#9. Denial and Madness

What's behind the insanity of our times.

John 1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

“I confess I still can’t fully get why the world went crazy over this.” commenter GrapeSoda, on a Substack article by Eugyppius.

My pilot friend John works for a small, commuter airline. Here is part of our recent text exchange:

John-Btw, did I tell we have two Captains at X who lost their eyesight and their Aviation Medical Certificates?

Me (Dan)-WHAT?!

John-Yes!

Dan-post vax?

J-One, my partner for initial training in 20xx, got the vax and a month later woke up and had lost one quarter of his field of vision in one eye. Just blackness in the bottom right quadrant. Blood clot.

D-if that doesn't convince people!

J-I contacted him a few days ago after I read an article where a guy lost his eyesight after shot. My friend believes it’s the vax, too.

D-How about the other guy?

J-The other….his whole family are doctors. His physician sister works for Moderna! He was staunchly supportive of vaccination. He just lost his medical. His doctor told him the cause was probably epilepsy. He doesn't show any signs of epilepsy that I’m aware of. This happened a month after his booster.

D-epilepsy. grasping at straws

J-Yep

D- It's a cult.

They have bought into a religion and they can't repent and confess their mistake.

Pride and Fear.

Sister working for Moderna is just precious.

J-Another pilot said something like, "oh well, only experts in the field should be debating this. And, we have no choice but to go with the majority." I replied that there was a time when you would be burned at the stake if you suggested the earth wasn’t the center of the universe.

This conversation brings me back to the now common question, “What is causing people to go crazy and not see the obvious?” So far, in the anti-covidian milieu, I do not sense agreement on an answer. Some common reasons given for why Branch Covidians ignore the obvious are stupidity, ignorance, cowardice and pride. But these don't fully explain the phenomenon. If stupidity were the reason, then the reasonably intelligent wouldn't fall for it. If it were ignorance, then all the efforts to enlighten by alternative voices would have more effect. Cowardice is definitely a factor; who wants to rock the boat or be an oddball and risk censure? But you could use fear both ways: if it were possible to enlighten someone about the dangers of the vaccine, then the fear of death or injury could outweigh the fear of going against the grain (though sometimes I think the fear of estrangement is the greater than the fear of death.) Of course pride comes into play; nobody wants to admit they were wrong, especially after engaging in invective against the non-believers.

It's clearly a combination of all of these reasons, but as the truckload of evidence keeps piling up, we keep asking ourselves, “How can people still fall for this?” We're stumped! You see this astonishment all the time in tweets that begin something like,

-People who still want to get the jab are (insert expression of astonishment and disgust)...

-People who still think masking is effective are...

-People who still think these lockdowns were/are a good thing should...

But people still do, and lots of them. And no argument or evidence will sway them. There is something more at play here, and you can sense it, can't you? It's something dark- a deep malaise not explicable by mainstream psychology.

What is it, then? What is it with this darkness, insanity and denial?

Maybe Solzhenitsyn had it right when he said, "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.”

“Man without God is in total ignorance and inevitable misery.” Blaise Pascal

“Those know enough who know how to fear God, who are careful in every thing to please him and fearful of offending him in any thing; this is the Alpha and Omega of knowledge.” Matthew Henry

Alpbach, Austria. St. Oswald Parish Church, 1720. Original church built in 1369. One of my memories of this town was a procession of old folks, in traditional, formal garb, solemnly on their way to the old church in a funeral procession. Where were the people under 60? Were there no youth in this town? Couldn't be bothered? Perhaps they were at the Conchita Wurst concert down in Innsbruck, where the bridges across the Inn are festooned with rainbow flags. What will happen to this town when the last of the anachronisms, those old believers, pass away? Is the disappearance of belief connected to the chaos and insanity of our world today? Look what has happened in Austria!

Ephesians 4:18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

Thessalonians 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.

Romans 1:18 Because they are not thankful for what the creation reveals of the Creator, their foolish hearts become darkened. They lose what light, what truth, they have.

Psalms 111:10 A good understanding have all they that do his commandments.

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe.

Matthew 13:15-16 For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes so their eyes cannot see.

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

There are many people walking in darkness today. Perhaps the reason is simpler than we think.

Solzhenitsyn photo: Thank you, Evstafiev. Wikimedia Commons. (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Alpbach photo: Thank you, Marco Verch. Flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)