2020 – another annus horribilis

By K. Rye

As we step closer to freedom, I find myself reflecting, with some chagrin, upon what has so far been an annus horribilis.

Actually, the more I look back at the months since that fateful day, 23rd March, the more I listen to different medical, scientific and economic experts and compare their comments with those of the so called “daily briefing” team, the more sceptical I become.

It’s only when you turn away from the daily hysteria of the mainstream media, the howling hyenas of the 24 hour news, the scurrilous scribes of the national dailies and the constant cackle of the political commentators and do some ACTUAL research, that you begin to realise the magnitude of what has just happened.

I won’t bore you with statistics here because, like me, you’ve probably had Covid death figures, “R” rates, “flattened curves” and all manner of other related virus vagaries up to your earholes.

Suffice it to say, there is much more to this than meets the eye and no – I am not talking about David Icke or Covid emitting from 5G transmitters. I’m simply saying that once you start listening to the findings of other experts, it is quite startling.

What’s even more startling for me is the events of the past few weeks and the level of hysteria that has been ramped up because of events 4000 miles away. Again, I have listened patiently to both sides of that particular argument – and especially to many black political commentators whose views are totally different to those being promulgated by the mainstream media.

I am firmly fixated on the idea that a lot of this has been heightened by the actions of the aforementioned whose constant race-baiting, misreporting and poor journalism has created a far more dangerous atmosphere than the fear they ratcheted up so far. They terrified millions of people into almost total self-imprisonment for weeks.

And now we have cowardly employers sacking people just for opposing the violence and bullying coming from those for whom Communism seems to be a prized ambition and goal. (Be careful what you wish for: you might just get it.)

As for the highly paid football players who subjugate themselves to bullying and threats, despite living in ivory tower luxury, behind 20ft high walls and electronic gates, whilst their fans struggle to pay the ever-increasing ticket prices, I have nothing but contempt.

Eighty years ago, my grandfather was patrolling the streets of this country on ARP duty and over a hundred years ago was fighting in Northern France, for the rights and freedoms of the people of this country – and of those in the Commonwealth.

He fought alongside men of all colours in WWI; a brotherhood of soldiers who had a common goal: world peace.

He and all his comrades – millions of whom never came home – had a dream of a better world where people felt free to speak their minds without fear of retribution or condemnation. That state of affairs was moving along admirably. However, in the last three decades in particular, it seemed this was coming along very nicely with more equality between the sexes and cultures: a more equal society with opportunities for a better life for everybody. Far more than anywhere else in the world.

The people of this country – and their English-speaking cousins in other countries – were getting along just fine, with different nationalities and cultures living alongside each other, integrating and generally just enjoying a blissful period of post war peace. Of course, there were some problems to be ironed out but on the whole, this country became so popular that everyone wanted to come here: and come here they did… and still they come, Covid or no Covid.

Fast forward to 2020 and we are now in the grip of a kind of madness whereupon expressing an opinion is hate speech if it doesn’t go along with the prevailing narrative and even thinking the wrong way can now get you a visit from the police (remember the ex-policeman who got a visit from the police to “check his thinking” because he expressed a totally innocuous opinion).

And now, your entire life and livelihood can be “cancelled” because you had the temerity to stand up for what you believe in, even if no “isms” were expressed in your speech or actions.

I think now is the time to “cancel” the professional “offence takers” who have made themselves self-appointed moral guardians of everybody else’s views and opinions and boycott all those who sack their own employees for having the temerity to speak out on something they feel strongly about, in their own time.

It’s beyond absurd.