(By David Prentice) Okay, I’m a boomer. And yes, I’m making fun of an old Donovan song, “Season of the Witch.” Which inadvertently shared the story of the paranoid, fearful side of the hippy movement. Peace. Love. Fear.
One not so happy package.
Which continues today, now that the left has (once again) sanctioned the snitch movement. They’re snitching in New York with DeBlasio’s snitch line. In Los Angeles as well. They’re snitching in Chicago. And on the Pacific island I’ve been enveloped by for 6 weeks.
Escaping the clutches of Herr Whitmer (Gov, Michigan) at just the right time. Being greeted with early morning walks, warm days, paddle boarding with dolphins, surfing, seeing colorful corals, sea turtles and good friends.
Then came the lockdown from Hawaii’s governor. The intent was to flatten the curve, to keep the virus in check. Which I was behind 100%. We began to distance, and found out as much about the virus as possible, so fear would not overcome life, and rational ways of not getting, or transmitting this killer virus would become habit. They did.
It was hard not to notice there were some arbitrary, and not very scientifically based rules from this governor, David Ige. In an emergency situation, that was not great, but I got it. At least he hadn’t gone as far as fellow Democrat Gretchen Whitmer in his arbitrariness.
Then came the rules decreed by officials downstream from the governor.
And into this war on the virus came the Karens. Ah yes, you know that meme about Karens? (apologies to nice people named Karen) The memes are many, the point is clear. It’s the season of the snitch. Which is scarier than an old hippy who thinks they want to be like Donovan.
I just read that over a third of people would snitch on their neighbors if they thought rules were being broken.
On this island, we were suddenly told we couldn’t bring our own chairs to a beach, even if we distanced from everyone. The view of the ocean, or reading quietly, was somehow wrong.
Which, if I understand the science of this virus, these were rules that had nothing to do help stop the virus. This on an island that barely had more than twenty people at one time recorded as having this virus. This island is the size of Connecticut. No deaths. One hospitalization. Period.
And for this the governor has shut all business down. Literally decreed that no one should come here. Oh, I get it, let’s be cautious, let’s be smart, let’s do what we need to flatten the curve, and stop the spread of the virus.
His decrees originally had the air of moral authority. Stop the virus. But when it became clear that the curve was flattened some weeks ago, that this would not be a hot spot, there was no change.
And the minions followed. With silly rules that helped nobody. Rules that began to lose moral authority because they really didn’t make sense. And the rules got sillier daily. People below the governor began making their own silly rules.
And of course, the Karens.
People began to call security, or call the police if they saw something that might be a violation.
One day after a brisk ocean swim, here came two policemen walking towards me with scowls on their face. I “distanced” from them. They went past me to give a ticket to a couple on the other side of the beach.
The message was sent. Don’t mess with the Nazgul. Yes, that’s my nickname for them. In the morning the Nazgul began riding through the hotels with masks on, looking for some poor unfortunate soul that appeared as if they might break a rule. Their presence hovered over us all. Like the drones some mayors were using.
The Karens snitched for the Nazgul. One called security to come get rid of a dog without a leash. As it turned out, the dog was a service dog, a real one. And it WAS on a leash. But the lady, the Karen, made the few people on the beach miserable. Once again, she did nothing to help stop the spread of the virus.
She was the cure that was worse than the virus.
When security came down, they gave those enjoying sunset meals on the beach a sour feeling. The discomfort was evident, unfortunate, and unnecessary. At this moment, the island had 11 current cases, and the officials (with the Karens) were making everyone miserable.
Too often we find ourselves in a degrading world of rules that don’t do anything, surrounded by snitches that have nothing better to do than make life petty. Once upon a day, Hollywood made a movie about such people. It was called the Wizard of Oz. The snitch tried to take Toto the dog. And in the movie, that same bad neighbor, Miss Gulch, became the Wicked Witch of the West.
And now Hollywood (and the left) claps for her as she calls security. Mayors and governors rely on these people to enforce rules that have nothing to do with helping this pandemic.
But then their continual attempts to make a “new man”, from Lenin to now, have always come with the help of snitches.
And this is where we stand. There are rules that make sense in trying to defeat the virus, and then there are the edicts that are absurd. If what you are asking us to do does nothing to help prevent the spread of the virus, then you lose moral authority. You may have authority, but you lose even your own voters’ respect.
The Wizard of Oz showed a police state where the rulers lost their authority. That state had their snitches. There were governors, there were officials that were absurd.
Before the Iron Curtain fell, whole nations lived this way. And that is the big danger here. A movie called “The Lives of Others” chronicled what happens when a population is dominated by snitches, dominated by rules that are absurd. East Germany. And the rest behind the Iron Curtain. Like much of China today.
Always trying to remake humanity. In the image of their bad rules, and their snitches. It ain’t pretty, it’s never been pretty. The ultimate results, the killing fields and ruined nations, never are.
We are witnessing in states like Michigan and Hawaii, a small part of that foolishness. They gladly sacrifice the businesses of their state, and the well-being of their own people for the sake of officiousness. These governors and officials must be told in no uncertain terms to stop, because they no longer have moral authority. They lost it by capriciousness. They lost it by unleashing the Nazgul and the snitches on us.
I am not suggesting violence, or revolution. But I am suggesting we shame the snitches, and shame the petty officials that make rules that help no one, destroying their own moral authority and the well-being of others. Get rid of those who have started this, resist them, and vote them out.
As Judy Garland famously said upon waking up back in Kansas, there’s no place like home.
She’s still correct, it’s up to us to bring our homes and lives back to normal It’s part of our new war, part of what we need to do. The Karens must not reshape us into a fearful nation, one that is irrational, and lacks common sense. Or worse, a nation that slouches towards the ways of old East Germany, our leftist masters telling us how to become slaves.
Our better angels, not the snitches, must be ones we listen to.
Let freedom ring.
David Prentice has published in American Thinker and Epoch Times, and is now working on a novel. He lives near Traverse City, Michigan. Contact: davidprentice2@yahoo.com
