The nightmare continues

But not forever.

A recent article published by the Brownstone Institute by Bert Olivier discussed the degree of cowardice we see in Western societies as they are destroyed by globalist leaders.

He recounts the experience of his son who was involved in a serious accident as a youth and suffered life-changing injuries. His resulting life has been difficult and requires courage to navigate every day.

On Waking Up to a Nightmare

Olivier contrasts this daily battle with the largely unchallenged changes in Western nations since the Covid pandemic and the technocratic response by Western governments. Most countries in the West are now in a state of managed decline. Indeed, they are being actively dismantled with the goal of supranational governance as a step towards one-world governance.

With the exceptions of the USA and Russia, it is difficult to find examples where Western leaders work to better the lives of their people.

In contrast to the author’s son, who found himself waking from his accident to face a nightmare he has endured for decades, many are not facing up to their own unfolding nightmare. Most are hiding in social media, escapist entertainment and a variety of surrogate activities while their leaders destroy their country without serious opposition.

Most choose to bury their heads in the sand. The majority are cowards who cannot even acknowledge what is happening never mind fight it.

All seems to be lost.

Herd thinking and permission to act

Olivier raises important points, not the least of which is how cowardly we have become. The middle classes in Western nations especially. Life is comfortable, at least for now. Why risk it?

But I think there is another reason many do not face the nightmare unfolding. Most are subject to relentless propaganda. Much of it is unsophisticated (diversity is our strength, twelve years to save the planet, trans women are real women etc.). Its purpose seems to be saturation not argument or data or even convincing the skeptical.

Relentless propaganda crowds out alternative views. People hear very little that challenges the events emerging around them. The pivotal role played by traditional media is primarily this, to present approved narratives as the only sane options with alternative views derided as extremism.

I think the effect of this saturation is most people struggle to escape its confines and think for themselves. They know something is wrong. From immigration to climate policy to overseas conflicts, even moderate types and liberal minded people sense destruction is coming. They suspect it cannot end well. But their immersion in approved narratives encourages them to think nothing can be done. Learned helplessness appears widespread.

We witness a host of destructive ideas being enacted, especially in European nations. Germany, for example, is clearly being deindustrialized by a tiny faction using climate change policy as a method. The result is rising prices, energy scarcity and ultimately the destruction of industry that relies on these things. This is large-scale vandalism that will take decades to fix.

There is talk of famine in some European nations due to absurd laws damaging farming and even targeting farmers as individuals.

Immigration is destroying whole nations. Despite relentless promotion Europeans are increasingly confronted with alien landscapes in their own towns and cities including mindless violence and sexual assault commonplace elsewhere but rare in the West.

No one voted for any of this. It is opposed almost everywhere. Yet no one stops it.

Why do people not speak out or challenge these developments?

Permission granted

I think most need permission to do so. This is why activity around censorship and surveillance is so extreme and well funded. People need to see others openly discussing alternatives to feel safe to comment themselves. The same herd instincts exploited by propagandists work against them too. An entire machine exists to make sure alternative views are either never heard or are ridiculed as naive.

Attempts to discuss the deportation of illegal immigrants is a key example. The establishment wish us to believe we are hateful racists to want to remove criminals who have illegally entered our nations. An inversion of reality. When we resist skilled immigrants taking jobs we ourselves need we are told it is racism, not economic calculation or self-preservation.

If these techniques fail the fallback is to discuss logistics. It is impossible to remove people who travelled here in recent times as if they are somehow immoveable. They can easily travel in the opposite direction after all. The logistics argument makes no sense, but is a common foil used by open borders fans to stop any discussion. An attempt to induce helplessness, to encourage observers to give up.

We see a similar phenomenon with climate. Only evil consumers won’t save the planet. The caring person recycles and has no babies. China and India pollute the world but squeaky-clean Western nations must disassemble their industry to match numbers generated from computer simulations. Again, people sense this is all wrong but rarely hear a dissenting voice spelling out the absurdity of these novel ideas the rest of the world ignores. When we assess the reality of climate issues they can barely withstand any scrutiny. So forces exist to discourage any examination.

I think a huge part of overcoming the apparent cowardice we see around us is openly discussing these policies and ideas that are destroying us. I think once normal people see this they join in and it builds momentum. That is why resources are poured into preventing this happening. They silence or marginalize contrary voices. It seems to work too.

Olivier concludes the future looks bleak since people are shying away from a nightmare they cannot cope with. They hide and escape any way they can.

It seems hopeless, but I do not believe this to be true.

Contagion

A key observation is worth mentioning, one the author alludes to given his son’s predicament; courage is contagious.

When we see genuine courage we cannot easily ignore it. This is not showing off, not harvesting attention or likes, but sincere courage that takes something from the individual. This can often inspire others. It stirs something in us all.

The scarcity of genuine courage is the source of its power. We cannot expect real bravery except from rare individuals, but we can predict a domino effect when it emerges. That is perhaps where our hope lies.

My own small example of this happened during the Covid pandemic. I refused to wear a mask at any point for any reason. When entering shops I would often get dirty looks from the masked, although was challenged only once by a security guard.

However, I would occasionally see a masked person notice me and reach up to pull down their own mask. Most of these were already halfway there, with their masks sitting below the nose, just covering the mouth. Sometimes seeing someone else completely maskless was enough to tip them over the edge.

It was a small thing with limited effect, but it taught me it doesn’t take much for some. Many among us who seem to play along with a narrative are doing so reluctantly and this is not always apparent. All they need is some indication they are not alone and they change direction.

I have no doubt this is true even at much grander levels. The authorities go to exceptional lengths to avoid or diminish any discussion that counters approved narratives. Many European nations are now jailing social media posters. They know better than us how brittle their power structures really are.

And we too occasionally sense this. All it takes is a modest number standing up and the dominoes begin to fall even when the situation seems hopeless.

I think this is the real effect of courage, a handful of key players energize the rest. They are main nodes in a network that will ultimately move in unison when the time comes even if all seems lost.

We increasingly understand our establishment is devoid of such people. Their ranks are swelled with cowards and bootlickers prepared to endorse any narrative and tell any lie to secure their place. Their loyalty has been bought, a precarious basis for a ruling class to control a society.

The author’s observations about cowardice, particularly in leaders, is accurate; we see few of them stand up to be counted.

But lurking behind this are many who simply do not buy it. They are waiting for others to show the way and increasingly they are not looking to the leadership class given their abysmal track record in recent times.

That loss of confidence matters even if they seem to have the upper hand for now.

Bravery is in short supply that is true. But times are changing and given how much courageousness is missed when it does emerge it is likely to spread like wildfire.

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