We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Samizdata quote of the day

With all terms that can be insulting, context is everything. For example, I would prefer people to not to write “I disliked the fact he used the N-word to insult him.” … I think it is far better to write “I disliked the fact he called him a nigger.”

Acting as if the word “nigger” is almost like speaking the True Name of Christ to unmake the world is not a good idea.

Perry de Havilland

Samizdata quote of the day

We let the WHO be taken over by the Chinese, but still treated it as neutral on Covid. We let UN human rights bodies be dominated by human rights violators… We deserted our friends in Afghanistan. No wonder Putin thought he could try it on.

– Lord Frost

Samizdata quote of the day

A no fly zone is actually pretty similar to zero covid.

A nice “feel good” solution & very easy to demonise anyone who disagrees with it. But as soon as you consider the practicalities, it becomes clear that both are entirely unrealistic without huge negative consequences.

Amy the Sceptical Zebra

Samizdata quote of the day

The West’s Green delusions empowered Putin. While we banned plastic straws, Russia drilled and doubled nuclear energy production.

Michael Shellenberger

Samizdata quite of the day

What Trudeau and his kind have done to the west has much to do with Putin’s thinking it was safe for him to act. We will see whether the attack on the Ukraine’s freedom will have a similar effect of assisting Trudeau and allies to kill ours in the west or will be a welcome touchstone of reality.

Niall Kilmartin

As Russian troops overrun Chernobyl…

… simultaneously we have achieved peak insanity in the west with this:

I fear some sort of criticality is imminent.

Perhaps we need a “What the actual fuck?” category.

Samizdata quote of the day

That we can go from international uproar over an instance of nuanced police brutality on a convicted felon in 2020, to international indifference over blatant police brutality against innocent citizens standing up for their rights just 2 years later, tells us a lot about society.

Bob Moran

Samizdata quote of the day

The message was simple: Question the COVID narrative, and there will be consequences.

But there were still many brave enough to buck the mob mentality. And as time has gone on and scientific data on COVID and pandemic restrictions have become more accurate, it has become clear that the dissenters were right. Lockdowns didn’t save lives; in fact, they likely cost more lives than they saved. Masks, specifically the cloth masks experts pushed on the public, are ineffective at stopping the spread of the virus and are harmful to children’s development. Hydroxychloroquine might actually help COVID patients in some cases. The list goes on.

Unfortunately, nonconformists have had to pay an enormous price for being right.

Kaylee McGhee White

Samizdata quote of the day

Members of the Behavioural Insights Team and other such ‘nudge’ units around the world need to pay a social cost for the last two years. It’s not like we don’t know who they are. They need to be motivated to hide what they do and who they work for, because people should spit on the street in front of them when they are recognised. They want a ‘new normal’? Ok then, lets give them the new normal they deserve.

– A Chatham House Rule remark by a certain journalist in the last week at a rather bad tempered event. The room was filled with a mixture of nodding heads and a few looks of establishment horror. People are starting to realise they really do have have to pick a side.

Samizdata quote of the day

As I set out in my book A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic masks are a nudge, even described as a ‘signal’ by David Halpern, the director of the UK government’s Behavioural Insights Team. Similarly, Professor Neil Ferguson said that masks remind us ‘we’re not completely out of the woods yet’. They serve as a visible public reminder of the pandemic, turning us back into walking billboards pronouncing danger. My source concurred: ‘Masks are a behavioural psychology policy. We need to stop pretending that it’s about public health. Nudge is a big thing in government.’

Laura Dodsworth

Samizdata quote of the day

Beyond the fact that the vaccines are utterly ineffective, the mechanisms by which they are harming people is not a complicated as we think. The Danes have apparently reduced the risk 60% by enforcing the aspiration technique. One wonders what the other public health agencies have been doing since! Another CDC alert highlighted leaky blood vessels were a problem. Again admitting the risk caused by these product going intravenous. One wonders how anyone knowing that would continue to vaccinate billions? How can any of the authorities be certain these products won’t leak? They can’t. They never could. It was excusable to not understand the implication of transfection. It is not excusable to avoid looking at the reality in the face for over a year. And they will soon stand trial for that. I wouldn’t want to be their lawyers…

Marc Girardot

I am not as convinced as Marc Girardot that people will stand trial for this, given the widespread overlapping institutional self-interest in handwaving the reality away. My guess is all baleful ‘vaccine’ side effects will be blamed on the mythical long Covid or global warming or Trump or…

Samizdata quote of the day

One thing I wish the protestors could wrap their head around: you are not protesting for *democracy*. Democracy is what brought us tyranny, quite predictably. The majority of voters still support tyranny. You protest for ancient freedoms, and for reality against madness.

Christoph Nahr