Are the Fear Fascists about to get bitten in the Zeitgeist?

The reaction from the usual suspects to The Donald’s call for folk not to fear the ChiCom Flu and not to let it rule their lives has been predictable. As usual they misrepresent what he actually said and accuse him of callous carelessness. I’ve seen a variety of talking heads say they can’t believe his “disrespect”! Odd, I don’t recall anyone saying we must fight cancer and not give in to it, of being accused of  “disrespect” to those who have died of it.

I’m not sure this tsunami of hate and fearmongering will have the intended effect this time, in fact, it might well backfire. Here in Blighty every conversation I’ve had on this subject in the last fortnight the person I’ve been speaking to has felt that the current measures are  far less justified than in the early weeks. The feeling is very much that we need to protect the genuinely vulnerable and get back to as close to normal as possible, folk are simply done with it. They can see the games being played with numbers, especially the way the tiny number of deaths being ignored while local outbreaks are played up.

I was prompted to write this by what I saw on Loose Women (effectively the UK’s version of The View) this morning. The presenters, including the avowed lefty Janet Street-Porter, all said the same. They weren’t blasé about it, but said quite clearly that we need to be able to get on with life and business. Tellingly, they didn’t once reference Trump’s comments. Usually they wouldn’t miss an opportunity to bash him. If a programme like Loose Women is now turning away from Project Fear and tacitly agreeing with the Presdient, then things are changing. Add to this the open letter from over 4,000 doctors and scientists from around the wrpld calling out the failed lockdown model it does look like we might at last be turning the corner with this disease, not the disease itself so much, but our response to it. Here’s hoping.