“What Were We Thinking?”

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

Will we wonder, what were we thinking? and marvel anew at the madness of crowds?

When we look back on this moment from the vantage of history, what will we think? Will we think how obvious it was that the coronavirus deaths in China were in the tens of thousands rather than the hundreds claimed by authorities?

Will we think how obvious it was that the virus would spread around the globe, wreaking havoc on the global economy and social order, even as the authorities claimed only a handful of cases had arisen outside China?

Will we be amazed at the delusional confidence that the U.S. economy would be untouched by the virus as stock markets quickly soared to new all-time highs while the world’s largest economy ground to a halt in a desperate attempt to close the barn door after the horses had already escaped?

Will we look back at the patently false data being promoted by authorities and wonder why the majority accepted it all as credible?

Will we re-examine all the smartphone videos posted on the web by average people and wonder why all the lies were given more credibility than actual videos?

Will we recall how content that didn’t parrot the approved narrative that everything was under control and the global impact would be near-zero was suppressed, banned, de-platformed or marginalized? Will we wonder at the complacency of all those who accepted this orchestrated suppression with such obedient passivity?

Will we look back at the claim that only twelve people in the entire U.S. had the virus, despite all the direct flights from Wuhan and the tens of thousands of people who’d traveled from China to the U.S. in January, and marvel at our credulity?

Will we look back at the wreckage left in the wake of the coordinated campaign to suppress the facts and lay the responsibility for all the carnage on the authorities who devoted more energy to hiding the realities of the pandemic than to preparing us for the impact?

Will we ponder the incredible grip of mass delusion on the human mind when we recall the confidence that the U.S. economy was invulnerable to the virus and the implosion of China, and the blithe quasi-religious faith that central banks would never let global stock markets decline even 2%?

Will we wonder how the mainstream could watch the Chinese economy shutting down and still remain absolutely confident that the global economy would be untouched as the spot of bother was sure to evaporate in a week or two and all would be restored to pre-virus euphoria?

Will we wonder what were we thinking? and marvel anew at the madness of crowds? Will we wonder why we embraced the delusion so readily, and relive the moment when the gate to reality creaked open? Will we relive our realization that we’d embraced an absurd fantasy floating on a tissue of lies, or will we bury that painful moment of truth?

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