In his classic dystopian novel 1984, George Orwell foreshadowed an ink-black future in which we would all be surveilled, punished, and controlled by a centralized, all-seeing power known as Big Brother.
So, he was a few years off.
The widespread surveillance aspect wasn't revealed until 2013 when whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked National Security Agency information to the legacy media showing that then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had lied under oath before a televised congressional hearing when he claimed the NSA was not collecting the phone records of millions of Americans.
Americans essentially shrugged off the news that our privacy rights were being violated daily by the federal government under the guise of safety. And so, for his massive and consequential lie, Clapper was rewarded with a job at CNN – while Snowden was forced into exile overseas and branded a traitor.
And now, in 2020, the creeping Orwellianism continues apace. We are giving in to restrictions on our civil rights impossible to imagine ten months ago. The world as we knew it in the “before-times" is now reflected in a black mirror.
This year we saw such petty dictators as Governors Gavin Newsom (D-CA), Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), and Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) flex their authoritarian muscles with unconstitutional edicts violating the civil rights of their citizens – from which they themselves were exempt.
We bore witness to the wildly successful national mask-shaming of those disinclined to engage in the mask-erade for which there is little science to support efficacy against curbing the spread of COVID-19. Many studies show they are useless.
We sat passively in unprecedented science-free lockdowns of the healthy as a draconian exercise in compliance (mask mandates) was revealed to be a mere dress rehearsal for the ultimate goal: universal COVID-19 vaccine uptake and adherence.
And now, as one of the worst years on record draws to a close, the next jackboot is about to drop. We are soon likely to be in possession of COVID passports that will be as routine as body scans when traveling domestically and internationally. Let's let lab-coated stormtrooper Dr. Kelly Moore of the Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) explain:
"Everyone will be issued a written card that they can put in their wallet that will tell them what they had and when their next dose is due. Let's do the simple, easy thing first. Everyone's going to get that."
And according to Claire Hannan of the Association of Immunization Managers (AIM), every single vaccine administered will be reported to state health agencies to be entered into a database to be shared with the CDC to track those who haven't received their vaccinations.
The IAC and AIM are both non-profit organizations that have worked closely with the CDC for years to promote vaccine compliance and battle those with vaccine safety concerns called -- in a triumph of labeling and propaganda -- "anti-vaxxers." Of course, somewhere between 43% and 58% of Americans have expressed a strong disinclination to take the vaccine in recent polls, including thousands of frontline health care professionals, so the "anti-vaxx" demographic has multiplied as suddenly as Biden-only votes on election night. This means Dr. Moore has her work cut out for her.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which scored high in the exercise of raw power steeped in corruption derby this year, reversed its position on masks and lockdowns and waited -- at the urging of its Chinese overlords -- until March 11 to declare this a pandemic.
Weighing in with an Orwell-sanctioned euphemism, the WHO warned against the issuance of "immunity passports" for travel in favor of the far more anodyne "e-vaccination certificates." So, for clarity's sake, the international organization that Facebook relies on to determine our domestic policies about COVID-19, and without whose imprimatur all other COVID information is considered "disinformation" to be censored, is playing a game of semantics with your ability to travel freely around the world as you always have.
The only defense against these encroaching restrictions on our freedom to travel might be to vote with your wallet. When Qantas Airlines recently issued a statement that it would require proof of COVID vaccination to travel on its flights, the public backlash was so extreme that the CEO of the International Air Transport Association, representing approximately 82% of all world flights, distanced himself from Qantas' stance, calling it "a bit premature." Acting as a voice of reason, he suggested that:
"An immediate solution already exists. We could safely open borders today with systematic COVID-19 testing."
Since the manufacturers of the COVID-19 vaccine will not say it will prevent transmission of the virus, and there is scant evidence that it will, these proposed travel restrictions will do little to limit the spread of the virus domestically or internationally. The fabulist notion that COVID e-vaccination cards will protect travelers and help stop the spread of coronavirus is based not on science but on politics and media messaging.
COVID passports are the leading edge of emerging medical fascism. Now just loud stage whispers, they have yet to become a reality. But do you have any doubt they will?
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Read more from Pennel Bird.
