I don't get much of a chance to talk to people outside of my tiny bubble.

Suddenly I am aware of how guilty I am of existing in my own echo chamber.

Tonight I was asked if I thought covid was part of a great reset conspiracy.

Obviously, my answer was "no".

But while this may be obvious to my followers & like-minded people, this clarifies just how effective the misinformation campaign has been against public health regulations. This is thanks to conspiracy theorists like Pierre Poilievre and Erin O'Toole, chugging the Qool-Aid.

Let me first clarify that I voted for Mulroney not just once, but twice.

When Stephen Harper arrived on the scene in 2006, I applauded his implementation of an accountability agenda.

So it's not like I've ever been on the liberal Kool-Aid.

My music growing up in the 70s and 80s was defiant white male "prog" rock, which is anything but progressive in its politics. More typically aligned with libertarianism than liberalism.

So, my dudes, let me explain something about public health. You need to understand the #ParadoxOfPrecaution.

It's way too easy to accuse any government that supports Public Health measures as being a Nervous Nelly. You have to think beyond shallow-minded conspiracy theorizing, and look at the math. Exponential growth processes have a way of blowing up in your face.

If you don't mitigate exponential growth risk *early*, it's going to blow up in your face. That means governments need to move before something becomes a problem. Mobility restrictions & facial coverings are required *before* 10% of the population is dead.

If you wait you will be too late.

This virus is not "just a flu" virus. It's like the Spanish flu virus of a century ago.

It kills 10 times more people than the average flu. And amongst people who recover, 20% suffer long-term symptoms of fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, depression.

It is not anti-economy or anti-littleguy to implement Public Health regulations early. It's an attempt to prevent the total meltdown of economy and social order. You may think that is paranoid talking. Alarmism. It's not.

We have never seen the kind of chaos in Canada that a pandemic can bring once it is raging.

We caught a glimpse of JUST THE START of it in New York City during the first wave. It can get a lot worse, and there are cities in the US where it will get a lot worse in December.

If you care about the economy and you care about "the little guy", imagine what happens when people are so scared but nobody's willing to leave their house and show up for work.

It may be hard for you to imagine this, but epidemiologists and sociologists are trained to use math and logic to look into the future. The Spanish Flu of 1918-1919 gives us historical precedentas well. This flu is like nothing we've seen in a century.

The patterns that we see in space and time and across populations are similar to what we saw a century ago. The models are remarkably effective at outlining scenarios, such as what happens with and without Public Health regulations.

When you thumb your nose at Public Health regulations, thinking that you're a rugged rock n rolling individual, you're not. You're a sheep. And you don't even know who it is that's calling your tune.

If it sounds like I'm writing this for young people only, that's not my intent. The guy who asked me today is public health regulations were part of a "great reset" conspiracy was a boomer. He's a hard-working dudeman in heavy equipment. One punch and he would smash me to bits.

Guess where he learned about "the great reset". #HateBook

His friends were talking about Trudeau and his numerous shortcomings, but most of all about how he's a globalist interested in New World Order.

Ok. Focus.

There are lots of interests out there aligned with global trade and corporate billionairism. It is all very interesting, and some of it relevant to covid.

Disaster capitalism is indeed a problem. But it's been a problem since the 1970s. It's been a growing problem too.

The rise of the multinational corporation has been a problem to small Canadian business for decades.

The Liberals didn't invent this. The Conservatives didn't invent this. Private capital infiltrates the political party system and gets its way.

The little guy gets pushed out.

Whether it's natural resource development or retail ... the rules are the same.

The big fish eats the little fish.

If you think the Liberal Party of Canada created these rules, you need to get out more.

Should federal and provincial governments do more to support small businesses and employees in tough times?

A lot of people think so.

But that doesn't mean there is a grand conspiracy at the root of covid public health policy.

(Well there actually is a minor conspiracy afoot, but it's not what you're thinking.

For decades private-sector digital health has been an agenda. And they actually *do* see covid as an opportunity to "reset" Public Health policy.

Google Mc Kinsey.)

There is so much more to say - and I did say a couple of more things to this fellow about China, Russia, Trump, dark money & foreign investment protection - but I stop here.

A closing note on what I learned.

This guy works hard and he works long hours. When he comes home he doesn't have time to research the world. He cracks a beer and doomscrolls. He shakes his head at what he reads, and can only handle so many minutes of it. There's so much garbage he can't really make sense of it.

I don't meet a lot of people like this, and for a year I have been antisocial. I really valued the time we spent chatting. He asked a hundred questions. I didn't rant and I didn't monologue.

After our convo I realized: I wasn't investing enough effort with this demographic.

It's only now as I am writing this that I realize: one of the effects of the pandemic is how it is forcing people on to social media instead of real conversations.

The pandemic is worsening the echo chamber problem.

I hadn't really thought of the positive feedback relationship with this public health education problem. But there it is. Pandemic is making it harder to educate people about pandemics.

D'oh.

As an epilogue, it's worth noting that ironically, there is a "great reset" that is happening, but it's the increasing concentration of wealth and data in the hands of a few Silicon Valley digital wizards ... including digital health.

But that's a whole other story.

Dig here: https://twitter.com/modernhomesla/status/1332519116834435072?s=20

And dig all through here: https://twitter.com/Tentoads4truth/status/1332508751933259778?s=20