It was understandable that the country was essentially shut down for a few weeks at this time last year. This crazy virus came out of China, seemed to decimate the population of Italy, then in fits and starts spread all around the world. Who wouldn’t be scared? Already in January before it was widely acknowledged or even supposedly had reached our shores, we were hearing that it was deadly, that it mutated, that it compromised the immune system, and on and on.

But here’s some news for addled old Uncle Joe Biden: by Independence Day LAST year, well informed Americans were already gathering in their back yards for a cookout. That is to say: Americans who did not automatically believe the network news, CNN, NPR, and the other fear-mongering outlets that seized on a crisis of confidence to keep the fear going, the ratings up, and mail-in ballots a sure thing.
Unfortunately the fear persists, at least in cities, long after the threat has passed. Driving into Nashville from the country this weekend, it was as if a wrong turn was taken in the Universal Studios parking lot. Virtually everyone was wearing masks. OUTSIDE, for heaven’s sake. We might as well have stumbled onto the set for “The Omega Man.”
By contrast, also this weekend in Nashville, the little woman – who is far more prone than her prickly husband to go along to get along – forgot her mask when she entered a store. It was a local, family-owned favorite. There were no other customers at the time. All the staff dropped their masks when they saw her beautiful smile. Only Papa kept his mask on. No doubt his lawyer has read him the riot act about avoiding frivolous liability lawsuits.
Also this week, a customer from Nashville was planning to pick up an order here at the shop way out Charlotte Pike. She gave assurances that she was vaccinated and practiced social distancing. When we replied no worries, we are not maskers, there’s a different mind-set about all that out here, she chickened out and asked us to ship her order instead!
God help these poor people who have been scared witless about flippin’ everything. The pandemic damnpanic has worked best in the cities. In a city, once germs are said to be spreading, everyone feels as if they live in Bombay – even in Nashville, where there is no subway system cramming people together like sardines and social distancing is a cinch on the buses because no one in their right mind rides them anyway who doesn’t absolutely have to.
We have seen that the government authorities have been wrong about just about everything. Even M.I.T. now has come out with a study that essentially says the wearing of masks to prevent spread of the virus is a canard. The FACTS show that only the sickly, the morbidly obese, and the elderly need fear this virus, and now there is a very effective injected palliative that protects them – although many health authorities did not protect them, closing schools to no purpose while leaving the virus free to rage through senior care facilities. And if you are young and healthy and there is any chance a “vaccine” might kill you, why take it? The virus virtually certainly will not kill you. Yet the authorities push the shots not only on the vulnerable old, but also the healthy young.
Instinctive fear is a good thing if something goes crash in the middle of the night, if you hear that freight train sound in the middle of a violent thunderstorm, or your fever spikes for no apparent reason. But cultured fear – that’s no way to live. The most troubling aspect about all this is the seemingly epidemic lack of curiosity. Has our generation – generation used in the Biblical sense – lost a healthy skepticism about authority? Have we lost the capacity to compare and contrast conflicting opinions? Have we been scared so witless that we accept as real whatever boogieman is thrown at us without using discernment, discretion, common sense? Common sense, it seems, really is the most uncommon sense of all these days. The fear that’s been inculcated in this generation seems to have all but snuffed it out.

Buck up, you city-dwellers, and young people especially. Stop cowering. Live life. Breathe free. Take in the sunshine. And Uncle Joe, stop with the preaching about wearing masks and getting the so-called vaccine being everyone’s “patriotic” duty. We are not all scared stupid, and we will be celebrating Independence Day AGAIN as true patriots this year whether you give your blessing or not.
For a two-page PDF statement of where Way Out Charlotte Pike is coming from, please CLICK HERE.