Maggie's Farm

Mass panics are a known phenomenon. The general panic that took place in France between July 22 and August 6 1789 is known as The Great Fear. It was a period of rural unrest, driven by both a grain shortage and rumors of an aristocrats’ “famine plot” to starve the peasants. The exact reason for this panic is in dispute. Ergotism is a favorite reason for those with a certain sense of humor, but most historians consider it one of the primary causes of the French Revolution.

At some point, the bloom comes off this lock-down rose once people start to feel the real cost of listening to madmen. People will remember that the same folks who swore Boris and Natasha had used their mind control devise to install Trump in the White House are the many of the same people peddling this panic. Necessity will force a lot of people to stop going along with what they have suspected from the start is nothing more than a mass panic. Soon, this all comes to an end.

Like the Great Fear, the Great Madness will leave a mark, or at least it should leave a mark on our society. You never can be sure about these things, as the West seems to be unusually immune to learning from these events. Two centuries ago The Great Fear meant the end of the feudal order and eventually a revolution. It was not the sole cause of the revolution, maybe not the main cause. It was certainly an example of how the old order was no longer able to maintain order.

It’s been nearly a week since former Joe Biden staffer Tara Reade leveled disturbing accusations of sexual misconduct against the Democratic presidential frontrunner, and yet ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and CNN haven’t said a single word about them.

. . . Compare that to how those same networks raced to promote misconduct charges against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. A reminder: Kavanaugh was accused of assaulting Christine Blasey Ford at a high school party in 1982; she talked about the alleged incident publicly for the first time when Kavanaugh’s nomination was before the Senate. Kavanaugh completely denied the accusation.

But in the twelve days following the first reports of Ford’s claim, the ABC, CBS and NBC morning and evening news shows churned out 305 minutes of coverage. Only a scant amount of that airtime — less than five minutes — mentioned that none of the witnesses named by Ford would confirm her story.

Besides the broadcast networks, CNN and MSNBC dished out uncounted hours of coverage, all based on the premise that Ford was telling the truth and that Kavanaugh was a guilty liar.

“The NYPD, fire department, buildings department — everyone has been instructed that if they see worship services going on, they will go to the officials of that congregation, they’ll inform them they need to stop the services and disperse,” de Blasio said. “If that does not happen, they will take additional action up to the point of fines and potentially closing the building permanently.”