EVOLUTION
I usually don’t write an introduction to the Letter but today is a little different. I started writing this a couple of days ago when I was not in the best of spirits and was struggling whether I should or would publish this or not - I did have a back up Letter (which will have to wait). What came out of it in the end is something completely different from what was originally in my head, which is why the title is only relevant to a limited extent. But that's exactly why this newsletter is called Change & Evolve Letter! And I obviously decided to publish, even if it is a bit raw…
We think of ourselves as such incredibly sophisticated beings and believe we are so advanced in evolution and superior to other creatures.
However, what I have seen and experienced, especially in the past months and what I am still seeing all over makes me doubt this more and more (admittedly for other reasons as well). Maybe I'm too sensitive and delicate, but the way people treat one another, interact with one another makes me despair and makes me doubt the good in people and the supposed evolutionary development.
Strength through discipline
Strength through community
Strength through action
This was the Motto of the social experiment THE WAVE of a high school class in Palo Alto, California in April 1967. For those who don’t know the story, here is a short summary:
An experiment in an American High School where students learn how easy it is to be seduced by the same social forces which led to the horrors of Nazi Germany. Based on a true story.
To explain to his students the atmosphere in the 1930's Nazi Germany, history teacher Burt Ross initiates a daring experiment. He declares himself leader of a new movement, called 'The Wave'. Inspired, he proclaims ideas about Power, Discipline and Superiority. His students are strikingly willing to follow him. Soon the entire school is under the spell of 'The Wave'. Anyone who refuses to be a part of the Movement, faces threats or worse. Ross himself gets carried away by his own experiment. Or has it turned into something more than an experiment? A climax is unavoidable, resulting in a hard lesson for both Ross and his students...
The quality is appalling, but it’s well worth seeing.
Question what you do rather than blindly follow a leader. — Burt Ross
Stanford prison experiment conducted by Professor of Psychology, Philip Zimbardo, at Stanford University in 1971 is another interesting example of human nature.
Here also, for those unfamiliar with the experiment, a short summary:
The Stanford Prison Experiment is a famous psychology experiment that was designed to study the psychological impact of becoming a prison guard or prisoner.
Although it was originally intended to last for two weeks, in the event it was called off abruptly after just six days. Today, the Stanford Prison Experiment summary remains a controversial piece of psychological research, but despite criticism of the experiment, several modern military prison scandals have since illustrated the possible validity of some of the findings of Professor Zimbardo’s experiment.
The aim of Zimbardo’s experiment was to see how the participants would react when placed in an institutionalised prison environment. Of the seventy-five people who applied, twenty-four males considered to be 100% fit and healthy (emotionally, physically, and psychologically) were selected to participate.
Each of the participants was told that they would be going into a simulated prison environment for two weeks and that the roles of prisoner and guard would be assigned arbitrarily. Professor Zimbardo was to act as the Prison Warden and oversee the experiment.
“Prisoners” were to be confined to the makeshift prison for the duration of the experiment, but guards were allowed to work eight-hour shift patters in teams of three.
When not “working”, the guards were allowed to leave the site and resume their normal life. Wooden batons were given to the guards, although they were not supposed to be used to punish the prisoners. Prisoners were given ill-fitting garments, chains around their ankles, and assigned a number as part of a disorientation and depersonalisation process.
Prior to the experiment, the guards were told they were not allowed to physically punish the prisoners, but they could reinforce the sense of powerlessness prisoners would expect to feel in a real prison environment.
Watch here to find out more about this experiment.
Why am I showing you this?
Both experiments show how very simple it is, even in a very short period of time, to turn good people into savage beasts if you give them the right incentive, a sense of purpose and superiority that they would otherwise never have. You can bring people to do things and act in ways they themselves would never ever have believed possible.
And now please consider that we have been bombarded with the same narrative, that is becoming more destructive every day, for almost two years now. We have been induced with fear almost 24/7 and we have been isolated from our friends and families repeatedly. You do not have to be a psychologist to realise what this does with people.
The one sided narrative is frustrating beyond words. Open discussions are not possible as anyone doubting the general narrative is either ridiculed, attacked, condemned as a conspiracy theorist or worse. It has never been easier to obtain information and never more difficult to sift though what is right and what is not. But there is a lot of evidence, studies, scientific proofs, and statistics, etc. out there showing that most of not all of the strategies being used are not only wrong and nonsensical, but also extremely destructive and dangerous, especially for our children. The extent of the collateral damage that has been done is not yet foreseeable.
I cannot answer the question why all this easily available information is suppressed by politics and the media - they have their agenda and usually you just have to follow the money.
But I believe there are a few very important aspects that contribute to the fact that these nonsensical measures are even being more and more enhanced - without going into any deeper motives for the whole thing.
Politics cannot backpedal any more.
1. to admit that they were wrong and perhaps should have followed the example of Sweden or even some African countries would be an admission of total failure.
2. vaccines have already been ordered from pharmaceutical companies for years in advance and must be distributed to men, women and children.
The third dose increases immunity , so that we are protected after the fourth dose. Once 80% of the population has received the fifth dose, the restrictions can be relaxed because the virus will no longer spread thanks to the sixth dose. I am calm and believe that the seventh dose will solve our problems and there is no reason to be afraid of the eighth dose. The clinical phase II of the ninth dose confirms that the antibodies are stable after the tenth dose. The eleventh dose then guarantees that no new mutations will form, so there is no longer any reason to criticise the idea of a twelfth dose. — Anon
3. FOLLOW THE MONEY
So a scapegoat is being sought and it has been decided that it’s the unvaccinated! In the meantime, the unvaccinated are even being proclaimed as the sole culprits on public German television and the hatred against them is being further stirred up. Politicians in Germany are also talking non-stop about a pandemic of the unvaccinated in order to divert attention from their own failures - rather successfully I must unfortunately say.
The people who believe in what is being put in front of them without questioning any of it, are just as unable to backpedal as the politicians.
1. many believe, through constant propaganda and gaslighting, that they are really doing the right thing, that they are making a valuable, even humanitarian contribution by doing their part to end the pandemic. Many also give in to peer pressure and simply see no other way out than to cave in and go with the flow. But let's face it, many just wants to be left alone and justify their following of the narrative with pragmatism albeit it is mostly indifference.
„The real damage is done by those millions who want to "survive." The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don't want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes.“ — Sophie Scholl (1921-1943)
2. to suddenly admit to being in the wrong and to have participated silently or even approvingly in the injustice happening around them, this would not only mean a massive loss of face but also that they were among those who admired the emperor's new clothes instead of stating loudly that in fact he is naked. The shame would be too great to bear. So it is easier to simply stick to the current position and to defend it with all they have, no matter how absurd the measures may be or become.
3. It is easier to have a scapegoat that can be blamed - and the majority cannot possibly be wrong.
This incitement on the part of our politics and the media is a powder keg that will blow up in our faces at some point - and I fear (or hope) it won't be long now. But perhaps that is the goal. DIVIDE AND CONQUER! And everything happens in the name of solidarity....
Politicians and the state assume responsibility for the health of its citizens and thus a collective disenfranchisement takes place. Politicians tell us what we have to do to stay healthy and want to impose on us what medication we have to take - in future this may even be compulsory. Does anyone else find that concept completely absurd?
When I look at the official coverage of last weekends demonstrations in Austria for example, whose headlines are dominated by alleged violence, talk of right-wing radicals, irresponsible super spreaders, etc. I can only shake my head in wonder. I have watched many videos and they show a completely different picture. They show a picture of peaceful people - very many people protesting against the Corona policy of their country, because they no longer want to put up with the harassment, which is inhumane and unbearable.
It is simply disgusting how people are cornered with fear and threats. In Austria, there are threats of compulsory vaccination for ALL (which is presumably or hopefully unconstitutional) from 1. February 2022.
The German government removed a statement from January 2021 from their official website that there will be no compulsory vaccination, and more and more politicians are advocating compulsory vaccination after all - reminds me a lot of “George Orwells 1984”. It is becoming a fight of logic vs. illogic and illogic seems to have the upper hand. Politicians publicly call the unvaccinated terrorists and dangerous people, terms that are usually reserved for members of known terrorist groups. Here you can see how far stigmatisation has progressed and fear is gaining momentum.
What we are experiencing on a larger scale is, what I would call a rectification of the narrative. Just one example. We have a shortage of nursing staff in hospitals in Germany - and not just since the last two years. There is not a shortage of intensive care beds, but of staff to operate them. We have had this problem for many years, especially in the autumn and winter months, so nothing new here. Now the narrative is being adjusted to say that the shortage of nursing staff is because the they have all resigned in outrage at the unvaccinated because they no longer want to care for these reckless anti-vaccinators. Everything is done to distract from the hopeless failure of politics, and any means are justified - no matter how absurd.
I am emotional in this situation and I ask for your lenience. Personally, I couldn't care less whether someone is vaccinated or not - there are so many more interesting things to learn about a person. I simply cannot follow the illogic and contradictions and find the way people treat each other unbearable. Friends become enemies, families fall apart, justice becomes injustice and injustice suddenly becomes justice. What I am trying to say, perhaps not as eloquently as I would like, is that mutual blaming, incitement, anger and mutual condemnation of people does not lead us anywhere. It is not the people around us, it is those who should govern for us that we should question.
We are already being divided - let’s not be conquered!
"All things that one does against one's feelings and against one's inner knowledge,
for the sake of others,
are not good,
and must sooner or later be paid for dearly"
— Hermann Hesse
I would like to make it unmistakably clear that everything I write is based on my own experience, observations and research. I do not claim the truth for myself. I have not the slightest intention of contributing to segregation here. I do take the liberty of writing my conclusions here, as long as there is still the possibility to do so, which you do not have to share by any means. I am not pointing the finger or judging anyone - that is not my place. I would simply wish, and with all my heart,
a. that what happens around us every day is being questioned.
b. that kindness would return and people would be seen as such again and not judged and condemned according to their vaccination status - in both directions.
And now I would like to thank everyone who has read this far!
🎶My Song of the Week
I chose a song that I believe fits the spirit of the times and I love both Freddy Mercury and David Bowie who left us much too early…
📚My Poem of the Week
I chose this beautiful poem by Robert W. Service (1874-1958). Service was a British-Canadian poet, who penned this simple but generous-hearted poem about the importance of giving, compassion and kindness.
Compassion
A beggar in the street I saw,
Who held a hand like withered claw,
As cold as clay;
But as I had no silver groat
To give, I buttoned up my coat
And turned away.
And then I watched a working wife
Who bore the bitter load of life
With lagging limb;
A penny from her purse she took,
And with sweet pity in her look
Gave it to him.
Anon I spied a shabby dame
Who fed six sparrows as they came
In famished flight;
She was so poor and frail and old,
Yet crumbs of her last crust she doled
With pure delight.
Then sudden in my heart was born
For my sleek self a savage scorn,--
Urge to atone;
So when a starving cur I saw
I bandaged up its bleeding paw
And bought a bone.
For God knows it is good to give;
We may not have so long to live,
So if we can,
Let's do each day a kindly deed,
And stretch a hand to those in need,
Bird, beast or man.
👀Impressions
I could not resist when I saw this…
Wishing you a weekend full of kindness and love wherever you are.
Yours
Tanja 🤗
PS If there are subscribers left after today, I would like to let you know that I have been challenged by a reader and I have decided to accept the challenge - even if slightly modified.
In the coming Advent season, I simply want to spend more time with the beautiful things in life - it's at least worth a try. So don’t be surprised that you will receive an Advent Letter (it will be short, I promise) with a poem of the day and the song that I choose for that specific poem and an image of the day, every day starting December 1st. It will just be something light and beautiful - my Advent Calendar for you until December 25th 🎄🎅🏽, which I hope you will enjoy and will bring you some joy. And if you have a favourite poem you would like to see, just let me know!
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