They say rules are made to be broken. Now, I don't know that to be the case, but I don't know it not to be, either. Personally, I think the rules that make no sense should be broken, and that it's up to you to think for yourself. Over the past several weeks, I've been testing the boundaries of our magnificently restricted new world. Here, in Ro, you can't go anywhere (pretty much) without a Covid pass, which uses either a vaccine or a test (though for a while, it was only a vaccine).
Well, that's the official story. If you go out in the streets, well, the truth is murky. Technically, you should also be wearing a surgical mask while in those streets, but hey, the policemen aren't wearing one, so why should you?
So as I said, I've been testing the boundaries of these "rules" for some two months now. The first time I did this, it was in a small nearby clothing store where technically, you should've needed a pass. I needed to buy a gift for someone, so I figured I'd risk it. Surprise, surprise, nobody asked me for a Covid pass.
After this first time, I got to thinking - how much further could I get? Where do these restrictions start being observed? And where do they end? Last month, I had a cosmetic appointment inside a mall, and naturally, feared I'd have to cancel it, with the restrictions, and all. Long story short, the day came, I got a call from the salon, and told them since I don't have a pass, would that stop me getting my appointment?
Not at all, the lady on the phone assured me, just call us when you're at the door, and we'll come get you. They had a deal with the mall security, and sure enough, they let us walk right past them. Needless to say that once my appointment was over, I wandered the mall for hours, doing some Christmas shopping.
I've also done this at two other malls. With the first one, it was actually a complete accident. I was meeting someone outside, and happened to notice that not all stores had guards checking for a pass. So naturally, out of sheer curiosity, I wanted to see if I could get inside. Went without a problem.
Another mall, same story. If you go round the front, there's guards on every main entrance, rigorously scanning Covid passes, checking masks and what not. If you go around, you'll find a side door that's always unlocked, and that leads pretty much straight into the mall. Nobody asks a goddamn thing. To me, that's fascinating. On the one door, you've got security, and all the props to prove to the gullible population that the "firm restrictions" are working. And round the back, you've got people coming in and out, with no immunization, and no guarantees. Why? Because they leave behind hefty cash sums inside that mall.
The words "you can't" are a very powerful trigger, psychologically, making one, infamously, want the thing they can not have. Hence, if you tell me I can't go into a mall, one I wouldn't care about in normal circumstances, you make me actively want to go in, just because you said no. And naturally, once I do get in, I will feel I need to buy something, since I'm there. Since I might not be there again. While to you this might not sound like much, these corporations have undoubtedly considered this, trust me. These are devious people who look at the human brain from all possible angles, if it could mean another extra handful of bucks.
This is also the case for restaurants, cafes, and other big stores, all of which should, by law, be asking for a Covid pass. Now, I don't know what other countries are like, but I find it difficult to believe that ours is the only one who thought about this trick. After all, large, greedy corporations were not invented here.
Photo by Igor Karimov on Unsplash
Why is this happening?
If you were walking along your merry way and noticed any of the above irregularities, you'd probably think it's a coincidence, an isolated incident. Except it's not. Over the past few weeks, I myself have gone to these places several times, at several points in the day. I've also spoken to other people who'd gone, without my input, without us even talking beforehand. People who discovered these irregularities on their own.
Don't you think it's a little hard to believe that the management of these places doesn't know? I'm perfectly willing to believe that once, through some accident, a door was left open and unguarded. But by that logic, the next time around, the door should've been shut.
What I'm trying to tell you here is, these people know. They understand fully well that the current restrictions aren't being observed, or respected. That the security guard on the door, busily scanning passes is there purely for show. They don't believe this is serious. They don't believe the restrictions are necessary. Obviously. If they did, surely, they wouldn't allow a possible carrier of this disease to go about unhindered in one of their buildings. Not for $20, not for a million. And yet, they do. It's not one, either. We're not just talking about small local businesses that depend on that $20 to survive. We're talking about massive, filthy rich corporate bastards for whom $20 is less than nothing.
Now, I'm not trying to tell you what to think, or to argue about the virus itself. I think this entire pandemic has been deceitfully broken down into these simplistic, moronic standpoints. You're either one or the other. Pro or against. And that's not healthy for anyone. It's a complex discussion here, and it deserves proper discussing.
So this isn't about that, just like it isn't about my personal opinion about the pandemic. If I were to come along and say restrictions are futile, and do nothing, I would attract a lot of anger, and a lot of heated cries of "how dare you". Luckily for me, it's not me who's saying it. It's these large corporations, because once again, the people telling you to obey understand that there are certain annotations to that order. One of them being unless you want to give me money.
And sure, it's tempting to argue that of course big greedy corporations continue to be big and greedy, but that shouldn't be taken to mean this isn't serious. Me, I once again find this hard to stomach. First of all, it does mean that, to a certain extent. Once again, these people are not stupid, nor are they uninformed. If they truly believed in these restrictions, they would make sure that door was shut.
Second, I'm an inquisitive person, by nature, and I can't help but wonder where exactly it stops being about their profit, and it starts being about our wellbeing? It seems to me that, considering the way the situation has been presented to us, this should be a non-negotiable, yes? Our safety, and general health. But apparently, that is not the case. Exceptions can be made for money. But by that logic, then that means these things are negotiable. That means that the way the situation had been presented was faulty to begin with. By these people's actions, we establish that the restrictions currently in place don't matter as much as we've been led to believe. That much is a given. The only question that remains is - how far does that go? How little do they matter, exactly?
I have been skeptical from the beginning. And then when the data (here in the US) showed no evidence that masks and lock downs actually did anything to stop the spread I was REALLY skeptical. It's all a way to keep people under the thumb of tyrants. And the greedy corporations who wouldn't be impacted (i.e. Have a huge internet presence) went right along with it.
Exactly! We're so encouraged to fight amongst ourselves, our points of view demoted to taglines, when in fact it's way more complex. It's never been about saying so-and-so is the absolute truth, but rather about questioning anything that seems suspicious..
I live in a country where the restrictions have not been to the same level as in Romania. So far we don't need anything to go to shops, supermarkets, cafes or stadiums. Some people wear masks as a habit in public transport, others like mine never did. It was very strange when I went hiking last summer in Mont Blanc to see that people have not been able to stay outside in a restaurant in the middle of the mountains because someone requested a pass. I went and ordered food for them just because I believed it so unfair. Also, I could observe a big tendency is that way around (fake vaccine passports or tests). It will always be a percentage of people that walk around the systems (however they are well accounted for by those in charge - they are fully aware that some will find a way to disobey)
Oh, I'm sure they know these rules are being disobeyed. After all, they're facilitating it, in many cases. If I recall, when we met, you were living in London? Is that still the case? I heard they lifted restrictions recently there, with Boris's whole party scandal and all, but I'm not sure what the restrictions were like before...
Yes still in London, my love, we never had police checking us on the street or anyone asking for passports to get into the supermarket. Never we had to wear a mask on the street, for me as I have been in EU few times, now UK is the land of freedom :D
And England has the protection of the tradition of Common Law, which Europe does not have...thats why over here we're more freer.
Europe runs on the iron grip of Roman Civil Law, which unfortunately is grounded fully in admiralty-maritime jurisdiction or the corpus juris.
In England many have awakened to the fact that Acts of Parliament and Statutory "law" is not law (basically anything that comes out of the Government's arse), due to these organizations being only corporations, that deal only with the legal fiction (that is the entity found on all State Instruments such as passport, birth cert, bank account, driver license etc). If you agree to operating as the legal fiction, then all Statutory "laws" and "mandates" apply to you, for you have consented into entering the corpus juris.
Because of the existence of common law (which is not statutory "law", it is not created by Parliament or Government, or even the Monarchy), people have learnt to seperate themselves from the fictitious realm of admiralty-maritime, and so have a way to fight the draconian measures.
Great take! Yea IMO most of the people who are still playing along w/ all these scare tactics aren’t actually fearful of the virus…they are more scared of unemployment and restrictions. !PIZZA
Oh, I agree completely. And that, to me, is even more terrifying. It's putting yourself in a position of powerlessness, I feel, this willingness to accept that they can take away anything. And that's how civilization dies, alas. Thanks for the pizza!
There will come a time where we will all lose employment and social "benefits" unless we bend the knee and take the v.
I hope not, even though part of me knows that to be true. If not with this v, then with the next "crisis" for sure.
Just gotta prepare ourselves for that right?
We laughed at those doomsday preppers for a long time...i guess now they're laughing at us lol. Sigh.
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