I was disgusted by the oozing superiority complex in Mr. Jackson's establishment propaganda piece ("Give me liberty, or give me death," March 10 Gazette). Anybody who doesn't dutifully trust our technocrats is a stupid child. His reference to American politics argues that anyone who rejects the State's justification for limiting our rights must be a conspiracy theorist. After all, officials are never wrong, much less would they twist facts to increase their own power!
Our laws gave our government emergency powers with the understanding that emergencies are obvious and temporary. Going by the publicly available statistics –yes, I'm discounting all breathless rumours of data manipulation – this is nowhere near the health crisis necessary to justify emergency powers and massive lockdowns. Panic all you want, bodies are not piling in the streets. The slightly increased death rate might even be explainable in terms of lockdown effects.
Jackson's comparison to the Bubonic Plague would be laughable if it weren't such a stark reminder of the alternate reality COVID freaks live in. From the beginning, we should have done what our laws allow regarding health crises: Quarantine the sick, guard the vulnerable, and let the healthy majority accept the inherent risks of life. Only those who bloat the role of government into some provider deity will demand anything more.
N. Chaim Wieske, St. Albert.
