strict and of shorter duration (figure). Importantly, elimination has been framed as a civic solidarity approach that will restore civil liberties the soonest; this focus on common purpose is frequently neglected in the political debate.

Evidence suggests that countries that opt for rapid action to eliminate SARS-CoV-2—with the strong support of their inhabitants—also better protect their economies and minimise restrictions on civil liberties compared with those that strive for mitigation."

Vaccine is not a stand alone protection.

Hoping that the vaccine will  resolve the epidemic and the pandemic is an admission of failure to pursue elimination of community transmission with the determination, resourcing and energy required.  It is allowing the virus to spread, for ideological and economic reasons and that is an abuse of power, a betrayal of duty of care. 

The work being done to develop vaccines is superb, and reveals a co-operative energy that is truly international and life affirming. Nonetheless, there are priorities being missed by the English Government, and their banking on the Vaccine as the get out of jail card in the future is reckless, callous and is not avoiding avoidable harms.

Duty of Care

I want to be really clear here - it is the duty of every nation, every government to eliminate community transmission of the virus within it's territory, not only to the people of each territory but also to every other state - knowingly exporting the infection is a breach of that duty of care.

New Zealand was completely free of the SARSCOV2 virus, (as I edited this in January 2021) and as such does not need the currently available vaccine, which is not, in any case, an immunity conferring medicine, as it is designed to attenuate the severity of disease post infection. New Zealand can maintain tightly quarantined borders, and their economy will thrive, even without international tourism ( a primary vector of global viral spread) - they have enough people to run an internal tourism that will benefit it's citizens hugely - it is important to put to bed the sanctity of the tourist industry at this time. Yes, by all means states must provide adequate support to workers in all areas afflicted, and the money creation systems must bend to that task, willingly and not as profiteers - the irresponsibility inherent in the UK allowance of unquarantined travel has given the world the Kent Variant, and indeed the Delta Variant, and the tourist industry has not gained by that at all. Delta and Tourism In October 2021 (as I update this piece) New Zealand are faced with an outbreak of Delta, which started in early August, arriving via a flight from Sydney. The New Zealanders are struggling to contain it, making slow progress. Some speak of New Zealand 'abandoning' Elimination Strategy. That is deliberate misinterpretation of what New Zealand's government and people are doing. They have made ground, but are facing another surge of cases, which they believe to have arisen from non compliance of a few people. The ill effects of misinformation misleading the few undermine the whole. They are still intent on stopping community transmission, and maintaining vigilant over sight and the capability to get on top of localised outbreaks, bearing in mind the development of Vaccines and the emergence of Delta. They are pushing ahead with a rapid vaccination program. They are still focused on their primary duty of care for the health of the population. We in the UK, on the other hand, have lost ground by a deliberate lack of attention to duty of care.

By all means we must pursue the vaccine trail, but surely we must not let it be said that elimination was not given the fullest possible resourcing - let it not be said "we will open up, and take whatever casualties arise", because we have a vaccine.

Let us do everything in our power to protect our populations and our economies at the same time - this does not have to be an either or situation, indeed justice suggests it must not be so. 

The Public Discourse is not truthful.

The news media, the press, the broadcast news are not being honest. There are ample cases of gaslighting, misleading disinformation, outright lies in all our News and Press Media and in Government communications.

There is no community without honesty and transparency.

The relationship between Establishment /Government and the people of the UK, and in particular the people of England, as it stands today, is abusive.

It's a scaled up, institutionalised version of the abuse family dynamic. We can see various roles being played out by the key sectors that  function to keep the family together, that maintain the status quo.

What role do each of us play in this dynamic?

Bearing in mind these roles, these behavioural patterns, are imposed by the abusive situation, and they are, within the family, survival strategies, as well as part of what enables the family system. They are mostly not consciously chosen, but are places the abused go to in order to hold some degree of psyche-level stability, and attempt to survive the situation.  Sometimes people will adopt or be forced to act out more than one role.

At the institutional level, that distinction is no longer applicable - institutions are engines, agencies of intentional action.

So here's a few suggested markers, and I'd be happy to read critiques of these to refine this study...

The Abuser  - Boris Johnson and the Cabinet, The English Establishment of Power, Oligarchy

The Enabler  - The right wing media, the left wing media, the centrist media, the Churches, Parliament that refuse to speak the whole truth.

The Hero - Idealised images of Nurses, Policemen, Troops, Doctors - Personalities such as Farage, Rees-Mogg, Tommy Robinson, National Icons that distract from the wounds by claiming British 'Spirit' etc..

The Scapegoat - Immigrants, the poor, the low income workers, the Blacks, the Browns, the Whites, the China Virus

The Lost Child - The Establishment Arts that refuses confront the truth, Britain's Got Talent, people groomed by Conspiracy Theory, Cultism etc..

The Mascot - The Queen, The Flag, The Establishment Arts, Parliament

These are all wide generalisations, and there needs to be a discussion around how truthful each of these elements of our Society are, in the face of this immediate situation.

Adding nuance, it is fair to point out that whether one chooses Left, Center or Right, within a Violent Hierarchy, it is still a Violent Hierarchy. That is a core truth that remains taboo. Rejecting elimination strategy was and is act of violence. Nobody wants to speak or write about this in the public domain.

We must break that taboo.

Or are you, like me, one of the innocent: victimised citizens, born into this mess, and trying to live as honestly and as harmlessly as possible?

Are you one of us, the ones who didn't f*ck it up?

Here's a very cool, comedic, musical reminder of who you are, where you are and what we are dealing with.

Enjoy, then read on.




How do we shift out of these situational roles?

How do we help unf*ck this situation?

The situation - State level lethal domestic abuse.

Recent past 120,000 avoidable excess deaths due to Austerity - a policy based on a fundamental lie - since 2010, a situation the UN described as an abuse of Human Rights.

65,000 excess deaths due to the epidemic, at the time of writing, the majority of which could have been avoided.

Deliberately punitive and harmful policies protected by lies, masked by manipulation and and covered up with misleading information in news media and by Government.

Online political and marketing grooming, playing on people's fears and prejudices, deliberately exacerbating cognitive biases to generate extremist positions within the population in order to exploit that social division.

Brexit.

These are all wilful harms, caused by political grooming gangsters.

Forcing children into un-safe 'covid-ready' schools in order to push parents back to work, in order to reduce furlough in preparation for a second peak, a shut down, business collapse, and then offering Universal Credit in place of furlough to a traumatised workforce. 

Gaslighting and emotional black mail the chosen strategy of the Education Secretary to get the schools re-opened. The Shadow Minister for Education who opposed opening in un-safe fashion, who supported teachers Unions, removed from position using a false accusation of anti-Semitism.

The Education department confirming a day later that parents holding their children back from returning to School in September will be fined.

Encouraging irresponsible behaviour - the purpose of the Cummings Road Show - in order to then blame the people for the surge in community transmission of the virus.

Stanley Johnson's rule breaking visit to his Greek villa. The rules and regulations to protect the people and the economy are for ordinary folk, they are for the plebs and they are not for the likes of Johnson, and Cummings who married into the aristocracy, whose wife's father claims to be genetically superior to ordinary folk.

A publicised behaviour that is designed to elicit the logical and obvious complaint that 'it's one rule for them and another for us' which then becomes the excuse for irresponsible behaviour, which once it is engaged in, cannot be withdrawn. But the ordinary folk can then be used as scapegoats, to let the Government that has abused the population off the hook.

Deliberate action by a man known to be a master baiter, a master at manipulation of cognitive bias in target groups as a means to winning elections.

Opening pubs when the virus is still at large, with tens of thousands of new confirmed infections weekly, more than a hundred deaths daily, with infection rates static rather than falling across the country, and surges in a number of areas. The risks are real.

How many others will one person, unaware of their infectious status, infect in a pub or restaurant  environment? The Government said fire ahead, so you and I cannot blame that unawares person. But the Government will. They will blame ordinary folk for not using 'common sense'. They will not take any responsibility for any adverse outcomes.

Across Europe most countries have mandated strict regulations governing people's behaviour regarding managing the risk where they have opened up. The UK has nothing in place approaching those countries. Nobody in Europe is complaining about their freedoms being limited. Most ordinary folk across Europe are looking at the UK in utter dismay and horror.

The Prime Minister in parliament suggesting to concerned MPs of coastal and beach towns that "they should show some guts and support the opening of their beaches, to help the economy" in a week where half a million people thronged at seas side towns, leaving rubbish all over the beaches, bringing drunkenness, aggression and anti-social onto the streets at night. Bullying is as bully does.

The UK Government are abusing the population. Their deliberate action and chosen policies have led to 65,000 avoidable deaths in 4 months. Millions of job losses remain on the cards, all of which was  avoidable. New Zealand had the same information at the same time as the UK Government, and they have eliminated community transmission of the virus, had a minimal death rate, minimal infection rate and are now out of lock down, safely. UK Government has no excuse. They chose to abuse the people. Why?

Whatever, can we just put a stop to this abuse, and work out what happened later, after we have arrived at the happy state that Vietnam and New Zealand have demonstrated is possible?

I wish someone would say that, out loud.

"We are living with an abusive PM, and abusive Cabinet, an abusive Advisor, and abusive Government Ministers, and it is lethal."

Can we say that, out loud?

Vaccine is irrelevant

I have been criticised by many for my stance on Corona Virus. Not least by people who are focused on the Vaccine as a solution or as a problem (Bill Gates being a bad actor etc).

I have made it very clear that the vaccine route is already an admission of failure.

I have made it clear that elimination of community transmission is the only safe, proven long term protocol that we have right now.

I have made it clear that this is a question of will, it is a matter of intent and the provision of funding and resources to where they are most needed - that the present spread of this virus is not an inevitability.

There is more than enough wealth and resources globally to eliminate community transmission, and to set up vigilant systems to eradicate the virus in any given population.

Every country has a duty of care to all others, on it's borders or throughout it's holiday destinations, to prevent the spread of community transmission. The UK has not only failed to meet that obligation, it has consistently refused to do so. In the end, events will force it to take that action.

I am more concerned about 'The Vaccine Solution' than most anti-Vaxxer, anti-Gatesers in that I urge solid, evidence based proposals on how to deal with the epidemic locally, and globally, using proven zero community transmission strategies now. Yesterday was already too late. Today is not too late.  We are along way from the exposure that would generate 'herd immunity'...

The anti-Vaxxer anti-Gatesers are against the Vaccine for reasons of political, ideological and belief systems,  rather than reasons grounded in epidemiology, public health, social material outcomes and the practical work of saving lives, right now, starting to day. If a useful, efficacious Vaccine emerges, then that is superb, and I support that. If it is exploited to avoid other necessary action, then that is abuse. If the first wave of vaccinations is an experiment, then we need to be told so.

If anything the irrational stance of anti-vaxers and UK Government alike lend themselves to more avoidable deaths, in that both avoid facing the practical realities of implementing elimination strategies, because they are keeping the vaccine hype, hope and horror narratives up front, when what should be happening is that the elimination narrative ought to be front and foremost in all public discussions on Corona Virus, because it effing-well works. 

Excuse the expletive, the issue is that intense. People are dying, people's economies are being broken, there is sadness, grief and pain across this land.

So unless my various critics can add to my thesis on how practical it is to eliminate community transmission and in due course eradicate the virus, then they are wasting my time, wasting their own time, and adding to the problem rather than helping to resolve it.

Elimination of the virus is both practical and possible, in every country on Earth. All that is missing is the will to make it so.

Live Data as part of an Elimination Management Protocol.

In Croatia, the government daily briefing includes detailed information on the national test, trace and isolate strategy. The public is informed about the exact locations of positive cases, how many people were tested and how many contacts were placed in isolation as a result. This has been happening since the first patient was tracked at the end of February. Like New Zealand, Croatia also announced reaching zero cases on June 11. Some local outbreaks followed, but the death rate remains low.

In Spain there are infection case maps available for the whole country and for each region and local area.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/world/europe/spain-coronavirus-cases.html

A well informed, engaged population is a key element to any elimination management strategy, something completely avoided in the UK. I suggest that deliberate lack of clarity is abusive.



There is no good reason whatsoever, bar deliberate government policy, why such detailed maps have not been up and running for the UK since March 23rd. To deliberately keep a population so ill-informed of a genuine public health risk is abuse. There is no other way to state the position. It is abuse if one is aware that any given inaction leads to harms being caused, and one continues to not act when one could act and prevent those harms.

Here's my song about Jacinda Ardern and New Zealand vs UK Government Policy, which I wrote before they had eliminated community transmission, which I KNEW was going to be effective, because I had studied the evidence in some detail.

stop the spread, spread the love.

coreluminous · Jacinda and The Little Bugs

and this I wrote after Johnson's May 10th classic passive aggressive management speech...

coreluminous · Be Alert!

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Thank you for reading this blog.

"Do what you love, it is your gift to universe."

This blog, like all my other content creation work is not monetised via advertising. If you like what I present, consider sharing my content. If you can afford the price of a cup of coffee or a pint of beer/ale/cider for a few months, please donate via my Patreon account.

https://patreon.com/corneilius - donations gratefully received

https://www.reverbnation.com/corneilius .mp3 Songs

https://www.soundcloud.com/coreluminous .wav Songs

https://www.corneilius.net - Archive

Choice and Freedom: Wear a mask, be kind, stay safe, stop the spread, spread the Love.

Choice and Freedom

If I am free to choose, and if my choice causes harm to another person, a harm that they then cannot avoid, what then, of their freedom? My choice has removed their freedom to be free of harm.

What of mine?

You - yes... you, the person who might be reading this and might be thinking, "I will not wear a mask! My freedom to choose matters!"

I guarantee that you did not come up with the freedom of choice agenda about wearing/not wearing a mask, in this epidemic and global pandemic, all on your own - someone whispered it into your digital ear.

You did not originate that thought yourself. I know this. You know it too.

Thinking is more than having thoughts. It involves following those thoughts through, and examining them in depth, testing them against what you already know to be true.

Hierarchy, and Hitler was a Lefty!

Hitler was a violent Hierarch. The organisation he headed up had Socialist in it's name.  Everyone knows the Nazi ideology was anti-socialism. Stalin was not a socialist either, he was a military dictator. Churchill was also a military dictator, albeit guided by a military committee.

Perhaps within a hierarchy of violence system, everyone is a fascist, by default.

Not because they want to be, but because there are no truly egalitarian operations happening within this system. No place to be egalitarian.

We all pay rent to someone.

Perhaps that's really difficult to really look at.

Every Hierarchy of Power and Violence is just that, whether we call it Nazi, Communist, Democracy, Monarchy, Gang, Abuse Family, Religious State, Empire, Federation or Union.

It's all the same blood spattered room, just a different pattern of wallpaper.

Hierarchy systems have to condition the people to habituate to being exploited, to see the system as normal.

No child left behind.

Everyone must be educated! Self education is considered a threat, so much so that education is mandatory in many countries, truancy is a crime.

Perhaps everybody within a hierarchy system who seeks to reform the system with a better hierarchy is a deluded fascist, deluded in that hierarchies always produce people who want to topple the hierarchy, which creates an inevitable tension that causes those in charge to exercise violence to maintain their version of the status quo. For your own good, they say to the people at large.

Egalitarian cultures are healthy cultures, the biological default is trust..

“In other words, the default state is to trust, and what the amygdala does is learn vigilance and distrust.”
― Robert M. Sapolsky, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

The context of this statement by Sapolsky is that we are sensitive, vulnerable babies who learn by experience, that our behaviour is mostly learned. Very little of our behaviour is predetermined. And the science suggests strongly that the default state, the base line of healthy behaviour resolves around trust.

“The brain is heavily influenced by genes. But from birth through young adulthood, the part of the human brain that most defines us (frontal cortex) is less a product of the genes with which you started life than of what life has thrown at you. 

Because it is the least constrained by genes and most sculpted by experience. This must be so, to be the supremely complex social species that we are. Ironically, it seems that the genetic program of human brain development has evolved to, as much as possible, free the frontal cortex from genes.”

― Robert M. Sapolsky, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

Cults and Clubs.

Hierarchy cultures are cults  - they have to dominate every child's mind and psyche, they have to habituate everyone to the 'normalcy' of hierarchy...

Left/right is just a set piece, a clever ploy, a distraction that is meaningless in that it does not lead to the kind of healthy change we need, it impedes learning and healing.

Marx's theories would still have led to workers destroying the planet.

NeoLiberalism is destroying the planet just as assuredly as Chinese Socialist Capitalism is.

Perhaps.

To me it does not make bio-logical sense to 'create' a species that is dysfunctional.

It makes more sense to say that a functional species placed under chronic stress will become dysfunctional.

Fact: an aboriginal body in a rain forest is as evolved for egalitarian relationships as my body in London.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/freedom-learn/201105/how-hunter-gatherers-maintained-their-egalitarian-ways

"We citizens of a modern democracy claim to believe in equality, but our sense of equality is not even close to that of hunter-gatherers. 

The hunter-gatherer version of equality meant that each person was equally entitled to food, regardless of his or her ability to find or capture it; so food was shared. It meant that nobody had more wealth than anyone else; so all material goods were shared. 

It meant that nobody had the right to tell others what to do; so each person made his or her own decisions. 

It meant that even parents didn't have the right to order their children around; hence the non-directive childrearing methods that I have discussed in previous posts. It meant that group decisions had to be made by consensus; hence no boss, "big man," or chief."

The difference is the culture.

In terms of sensory capacity, in terms of the capability to be loving and of being loved, in terms of creativity and intelligence required to build shelter, to find food, the energy and effort to care for children and elders we are precisely and beautifully evolved,  and bio-logically adapted for healthy relationships.

The difference is the culture you grow up within, and what it tells you about how you 'should' behave and what to expect.

I live in London, the cultural center of a hierarchy of power and violence.

No such hierarchy persists in old growth rain forest.

Peter Gray, again, explains it another way:  https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/freedom-learn/201105/human-nature-teaching-ii-how-hunter-gatherers-taught

"As I explained in that earlier post, hunter-gatherers had faith that their children would, on their own initiatives, learn what they needed to know, and so they did not worry about their children's education or attempt to control it. 

Moreover, hunter-gatherers held strongly to the values of personal autonomy and equality. They believed that it is wrong for anyone to try to control another person's life, either in the short run or the long run, even if that other person is a child.  Hunter-gatherers believed that it is presumptuous for anyone to think that they know what is best for another person."

For most of us habituated to hierarchies of power systems thinking, this is all idealist and dangerous nonsense. But is it?

Obviously any transition from where we, in this Industrialised Hierarchy of Power and Violence culture, are towards a culture approaching that degree of mature kindness is going to be a rather large undertaking, yet that does not mean it is impossible, does it?

Wear a mask, be  kind, stay safe, stop the spread, spread the love.


Kindest regards

Corneilius

"Do what you love, it is your gift to universe."

New Zealand, Vietnam - Elimination Strategy works - what is stopping others from doing what works?

Eridcation or Suppression? Australian TV asked the question whether or not elimination of community transmission of the virus vs eradication of the virus is the better choice.

  

They carefully avoided a direct or conclusive answer, and spun the elimination protocol outcome as a problem, closed borders, and suggested suppression as the favoured choice by omission.

They did not qualify suppression in terms of lives lost, impact of disease, and instead implied permanently closed borders would be a problem - without mentioning that a 2 week quarantine is not a closed border.

It was only a short piece, for a news segment, so obviously detail was not their intent. I am using this piece as an introduction. My thesis is simple. Elimination of uncontrolled spread of the virus from a given population/territory where a single Government operates is wholly feasible. New Zealand has proven this. Every time any reporter or member of the Press faces members of the UK Government, all they really need to be doing is repeating "New Zealand, New Zealand." Really. Their obsequious questioning is complicit in the crime being committed.

Now, June 21st, two months on from that news segment, and New Zealand is clear of SARSCOV2 virus, community transmission has been eliminated and there are no new cases of COVID19 after an eleven week intensive elimination protocol.

Vietnam is also clear and there are other States, such as Taiwan which have also eliminated the uncontrolled spread via community transmission within their populations, and others Finland, Norway are getting very close to clear by following the Elimination of uncontrolled spread of the virus protocols. Video : Vietnam - Dr. John Campbell speaks to a fellow Brit in Danang, Vietnam.
Sweden's failures. Sweden has been excluded from a Nordic Free travel Zone until it has mastered the virus, having chosen to ignore the elimination protocol in favour of a herd immunity approach, and shielding the vulnerable. It has failed. They got it wrong. Sweden's per capita death rate was 10 times that of it's neighbours, running to close to 10% of all confirmed cases/ Video : Sweden - Dr. John Campbell speaks about Sweden reviewing the data and their strategy.
Senecide Video: Sweden - Dr. John Campbell speaks with Dr. John Tallinger, a GP in Sweden, dedicated to working with elder patients, saving lives for COVID19 patients over 60 with chronic disease, with oxygen supplement, due to Swedish Health Governance policy directions to administer palliative care medications, rather than admit to general Hospital.


Neighbours can be a problem, if their arrogance inhibits sociality. Proof

Thus we have living proof, scientific proof, epidemiological, social, political and economic proof that Elimination of uncontrolled spread of the virus protocols can and do work. We have ample proof that herd immunity approaches are lethal. That said, this achievement requires a certain degree of discipline and commitment. It is not easy, by any stretch of the imagination. One has to 'stay alert'. Quarantine, and unacceptable failure. Then in June, New Zealand had two new cases, imported from Britain, by two sisters returning on June 7th, to visit a dying parent, who had become very, very close to death and who then died whilst the two sisters were in quarantine. Very sad for all concerned. The local officials allowed the sisters compassionate leave on June 13th to travel to their dying parent's family, to be with the surviving parent, which was before their quarantine time was up, but they did not test them. One of the sisters had already presented with flu-like symptoms and was not tested as it was believed the symptoms were due to a pre-existing condition. That was the first error. The second error was allowing them to travel unaccompanied by any officials, unguarded so to speak. There were a number of other errors made by the officials in handling the case. I assume some of those errors were compounded by the sisters British based perception of Corona Virus, as their behaviour would indicate. I will focus on that perception later in the article. As the symptomatic sisters symptoms became more severe, the sisters were tested on June 14th, and their tests came back, positive for both of them, on June 16th. They were placed in isolation.

The NZ contact trace system kicked in and located more than 300 people who could have been infected via these two sisters, within 24 hours, and placed all on quarantine, urging them to get tested.

"Health officials are tracing 320 people who are regarded as “close contacts” of the women, and they will be urged to get tested. Close contacts could include passengers on their flight to New Zealand and other quarantined travellers at their Auckland hotel, as well as hotel staff and flight crew. The women were now in isolation with a relative, officials said."

The whole affair brought to light how important discipline is in maintaining clarity and effectiveness of the protocols. That discipline depends on everyone fully understanding the evidence, the science and the public health risks and taking appropriate steps to maintain a virus free status, and to isolate as soon as any sign of infection emerges. Jacinda Arden spoke of these and said the errors were 'unacceptable' and ordered all compassionate leave to be suspended in future until they can be sure the best discipline is fully operational at all times.

The discipline of Government, it's officials and agencies and of the people is a critical element in any elimination strategy. From start to finish, and afterwards. People spread the virus. The virus is unlikely to travel on goods when proper screening is undertaken -and if a solid quarantine ans testing system is in place for all travellers, then the most likely un-quarantined infection route would be people smugglers, drug smugglers and so forth. Covert and unofficial lines of transmission which can only be countered by extreme vigilance, rapid and unrelenting action and confrontation. Systems exist for that purpose. Elimination Strategy is simple in principle, complex in practice, complicated by power gaming.

Elimination of uncontrolled spread of the virus - when there is a given population, a bordered territory and the state has the ability to pick up every symptomatic case, and has the ability to trace every contact, observe those contacts in quarantine and has top notch provision for treatment of anyone presenting with symptoms, away from the community, that state can eliminate the virus within that population. Bit by bit, day by day, until they close down all community transmission, and have everyone in treatment being cared for, and they have a situation where they have no new infections for two weeks after the last deaths, and the last recoveries from the disease, then that population can be sure that no more transmission of the live virus is occurring. The virus cannot live long outside the human body. It can only transmit from body to body. The State and community must still maintain vigilance.

This can be done, all of it, without total shut down. 12 weeks is the length of time it takes to move through this entire protocol in any population, the only limiting factor being the volume of resources deployed. Where community transmission is out of control, then massive resources are required because more ground has to be covered, rapidly.

Shut down is only needed when community transmission is out of control - which was the status in mid January in Wuhan, and in late February, March and into April in the UK. Community Transmission out of control. Unfortunately, community transmission is still out of control in the UK in spite of the effort and endurance of vast majority of British people staying home, staying safe. The UK has not managed to 'control the virus' and is perilously close to starting a second peak as I write. I say second peak, because for their to be a second wave, there must be a trough in between, and that is not the case.

This is entirely down to the failures of the UK Government to take the Elimination of uncontrolled spread of the virus route from the outset. The responsibility lies with the Conservative and Unionist Party Government, with Parliament and the News media, which has behaved in a most feeble manner. No-one else. Current estimates of excess deaths due to the virus and other effects from bad policy choices is 65,000+. This is terrifying and infuriating in equal measure. I am ok, personally. I have had the disease, five weeks of awful illness. I have lung and kidney issues since then, slowly improving. I have stopped smoking, and I am taking exercise every day and doing some running. This is not my personal fear anymore. I have degrees of immunity. I am resilient.

However at the age of 60, I have many friends whose situation is not so secure. Friends and family members with chronic disease conditions, cancer and other illnesses that put them all at greater risk of severe or even lethal outcomes should they become infected. They do not feel this government is doing it's utmost to protect them. They do not feel safe. I also have friends who have bought into the conspiracy theories, and others who are Brexiteers who support Johnson no matter what else is happening. But they are a minority. Most people I know are aware, paying close attention to the science and are taking care of one another, enduring the situation. Good people predominate.
The problem in the UK is not the people. The problem has been the UK Governments atrocious handling of the situation. The deliberate delays in responding at the beginning, the lack of PPE and other equipment, the wholly ill-advised and inadequate policies they have chosen, their deliberately confusing public messaging, the prevalence of unethical theory (Herd Immunity) and opinion over scientific, epidemiological and public health practice evidence, the lack of adequate support for pre-existing stresses across the community as they were shunted into sudden shut-down, the willingness of the Government to lie and dissemble about their failures and decisions, their readiness to place resources in the wrong hands, and a media that is even still unwilling to confront a lethally dishonest Government head-on have all combined to guarantee the spread of the virus and have lead to 60,000+ excess deaths within four months. Why did the UK Government avoid the obvious elimination protocol? It's not rocket science! Making Elimination Strategy Work.

To make Elimination of uncontrolled spread of the virus work the State and the people must have a rigorous discipline and there must be genuine trust in the process among the population.

To make Elimination of uncontrolled spread of the virus work the State and Health Authorities must have superb contact tracing up and running, the State must make quarantine and isolation treatment an integral part of track and trace, and it must be made as easy and as comfortable as possible for the people affected to comply, and the State must resource the protocols fully, no questions asked.
That means the State and Health and Education systems must have superb, honest and transparent communication to the population, at all levels, at all times. The only must the Boris Johnson was familiar with was the Island of Mustique. The Role of The Press.

The press and news media must be willing to debunk and dismiss all contheories, concepts such as herd immunity and other woowoo health claims, in order to insulate the population and the politicians from any possibility of such nonsense afflicting public policy or public behaviour.   Spreading lies to allow a virus to spread is not free speech!

We are all in this together.
It has to be that the entire population, the State, the press are operating on an evidence base for the correct action to be taken, so that the discipline is emergent, collective, engaged rather than imposed and draconian. Honesty must prevail, Scientifically and Ideologically.

The likes of David Icke, Nigel Farage, Trump and Johnson lies and manipulations such as the 'China Virus' idiocy, and other such statements by leading politicians and so forth cannot be allowed to run free. They have to be debunked. Openly, transparently. Honest Borders.

The State must also accept that it will have to police the borders intensely, that the populations holidays must be taken within the populations territory, that all private cross border travel must endure a well monitored quarantine, including billionaires in private jets, for as long as the quarantine is needed.

Immigration must cease until there are virus clear countries at both starting and ending journey countries, and it must also be disciplined by a two week quarantine.

Air travel for tourism, right now, is a luxury that we do not need. Air Freight is another matter. Land freight and sea freight must be handled with care.

Cross border Cruise and Tourism are luxuries - we do not not need them. When local populations take holidays in own countries, the income stays at home, this is better for everyone, and potentially there will be less carbon exhaust particulates in the air. Stop overs in infected areas cannot happen, of course. The workers need to be furloughed, for the 12 week period. The Companies can be helped.

Aviation and Tourism will take a hit, but only for as long as it takes to Elimination of uncontrolled spread of the virus s in departure/destination areas. Their ability to lobby governments to take stupid action has to be curtailed. They deserve support from the State just as any others do. According to their needs to stay afloat. 12 weeks, three months. It is not too much to ask, given the potential death toll of allowing the virus to infection millions upon millions of people, among them 11.5 million vulnerable people. Allowing Herd Immunity is cruelty.

The alternative to Elimination of uncontrolled spread of the virus is slowly achieving herd immunity across a given population at the practical HI level of 93% and unfortunately that guarantees that all vulnerable people WILL be exposed and that will come with a fatality and human damage cost which is unethical to consider for economic reasons, precisely because it is avoidable. It is wholly unethical to permit heard immunity by exposure. There is so much that is still unknown about the long term effects of this virus that to drop the precautionary principle at this early stages is epidemiological stupidity, and reckless misGovernance.

Unless a State Establishment wants to exploit the virus to rereig Economies and State systems, in which case ethics are irrelevant. Trump and Johnson are two leaders who have ably demonstrated that ethics mean nothing to them personally or politically. Go figure current policy behaviour and outcomes.

Which is precisely what the UK and US Governments are doing, today, right now, right before your eyes. They are exploiting the situation, and causing great harm. This is insane, and it is profoundly unethical. "New Zealand, New Zealand!" It has to be said, in the clearest possible terms. This cannot be allowed to continue into the autumn. it really cannot be allowed. Something must be done, and soon.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

"Do what you love, it is your gift to universe."

This blog, like all my other content creation work is not monetised via advertising. If you like what I present, consider sharing my content. If you can afford the price of a cup of coffee or a pint of beer/ale/cider for a few months, please donate via my Patreon account.

Thank you for reading this blog.

https://patreon.com/corneilius - donations gratefully received

https://www.reverbnation.com/corneilius - .mp3 songs

https://www.corneilius.net - archive

https://www.soundcloud.com/coreluminous - .wav songs

Statues, hierarchies of violence and honest history.

Everyone.
Pay attention.

Putting up statues to venerate violent bullies was a lie about whatever happened in the first place.
OK?
If you do not understand that, I have just explained it. It is clear as daylight.

Read it again. Putting up statues to venerate violent bullies was a lie about whatever happened in the first place You're welcome. If you do not accept this - it is the truth here, no equivocation, no ambiguity - then you are unable to correct it and you are, obviously, unwilling learn anything useful about this matter, and you shouldn't even be in the room talking about this.

You are unqualified.

Period.
Monuments to violent bullies within violent cultures are lies.

Period.
Either you face the truth or you protect the lie. The Colosseum is a lie. It is not a wonder, it is a monument to horror and cruelty. Notre Dame is a lie. It is a monument to Hierarchy and cruelty. Churchill's statue is a lie. It is a monument to propaganda and cruelty.
This culture itself, Industrial Civilisation, is a hierarchy of violence.
To not see this is completely a matter of intellectual weakness and emotional blindness beyond all rational comprehension.
So let's just grow up, really.
Enough whining already. Be mature.

F*ck your statues, all of 'em. 

Build statues of kind people,

if you must have statues,

after all poverty is abolished.

Abolish poverty first, though.