I have to agree with John and Nisha Whitehead's assessment that, beginning with the 9/11 terrorist attacks, those in power have learned to use make use of various crises to advance a dark agenda.
The US Government found that focusing a vast amount of public attention on the 9/11 attacks was very useful to distract Americans from problems more intrinsic to North American society.
The Government also found they could use moral outrage to suppress inconvenient truths. Anyone who mentioned that those terrorist attacks were direct blowback from decades of American meddling in the affairs of other nations, or that Osama Bin Laden had long been America's terrorist-for-hire in Afghanistan, those people were 'supporters of terrorism,' or they were ‘dishonouring the memory of those brave firefighters who died in the twin towers.’
Finally, the 9/11 attacks were a great justification for government to 'temporarily' take away various rights and freedoms, to militarize the police, and to vastly increase military expenditures.
I think governments in Canada and the United States recognized similar opportunities in the COVID pandemic. Again, a great distraction from more fundamental social and economic problems, a way for governments to exert narrative control by suppressing or demonizing alternative viewpoints, and another 'emergency' that could be used to justify massive government overreach.
Now the war in Ukraine is yet another 24/7 distraction from North America’s problems. Anyone who points out the obvious fact that sanctions are damaging Europe far more than Russia is dismissed as a Kremlin stooge. The 'emergency' is used to justify the theft of Russia's foreign exchange reserves. And anyone not willing to fight to the last Ukrainian must be subjected to sanctions.
Do you notice a pattern here?
Distraction is essential in a society where the gap between rich and poor has been growing inexorably. Oxfam tells us that the world's 2,153 billionaires now have more wealth between them than the poorest 60% of the world's population: 4.6 billion people. That huge gap between the uber-rich and everyone else is increasingly reminiscent of the feudalism of the Middle Ages.
As troubling as the obscene opulence of the billionaires is, even more worrisome is the immense political power they exert.
It is increasingly apparent to me that we can have democracies of the people, by the people, for the people — OR — we can have billionaires - but we can't have both.
It is also increasingly obvious that we can have a vibrant free press full of vigorous public debate — OR — we can have billionaires - but, again, we can't have both.
That is the single most important issue that we as a society must address if we are to leave our children with a future worth living in.
I think we can assume that we will see a steady stream of crises in the months and years ahead - pandemics, wars, climate change, energy shortages, MAGA Republicans, you name it.
Those crises will not be without some basis in reality - the war in Ukraine is certainly a huge crisis for every Ukrainian.
But the real purpose of those various crises will be:
a) to distract you from the increasing economic disparities,
b) to suppress information not convenient to those in power, and
c) to justify 'temporarily' taking away more and more of your rights and freedoms.
Remember that as the next crisis du jour unfolds.