"It's complicated." The Covid® Crime's Siren Song
You’re probably asking yourself what the headline of this newsletter and the photo have to do with one another. In this post, I will attempt to explain the parallels.
Beware the Sirens’ Songs
Let’s start first with what is meant by “siren song.” In Greek mythology, the Sirens were sisters, beautiful nymphs, the handmaidens of Persephone, Goddess of Spring, daughter of Demeter and Zeus. Their numbers vary; some versions of the myth tell us there were two and in others as many as eight. In addition to their great beauty, they could sing…
In one account of their fate, the handmaidens failed to prevent the abduction of Persephone by Hades, God of the Underworld. Enraged, Persephone’s mother, Demeter, cursed the beautiful nymphs. She turned them into half avian/half human creatures, banishing them to isolation on a rocky island west of Naples, Italy near the isle of Capri.
The Sirens possessed voices so sweet, so alluring they bewitched all who heard them. Their songs, audible from the sea, would cause sailors to abandon their course, throw caution to the wind. Entranced, the sailors would turn their ship and sail toward the voices, oblivious to the craggy shore that meant their doom. Mesmerized, taken off course, ships wrecked, cargo and lives lost. Over the flattering lyrics of songs sweetly sung…by monsters.
Thus, we have the warning that has survived the ages: Beware the Sirens’ Song. Here a modern definition:
Siren song describes something that is very appealing and alluring on the surface, but ultimately deceptive, dangerous, or destructive.
“Ultimately deceptive, dangerous, or destructive.”
How about all three?
The Fraud and Deception of Making Everything “Rocket Science”
To be fair and accurate, there are complicated things in the world — like actual rocket science. I’m guessing that’s pretty complicated. I’ve heard (wink, wink) that quantum mechanics is pretty damned complicated, too. Brain surgery? Raising children? Difficult. Complicated. Ideally its own reward. Life itself. It brings complicated circumstances to our doors — some of which we cause and others not of our doing at all.
OK.
Mr. Branson makes a very good point, though. If he’s correct, then what of those whose stock in trade is to keep the complicated complicated and/or shrouded in mystery? Or who make the simple difficult — on purpose? Or the ones who revel in their comprehension of a complex subject, clutching jealously their command of it, basking in their exclusive understanding? Should we assume an agenda or malicious intent? Or maybe these types are just jerks.
If people were surveyed on their favorite teacher, it’d be a safe bet whom the majority would name. The favorites would be the ones who made their subject accessible, who assured their students they could learn, who demystified, who did the hard work to simplify for the benefit of their students.
In short, the best teachers make their students less afraid — of the subject and the work it takes to master it. More confident. Were you lucky enough to have a teacher like that? Did it make all the difference??
The Sirens’ Song of the Covid® Operation Enactors - “It’s Complicated.”
By contrast over the last three years, what did this country and the world get? We got the “It’s complicated,” siren song. The alleged brightest brains of medicine and TheScience™ turned everything about this “novel” virus into “rocket science.” They assured the world the “virus” was too mysterious to lend itself to treatment.
So, of course, if the virus mystified the “geniuses,” surely the rest of us poor slobs didn’t stand a chance. After all, most of us aren’t virologists, are we?
The “geniuses” laid waste to that which had been common sense and common knowledge. Why, they implied, not even we geniuses know how to treat this “novel” virus, so how can you — the great unwashed? Forget your intuition, forget everything you’ve known to do in the past, never mind those cold and flu medicines, toss your liberties, never mind your immune systems, and always, always be afraid. Like jerks.
Instead of covering their ears, the people listened.
Sidebar: Since when have we ever had to be virologists or had to “know” the category of virus we (allegedly) have — old, new, cold, flu? We have symptoms. So, we get medicines -- most of the time over the counter. Maybe if you go to a doctor and he/she tests you for “this year’s flu virus,” OK, you find out what “version” you’ve got — and then you get the medicines. It isn’t “rocket science.”
In the case of Covid®, the mouthpieces kept quiet on the symptoms. Nobody talked about them. Instead, they focused on the "novel" source and advised the exact opposite of what had been bedrock medical advice -- early treatment. What could have possibly been the motive, I wonder?
Speaking of symptoms, the list below comes from the Mayo Clinic.1 Is there some mystery here? Does these constitute a reason to shut down the world? Upend basic human rights? Is there some reason to deny or delay treatment of these non-mysterious symptoms, which can lead to severe illness in some cases, especially if left untreated?
I have firsthand experience with how complicated things can get when treatment comes too late. In 1984, my mother left her flu untreated, waiting for her doctor to return from vacation. Thinking she might get better on her own, she only worsened. When I finally got home, I could see how really sick she was. Taken to the hospital, she died from a myocardial infarction due to “complications” of the flu. She was 57. She lost her life and I lost the person I loved the most in the world.
“Complicating” factors in her case included a lifetime of smoking, some excess weight, and little physical activity.
Sound familiar?
Yet the decision my mother made, sadly, became the nation’s “treatment” protocol Avoid early treatment; allow symptoms to worsen. Turn blue. (That happened to my mother.) Stunning. And yet it happened.
Doctors and nurses and governors and “public health” directors and teachers and scientists, and “leaders” of all stripes listened to and acted on directives by vested interests. They listened to the vested interests’ “siren song.” To the detriment of the entire world, but most especially, the United States. Not only did this cohort listen, they became “Sirens” themselves. Seems like the whole country did.
The Simple, But Not Easy
Let’s now discuss that which is simple, but not easy. What do I mean? I turn now to the example with which I started this essay — my experience as a bodybuilder. Everything about it was simple — really — but not easy.
Having been lifting for several years before deciding to test my mettle for show preparation, I knew virtually every exercise for every body part. Yet I was going to "take it up a notch." How hard would it be?
“Dig Deep, and Start Paying Your Dues.”
Those are the words of Stuart McRobert, acclaimed natural bodybuilder and author of the Brawn series of books. I bought his first book called simply, Brawn, soon after its 1991 publication. Fantastic, simple, to the point. Grossly oversimplifying McRobert: The squat, the bench, the deadlift. The End.
Kidding, of course, but only slightly. McRobert focused on these fundamentals as the foundation for building strength and size throughout the body. He warned of “misleading hype”2 around the new, the fancy, the glamorized. Stick with tried and true. Stick with the basics. Do the work with the "brutally hard" squat and deadlift that when done with proper form and the right weight (ever increasing) bring big, systemic gains. "With these two exercises you can come close to taking your own life with a barbell."3 No truer words.
Ironically, the squat, deadlift, and bench press are “simple” moves. For example, the squat is simply squat down, stand up, but it involves all the main muscle structures of the body, as well as complex physiological responses to the movement. The barbell bench — Down toward chest, back up. Simple, but hard. Contrast these to ballet’s complex grand adage movement — complicated and hard. Really complicated.)
So. Back to the show. How, at least, to avoid embarrassing myself; at best, to place. Can I at least place?? First time out?
I set about the work. The work that included a.m. cardio sessions in the wee hours before I commuted into Boston to work. The p.m. session in the gym that included another cardio session and weight training. Built around the squat, deadlift, and bench (press).
The work included preparing ahead of time my protein and starch for lunch. Packing an acceptable snack for the mid afternoon. The elimination of starches from midday on, a lean protein in the evening after training. And of course, no desserts and no “chippin’ and dippin’” for me.
Simple. Not easy.
My physique started changing — and damn, did I get strong! Deadlifting 165lb, benching 145lbs for reps, three sets of ten overhand pull-ups. Squatting 145 for reps. I kept getting leaner. People started noticing. On that topic, I actually had a guy approach me in the gym and ask if I still got my period. No lie. (I did. I kept my nutrient intake high and of high quality.)
One of the few women who lifted that I saw on a regular basis approached me. She wanted to know how she could make similar gains. She asked a lot of questions about what I was doing, my training schedule, diet, etc. I took the time to describe and answer her questions. To which she ultimately replied:
“Oh, I could never do that. It’s too hard.”
“Hard?”
Did my gym mate have a siren song playing in her head, perhaps? Schedule adjustments? Making your own lunch? Passing on the chips? Getting up early? Focused, sometimes “brutal,” weight sessions? Too hard…
“OK.” Hard. Hard, but simple. Not mysterious. Not complicated. No unlocking the enigmas of the galaxy here. Hard work. Some sacrifices. So what? What was the goal??
I walked away.
Sidebar: This reminds me. Referring back to what we heard from TheExperts™ and very many of our fellow citizens. Why, you selfish plebes, you’re not virologists, so just shut up, stay home, and do not question. You can’t possibly know what to do under these circumstances. What if I’d indulged in a similar canard back in 1996?
Well, geez, I’m not a physiologist. The squat is the most complex physiological movement that involves complex chemical, biological, hormonal, and physical functions so complex I could never understand them all. Add in how diet affects the complex endocrine system and fat loss — Oh! Do I need to be an endocrinologist, too?? Oh…geez, it’s all so complex. I can’t…do it. I’ll just stay home.
All of it a “siren song.” All of it. Conveniently bewitching. Reasonable-sounding justifications for avoiding, for believing TheExperts™, for undermining, for going off course…”It’s hard. It’s complex. It’s complicated. It’s nuanced…”
The Mast of Freedom
Returning to our Greek myth, its hero Odysseus must continue his journey home from Troy — a voyage that must take him past the Isle of the Sirens. Following a brief stay with Circe, a minor goddess and sorceress, he and his men set out, but not before receiving advice from Circe. She warns Odysseus of the danger to him and his men,
“…there is no homecoming (Bold/italics added) for the man who draws near them (the Sirens) unawares.”
There is no homecoming…for the man…unawares…
Odysseus learns that the Sirens’ temptations are not of a carnal nature per se, but of an intellectual one. The Sirens promise untold knowledge and the secrets of the future. This Odysseus finds particularly alluring, but he knows what’s at stake — the lives of his men. He accepts beeswax from Circe that she tells him to warm and stuff into the ears of his men — and his, too — so that the “Sirens’ Songs” will fall on deaf ears. Circe warns Odysseus that if he insists on hearing the songs, he must instruct his men to tie him to the mast. If he protests to be loosed, they must tie him ever harder.
Odysseus follows Circe’s advice — for his men. He decides that he must hear the Sirens’ Song for himself. As they approach, the men fill each other’s ears with the beeswax. Per their leader’s instructions, Odysseus has himself tied to the mast, ordering his men to keep him there in spite of any protest.
Odysseus hears the Sirens. Tempted, he thrashes against the ropes keeping him from throwing himself into the sea. His men, aware of the Sirens, but unable to hear, stay the course and keep their leader tied to the mast as instructed. Simple, but not easy. Despite the treacherous journey, they all survived with lives, pride, and cargo intact — and a helleva story of strength, courage, and resistance. Overcoming their fear, holding firm, Odysseus and his men brought an end to the Sirens, enabling safe passage for all those who came after.
What if the majority had instead recognized those early and ongoing Sirens’ Songs for the deceptive, dangerous, and destructive fictions they were?
What if the majority of Americans had tied themselves to their “ship’s” mast? The mast of freedom — even if they heard and believed our modern-day Sirens?
What if they had dug in and paid their dues on behalf of freedom? It asks only for its defense. Simple, but sometimes not easy, but so what? Holding it above all else — because what else is there?
Decades ago my mother warned about those who make things “complicated” or suggest that some things are just so mysterious that only our “betters” are suited for understanding them. Yeah…no. When it came to the basics of life — freedom, truth, integrity, honorable conduct — “There’s no mystery here, Kathleen. It’s all very simple.”
Simple, but not always easy, but what is the alternative? The last three years have shown us.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/covid-19-cold-flu-and-allergies-differences/art-20503981
McRobert, Stuart, “The Squat,” Brawn: Bodybuilding for the Drug-Free and Genetically Typical, CS Publishing, 1991, Page 100
Ibid.
"Decades ago my mother warned about those who make things “complicated” or suggest that some things are just so mysterious that only our “betters” are suited for understanding them."
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And now you know why they insist on making our elections super complicated.
Absolutely WONDERFUL read here! Thanks for these great analogies! You have a gift! Love the pic & your story about weight training. Not often do I save things to read twice but this is getting archived!