To be or not to be in the Covid-19 Brave New Normal? A question of male courage.

Feb 1

What is it to be a man, to pursue the truth (as opposed to “following the science”) and to have courage in the current political climate? These are important questions in terms of men’s identity, masculinity, courage, and living truthfully. Sadly, there is an assault from many factions in our society dominated by a postmodern outlook, which seeks to deconstruct the identity of men, masculinity and men’s role in the pursuit of truth, men’s protection of women and children, and ultimately to dissuade men from taking up their sovereign right of just defence in the face of tyranny and totalitarianism. Specifically, the call from the UK governments (and devolved assemblies) as well as many governments worldwide, is for everyone to submit to an increasingly flawed and dubious scientific and political take on a virus called COVID-19. We are instructed to isolate from others, socially distance, wear masks and get injected with an experimental, emergency authorised medical product with no long-term safety data, not question these dictates, and for men, not to question seeing women and children being coerced via scaremongering and bullying (via propaganda) to get the “vaccine”.

“A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today. … particularly noticeable among the ruling and intellectual elites causing an impression of a loss of courage by the entire society.”

What is striking about these times, echoing the great Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn decades ago, is the decline in courage and increase in mass submission, in the face of tyrannical governmental dictates:

“A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today. The Western world has lost its civic courage…Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling and intellectual elites causing an impression of a loss of courage by the entire society.” (Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Harvard Address, June 8th, 1978).

What has contributed to this loss of courage, especially in relation to the issue of COVID-19, and what appears to be a decline in courage in people, especially men, in taking a stand against, what for many are pseudo-scientific tyrannical dictates? Solzhenitsyn, from his famous Harvard address in 1978 argued that the loss in courage went hand in hand with the postmodern obsession with well-being (a mental healthism), postmodernism (which includes the deconstruction or assault on traditional gender identities, men and masculinity), and reductive and limiting adherence to the letter of the law. As Solzhenitsyn argues:

“A society based on the letter of the law and never reaching any higher fails to take advantage of the full range of human possibilities. The letter of the law is too cold and formal to have to have any beneficial influence on society. Whenever the tissue of life is woven of legalistic relationships, this creates an atmosphere of spiritual mediocrity that paralyzes man’s noblest impulses.” (Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Harvard Address, June 8th, 1978).

One can add here, that the letter of the law in 2022, includes the letter of the law of “the science” of COVID-19. As a result of our withered conceptualisation/confusion about gender identity, the obsession with well-being, and the spiritual decline (e.g., the attack on Christian values in the West), together with adherence to “the law”, the impulse to action in response to more and more draconian rules, dictates and laws in regard COVID-19 has resulted in many men passively submitting to illogical, or at least scientifically dubious dictates (e.g., mask use); to the detriment of their own lives, but also the lives of their families and the women and children in their lives.

Presently, we live a in society, where many people have no other concern but for the self-obsession of one’s well-being (the tyranny of mental health), aided and abetted by a postmodern zeitgeist which encourages a disavowal of questioning the dominant narrative, and a spiritual vacuum where the desire for ideals (i.e. freedom, liberty, sovereignty) are discouraged; the world, for many, appears meaningless and is now ruled by a fear of death from COVID-19 and climate catastrophe. Presently, the only option (or hysterical demand) is for many to insist on certainty for safety from the state; valueless self-preservation, where ethics and ideals are couched only through the prism of human life as a biohazard or parasite upon the Earth. The spiritual axis of life has grown dim. But of course, the politics of the COVID-19 pandemic erodes the possibility of any horizon beyond man as a biohazard, and human life as an individual self-serving pleasure-seeking entity, desperately keeping one’s “place in the sun”.

Of course, it could be argued history is repeating itself. A lack of courage and adherence to the dominant (or totalitarian narrative) has occurred before. As beautifully described by Czeslaw Milosz in “The Captive Mind”, under communist totalitarianism (in Poland), the intelligentsia (e.g., intellectuals, journalists, politicians, celebrities etc) readily abided by the dominant tyrannical state narrative and actively denounced any dissent. The weakness of morals and absence of courage was apparent during this era. The amoral and spiritual bankruptcy that was described by Milosz, is readily obtainable in a regime where fear, terror, censorship and guilt inducing propaganda are deployed. One can see a similar landscape has developed in the UK (and many other countries) in regards COVID-19 where the media and politicians denounce “anti-vaxxers”, and those who do not abide by the regulations for COVID-19.

“Are men to resign themselves to being guided by dubious scientists and an even more dubious scientism which prevents them mourning their loved ones, visiting relatives in hospital and seeing their wives, girlfriends and children masked and injected with an experimental mRNA drug”

The current predicament, for men, bathed in the postmodern malaise, assaulted by the anti-male sentiment of identity politics, a Godless void with only the state or “the science” to guide them, is not looking particularly bright. Men are blamed for supposed risky behaviour or rule breaking when it comes to COVID-19 and climate change. Unfortunately, many people including many men, have been scared into blind compliance to follow COVID-19 regulations pressurised via the use of unethical applied behavioural psychology by the UK government and devolved administrations. We have deliberately been made to be more fearful than we need to be and assaulted by hard hitting emotional propaganda to be guilt-tripped into submission. As a result, the question of male courage, especially in terms of just defence in the face of tyranny or nefarious political shenanigans, is a necessary discussion point, that the powers that be would rather us not to engage in.

Are men to resign themselves to being guided by dubious scientists and an even more dubious scientism which prevents them mourning their loved ones, visiting relatives in hospital and seeing their wives, girlfriends and children masked and injected with an experimental mRNA drug with no long-term safety data (where the drug companies have no liability for harm or death that might occur)? Are men to be at the behest of a new pandemic preparedness being planned for the Brave New Normal? Are men (and women) to be dictated to by the likes of Nicola Sturgeon or Boris Johnston to abdicate bodily integrity of themselves and their children by restricting their breathing with masks and/or taking a medicine with an unknown risk?

We would do well to remember history repeats itself, but we are very poor at remembering history, putting this into practice and having the courage to do so. Let us remember Samuel Rutherford and his famous “Lex Rex” where he advocated that defence against tyranny is justified. Let us also remember John Knox who so famously reminded Mary Queen of Scots that there was a higher authority than her. Both Rutherford and Knox are exemplars of men who advocated the need for courage in the face of tyranny and that there is a higher authority than government: God. The godless postmodern world, where the state and science have replaced God, which the likes of Nicola Sturgeon, Jacinda Ardern and Emmanuel Macron all wish to flourish, is a time where it seems history is calling from the bowels of existence for such courage once again. Courage is needed too for men to withstand the anti-male rhetoric they face today, and also the scientism which is assaulting every man, woman and child. Courage is needed to reaffirm our bodily integrity, our freedom and our God given right to call out tyranny when we see it. Nobody should ever be able to take that away. The is the challenge for men today; their call to courage.

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