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Commentary
Universities have traditionally been the home and sponsor of critics and critics, but as an institution they are neither critics nor critics. Universities, like the Governor, do not have a formal position on controversial social and political policies. Nor does the institution choose one such policy and impose it on its members. When it comes to college professors, traditionally they have brought logic and evidence to uncover ambiguous problems and aim to tell the truth about what they are seeing.
The COVID-19 policy, which began in early spring 2020 at my university, the University of Calgary, and its official legitimacy violate these traditions. As a result, the university has contributed, rather than undermined, the most obvious attribute of the two and a half year COVID event, moral panic.
The central role of moral panic is played by the mainstream media. They provide a megaphone. However, the media cannot act alone. For COVID-19, they relied on “experts”, especially those certified by the School of Medicine. From the beginning, my colleague in medical school has provided the media with an amazing sound bite. They were frank supporters of non-pharmaceutical interventions, forcing agoraphobia through blockade, distance, and masking. They were unaware of the evidence that the cost of the blockade, available from the end of the spring of 2020, was exorbitant and masking (the “sanitary theater”) was medically useless.
Still, by the end of June 2022, medical security guards (identified as “experts” in university publications) had declared that the pandemic was not over and that they needed to wear a mask. In doing so, it is a combination of Virtue signaling and the theater, “indicating that you are looking for someone else.”
The explanation of university policy provided by the “Senior Leadership Team” has changed significantly during the pandemic process as they styled themselves. Distance learning was introduced at the beginning of March 2020. A few days later, the president said he should not be “overly afraid” to enter the campus building. The following day, March 22, 2020, he issued a “command” that would “immediately take effect” and all faculty members would work from home.
After assuring the members of the Faculty of Arts that “we are well guided,” the Dean advised us to take care of them. He then suggested participating in a “Digital Earth Day activity” and sharing a photo of our “home pet”. I also remembered taking a shower, brushing my teeth, and “calling my mom.” The Human Resources Department later suggested “consider bringing small plants into the office”, but only “if permitted”.
These managers seemed unaware that they were infantizing colleagues who would otherwise remember brushing their teeth and getting enough sleep.
By the end of spring 2020, and despite an early message from the president about not panicking, the administration was ready to take advantage of the scared college population. The so-called crisis provided an opportunity for additional masking restrictions, which became a dress rehearsal for even more stringent restrictions on vaccination.
By September 2020, compliance with the Masking Directive was the only focus.There is evidence, but nothing is said about its (non-) effectiveness. Was steadily accumulating..
In the spring of 2021, the vaccination campaign began in response to a statement from the Alberta state government that face-to-face lessons will resume that fall. Vaccination was presented as a “practice of compassion.” This is sentimentalism that quickly became a strategy. That is, remove non-pharmaceutical measures (distance and masking) depending on drug compliance.
By the summer of 2021, the Dean lamented that vaccination mandates were not available to the government, although unvaccinated tests were mandated. After that, magically, compulsory vaccination became possible. In mid-September, a new directive replaced the method of recommending getting a jab. Everyone on campus will be vaccinated by New Year 2022. This new measure, which the president usefully explained, was part of “logical progress.”
There was no discussion of evidence about Side effects on the vaccineHowever, by the fall of 2021, considerable evidence was available for them, as well as the masking situation.In addition, the rapid development of mRNA vaccines meant that. No one had enough information to declare it safe.. That is, no one could give informed consent to receive shots. Therefore, the university’s policy violated the Nuremberg Code, which was drafted after the trials of major war criminals after World War II, not to mention the common law and the charter.
In this breach of informed consent as an ethical obligation, the University of Calgary’s administration was hardly alone. And they weren’t the only ones in Canada to foster a culture of fear among all members of the university’s “community.” By moving from blockade to distance learning, from masking and buxing recommendations to compulsory mandates, the universities colluded, ignoring evidence that such policies were useless and evil. Avoidable moral panic.
Whether or not the future outcome is the creation of an authoritarian biosecurity nation, the university has abandoned skepticism about one of its most important historical challenges: public science.
A longer version of this story first appeared C2CJournal.ca
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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Barry Cooper is a professor of political science at the University of Calgary. He is the author, editor, or translator of 35 books, most recently Paleolithic Politics, and has published nearly 200 treatises and book chapters.
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