Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic we have been spoken to, mainly by Boris Johnson, in warlike terms. At the outset we were ‘enlisted’ in the fight to save us from COVID-19. We have been exhorted to make one final ‘push’ and we are in the process of ‘defeating’ the virus. Warlike slogans abound such as ‘careless talk costs lives’ and messages to promote the idea that nobody is above suspicion of being infected. We are all the enemy, we are all ‘the virus’. While I have long doubted all the government rhetoric on the pandemic, my current reading of Laura Dodsworth’s excellent book A State of Fear convinces me that we are most definitely at war, and it is a war our own government has waged on us.
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‘On 14 May, the Telegraph reported how Gavin Morgan, a psychologist on the SAGE team, had told author Laura Dodsworth that:
“Clearly, using fear as a means of control is not ethical. Using fear smacks of totalitarianism. It’s not an ethical stance for any modern government.”
The Telegraph report continued:
“Another member of SAGE said they were ‘stunned by the weaponisation of behavioural psychology’ during the pandemic… ‘psychologists didn’t seem to notice when it stopped being altruistic and became manipulative. They have too much power and it intoxicates them’.”’
The email continued:
‘In fact concerns about the unethical use of psychological tactics were raised with the BPS* in a joint letter from 47 psychologists and therapists back on 6 Jan which complained of the deployment of “covert psychological strategies – that operate below the level of people’s awareness – to ‘nudge’ citizens to conform.”’
So, it is no secret, and many experts—some even operating from the belly of the government beast—are concerned.
In chapter 5 of A State of Fear titled ‘The business of fear and the unelected psychocrats’ Laura Dodsworth lists a series of official government units whose titles are terrifying enough, let alone their function. First there is the BIT—the Behavioural Insights Team—known as ‘the Nudge Unit’. This exists covertly to ‘nudge’ public opinion towards government approved views. Established under David Cameron this is now a for profit organisation operating internationally. Laura Dodsworth was unable to obtain an interview with the founder of the Nudge Unit to discuss its work in relation to COVID-19 propaganda. She was fobbed off with flattery and assurances that the unit was independent of the government. These are typical avoidance tactics but here is no doubt, however, that the Nudge Unit has been at the forefront of the pandemic panic.
If only it stopped at the Nudge Unit. There is a range of other sinister organisations to operate surveillance, cancellation and shadow banning of COVID dissenters. These include RICU—the Home Office’s euphemistically named Research, Information and Communications Unit for Security and Counter Terrorism—and their business is propaganda. They ramp up the terrorist threat to a level where we all feel vulnerable, and everyone is under suspicion. Does any of that sound familiar? Then the Rapid Response Unit is there to ramp up social media campaigns which promote government propaganda. Those who have the temerity to question the government line are dealt with by the Counter Disinformation Cell and these can be aided and abetted by GCHQ—the Government Communications Headquarters. Finally, there is The 77th Brigade, a military unit operating in the cybersphere which exists to mount psychological warfare. Some think that the 77th is being used to counter COVID critics and it is known that they are supporting the Rapid Response Unit. Laura Dodsworth was unable to obtain direct answers to any questions related to the work of the 77th in relation to COVID-19 and concluded that ‘We have no idea’ if they are running all things COVID. Given that she did have some very credible, but anonymous sources and reading between the lines of the investigative journalist, I take that as a ‘yes’.
I nearly forgot to mention SAGE (The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies), who we all know, and the myriad of other related groups such as NERVTAG (The New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group) and the SPI-M (Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling) and the SPI-B (Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours). And these all, one way or another, feed information into COBRA (Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms). This alphabet soup of state control is possibly only the tip of the iceberg of acronyms and the task of uncovering more and unravelling their functions only takes us so far in the COVID counterattack. I am sure that the government would be happy to see those of us who dissent employ all our time on that. As interesting and worrying as this evidence of the COVID civil war are, the main question is who is really in charge? After Boris Johnson’s faltering performance on 14 June when he announced the continuation of restrictions to our freedom, I cannot believe it is him.
*British Psychological Society
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