Moving on?

It's been over three years since the imposition of the Covid lockdowns and the other restrictions that went alongside it. Restrictions that didn't really start to go until the latter part of 2021. On the surface, it feels as though things have returned to some kind of normal. Whether that's the normal we knew back in 2019 or a new kind of normal is the subject of some considerable debate.

This may be a subjective observation but it feels like it's only been in the last six months or so that people are starting to open up about how they really felt during the lockdowns and also, about the long term, continuing impacts. One of those impacts is on the development of teenagers. They lost pretty much a year of face to face education and a lot of socialising. Anxiety levels for teenagers are through the roof.

Those from troubled backgrounds who through intense face to face counselling, may have been put on to a positive life path, missed out on that during the lockdowns. Well, as positive as you'll ever get in a dysfunctional society... Instead, a lot of them fell through the net. They feel they have been thrown on the scrap heap by society and unsurprisingly, feel they owe society nothing back. That's already making itself felt with the rise in some pretty nihilistic behaviour by disaffected teens. We'll be reaping the consequences of this for years to come.

Anyone from April 2020 onwards who questioned the narrative we were being fed found themselves being vilified and ostracised. Friendships and relationships broke up over this. I personally lost comrades who couldn't understand why I was asking difficult questions rather than going along with the restrictions. I also dropped a few who blindly rejected any suggestion that the lockdowns and restrictions were having a negative impact on people's mental health. Impacts that are still being felt and will be for years and decades to come.

With more evidence emerging of vaccine related injuries emerging from what was a rushed through, experimental mRNA shot, there are understandably calls for investigations and some kind of justice. Calls that are being dismissed as so called 'conspiracy theory'.

There are a lot of people who bought into the narratives we were being fed about the lockdowns, the other restrictions, the social distancing and masking and last but by no means least, the mRNA jabs we were all being hectored to take. As various truths about what happened and continues to happen emerge, too many of them are in denial and instead, are doubling down on their beliefs.

The title of this piece is 'Moving on?' In an ideal world, I'd love to be able to move on from the last few years. The problem is, I've seen too many people suffer from what was done to them during that period. Then there's the personal impact that I experienced. Moving on is a tough call, particularly when under the surface, a lot has changed, mostly for the worst. I'll be honest and admit that I find it very hard to move on and am one of those who seek some kind of justice for what was done to us during the last few years.

Below are three readings looking at what was done to us, the impact that has had and whether it's possible or even desirable to try and move on. They're three quite different readings that in some ways, contradict each other. That's fine because there's a lot to think about and discuss. Reading a number of differing viewpoints, weighing them up and then making up your own mind is actually quite helpful in this process...

Healing Trauma: Better Than Holding on to Trauma - Tessa Lena | Tessa Fights Robots | 18.5.23

In fact, it seems like there is a treacherous campaign to turn us all into emotionally shaky children on wobbly legs, dependent on the establishment mommy and daddy for every thought. The purpose of this initiative is to confuse us and then steal our stuff—turning both trauma and justice upside down.

In the upside-down world, firing a person for declining a medical treatment is democratic and just, and using an undesirable pronoun is a violent act of hate. The irony—and the tragedy—is that the people who are not solidly grounded in their love are very easy to confuse—and so their trauma over “bad” words is actually real. Just like when my abusive ex lost it every time when he couldn’t find his TV remote—those broken individuals losing it over undesirable pronouns are ridiculous but sincere.

A Pandemic of Narcissistic Abuse - Lucy Williams | OffGuardian | 14.5.23

As the world is now going through an inevitable, unstoppable transition, where light is being shone on all corners of darkness to expose what’s been hidden, covered up and lied about for so long, the evidence of this silent and invisible abuse is coming to light.

It seems that this generation is where it stops. Where we make a stand and say no more.

In order to do this, first we need to see it, then we need to acknowledge it, admit it, refuse to be talked out of it, validate it, then finally break free.

This involves learning to listen to and trust our own instincts rather than outsourcing to others, valuing ourselves as independent thinkers, calling it out, saying no and extracting ourselves from the relationships and/or systems.

A certain type of person - MKW Publishing | 8.11.22

We are split now and we aren’t all the same. Some have been tampered with beyond repair and changed forever. Emotionally, mentally and for some, physically. Moving in on top of that is financial instability and, in some cases, medical damage. It’s more than just ideas, looks and feelings that separate us, it’s something fundamentally deeper that has been laid bare recently. Basic trust in your kin, fellow man and wider community has taken a huge hit. But I realise this still doesn’t break us all down, because we could carry on despite this, and find a way to partially heal the rifts that have been revealed with time and counsel. But not unless we are left to it and alone to find our own way through. The ‘powers that be’ do not seem willing to step back through in any way, and instead feed a continuous drip of problems, drama and issues down the pipeline to keep it up in the air.

Dave - the editor