One of my biggest struggles over the past twenty months or so has been coming to terms with the common man's bland acceptance of totalitarian absurdity during the birdemic.
Case in point, the recently implemented 2G+ birdemic rule in Austria. At some point during the birdemic, the Austrian government and many of the country's institutions implemented a discriminatory 3G, red light/green light QR-code pass system that was meant to bar untested unpecked individuals from nearly everything. Within this restrictive framework, an individual had to prove he was either pecked, recovered, or negative (by displaying the results of a recent, time-limited test) in order to attend a public performance or enter certain venues.
After Austria declared open war on the unpecked last month, the 3G model quickly began to shift to a 2G policy, which means only the pecked and the recovered who can prove their status via a digital code will be allowed certain "privileges". The unpecked, on the other hand, will be left out in the cold.
Well, that 2G policy is quickly transforming into a 2G+ policy for most venues, as outlined in a recent announcement by theaters in Vienna (code words added):
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
As you have probably already read in the media yesterday, the City of Vienna is planning to tighten the Birdemic measures again as of next week.
For events with 25 or more people, the »2G+« rule will apply. This means that even if you are - as is the case with well over 90% of our visitors every evening - fully pecked by a double peck, have already had your third booster peck or have been recovered you will also have to present a valid PCR test, no older than 48 hours, when attending one of our performances. The date of the test is valid, not the date of the result.
Unfortunately, we do not know exactly when these measures will come into effect. Should this happen at very short notice, we could therefore find ourselves in the situation of not being allowed to admit you in spite of a valid ticket and proof of 2G (»pecked-recovered«) in the evening.
There is nothing we can do about this other than ask you to keep an eye on further developments. Of course, we will inform you again as soon as any new details become known to us.
We deeply regret these circumstances, but we cannot influence them. We hope for your understanding.
Detailed information on the current birdemic measures can be found here.
Your team at the Vienna State Opera
I'll give you a minute to wrap your head around the overarching "logic" supporting these latest measures. Good luck!
Anyway, I found the "there is nothing we can do about this" and "we deeply regret these circumstances, but cannot influence them" lines to be quite revealing in terms of how the bland acceptance of totalitarian absurdity operates at the ground level.
It basically translates into something like this:
"We, the team at the Vienna State Opera, fully understand that all of this has become mind-numbing, cosmic-level bullshit, but we are too cowardly and too wedded to the System to feel any motivation to do anything about it.
Nonetheless, we also know that you, our cherished patrons, are likewise too cowardly and too wedded to the System to do anything besides blandly accept the continued implementation of this degrading, dehumanizing, absurd bullshit; hence, if we want the opera to be open at all, we'll all just have to suck it up, play along, and keep hoping for that return to normal we were promised so long ago."
Well, in addition to many other things, I have reached the conclusion that the bland acceptance of totalitarian absurdity equals the total surrender of all human dignity and self-respect.
I don't know how else to think about it at this point. The common man appears quite content to blandly accept anything and everything the totalitarians choose to dump on him.
And when I say anything and everything, I do mean anything and everything.
Case in point, the recently implemented 2G+ birdemic rule in Austria. At some point during the birdemic, the Austrian government and many of the country's institutions implemented a discriminatory 3G, red light/green light QR-code pass system that was meant to bar untested unpecked individuals from nearly everything. Within this restrictive framework, an individual had to prove he was either pecked, recovered, or negative (by displaying the results of a recent, time-limited test) in order to attend a public performance or enter certain venues.
After Austria declared open war on the unpecked last month, the 3G model quickly began to shift to a 2G policy, which means only the pecked and the recovered who can prove their status via a digital code will be allowed certain "privileges". The unpecked, on the other hand, will be left out in the cold.
Well, that 2G policy is quickly transforming into a 2G+ policy for most venues, as outlined in a recent announcement by theaters in Vienna (code words added):
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
As you have probably already read in the media yesterday, the City of Vienna is planning to tighten the Birdemic measures again as of next week.
For events with 25 or more people, the »2G+« rule will apply. This means that even if you are - as is the case with well over 90% of our visitors every evening - fully pecked by a double peck, have already had your third booster peck or have been recovered you will also have to present a valid PCR test, no older than 48 hours, when attending one of our performances. The date of the test is valid, not the date of the result.
Unfortunately, we do not know exactly when these measures will come into effect. Should this happen at very short notice, we could therefore find ourselves in the situation of not being allowed to admit you in spite of a valid ticket and proof of 2G (»pecked-recovered«) in the evening.
There is nothing we can do about this other than ask you to keep an eye on further developments. Of course, we will inform you again as soon as any new details become known to us.
We deeply regret these circumstances, but we cannot influence them. We hope for your understanding.
Detailed information on the current birdemic measures can be found here.
Your team at the Vienna State Opera
I'll give you a minute to wrap your head around the overarching "logic" supporting these latest measures. Good luck!
Anyway, I found the "there is nothing we can do about this" and "we deeply regret these circumstances, but cannot influence them" lines to be quite revealing in terms of how the bland acceptance of totalitarian absurdity operates at the ground level.
It basically translates into something like this:
"We, the team at the Vienna State Opera, fully understand that all of this has become mind-numbing, cosmic-level bullshit, but we are too cowardly and too wedded to the System to feel any motivation to do anything about it.
Nonetheless, we also know that you, our cherished patrons, are likewise too cowardly and too wedded to the System to do anything besides blandly accept the continued implementation of this degrading, dehumanizing, absurd bullshit; hence, if we want the opera to be open at all, we'll all just have to suck it up, play along, and keep hoping for that return to normal we were promised so long ago."
Well, in addition to many other things, I have reached the conclusion that the bland acceptance of totalitarian absurdity equals the total surrender of all human dignity and self-respect.
I don't know how else to think about it at this point. The common man appears quite content to blandly accept anything and everything the totalitarians choose to dump on him.
And when I say anything and everything, I do mean anything and everything.
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