It’s Thursday night. Some people are out on the streets. Some stand on their balconies. Others congregate in their back yards. Clap. Clap. Clap. Two meters apart.
Welcome to England’s new emerging ritual. Where every Thursday evening, people show their appreciation to all the carers and medical staff who are helping COVID-19 struck victims, by putting their hands together in a mass act of solidarity. Some grab their pots and pans in an effort to be the loudest. Heck, even the dogs join in; though more than likely in response to the noise pollution.
This new #clapforourcareres campaign turned religion, instigated by Annemarie Plas back in March, has swept the UK by storm. From postman Pat to David Beckham, from Bob the builder to Boris Johnson; there they are. Clap. Clap. Clap. Two meters apart.
Some hold up placards displaying gratitude to the NHS. Others get their rainbows out. Smiles, tears and fist punching the air in determination to defeat this virus fiend. Clap. Clap. Clap. Two meters apart.
It’s all about the carers. It’s all about the NHS staff. It’s all about the little Joe’s that strive to keep the economy open; your postmen, your newsagents, your drug dealers.
No you can’t clap for politicians, how dare you!
To be frank, I find this whole clapping thing a little disingenuous. A little ‘you’re doing it so I better do it’. A little, you know, silly. But rituals are interwoven into the very fabric of human nature. You can find them in every corner of human existence. Footballers conduct pre-match rituals. Followers of the worlds popular religions take part in rituals. Even birthday gifts are ritual-like.
I get it. I totally understand. But at heart of the ritual are highly charged emotions. And highly charged emotions often blinds us to the facts, to the truth; to reality.
And here’s why.
You see, a little research reveals that contrary to what we are told, our hospitals are not teeming with COVID-19 patients. Birmingham’s Nightingale hospital has yet to receive patients since it opened on April 16th, while London’s Nightingale hospital is due to shut next week because:
‘established hospitals in the capital coped much better with the influx of critically ill patients after hugely expanding their intensive care units.’
In other words they totally underestimated their current capacity while over estimating the destruction caused by this virus ( thanks Prof. Ferguson).
Whats more many nurses, doctors and other medical professionals have been blowing the whistle on this scam. Despite YouTube et al’s disgraceful crack down on censorship of late, they don’t seem to be quick enough to shut down the many dissenting videos posted online that are telling the world how doctors and nurses are being laid off due to lack of COVID demand.
Further, the mainstream media have FAILED from day one to question the validity and outright unreliability of PCR tests, which are being dished out left, right and centre to the masses on a monumental scale, delivering false positives all over the place. If they did any ounce of investigative journalism, the panic, the fear, the anxiety would be relieved, and the project destroyed.
Let’s stop clapping together and start standing together to end this madness.
