Nowadays it seems mich more difficult to br skeptical about anything than it used to be. I’m not referring to those in our various communities that have become our local conspiracy theorists, or even some of the serious , “scholarly types” that believe the moon landings in 1969 were faked, or that Oswald was not the lone gunman that killed JFK in 1963. No, i’m referring to everyday people, you and me that read or hear something thar purports to come from some authority, and for some reason, doesn’t immediately ring believeable.

Skeptics today, however, are in some venues, considered no better than conspiracists, people that are either unaware they are spreading malicious information, or people that just don’t care. Remember when this began? It was during the pandemic when the government was attempting to not only controlthe information, but who would be allowed to speak to the American people.

The government enlisted social platforms like Twitter, YouTube, andFacebook, to police the content being posted on their site, preventing, with all good intent of course, mis or disinformation being spread by those rhar might have nefarious intent. But what happened was the censoring of anyone tharhad a different view than the approved government narrative.

My skepticism began forming early in March of 2020 when it appeared the government could not come up with a coherent narrative concerning the Wuhan virus. Yes, the Wuhan virus because everyone already knew that city in China to be the origin. Bur for some reason, some of those representing the administration refused to acknowledge what was, to everyone, an inescapable fact. Next, those same voices seemed to press another fairy tale: that this virus was naturally occurring and made the jump from animal to human without any intervening action. Well, that was odd, said some, because just gown the road was the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where viruses just like COVID-19 were studied. Let’s play connect the dos, some said. No, no, no, replied those vainglorious academics being paid by the same government, There are no dots to connect and anyone claiming otherwise is spreading disinformation.

The final straw for me, when I became absolutely certain that all of us were being hoodwinked, was when the letter from more than 1100 “virologists and epidemiologists” was published just a couple of months later, guring yhe beginning of the nationwide riots, that it was okay for these mobs to roam, burn, and steal. The virus would no be a hazard toward social justice. Seriously.

But you, of the nondescript religious belief, you are forbidden by government edict (state) from holding any religious services, even outdoors in case your gathering became a super spreader. But you rioters… Oh! and Trump is a mass murderer for holding outdoor political rallies. But you rioters…

Since then, the Biden administration , realizing that yes, the government was able to exact control over a large population with deploying any armed forces, civilian (FBI, ATF, etc,) or military, could “weaponize those civilian agencies to control individual populations in the various states. Remember when the attorney General was going to have hundreds of FBI agents investigating parents at school board meetins because the parents wrongly believed their children were theirs and these same parents should have a say into any curricula. Well, we can’t have that now can we?

Instead of stamping out opposition, what happened is that a lot of people really “woke up” and realized that the mis/disinformation was coming at them, not from them and being skeptical was not a bad rhing at all. We couldn’t all be crazy, could we?So the government itself created another generation or two of skeptics based on their own lies and are discovering to their dismay, they have lost an immense amount of credibility with those same people that would normally have given support through thick and thin.

We skeptics are now not so maligned by our peers any longer. The acrimony we face and need to be aware of is that of our own government. we can only be watchers now, becoming hearalds as we have recently when called upon, Don’t forget to vote. We still have that, for now.