Why Now?

Personal example...

There are many wonderful, smart writers documenting the big signs of the dominant narrative failing. The injunction against CA’s anti-free speech law AB2098; Ardern’s announcement that she’s done being the fascist bully in NZ; Congresswoman, Nancy Mace’s admission yesterday that she was injured by her second Covid shot. There’s a lot happening and I’m encouraged. There are of course still horrible things happening, and I try to be aware of those, but not focus too much of my precious human energy on them. I will leave the in depth analysis of those stories to the amazing journalists I admire and follow on Substack and Brownstone and CHD, etc. But from my personal little seat in life, I thought I’d share a significant sign of things changing, one that leaves me asking “What? Why now?” Maybe you have theories you can share with me.

My employer DROPPED their Covid shot mandate completely. [Extreme surprise face emoji here] This is SHOCKING. To understand how shocking this is, you have to appreciate that my employer loves the dominant narrative so much that it would marry it if it could. It was seriously considering mandating the shots before Biden issued a mandate. So when Biden even hinted that he planned to issue a mandate, that was all they needed to hear and they seized the opportunity to issue a mandate. They were practically giddy to get the greenlight to mandate from the perfectly sharp, no cognitive decline at all, and definitely not creepy whatsoever Biden. So in October 2021, even though I am a remote worker, 2000 miles away from the office, I received notice that I was mandated by my employer to get the shots by mid-December or face termination. I felt betrayed by an organization that I worked at for more than a decade, one that until this enthusiastic, unethical, unconstitutional coercion, I thought highly of and felt proud of my affiliation.

We are a nonprofit social research organization and we all train annually in research ethics and informed consent. I have worked with most of my colleagues for several years, many of them for more than ten years. These are ethical people who take their work with human subjects very seriously and have integrity. How could this organization that requires thorough ethics training every year be mandating an experimental drug on its employees??¹ We are so thorough with our consent protocols with our research participants. I and most of my colleagues have spent many, many hours carefully reviewing protocols to make sure that we’re always explaining the benefits and risks of participation in our research (which is related to health but not pharmaceutical in nature), and reminding them that they can stop at any time, skip any item, and are never required to continue with participation. Getting that mandate notices was as if someone walked up to a blackboard where all the research ethics I had carefully and thoroughly learned in my career were written out in painful detail, and erased it all right in front of me. Not only did my employer require the shots, but consistent with their glee about mandating them, they even said in their memos that they planned to require any boosters recommended moving forward. This was their stated plan in 2021.

I spent a couple of weeks stressed about it, angry, sad, and weighing my options. I found it difficult to concentrate, which made me more angry. Several days before the deadline I sought and received a religious exemption. Other than leadership’s baffling pharma worship, I love my job and my colleagues. And since I’m only expected to go to the office once or twice a year, I decided I could live with the antigen test required within 48 hours of my in person presence for those visits.

It is worth noting that in all honesty, I am pretty sure that if I hadn’t been working remotely already for a few years, the enormous pressure to get injected or submit to once or twice weekly tests, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable resisting the coercion the way I did. It wasn’t the only factor that figured into my decision to remain uninjected - there were several (which will be the subject of another essay) - but it was definitely a significant one.

I hated that the organization required it, and I was disappointed in and angry at leadership (and all of my colleagues who seemed to enthusiastically support the policy as well), but I was aware that my situation was better than so many people’s at that time. A friend who was a physical therapist with a religious exemption at her job was working with patients in something that rivaled a space suit, while her vaccinated colleagues were only required to wear a face covering of their choice. She wasn’t even allowed to eat in the building, but had to go to her car to eat. [Angry cursing emoji here] I felt like I should just be grateful I still had a job, with an exemption in place, and I would just keep my eyes and ears open for a freedom supporting organization or company moving forward.

In the fall of 2022, not quite a year later, I did go to the office for an in-person event, and I disclosed my status and exemption to my supervisor prior to the trip. I wanted to let her know both because she is a good friend and I felt uncomfortable keeping it from her, but also because I didn’t want her to find out accidentally at the reception desk when I was asked for proof of my negative test or something with her standing there. I just didn’t know what to expect when I got there in person, so I wanted her to be aware and not surprised. She is a very kind person and fierce advocate for her employees, and so I expected her to be kind about my choice in our interaction, but she was more supportive than I expected. In fact, she went so far as to say that she wished that she had had the courage to “wait and see” on the shots. I sent my negative test to HR and copied her the day before I flew, and was prepared to share the test results with reception upon entering, but no one asked me for it. My guess is that if I had done nothing, no one would have asked me for anything. I believe no one but HR, Sr VP and another VP in my department, and my supervisor know my status, and I will likely keep it that way.

Imagine my surprise several days ago when I received the message from my employer that they would be dropping the Covid Vax requirements altogether. Completely. WHAT?? After all that?? After saying you’d happily require boosters forever if the CDC said so?? NOW you’re DROPPING IT??? Just like that? Just like that.

Tell me Substack friends, Why now?? Who called the president of the organization? Was someone injured? Are they in litigation? What’s going on? Why now??

Of course I’m glad that they dropped the requirement. But I’m so surprised. They really didn’t intend to when it all started. I sort of resigned myself to the fact that some significant portion of U.S. life, including institutions like the ones I work for, were too deeply invested in these restrictions to roll them back — unless a court told them they had to. I wonder about that. I want to know WHY??

1. I must note here that ethics training in spring 2022 was STRIPPED of much of the detail about the Nuremberg Code, Helsinki Declaration, and Belmont Report!! Can you believe that shit?? They pared that material WAY down. I Shit. You. Not. ! [Jaw dropped and swear word emojis here]