"It's only the flu" - Patria doubles down on COVID-19 dissent

As Patria Post rolls out a new stamp dedicated to Sheetala, the donkey-riding goddess who cures infectious diseases from smallpox to COVID-19, the All-Patria Football Federation will resume its season, with fans in the stands to boot. Patria has launched a campaign against the fear of a generally mild and even asymptomatic disease that is of no more threat than the seasonal flu for those who have a healthy immune system. Posters and broadcast ads across Patria proclaim "it's only the flu" - in Patrienish kevál estí grippí. Physical/social distancing is now only voluntary ("At ease. Hug if you wish.", to paraphrase the roll call sergeant) and virtually all businesses from yoga studios to barber shops have re-opened. Face masks are sometimes seen being worn on transit vehicles and indoor spaces, but the general message in Patria is that unless you are actually sick, caring for someone who is sick, or work in a hospital, there is no need to wear a mask.

Without formally announcing it, Patria is going for herd immunity and is clearly on the side of COVID-19 dissidents, who have been fighting almost from the get-go the authoritarian government over-reach, technological surveillance run amok and stamping out of civil liberties for the sake of the one percent (or less) of the population who are actually at risk of potentially fatal complications from COVID-19. Echoing the "I do not consent" speech delivered by the SRM last month, the National Union said on the floor of Congress that choosing not to buy into the fear-mongering is Patria's "sovereign right to choose". Following is the speech by the NU House Leader:

Madam Speaker, citizens of Patria do not and need not live in fear of COVID-19. As the national campaign says, “It’s only the flu” and we have a sovereign right to choose how we are to respond to the macro-national fear-mongers, the so-called experts and the other powers that be.

If you want to stay home, stay home. That's your sovereign right to choose.

If you want to wear a mask, wear a mask. That's your sovereign right to choose.

If you want to avoid large crowds, avoid large crowds. That's your sovereign right to choose.

I am not required to descend into poverty for YOU.

I am not required to abstain from human contact for YOU.

I refuse to participate in "quarantine life" until there's an unsafe, untested vaccine released in eighteen months, by which time we may be close to achieving herd immunity, making a vaccine virtually unnecessary.

I refuse to receive a vaccine to make others feel safer. That's my sovereign right to choose!

If you're convinced the vaccine is safe and effective, you can get it yourself.

Some of you are allowing fear and policies devoid of scientifically accurate data to destroy the country you live in and ruin your life.

Life is full of risks, whether the risk of being hit by a car while walking or the risk of exposure to bacteria and viruses, many of which spread before symptoms manifest and after they subside.

We have a sovereign right to receive OR refuse vaccines.

We have a sovereign right to trust our immune system to do its job and to strengthen it by actual exposure to germs and viruses.

The data was inaccurate at best; purposely overblown to justify government overreaction at worst.

Stop allowing the government to destroy the food supply, small businesses, medical autonomy, access to healthcare, mass gatherings, privacy rights, our mental health and our constitutionally guaranteed freedom.

When the "new normal" is filled with starvation, depression, suicide, child abuse, domestic violence, imprisonment, governmental spying, and pure DESPERATION, the "virus" is going to look preferable to the world you helped facilitate.

I'm going to turn this around on people from now on. Those that say I'm (or anyone that supports this) putting money over lives by wanting the country back open for business...

Hear this:

-YOU don't care about the people that will kill themselves out of hopelessness.

-YOU don't care about small businesses that will close their doors permanently.

-YOU don't care about the women and children that will be victims of domestic abuse.

-YOU don't care about people defaulting on their mortgages.

-YOU don't care about bills going unpaid by families with ZERO income right now.

-YOU don't care about people wondering where their next meal will come from.

-YOU don't care about the people that will lose their sobriety and slip back into alcoholism and drug abuse.

-YOU don't care about the people that will starve.

-YOU support the looting and rioting that has taken place, some of it motivated more by frustration stemming from the lockdown and mass unemployment than by police brutality or Black Lives Matter.

-YOU don't care about anyone that's murdered the longer this shut down goes on.

-YOU don't care about people's mental health.

-YOU don't care about the children that DO need teachers and educators to guide and educate them. Teach them online, you say. You particularly don’t care about the children from low-income families who can’t afford internet access or a home computer.

-YOU don't care about the economy crashing down around us.

-YOU DON'T CARE.

-YOU love your shackles.

-YOU are pathetic, begging your leaders for MORE shut down and MORE regulations and MORE handouts.

I will NOT tolerate another person telling me that I don't care about lives.

I care about the situation in its entirety.

But YOU don't care about any of that so...
YOU stay home.
YOU wear a mask.
YOU live in fear.

I on the other hand will not. As is my sovereign right to choose NOT TO!

Yes, you can hash-tag it! #sovereignrighttochoose