With California still reeling from the aftermath of policies instituted in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, some doctors and experts are advising the population to sharpen their critical thinking skills in case similar situations arise in the future.
If a future health scare prompts authorities to impose lockdowns or issue orders restricting business and educational opportunities, people should research independent sources and weigh all available information before blindly following official orders, some are suggesting.
“Do a proper assessment of who’s at risk,” freelance investigative journalist and true crime author John Leake told The Epoch Times. “Perform a risk-stratification evaluation and examine other treatments.”
Mr. Leake and Dr. Peter McCullough, a cardiologist with more than 1,000 publications and approximately 700 citations in the National Library of Medicine, co-authored a book about the pandemic and also gave a talk titled “Modern Medicine’s Great Controversy” to a group of nearly 100 on April 12 in downtown San Francisco.
During the event, they highlighted new peer-reviewed science regarding treatments for COVID-19 and potential side effects of the medicines and MRNA vaccines promoted by the government and some health officials during the pandemic. They also discussed how they thought the government overreached.
Mr. Leake said that some institutions once deemed highly credible have been compromised by special interests and that any potential conflicts of interest should be carefully scrutinized.
“It does seem the high-level medical journals have been captured by pharmaceutical interests,” he said. “I think that’s pretty clear.”
That is an outshoot of a long-standing power dynamic overseen by intelligence agencies and the U.S. Department of Defense, he said, noting that former President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned of such a threat during his farewell address to the nation in 1961.
“This is a longstanding habit of the military-industrial complex combined with the federal government’s ability to fund things and disperse funds through the treasury,” Mr. Leake said. “That combination that Eisenhower expressly warned about would seem to create a perverse incentive for threats and emergencies.”
During his 10-minute speech to the nation, the former president warned the public about what he observed while serving as a politician and in his lengthy military career, including as a five-star general.
“We face a hostile ideology—global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method,” Eisenhower said during the speech. “Unhappily, the danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration.”
He urged Americans to be diligent and aware of the consequences of their blind obedience to authority.
“Crises there will continue to be,” Eisenhower said. “In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties.”
Mr. Leake pointed to an evolution of control from being based on military conflict to a public health paradigm.
“What we’re looking at—what we call the biopharmaceutical complex—is an outgrowth of the military-industrial complex,” he said. “So there’s threats everywhere, there’s emerging things, and then at the first sign of it we do PCR testing, and everyone needs to get these drugs and vaccinations, and the government needs to get out their checkbook and pay for it.”
That benefits private interests by creating billions of dollars in profits for select companies, he said.
“So you create a perverse incentive to seek public health emergencies, exaggerate them, or fabricate them,” Mr. Leake said. “It all goes back to the military, and it’s here to protect us, purportedly, but as Eisenhower warned in 1961, the thing that’s supposed to protect us can ultimately become our master.”
James Madison expressed similar sentiments during the 1787 Constitutional Convention.
“The means of defense against foreign nations abroad have been always the instruments of tyranny at home,” Madison said.
The founding father also warned of the danger of authoritarian rule and highlighted the need for an informed populace to ensure a free society.
“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation,” Madison said. “The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.”
While the federal government offered shifting guidelines in 2020 and in subsequent years, responses of states, cities, and counties were vastly different during the pandemic.
Some businesses were ordered to close or faced significant restrictions for as long as 15 months in California. And while residents of the Golden State were ordered to shelter in place with no in-person school, concerts, sports events, or community gatherings, those living in and visiting states such as Texas were attending such events with no restrictions and no masks required.
One doctor said it was ironic that a state such as California that is known for its anti-authoritarian history—including being the epicenter of 1967’s so-called Summer of Love and the first state where marijuana was allowed for medical purposes—proved to be a model for obedience when pandemic-related restrictions were enacted.
“What is it about people in different regions? This was the center of the sexual revolution and counterculture activity, and now the people are willing to obey authority,” Dr. McCullough told The Epoch Times. “It’s almost like every state that legalized marijuana, suddenly they obey authority. You can’t make this stuff up.”
He said that governments used fear and their constituents’ lack of awareness to control the population.
“If you take fear out of the equation, it becomes a lot harder,” Dr. McCullough said.
Informing the public is the key to avoiding a similar situation, he said, acknowledging the role that media organizations can play.
“Independent media is really important,” Dr. McCullough said.
One health care expert in the audience, with decades of experience, agreed with Dr. McCullough and said people need to think for themselves.
“Nobody’s thinking anymore,” Dr. Bret Barker, a 16-year ICU nurse and nursing instructor for 10 years, told The Epoch Times during intermission at the event. “They need to use their common sense to look at what’s really happening before complying with orders.”
Another health care professional in attendance said that individuals’ willfully disregarding their own liberties came at the expense of society.
“The biggest problem that we had is that people rolled over and gave up our rights,” Dana Ullman, homeopathy advocate and author of 10 books related to natural medicine, told The Epoch Times.
With the avian flu reportedly spreading to livestock and humans in recent weeks, Dr. McCullough and others are urging the public to remain vigilant and pay attention to the details as the narrative put forth by government officials evolves.
“We need to stay ahead of the curve,” Dr. McCullough said.
