https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/how-deep-is-the-rabbit-hole-5595305How Deep Is the Rabbit Hole?
By Jeffrey A. Tucker
2/28/24
NOTE: When reading at the Epoch times, either use your browser's "Reader Mode", OR, disable javascript using a free add-on or extension.Excerpts:This weekend, the New York Times (NYT) revealed that the CIA has been deeply involved in Ukrainian politics for a decade, mucking around with politics and engaging in provocations against Russia. We already knew that from everything that non-mainstream commentators have been saying for years. It was reinforced by Tucker Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin just two weeks ago, an interview blasted for giving platform to a bad guy.
Here’s the thing: what the NYT reported was not news. But it underscores a key theme of our times. The conspiracy theories of a mere fortnight ago are once again shown to be completely real.
This just keeps happening. And on what topics? Essentially everything. It pertains to most subjects.
The signature issue of just a few years ago was the claim that the virus that causes COVID might have come from a lab leak. That claim was universally derided as a conspiracy theory. Then it turned out to be a fully credible claim, which everyone now admits. Top scientists have proven that all the denials were simply wrong.
Then it pertained to masks, social distancing, the vaccine, and every other aspect of the policy response. The dissidents said that none of this would work but their views were heavily censored by major media and Big Tech. The people who disputed the policies that ruined lives worldwide were derided as “fringe” and crazy. But it turned out that they were entirely correct.
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Incredibly—and I still cannot get over this one—the very slogan “climate change” is sticking despite its obvious absurdity. Of course the climate changes. It’s called seasons. Vivaldi wrote a violin concerto about it and all ancient writing and painting address it.
To elevate “climate change” as a problem in need of fixing by the surrender of human rights and liberties is next-level trolling. It also allows the appearance of public consensus: conduct a poll to see if people are concerned about “climate change” and you will surely get the results you want.
They truly do think we are all dumb as chickens. And yet it seems like they are getting away with this preposterous caper. It’s astounding.
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Have you lost your naivete? I certainly have. The last four years have revealed the darkest of plots and schemes by shadowy elites. When Elon Musk took over Twitter and looked carefully at the personnel and code, he discovered that the company he bought had been working as an extension of the federal government. He flat-out said it: every conspiracy theory is true and then some.
At this point, we are all ears. Whatever trust we had in the main systems that operate society, government, and business has evaporated. I’m speaking not just for myself but many millions of others. There is no longer much public doubt that the system is rigged. So far as I can tell, this new realization that has settled on the public mind is rather new. The age of innocence is gone. We have moved to a new age of deep suspicion.
This is new territory. Never before in the history of industrialized democracy has public trust in key institutions—and here I speak of government, medicine, corporate life, media, nonprofits, mainstream religion, and just about everything else—dropped to such low levels.
There are two main questions remaining. Just how deep is this rabbit hole? And what will be the consequence of such loss of trust? We have no real historical precedent to speculate about either question. But this much we know from history. An elite that no longer enjoys the trust, at any level, of the public it rules cannot really expect long-term security for itself. What that looks like precisely we do not yet know.
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