Profiles in Courage of COVID Dissidents

A showcase of contrarian scientists, ethicists, writers, and thinkers.

While we anxiously await the publication of my book “Fear of a Microbial Planet,” I would like to introduce Gabrielle Bauer, author of Blindsight is 2020: Perspectives on Covid policies from dissident scientists, philosophers, artists, and more. Gabrielle’s book was published by Brownstone Institute (also publishing my book), and her writing was most recently featured in the Wall Street Journal. I haven’t received my copy yet, but I’m looking forward to it!

Steve Templeton

For the first 63 years of my life I don’t recall anyone calling me a selfish idiot, much less a moral midget or a mouth-breathing Trumptard. All that changed when Covid rolled in and I expressed, ever so gingerly, a few concerns about the lockdown policies. Here’s a sampling of what the keyboard warriors threw back at me:

-        Enjoy your sociopathy.

-        Go lick a pole and catch the virus.

-        Have fun choking on your own fluids in the ICU.

-        Name three loved ones that you’re ready to sacrifice to Covid. Do it now, coward.

-        You went to Harvard? Yeah, right, and I’m God. Last I checked, Harvard doesn’t accept troglodytes.

Village idiot, flat earther, inbred trash, negative IQ… Let’s just say that my constitutionally thin skin got the workout of a lifetime. And it wasn’t just me: anyone who questioned the lockdown orthodoxy, whether expert or ordinary citizen, got a similar skin burn.

Finding my footing

From the earliest days of the pandemic, something deep inside me—in my soul, if you will—recoiled from the political and public response to the virus. Nothing about it felt right or strong or true. This was not just an epidemiological crisis, but a societal one, so why were we listening exclusively to epidemiologists? Where were the mental health experts? The child development specialists? The historians? The economists? And why were our political leaders encouraging fear rather than calm?

The people in my life told me to adapt, but I already knew how to do that. Job loss, financial downturn, illness in the family—like most people, I put one foot in front of the other and powered through. The missing ingredient here was acquiescence, not adaptability.

And then, slowly, I found my tribe: scientists and public health experts and philosophy professors and lay people with a shared conviction that the world had lost its way. Thousands and thousands of them, all over the planet. Giorgio Agamben, the famous Italian philosopher, spoke directly to my soul when he lamented the separation of “bare life” from meaningful living. Lionel Schriver, the spirited UK novelist of We Need to Talk About Kevin fame, zeroed in on the meaning of freedom and the steep cost of throwing it away. As I continued to discover such shining stars, it occurred to me that it might be valuable to gather their insights in one place.

A peek inside the book

As a medical writer I knew that writing critically about Covid could jeopardize my career, but when the opportunity to write such a book came along, I couldn’t say no. Called Blindsight Is 2020, the book was recently published in English by the Brownstone Institute and in Spanish by Mandala Ediciones. I’m honored to share some details about it with this community.

The book showcases 46 scientists, ethicists, writers, and other thinkers who reflect on the societal harms of the Covid-19 lockdowns and mandates. A blend of reported journalism, polemic, and personal storytelling, it explores the cultural forces that led the world to lock down, devalue civil rights, and lock out dissenting perspectives.  There’s oncologist and public health expert Vinay Prasad, who explains why science—even very good science—cannot be “followed.” Psychology professor Mattias Desmet describes the societal forces that led to Covid groupthink. Jennifer Sey, whose principles cost her a CEO position and a million dollars, calls out the mistreatment of children in the name of Covid. Zuby, my personal candidate for world’s most eloquent rapper, calls out the hubris and harms of zero-risk culture in his pithy tweets.

These and the other luminaries featured in the book help us understand the forces that shaped the dominant narrative and the places where it lost the plot. Through their voices, the book addresses the questions that troubled me most during the pandemic, which have less to with epidemiology than with ethics. Questions such as these: Is it fair to require the greatest sacrifice from the youngest members of society, who stand to suffer the most from pandemic restrictions? Do mandates and coercive measures help or hinder pandemic management? Should civil liberties simply disappear during a pandemic, or do we need to balance public safety with human rights?

The book takes the position—shared by many scientists, as it turns out—that managing a pandemic is not just about containing a virus, but about steering the human family through a societal upheaval. An upheaval that threatens not just lives, but livelihoods. Not just lung health, but mental health. Not just heartbeats, but hopes and dreams.

The thought leaders featured in the book address these tensions head-on. While they come from all points along the political spectrum, they all have a passion for freedom. They also share my fierce commitment to do right by all the children who were harmed by the Covid policies. None of them “deny” the virus; they simply understand that mitigation strategies will not succeed unless they respect biological realities, civil rights, and human nature.

Embracing reality

The dominant narrative positioned the virus as the enemy in a planetary war—an enemy we must fight to the bitter end, costs be damned. But as it became clear that we were waging an unwinnable war, a second story began gaining momentum. This story cast Covid as a guest that, while not exactly welcome, was here to stay, so we needed to find a way to coexist with it without destroying our social fabric. In his book Gone Viral, Justin Hart calls the supporters of each story Team Apocalypse and Team Reality, respectively. My book embraces the second story: attempting to eliminate all risk from Covid is a fool’s errand and carries too high a cost. The thought leaders featured in the book explain why.

As an essayist and memoirist, I also enjoy weaving some personal anecdotes into the mix. From therapy with a Zoom shrink and attendance at a freedom protest to a trip to lockdown-free Sweden and an LSD trip on a lake, I recount several personal experiences that sprang from my despair about the Covid policies.

To those who have felt this same despair, I hope the thought leaders featured in the book speak to you as they spoke to me. There’s nothing more validating than learning that some rather brilliant people share your misgivings. But I’ve also written the book to help people who supported the Covid measures understand why some of us despaired at the policies they cheered on. Wherever you fall on the spectrum, the book will introduce you to a cast of free-spirited and courageous characters. If their insights leave you with some food for thought, I’ll call it a win.

BLINDSIGHT IS 2020 currently available on Amazon and LuLu as a printed edition or in e-reader format. Amazon reviews are gratefully appreciated.