The Pandora's box: Opened

Brownstone is battling on every front

In the Greek myth, Pandora’s Box was a gift from Zeus to Pandora. It contained all the evils and miseries of the world. Once opened, hell broke loose. Such was certainly opened in March 2020. We’ve lived with the consequences ever since. 

But three years later, we are seeing the unleashing of truth and hope to counteract that. This is why Brownstone Institute has been so wildly busy with publications, fellowships, events, books, and media appearances. 

The battle for the future has been engaged, and in the most strategic and tactile way. We are meeting the bad guys argument for argument on every font, including fully 20 social channels. And we are doing it with only a tiny staff and budget (we are not a normal nonprofit!), though an operation like this is a significant expense. 

That’s why we are so pleased for your support and don’t mind asking for it. It is making a huge difference. 

Here is some content since our last email:

A Threat Is Not an Incentive by Trevor Tucker. With Trudeau’s recent press conference in which he claimed to have never coerced people into compliance, we have entered a doublespeak world worse than anything the “fake news” and “truthiness” era of Trump could have imagined, where words neither signify anything permanent nor offer any real meaning on which the powerless can rely. 

Downton Abbey, the Corruption of the Great Families, and the Future of Freedom By Jeffrey Tucker. Where does this leave us? We only have the intelligent bourgeoisie – products of the middle class that is currently under assault – that is well-read, clear thinking, attached to alternative sources of news, and only now in our post-lockdown world has become aware of the existential nature of the struggle we face. And their rallying cry is the same which has inspired the freedom movements of the past: the rights of individuals and families over the hegemon. 

The Censors are Exposed: Major Update to Missouri v. Biden from Tracy Beanz by Aaron Kheriaty. The judge has done the right thing the entire time. The appeals court has done the right thing the entire time. The depositions were granted, the discovery was granted, the motion to dismiss was denied—the judge has expressed several times his shock at what the plaintiffs have exposed. The judge plays by the rules and both he and the appellate court are significantly alarmed by what has come out.

Kids Need the Opportunity to Take Risks, Learn from Mistakes, and Succeed on Their Own By Jennifer Sey. Is your kid a little weird? So what! Guess what, you’re probably weird too. We’re all a little weird. I definitely am. If your kid is quiet, has trouble making friends, hates sports, loves math, only eats 5 foods, is just a little different — no need to rush to diagnose, therapize and medicate. Are those things sometimes necessary? Sure. But the rush to label any minute difference or quirk, then medicate it into oblivion does not respect a child’s individuality.

The Vax-Gene Files: An Accidental Discovery By Julie Sladden. If McKernan’s findings are verified, the implications are serious. Widespread DNA contamination would bring into question the quality of the entire mRNA injection manufacturing process, safety systems, and regulatory oversight. In addition, DNA might not be the only contaminant.

How Lockdowns Bolstered an Industrial Cartel By Jeffrey Tucker. The introduction of digital commerce in the late 20th century threatened a new age of commercial freedom that came to a screeching halt with the lockdowns of 2020. In this sense, lockdowns were not “progressive” at all but profoundly conservative in the old-fashioned sense of the term. It was an establishment fighting to preserve and entrench its power. Perhaps that was the whole point all along. 

The Best Life Lesson for a Teen Is a Job by James Bovard. During the Covid debacle, kids were locked out of school or otherwise condemned to an inferior Zoom education for up to two years. What were the alternatives? Unfortunately, since the New Deal, the federal government has severely restricted teenagers’ opportunities for gainful employment. But new evidence proves that keeping kids out of work doesn’t keep them out of mental health trouble. 

Media Complicity in Policing the Opinion Corridor By Ramesh Thakur. Among the many startling aspects of the topsy-turvy world that we have lived through since early 2020 is the extent to which the media and social media, often with the active collusion and indeed under requests-cum-instructions from national governments and international organizations, denied space and voice in their columns, letter pages and online commentary to questioning and criticism of the official narrative. 

And Just Like That, Your Rights are Gone by Bobbie Anne Flower Cox. Here in the US, the “government creep” that happens into your life is gradual. It oozes its way into your liberties, at first slowly, as they inch their way in, bit by bit. Then you awaken one day, and suddenly your rights are gone. This is what I’ve been hearing and seeing happen for years now, but especially the past three+ years of the COVID19 mania.

The Biology of the Administrative State By Robert Malone. Using strategies found in nature to find analogies for complex political and cultural organizational strategies has merit. It opens up new ways of thinking about human society and social structures. So, can we use biology to predict how these organizations will react on the world stage in the future? 

The Dashed Dreams of Digital Learning By Josh Stevenson. The results we were promised from increased tech adoption, always available learning content, and a device for every child has turned out to be not much more than a successful marketing campaign. One where tech corporations cashed in, government overspent taxpayer money, and once again, the children were let down.

The Cosplay of Elite Pride  By Christopher S. Grenda. So many of our narratives contort public policy failures into a simulated pride for apocryphal success, incidentally acknowledging the imperfections in order to cover the bodies. From the initial days of the lockdowns, there were way too many people with paychecks talking. All the voices on all of our telescreens enjoyed uninterrupted direct deposit while aggressively advocating the closure of tens of thousands of small businesses – first to flatten the curve, then to slow the spread, then to await the vaccines.