Food Remedies: Lord Sumption

Saturday, November 28, 2020

"Lockdown Science: we have no idea what we're doing, but if something brings people pleasure, we should probably discontinue that."

"Don’t ever be intimidated by public health officials. These were the kids who by and large weren’t bright enough to get into medical school.”

A must-listen presentation by Dr. Thomas Woods. One of Tom's best; perhaps his very best. Here are his show notes.

130 million people are at risk of dying of starvation from the lockdown alone. How many babies born this year or last year have never seen a human face?

Driving people to despair--is that saving lives?

Lockdowns science: we have no idea what we're doing, but if something brings people pleasure, we should probably discontinue that. and if something causes great inconvenience or even pain, we should probably do that.

Don’t ever be intimidated by public health officials. These were the kids who by and large weren’t bright enough to get into medical school.”

from Lord Sumption, former Supreme Court Judge:

Money is not just for plutocrats. You and I and the editor of the Guardian and the driver of the Number 9 bus and the archbishop of Canterbury and the cashier at the supermarket all value and depend on money. Not just in the sense that it pays our wages and pensions, hundreds of thousands of businesses are going under. Millions are moving from jobs to universal credit. A thriving economy that we are now throwing away, is the source of our security and the foundation of our children’s future. We would do well not to sneer at it. Poverty kills too. And when it does not kill, it maims physically and mentally and socially. Do we really want to be, he continues, “the kind of society where basic freedoms are conditional on the decisions of politicians enthralled to scientists and statisticians, where human beings are just tools of public policy? A society in which government can confine most of the population without controversy is not one in which civilized people would want to live. Regardless of their answers to these questions, is it worth it? My own answer is no. Guidance is fine. Voluntary self-isolation is fine and strongly advisable for the more vulnerable; most of them will do it by choice. But coercion is not fine. There is no moral or principled justification for it. What sort of life do we think we are protecting? There is more life than the avoidance of death. Life is a drink with friends. Life is a crowded football match or a live concert. Life is a family celebration with children and grandchildren. Life is companionship, an arm around one’s back. Laughter or tears shared in less than 2 meters. These things are not just optional extras; they’re life itself. They’re fundamental to our humanity, to our existence as social beings.

from Tom Woods:

People living in an irrational field already have their representatives—the entire entertainment world, the media, all the political class. The rest of us have almost no one. People whose family members died because their procedures were indefinitely postponed or who lost a loved one to suicide or who’ve had everything they’ve poured their hearts into, crushed and destroyed, they have no one. Elderly people dying of social isolation, who are told: “they can see their grandkids through a window” or over Zoom. But who think they themselves can best judge what life they want to live likewise have no one to speak for them. You may have heard the case in Colorado at FairAcres Manor [in Greely, Colorado]. People in wheelchairs holding signs saying, “Would rather die of COVID than of loneliness. We’re prisoners in our own home. Or give us freedom.” One of the administrators at that nursing home said they want to be able to hug their grandchildren, they want to be able to hold the hands of their loved ones. And one of the residents said we did this because one of the things we look forward to is a simple hug. It gives us meaning. The physical and mental health toll is staggering, and no one is allowed to mention for fear they’re being told they want grandmothers to die. No one will speak for them except you. People will hate you for this. Automatons who can do nothing but repeat CBS news talking points will think you’re terrible. The rest of us will consider you a hero. With every speech you give, every article you write, every social media post, every attempt to resist, you’ll be a hero. There’s nobody is coming to the rescue. You must be the voice of the voiceless because if it isn’t you, it will be no one.

Here are the resources Tom provides via email:

Resources for COVID Rationality

Here is the list of resources I gave a room of 100 state legislators from around the country to help them get the full picture of the virus and the government response.

Twitter accounts to follow:

@ThomasEWoods (naturally!)

@AlexBerenson

@PhilMagness.

@jhaskinscabrera

@kerpen

@MartinKulldorff

@yinonw

@Hold2LLC

@OBusybody

@AJKayWriter

@boriquagato