Tuesday, February 8, 2022

The Sound of Psyops


Does it matter anymore how COVID came into our lives? Whether it was made in a lab as a medium of disruption, disorientation, etc., or that it grew inadvertently out of an animal butchering station, like HiV did at the dawn of the 20th century?

A wind (COVID) blows through the kitchen, scattering the saffron (our precious lives). Our first thought should not be to blame but to gather up as much of that saffron as we can. But maybe we've exhausted that first thought. Maybe we are rooted in the finger pointing stage, ecstatic in our outrage. Clearly some are beyond that.

I'm not sure anyone's idea of a populist revolt had it beginning with horn-blaring trucks -- almost all of them driven by white truckers -- taking hold of our nation's capitol. Not simply the presence of these trucks -- trucks that bring to mind Hannibal's elephants -- but the sounds their horns make.

Amazing what a whole lotta sound can do. In 1989 the U.S. Army used sound to drive out Manuel Noriega. And then there was the vuvuzela that made the 2010 World Cup in South Africa unwatchable (an example of how the abuse of one sense can limit another).

A couple days ago a class acton suit was filed by horn-weary Ottawa residents living in and around the downtown core against the City of Ottawa. In its defence, the City claimed it was powerless to do anything (hence the recent state of emergency). This is music to the ears of those eager to take down governments at all levels. Nothing like an admission of powerlessness to encourage those on the front lines -- and those working the gears behind them.



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