7/6/20: COVID VENDETTA W/ TONY OLMOS AND LUKE PENSABENE
MONOLOGUE BY CLYDE LEWIS
I have many old school broadcasters that I look up to many of which I strive to emulate. While many people will probably guess that I look up to the like of Rush Limbaugh and Art Bell – there are others that I believe were great story tellers and used storytelling to convey truth. Orson Welles and Rod Serling were some of the great story tellers as they used radio’s theater of the mind in their broadcasts. Walter Cronkite, Hugh Downs and Bill Curtis were also great reporters – but the grand dad of them all was my all-time favorite radio broadcaster. Edward R. Murrow.
He would report UFO stories, political stories and would even dabble in conspiracy theory from time to time illustrate his points. He and Orson Welles had basically the same prophetic attitude about how the media and new reporting can be abused to push an agenda.
Murrow once prophesized in 1958, “For surely we shall pay for using this most powerful instrument of communication to insulate the citizenry from the hard and demanding realities, which must indeed be faced if we are to survive.” At the time, Murrow was musing about the decline of broadcast news during a period where there were only three channels on television. Today with the increasingly endless variety of media resources in a post-internet and post-social media world, the dissemination of lies and falsehoods is greater than it ever has been.
However, the internet also brings us closer to every crisis and problem in the world that can be exploited by governments to remind the people that they need bigger government in what we keep hearing are perilous and trying times.
Many people observed Independence Day without thinking about the social distancing, or pandemic and yet the media proceeded to condemn those who wished to celebrate the 4th of July with people they knew and some they didn’t.
Most of the media is ignoring the fact that this Independence Day is occurring under the most dictatorial restrictions of the modern era. But anyone who values their liberty must recognize the Great Political Unleashing that has occurred this year makes a mockery of the Founding Fathers’ intentions.
Earlier this year, more than 300 million Americans were constrained by “stay-at-home” decrees by governors and mayors. These restrictions were justified by mortality predictions from COVID-19 that turned out to be wildly exaggerated. But most of the media has presumed that the dictates were legitimate because they were supposedly based on “science and data” – regardless of pervasive wrongheaded forecasts.
The Centers for Disease Control estimated last week that 24 million Americans may have been infected with COVID making a mockery of lockdowns designed to force citizens to pay any price for the slightest potential reduction in infections.
I really did not do anything for the Fourth of July. My wife and I agreed that with all f the hoops we had to jump through – that the thought of celebrating independence was a moot point.
Nevertheless the rockets’ red glare and the bombs bursting in air continued over the weekend.
I stayed home and watched a few TV shows on my extended cable theater and watch a couple of old movies.
I watched Rogue One which is now becoming my favorite Star Wars movie and I watched V for Vendetta. It was a film that Liam had not seen and so he was interested in it. I told him that it came out the year he was born.
As he was watching it he said—wow it is like this film was made in 2020.
I noticed it too –and then I did a little research and found that the setting for the film was 2020 and then I began to notice so many uncanny coincidences in the film – that I saw it in a whole new way.
When the coronavirus pandemic became a worldwide panic, audiences dialed up Netflix and watched the movie, Contagion. During the most recent Black Lives Matter protests, bookshops reported record sales of works by black authors Netflix noted a sudden uptick in viewer numbers for the film, The Help.
Now, as protests continue across America and worldwide it shouldn’t surprise us that Netflix has been hyping V For Vendetta.
Needless to say, I realized that maybe the algorithms steered me to this film and I am really glad that it did. I saw it as a treasure trove of prophetic moments where V for Vendetta should have been more of a warning than a cinematic wunderkind.
In our new dystopian normal, we can quickly point to examples in history where what is happening now can be compared to the French Revolution, or the rise of Stalin or Hitler.
In literature we can look to Huxley or Orwell and make comparison to Brave New World or 1984.
Now, I can say that if you want a film that seems to have accurately predicted what is happening today, you can either look at Soylent Green – or a more accurate view would be what is shown in the movie V for Vendetta.
I was always aware of the film’s impact as many people have seen the Guy Fawkes masks being worn by anarchists, counterculture subversives, and online hacker groups like Anonymous. It is also interesting to note that in 2020, instead of a subversive named V – we have a computer subversive called Q that people are following. Q like V informs people of the fascist takeover of their way of life.
Q like V tells people what they want to hear and arguable is stirring the crowd for an armed revolution. V roams England exposing corrupt politicians. He exposes pedophile priests and kills the mobster agents of the leader Adam Sutler.
Q is as mysterious as V.
He does not hide behind a mask but he hides behind a computer arguably exposing corruptness and of course pedophile Hollywood, and Washington DC. Although V calls people to action – Q has not been as successful in motivating his followers however the media has said that it is a force to be reckoned with. It is Ironic that the group Anonymous uses the same Guy Fawkes mask as V but in 2020 they are not as effective as Q.
Followers of QAnon have been long-suffering in waiting for some (actual) evidence to confirm the existence of the elusive ‘Q’, or some confirmation or proof from official sources.
So, many were excited in October last year when a rather senior retired military man, General Paul E. Vallely a retired Major General, USA was quoted on a radio show as saying that the ‘Q drops’ were based on information gained from a group of military intelligence specialists:
Vallely stated that “QAnon uses information that comes out of a group called ‘The Army of Northern Virginia.’ This is a group of military intelligence specialists, of over 800 people that advise the president. The president doesn’t have a lot of confidence in the CIA or even the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) as much anymore. So he relies on these real operators – most of them are Special Operations type of people. This is where ‘Q’ picks up and gets some of their information, as I understand it.”
This would only harden my resolve that Q is a psy-op created by a group of defense specialist utilizing Self Organizing Collective Intelligence.
The basic dynamics of a SOCI is that some sort of attractor is able to grab the attention and energy of some group of people. It is generally one that is very vague and abstract; some idea or notion that only makes sense to a relatively small group of people. When those people apply their attention and energy to the SOCI, it makes it more real, easier for more people to grasp onto and to find interesting and valuable. It then becomes more attractive to more people and their attention and energy.
This created what is called a generative loop. As the SOCI becomes more real and attracts more people it begins to encounter challenges.
If the SOCI has enough capacity within its collective intelligence to resolve the challenge, it “levels up” and expands its ability to attract more attention and energy from more people.
In V for Vendetta, V acts alone but one man is able to rally an entire county to rise up against the corrupt arm of government. The backdrop for the dystopian year of 2020 in V for Vendetta also paint a picture of what we are experiencing in the real 2020.
For example, to refresh you memory about the film, the fascist government that is featured in the film used a pandemic to retain its control over the people.
In the film, a disease known as St. Mary’s Virus has ravaged Europe and killed over 100,000 people as it is revealed in various flash headlines and news reports. It is later revealed that the virus was an act of biological warfare created by members of the government that profited greatly by it and there is even a terrifying moment where people are lined up to receive a vaccine and they all die and are buried in a mass grave.
It is evident that most of what happened in the 1980’s and 90’s influenced this film as there was a consistent fear that the Soviet Union would utilize germ warfare against America as part of the ongoing Cold War. The Bush administration’s case for invading Iraq in the 2000s rested partly on the assertion that the country had never fully dismantled their biological arsenal, despite the Iraqis’ own claims that they had long abandoned this project.
Of course the COVID-19 pandemic has killed more people than what was depicted in the fictional 2020 of V for Vendetta. However what is most disconcerting is that in the film the disease, the biological agent’s release was blamed on America. That their negligence, led to riots and looting and the virtual destruction of our country. There are news reports that show the United States under Martial law and at war with itself and some other military group – perhaps the E.U. or the U.N.
While The United states blames China for the release of COVID-19, the riots are still ongoing, the police are being defunded and a threat of civil war does loom over us like the sword of Damocles.
Protests against the government and police are a societal constant and a crucial part of any democratic system. While the protests of V For Vendetta capture a specific moment in history, their resonance reaches well beyond that time frame.
The anti-government stance of V For Vendetta has always held some allure, particularly during times of right-wing political rule, the growing power of the police in the face of countless killings of Black men and women, and seemingly ineffectual opposition from the center-left.
Keep in mind that the film was released during the end of the Bush administration which gave carte Blanche to the creators to make their comparisons.
What V For Vendetta is most successful at, is in revealing how little it takes for society’s thin veneer of civilization to crumble in favor of anti-democratic ideals. Authoritarianism is more likely to be welcomed with open arms by a world that sees it as a necessary evil, a means to an end to silence critics and those who hint at the vaguest form of extremism.
But what is most interesting is that in our 2020 reality left wing authoritarianism is leaning on technocrats in order to again use a plague to control the masses.
A perfect example of how this is done is when the mad Hitlerian dictator Sutler feels he is losing his power and control over the people he makes a statement to his henchman that there needs to be a campaign to put fear in the hearts of the people.
He says in an angry voice “I want this country to realize that we stand on the edge of oblivion. I want every man, woman and child to understand how close we are to chaos. I want everyone to remember why they need us!”
The scene then cuts to television sets that show the mainstream news reporting that plague deaths have increased, that terrorism threatens Britain and the Climate is out of control.
These are unfortunately the same tactics the mainstream media in modern day 2020 are using to push the agenda of the new normal –and just when our state governors are about to lose their power the ramp up the number of Covid-19 cases, they allow for our cities to be burned down by domestic terrorists and waiting in the wings will be an even bigger effort to push Green policies for the global reset.
What the movie demonstrates is that even in a fictional 2020 the media has an agenda to sell you with propaganda and misinformation.
Whether it is Fox news or CNN the messages are often there to prop up an agenda where the powerful still have control over the poor and disenfranchised.
There are many ideas that have been repeated by protesters today like “Silence is compliance” and that “People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.”
According to “V” these ideas are bulletproof. Obviously they are timeless and it all seems to be in line with the fore structuring of reality or what most people call the revelation of the method.
Again how uncanny it is that in a fictional movie set in the year 2020. A virus runs wild in the world, many Americans are dead, many Britons are dead and many of them were forced into being vaccines and were killed as powerful industrialists and government officials profited from the virus and the vaccines. The fascist leaders promise security but not freedom –and the people are not buying the constant battle between a government run amok, and a lying media and the struggle between faith and extremist badgering to reject faith and promote science.
Governors across the nation earlier this year proved that the Bill of Rights is a parchment barrier that can be easily shredded by invoking their emergency powers.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown banned the state’s four million residents from leaving their homes except for essential work, buying food, and other narrow exemptions, and also banned all recreational travel. Six Oregon counties had only one confirmed COVID case as of last month, and most of the state has minimal infections. But schools, businesses, and other activities were slammed shut by government edict. Almost 400,000 Oregonians have lost their jobs after Brown’s shutdown.
In May, a circuit judge ruled that Brown’s pervasive restrictions were “not required for public safety when plaintiffs can continue to utilize social distancing and safety protocols.” But the Oregon Supreme Court, stacked with the governor’s appointees, quickly overturned that ruling.
The media and many politicians heaped derision on people who publicly protested against the lockdowns that were destroying their livelihoods. But after a Minneapolis policeman brutally killed George Floyd, politicians cheered as mass protests exploded in cities across the nation. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio sent police to disperse attendees at an Orthodox Jewish funeral for violating his restrictions on public gatherings but endorsed mass protests against police brutality.
Twelve hundred health professionals signed a letter declaring, “We do not condemn these gatherings as risky for covid-19 transmission. We support them as vital to the national public health.” Any tattered remnant of credibility retained by public health officialdom was shattered when they declared that supporting protests against police brutality “should not be confused with a permissive stance on all gatherings, particularly protests against stay-home orders.”
At the same time that politicians joined and cheered mass protests against the police, many states continue effectively outlawing religious services. Would church services be permitted to resume if parishioners promised to cuss the police? The “experts” might also permit a vast rally to confer sainthood upon Anthony Fauci, the media’s favorite lockdown hysteria monger.
The pandemic pried open authoritarian Pandora’s Boxes at all levels of government. Trump’s Justice Department asked Congress to approve suspending Habeas Corpus for the duration of the pandemic. Norman Reimer, executive director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, warned, “You could be arrested and never brought before a judge until they decide that the emergency or the civil disobedience is over.” The same type of pre-arrest power could be exercised to detain anyone suspected of being infected or failing to obey lockdown orders. Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee, one of the most principled members of the Senate, tweeted in response to the news of the power grab: “OVER MY DEAD BODY.
Attorney General Ramsey Clark warned in 1967, “Nothing so diminishes democracy as secrecy.” But the pandemic response by federal, state, and local officials remains shrouded in secrecy. We may have seen only the tip of the iceberg of boondoggles and blunders in government responses to the pandemic.
The Great Pandemic of 2020 has been based on the illusion that government could make life risk-free. But the advocates of shutdowns, lockdowns, and endless prohibitions ignore the risk of dictatorship.
That was what our forefathers fought against almost 250 years ago, and their sacrifices and courage should inspire today’s Americans to take far less abuse from their rulers.
A V says in V For Vendetta:
“People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.”
In the end of the film everyone is compelled to wear a mask but in the movie’s 2020 dystopic film it is a mask of defiance — in our 2020 reality it is a mask of compliance.
I know that perhaps all of the movie comparisons seem frivolous compared to the novelty that the story evokes over the idea of the silent masses standing up as an indomitable force against extremists that oppresses and silences them rather than allowing a democracy to so what it is supposed to so. It is unfortunate that such a power is always relevant and desired, regardless of the era people live in.
