48 Comments
User's avatar
The flying pig's avatar

I’m from Northern Ireland and travel extensively with work. It’s the same everywhere......I’m sitting in a US airport right now waiting for an early morning flight and the majority of people masking are young and perfectly healthy, many of university age. It’s virtue signalling - look at us being good citizens. Meanwhile, the working class airport staff (sweeping generalisation I know!!) are just getting on with things as normal

Expand full comment
threadsirish's avatar

Virtue Signalling. The worst expression ever invented. It really is a case of being best in class and doing it for the greater good. Drives me around the bend.

Expand full comment
Richard Lyons's avatar

Didn't we used to say "lick-arse" at one time? Or is that now considered a little vulgar? 🤔😁

Expand full comment
Witzbold's avatar

Yes: virtue signalling, class identifier, group identifier, compliancy identifier, rule-follower identifier, obedience identifier,...

Expand full comment
John Hayes's avatar

A similar experience here in India. The middle class and expats all rushed to get jabbed multiple times and many continue to wear masks. However the working class in the cities, and most in the villages have either refused the jab or stopped at one. Unless of course they were forced to do so to keep their jobs.

Expand full comment
threadsirish's avatar

Seems to be the case globally John. The working class would seem to be the most clued in as to what’s going on.

Expand full comment
Neil's avatar

Yes I do think your observations are valid, try reading about bonhoeffer's theory of stupidity, the 'educated stupid' are the most dangerous in society in a mass formation scenario.

Expand full comment
Truth seeker's avatar

An interesting observation.

I can add to your hypothesis regarding income and education levels.

The specialty and trust I work in has roughly 115 consultants. I was the only one from that group who refused to take the mRNA injection. When the medical director asked for reasons it was like the logical part of his brain had completely deserted him and replaced by what the media / govt wanted him to think.

The others who refused (not a huge amount) were some nurses, porters and admin staff.

Most people I know who are educated and affluent took the injection and believe all the news about it.

Expand full comment
threadsirish's avatar

Many of my friends who I would consider very bright with excellent jobs lost all critical thinking over the last 2.5 years. All fell for the propaganda as well.

Expand full comment
John Hayes's avatar

Friends and family 😬

Expand full comment
Sunshine's avatar

I think it was perceived as a badge of higher intelligence and of course they had to have it. They will validate their stupid decisions for the rest of their lives.

Expand full comment
Fionnuala Murphy's avatar

Let me give you my story. BTW I read Gerry O'Neill's stats too with amusement but not complete shock. I flew to Malaga on 31st May last with Aerlingus. Very busy in Dublin Airport at about 4am. I wondered why they make you weigh your own case and get the stickers and Boarding Pass as I had already done the Boarding Pass at home. Then you have to go over to the operative anyway and he does mostly the same thing. I was glad to get that out of the way and relaxed a bit. Nobody wearing masks in the airport but while queueing at the boarding gate an announcement that we would have to wear a mask for duration of the flight. Most people fumbled in their pockets. I was getting more nervous as I neared the top of the queue. Finally my turn, was asked to put on my mask, I said I was exempt so he asked for my doctor letter, I said I hadn't it with me and I shouldn't have to show it. He persisted, I told him I'd had an antigen test and he could be sure I had no infection whatsoever and then I leaned in and said I'd put one on as I board the plane and ran past him. The cabin crew didn't seem to mind. A friendly passenger asked me if I needed one ha ha. I didn't wear one for the whole flight and nobody was wearing them in Malaga Airport

The return journey on 30th June was a different thing. Nobody wearing masks in Malaga Airport or at boarding gate. But as I went to board the plane the cabin crew said I'd have to put one on, I went through the rigmarole of being exempt over and over. She called the Supervisor and he said I'd have to wear it. Where's my letter etc etc over and over. Very stressful. For a fleeting moment I thought they might refuse me the flight even though my cases were in the hold. I fidgeted in my bag for a cloth nappy I thought I'd packed. He stood over me to check, he said, if it was medical grade. So embarrassing. Eventually he found a paper thing and asked me to put it on so I put it on under my nose and went to my place. Then I took it off and sat down. During the flight he announced several times that we had to wear it as the Spanish law was to wear a nappy on public transport, Insane really. He even said we could remove them for eating but as soon as possible to put them back on. Really control freak behaviour. I didn't wear one as I knew there was nothing they could do to me then. This man was working my side of the flight but I just put on my eye-mask and pretended to be asleep. This is really mental behaviour and I don't hold out much hope for the human race

I'm heading back on 1st Sept so will probably meet more nonsense then. I spent most of 2020 and 2021 in Spain and put up with curfews and silly outdoor mask laws etc. Often being challenged for wearing the mask under the nose etc. Even some people wearing a mask on the beach and I even witnessed one poor woman wearing one in the sea with a hat and sunglasses. God help us all

Expand full comment
threadsirish's avatar

This is interesting Fionnuala. A guy just tweeted out my article

https://twitter.com/BrianvLowe/status/1555196022418280449

asking if Aer Lingus required masks both outbound and inbound. They said you do. I’m pretty sure the rules changed around early July. Either the person responding to the question is incorrect or else the Aer Lingus staff decided to flout the rules. I’d be surprised if it’s the latter.

Expand full comment
pinpinponpon's avatar

My daughter goes to a posh private school. I noticed that only myself and another parent smoked out of 50 kids ( I have since then given up that filthy habit ). My theory is that the richer you are, the longer you want life to last. The longer you want life to last, the more scared you are of dying. The more scared you are of dying, the easier it is to be fear mongered. Etc etc

Expand full comment
threadsirish's avatar

I have witnessed that first hand from some elderly people I know. All boosted up to the eyeballs and very afraid of dying. They may have unwittingly put the final nail in their own coffin without even realising it thinking they were doing it for the “greater good”

Expand full comment
Sunshine's avatar

It's only a filthy habit when you no longer indulge in it.

Expand full comment
FreeFrench's avatar

Generally I find the more highly (formally) educated people are, the more compliant and the more likely they are to be Covid true believers. The current societal set-up has served them very well so they’ve no reason to challenge any part of it. I have both awake and unawake friends and family and the ones who are most skeptical of the government and institutions are generally less wealthy and less educated - but way smarter! They know they can’t rely on the government to take care of them!

Expand full comment
Richard O'Leary's avatar

There's nought stranger than folk as the saying goes. I can't add to what is a very well written and comprehensive piece of writing and agree the more affluent in society tend to be blindly obedient to nonsensical rules regarding mask wearing and volunteering like sheep for the experimental mRNA injections. The more materialistic obviously don't see the bigger picture and rule out the possibility in their narrow mindedness that life is really a pilgrimage to prepare our souls for eternity . Fear of death and sickness is understandable and I empathise with those who have genuine underlying health conditions or anxieties.

We are a nation of self serving public and civil servants who will willingly micromanage and police themselves and the rest of us who get swept along with their nonsensical rules and health and safety BS regulations.

Finally we have the medical profession and health service providers who are totally controlled and indoctrinated by the Pharmaceutical Industry who pay for all the nutty professors and lecturers to infiltrate their minds in college and training with the doctrine that everything outside their conventional medicine is quackery, superstition and must always be stamped out.

People will not question their doctors and the vast majority of doctors will not question the medical councils that are controlled by the Pharmaceutical industry and their on going experimental and commercial enterprises.

Expand full comment
threadsirish's avatar

Richard, you should write these articles instead of me. I can only aspire to being as eloquent in my use of prose. I especially like when you said

“life is really a pilgrimage to prepare our souls for eternity” 👍

Expand full comment
Richard O'Leary's avatar

Thank you for those kind words and for all your great work.

Expand full comment
cmpalmer75's avatar

One wonders how humanity managed to survive and thrive without the wonders of modern medicine. The vast majority of doctors diagnose a test result and throw a drug at it, preferably one still on patent with a special arrangement with the hospital or consultancy.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. Life is a journey of the soul in preparation for eternity. The people behind this awful mess believe this life is all there is. They are desperate, especially the older ones like Soros. I miss the good ole days when they would just have their disembodied head put in the deep freeze to be reanimated at some point in the far future.

The bugs will be eating Klaus long before we eat bugs. ;)

Expand full comment
Mel1956's avatar

Oh that made me laugh 😂 I saw the same a few weeks ago. On Flight out to Malaga Aer Lingus, masks required because Spain requires them on public transport!! That was the reason given. At the door entering the aircraft I was told to put a mask on. I did not have a mask.I said I would arrange something. So I sat down. It was morning. I ordered wine and two tea. Lined them up in front of me.drank the wine quickly and at the end of the flight handed the two full Teas back to the same girl who laboured the mask point. I drink slowly I said 😊. She knew. !!No mask required when eating or drinking. 80 % of the flight were masked. Including the crew. Return flight Aer Lingus no masks required as Ireland does not require masks on public transport…. Mad world. 80 % masked again.

Expand full comment
threadsirish's avatar

Great minds think alike 🤣 As I mentioned in my 1st post

“I had bought a large bottle of water and a big tin of Pringles to keep me going. After all, it’s hard to wear a mask when you are nibbling on a tin of Pringles and drinking gallons of water for a 2.5 hour flight 😉”

Expand full comment
AG Fairfield's avatar

Ah Dublin 4, I remember it well & am not the least surprised about its vaxx rate, same with progressive enclaves in the US and Canada.…speaking of, I give this post Bonus Points for the Trudeau blackface reference.

Expand full comment
threadsirish's avatar

Thanks for the Blackface bonus points 🤣

Expand full comment
Terry's avatar

The reason is because the middle class have followed all the rules all through life, done well in school where they are indoctorinated and figured out instinctively to not rock the boat and overall they have done well in life. So why would they suspect anything is wrong. They usually have that superior attitude of being right and being the good citizen too. Hence the virtue signalling. It is all about being in the right group and the media matrix shapes that.

As Chomsky has stated in his writings, the middle class are the most bought in and propagandized group. It is a hard fact for the middle class to swallow that they are the most thoroughly deceived because they do then to think they are ever so educated and bright and above any of that sort of manipulation because they are too clever for it. But alas not.

Expand full comment
threadsirish's avatar

Nail on head 👍

Expand full comment
Sunshine's avatar

Nailed it!

Expand full comment
The West's Awake's avatar

Enjoyed reading this and very interesting and probably valid observation on the Ryan-Air / Aer lingus socio economic points. Plus west of Ireland country people would never travel to Dublin for an Aer lingus Flight but they would for a cheap Ryan Air flight. If both were flying to the same destination. Thanks for the link to my substack too. Keep up the great work!

Expand full comment
threadsirish's avatar

Cheers Gerry. Interesting point about people from the West travelling for Ryanair and not Aer Lingus.

Probably the fact that the flight got into Dublin around 1.30am wouldn’t help either. The prospect of another 2 hours in the car or bus to get home would put people off as well.

Great job on your own Substack. You put a lot of work into it 👍

Expand full comment
The West's Awake's avatar

Could you give me a text on whatsapp or TG 085 1214347 when you have a chance ? I have something I want to run by you.

Expand full comment
Linda Lazarides's avatar

I think you've hit the nail on the head, it's something I've observed myself. Those who consider themselves educated and well-informed, dedicated newspaper readers and TV news watchers, tend to be middle class. My middle class friends want to do everything they can to be a good citizen. My manual worker friends and acquaintances, and young people, mostly don't know what all the fuss is about because they're not interested in current affairs and haven't been brainwashed.

Expand full comment
Sunshine's avatar

They want to be perceived as good citizens. Perceived as educated. It's all about image and superiority complexes..

Expand full comment
Richard Seager's avatar

I was reading this out to my wife and told her that I figured the reason was socio-economic. And then came back at the point I'd left your substack and these were the words that I was met with;

"Ryanair flights are generally cheaper than Aer Lingus. Could the socio-economic background of the people flying on those flights have anything to do with it ?"

So damned obvious. The story here in NZ in the last day or so is that the Government might have overestimated the % of Maori who have been vaccinated. Who cluster in the lower socio-economic groups. Only the rich die young.

Expand full comment
threadsirish's avatar

Fascinating point about the Maori. I remember writing a tweet about a year ago (before I was banned on Twitter) saying it would be interesting to see what the uptake amongst the Maori would be. The question stemmed back from my time in NZ in 1997 when I travelled the country extensively. Beautiful country as well.

Expand full comment
Richard Seager's avatar

It was an issue all along. The Government went out of its way to make sure that the 'benefits' of the jab went to Maori in the same percentages as to Pakeha. It seemed to be due to the 'green pass' they didn't want to be seen to be excluding Maori at higher rates than Pakeha from more or less everywhere. The 'green pass' ended here in April and government oriented to masks. Most people (finally) are not wearing masks now either.

Expand full comment
Truth seeker's avatar

There is a professor in Israel who said that it was more than a coincidence that these injections were given to whole Populations and the subsequent rise of monkey virus.

He was inferring that peoples natural immmunity was affected by the injection hence the rise of monkey virus.

The reaction: he was banned from Twitter.

The evidence shows that natural immunity is affected by the injection.

Take the injection and catch the virus? You won’t get natural immunity against it. Plenty of evidence to back that up.

Expand full comment
Zarrock's avatar

we had the opposite experience on the flight to Billund in Denmark. since there are no mask rules either way, only 3-4 people on each flight wore masks. everyone else was unmasked. Denmark was a similar experience (so was Dublin airport): no social distancing, very few masks, most people walking right past handwash dispensers, etc. All good but with a few mandates it could definitely turn quickly.

Expand full comment
threadsirish's avatar

Yes it could change rapidly indeed

Expand full comment