“Life and death are just things/ That you do when you're bored/ Say, fear is a man's best friend”

John Cale

Perhaps it’s Halloween, but scaring people is suddenly all the rage. When U.S. president Donald Trump emerged from his own Covid-19 hiatus to declare "Be careful," but "don't let it dominate you”, an army of fear purveyors descended saying that his comments insult the 210,000 Americans who are reported dead from COVID-related conditions.

Funny, no one calls it insulting to the half-million people who die annually from cancer when a survivor says Don’t Fear Cancer, Fight it or Smear, Don’t Fear (cervical cancer) or the Toronto Star’s Don’t let fear of cancer stop you from fighting back .

But this is Donald Trump running for re-election, and any tool at hand is fine for discrediting him. (As if he can’t do it himself.) And, let’s face it, fear works. Fear is power. Fear is a guaranteed job.

In the fear pandemic sweeping the world, otherwise rational Canadians and Americans are so mortified of death that they’ve put their faith in sopping, ill-fitting, nasty-smelling masks to ward off the dread Covid-19. (UPDATE: a new study from the #CDC says that over 80 percent of people who got COVID-19 were either wearing a mask all or almost of all the time in the incubation period.)

The mania about morbidity is such that, while the Western world— outside of Sweden— is pumping out positive tests like croissant rolls, the actual number of deaths and ICUs has reached seasonal norms for flu and other contagious diseases. (7-day moving avg. Covid-19 deaths in Canada May 6: 176/ day; 7-day moving avg. Covid-19 deaths in Canada Oct. 12: 17/ day.)

But admitting that the worst is over would blow the game. And why waste such a great weapon? Covid-19 is the engine; fear is the fuel. Fear is power. In Canada fear phobia (phobophobia) has been raised to an art form since Dr. Theresa Tam (and her #WHO pals) flipped the narrative 180 degrees from “no big whoop” to “say goodbye to your loved ones”.

After first declaring masks and border closings pointless she then told Trudeau to shut it all down. Which, being a fear fan since his Diversity and Green campaigns, he did. Now, as numbers of deaths and ICUs fail to keep pace with the burgeoning positive-test industry, fears mongers have switched from “you’re about to die” to “the after-effects are deadly”. Trudeau and his minions picked that one up, too. Anything to keep the game going.

Fear was understandable in the pandemic’s first months. People trusted the authorities. But now much more is known of the virus and how to treat it. For Fear Fans that’s not enough, however.

Here’s Ontario Covid-19 czar Dr. David Williams trying to make good news about positive tests look bad. ”It looks like we're plateauing around that mid-low 700s, some blips up and down. That may be encouraging. Still early to see that are we in fact plateauing and levelling the curve.”

Dr. Williams, how many people are dying? Five died of Covid-19 effects in the entire country on Sunday. We're not doing this to protect the population from bad colds or really tough flu. We shut down society to keep people from dying. And far fewer Canadians are now dying. So move on from sensationalizing tests if they don’t reflect the reality of morbidity. [BTW: The WHO now says lockdowns are not the answer in stopping Covid-19. ]

Even today, journalists and citizens who should know better scold families for getting together for Thanksgiving dinner. Killers, they cry. Spreaders. “Listen to the people who’ve gotten it wrong from Day One!" It comes as a shock to these Church Ladies, but most people fully understand the risk and choose family and getting on with life ahead of missives from dart-throwing health poo-bahs. They understand some might die from Covid-19. Many more will also die in lockdowns. They know it’s time to get on with life.

National Post’s John Robson sums up the miffed taxpayer. “So we did as we were told and accomplished what we were meant to. Then we were told to stay in lockdown anyway because of a new crucial don’t-you-know-there’s-a-war-on goal. Namely to … uh … prevent a second wave?”

Why does fear work so well on people who have the highest educational standard in history? How do gullible middle-class Karens and Neils lose it over a disease that kills just three percent of its victims under the age of 60?

Vast swaths of the middle and upper class have lost faith in the redemption of an afterlife. While Christians have the comfort of God’s plan for them, modern liberals see only a secular religion they’ve built around themselves, one larded with empathy and Woke supremacy. While the religious can rely on their faith in a higher power to help them brave adversities like Covid, Wokesters count on impersonal government to protect them.

How’s that working? When all the Tony Faucis and Tams and Neil Fergusons fail them— as they have during Covid-19— the fear becomes palpable. Could they be on the wrong team? For people addicted to being with the cool crowd, nothing is worse than being left out.

The leap of faith that (however cynically) Trump cites is a balm to people of faith. To the secular it’s a trick, a hoax, a scam. Suspicion of God has been a progressive dog whistle for liberals like Bill Maher who float all alone in their rationalist universe. But claiming that organized religion and evangelists disqualify faith is like saying slick car salesman and bad mechanics disqualify cars. Still the nihilism gets traction in Hollywood.

Squeezing everything from today is paramount for secular beings. We must maximize our time on earth because darkness follows. If that means heading to the bunker or damning a neighbour for not wearing a mask then that’s the way it’s got to be.

For now, the Fear Merchants push Doomsday scenarios to petrified Boomers and their kids. As long as they’ve got that going they’ll never have to answer the toughest question: What’s your exit plan?

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). The best-selling author of Cap In Hand is also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, his next book Personal Account with Tony Comper will be available on BruceDowbigginBooks.ca this fall.

In Fear We Trust: What Is The Covid-19 Exit Strategy?