A few years ago Dr. Jordan Peterson gave a lecture in which he made a chilling but noteworthy remark about the correlation between epidemics and tyrannies. I thought I’d transcribe the key parts (the video clip of this lecture is at the bottom of this article):

Jordan Peterson: “There was a paper published in PLOS 1 … about a year ago… They were looking at… political attitudes with … authoritarian beliefs scale, because authoritarianism has been studied quite a bit since World War II. … What they found was mind-boggling – Nobel Prize winning stuff as far as I’m concerned:

THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE PERVALENCE OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE IN A LOCALE AND THE DEGREE TO WHICH AUTHORITARIAN BELIEFS WERE HELD IN THAT LOCALE WAS ABOUT 0.7! YOU NEVER SEE THAT IN SOCIAL SCIENCES! THAT’S HIGHER THAN THE CORRELATION BETWEEN I.Q. AND GRADES!! IT’S ABOUT AS GOOD AS WE EVER GET IN TERMS OF PREDICTION.”

We are now nearly five months into the “15 days of lockdown” to “flatten the curve” and slow the spread of the “pandemic.” Even as the virus proved about as dangerous as ordinary seasonal flu, “public health measures” have been increasingly corrosive to our civil liberties and include shockingly harsh censorship and a nonstop media campaign fomenting fear and insecurity.

We are now in the middle of summer and six months past the peak of the flu season but authorities worldwide continue issuing new and ever more strict measures for us to obey. In Australia, a very heavy-handed marshal law has recently been imposed, rendering life in the state of Victoria more akin to living in North Korea. Here’s how a friend from Victoria described the situation there:

“Victoria implemented a full lockdown. Police may now enter anyone’s home without a warrant. Curfew  starts at 8:00PM and going out without “a valid reason” entails a $1,652 fine. People can’t visit family or friends. Masks are mandatory at all times, non-compliance carries a $200 fine. ABC News reported that over $5.2 million in fines had already been levied. Weddings, gatherings in any size are forbidden and the army is in the streets fining and arresting people. Random police check points are everywhere. Billboards in the streets say in capital letters: “WHAT ARE YOU DOING? STAY HOME.” The media is calling out any protesters as far-right conspiracy crackpots. People are turning on each other, calling police to report on neighbours for any infraction. …”

Jordan Peterson was onto something. An infectious disease is the perfect excuse to usher in a tyranny. The benevolent, caring authority can break all the rules with the excuse of protecting us from an invisible enemy that could lurk anywhere. By inducing a state of fear and psychosis, the authorities can justify even otherwise unthinkable measures like contact tracing and forcible removal of family members from their home.

It should be glaringly obvious by now that what we are experiencing has little, if anything to do with public health. We are seeing a slithering tyranny that is gradually, but inexorably turning our societies into a dystopian totalitarian state, similar to what George Orwell and Aldous Huxley described for us in their novels.

If this is so, we have little choice but to push back like our children’s lives depend on it – because they do. Patrick Henry warned us long ago: “Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force [of arms]. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex Krainer is the founder of Krainer Analytics, a former hedge fund manager and published author. He  created the I-System, probably the best trend following model ever built, with an audited track record to back it up. TrendCompass, our real-time CTA intelligence reports can cover 200 financial, commodity, FX markets. First mont is free of charge. Contact us at TrendCompass@ISystem-TF.com