Finding sound solutions based on good analysis

Dear ,

As one of the signatories of our open letter to Australian Heads of Government on COVID I thought you would like to know we will have Professor Gigi Foster from UNSW with us in Brisbane this Friday to talk about her book, The Great COVID Panic (co-authored with Paul Frijters and Michael Baker). This is an opportunity to review our knowledge of where we are in the struggle with COVID and medicalised bureaucracies, devise sound solutions, and have a convivial evening with friends.

The function is at 6:00 for 6:30 pm in our premises at Unit 2B, 50 Logan Road, Woolloongabba. Parking is available under the building as well as in front, and if needs be, on the street. Cost is $25 ($15 for concessions) with a $5 discount for members. To book click here. You can also purchase the book by clicking here (we will also have copies for sale on the night).

I'm looking forward to hearing the thoughts of Australians who care about our mishandling of this crisis, and as an aid to discussion I've summarised the basic arguments of the book below. It barely does it justice, as the book takes a narrative approach and describes the events of the pandemic through the eyes of three major protagonists.

Summary of book arguments

After the initial lockdowns the authors see the measures introduced – further lockdowns, masks mandates, perhaps even vaccines - as largely ritualistic and religious in nature, not performing a useful health function. The fear and the controls provided an opening for a new coalition of politicians and big companies to advance a neo-feudal society where lives are controlled by corporate and government barons.

The bones of this neo-feudalism had been in place for a while, but additional elements were added such as mass surveillance, mass censorship, travel restrictions, and freedom reimagined as a grant of government rather than a fundamental right.

Instead of this approach governments should have been honest and transparent from the beginning, laying the information out and performing cost benefit calculations to work out the optimal strategy for their communities. This would have saved more lives at less cost to the whole of society.

What is their ideal strategy?

To seize the moment and restructure and diversify the medical advice and the “zero risk” industry. Big Tech, and other contributors to the madness, should be broken-up into smaller companies. Top bureaucratic appointments should be taken out of the hands of politicians and chosen using citizen panels, and “bullshit” jobs – the ones that produce no tangible benefits - should be stripped out of the system leaving leaner management structures. But they admit none of that is going to happen.

What is their realistic strategy?

Those who understand the mistakes must continue to exert pressure (the purpose of the book) in their societies, and to push for the rediscovery of the intellectual diversity and free speech and thought of the Enlightenment. Countries and states where they are in the majority will demonstrate the benefits of an open society. If they live in countries and states where they are in the minority then they need to build their own institutions, like schools and media and businesses based on those principles.

Ultimately the authors are optimistic that the flaws revealed in societies by the COVID panic will make people of goodwill more aware of the flaws in society and provide them with an opportunity for reform they did not have before.

See you Friday,

GRAHAM YOUNG
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR