Page 37 - Discover Winter 2023

Nothing to FEAR
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is
famous for saying, “We have nothing to fear
but fear itself.”
President Ronald Reagan is famous
for saying, “The most terrifying words in
the English language are: I’m from the
government, and I’m here to help.”
Standing alone, each of those
statements rings true for many of us. When
taken together, they paint a remarkable
picture of the status quo. Throughout history,
despotic rulers have often relied on the use
of fear as a motivator. Winston Smith, the
protagonist in Orwell’s novel 1984, is tortured
by a state inquisitor. He uses his knowledge of
Smith’s greatest fear to get him to succumb to
the will of the state.
If I didn’t know better, I’d say that the
events of the past two years in this country
were built on that same premise. Most of
us fear serious illness and death. If I didn’t
know that the people who run this country
have only the noblest intentions, I’d be rather
suspicious of the whole reaction to the recent
pandemic.
As we all know, the government took
swift and sure action to save our lives. Never
By Tim Ernandes
mind that people lost their livelihoods, people
were shut out of schools and businesses, and
in some cases, essential medical treatment was
denied. None of that mattered, because we
were facing a serious disease, from which only
99.5% of people aged 60 to 65 would survive.
(Survival rates were higher among younger
people.)
On February 4, 1976, a young soldier
died of swine flu. Shortly thereafter, F. David
Matthews, the U.S. secretary of health,
education and welfare, predicted that an
epidemic of that flu would arise in the fall of
that year.
“The indication is that we will see a
return of the 1918 flu virus that is the most
virulent form of flu,” he said. He cited the
1918 outbreak of “Spanish flu”, which had
killed half a million Americans. He foretold
of a coming apocalypse that would claim a
million American lives.
That announcement was based on
research from our old friends at the Centers
for Disease Control. They believed that this
was a new, even deadlier strain, one that bore
a genetic similarity to the 1918 strain.
The CDC’s prescription at the time
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