Tales of Feeding the Family

Through a Gain of Function lens

• “I work on Gain of Function Research. I am a little worried that I am helping create bioweapons, but usually I don’t bother thinking about it. I have a family to feed. Of course, they are not starving, but I also have a mortgage to pay. Of course, it’s more than we need, but I really like having a big garden. Better that my managers think about the wider implications, I’ll just do as i’m asked.”

• “I setup research and development contracts. I know where the money comes from - it comes from the Military Industrial Complex, thinktanks representing powercrazed lunatics, and from venture capital, who would not ask more than once why we are not flouting rules when it is profitable to do so. That’s reality. I’d change the world if I could, but I have a family to feed.”

• “I run a multinational billion dollar enterprise. Do you think I give a thought to the poor or the next generation? Humans are forever split into haves and have-nots. I have, and all you can do is cry about it. I have a family to feed, and I intend to ensure they are fed very well.”

• “I regulate the space of medical research. I expressly forbid Gain of Function Research. They are doing it anyway, but I’ve done my part. I’ve got a family to feed.”

• “I report on the medical research field. I constantly write articles which are blocked or rewritten by my editor. I don’t push back about this, I need this job, I’ve got a family to feed.”

• “I edit a medical research journal. I profited for 20 years from what I knew was a corrupt system, then when I was done, I blew the whistle. I was censored and vilified after that, which makes me think the only thing I did wrong was challenge the status quo. I should have just fed my family and left it to my predecessor to sort out.”

• “I’m a fact checker. I get paid to construct arguments against misinformation, then write articles about that. I deliberately make lies by omission or outright false statements and am never punished or held accountable. Money talks in this world, and the only language I care about is feeding my family.”

• “I’m just a plumber trying to feed my family. I am vaguely aware that there are some conflicting views around Covid, or even the 9-11 attacks, but as far as i’m aware there is mostly global consensus on these things. Why would I need to spend time learning more? That’s for the experts to do and I’ll just have to trust them.”

• “As a mother, it was especially troubling when my daughter got caught up with all those Covid conspiracies. She just couldn’t see that there was a real virus, and we all had to do our part. My job is now just to keep feeding and clothing and loving her, and just hope that she grows out of it.”

• “A lot of my nursing colleagues got fired for not taking the jab. I mean, the thing saved millions of lives, so it was pretty necessary to enforce taking it. I sort of cannot believe they chose themselves over feeding their family. I try to be understanding, but I cannot really see how they don’t deserve even more than just being fired.”

• “None of us agreed that the mandates were right, but the way our friend kept talking about it was just plain rude. I mean, it just wasn’t that important to most of us. We were busy trying to keep our family fed and deal with lockdowns.”

• “I pleaded with the protesters to just see reason. We were just trying to feed our families, and only a few young hothead officers really had any spite in them. The rest of us just wanted to feed our families. Couldn’t they see that it was best for everyone that they just go home, and not force us to do what we did? I mean, sure, some of them couldn’t feed their families anymore, but they could have just got another job. I guess that applies to me also, but policing is all I know, you know?”

• “Covid was a difficult time for all of us. The covid response made some tough choices with limited information. We are confident that forcing a genetic bioweapon on the population was only ever about health, and that no further inquiry is necessary. Let’s not forget that politicians are loving family members, trying to do what is best for our kids as well. We truly only ever wanted what was best for your health.”

• “What even is Gain of Function? How would the media profit from it if it was done in China? None of what you say makes sense, and they would have put it on the news. Sounds like you just want to play the victim. Why don’t you go do some honest work for a change, feed your family and let me do the same?”

• “I guess Covid was just the wake-up call to a range of other selfishness. Divorce is never easy, but that realisation made it a bit easier. It’s hard to think of anything more self-centered, really: She chose to quit her job rather than help me feed the family. We have three kids, man. My friends all agree i’m better off without that crazy energy in my life. I have integrity, the least I can do is expect the same in my partner.”

• “As a doctor, I resent having to work so hard to save lives. As far as i’m concerned, these misinformation bills cannot come fast enough. I still get parents who challenge me on settled science like the childhood or Covid vaccines. It’s like they are fighting me so their kid gets Polio. One of them asked me to sign a waiver, but they just don’t understand how the medical insurance system works. I could never sign something like that, I have a family to feed.”

• “This research is a real opportunity to shape the future. It’s not just about feeding our family, it is about creating a new narrative which addresses issues like overpopulation, or sustainability and creates the stable Public-Private Partnerships needed to address them in the coming decades. Let’s ensure we keep the messaging consistent that any resistance to such obviously benevolent endeavors is the real fascism.”

• “There is much good in the world, yet it also includes the banality of evil. It includes people and systems who would look away and deflect responsibility up and down the chain so that the largest crimes against humanity go mostly ignored. To most, the threats we all face are someone else’s problem. This makes them your own responsibility and yours alone. It matters not whether you have a solution. The question you are asking is - will you let the absence of a clear solution prevent you from even trying? You want trust and certainty and understanding and honesty and humanity from a world which offers you none, then some, then none again - will you focus on your wants or your reality? That is the White Pill, the ultimate awakening, the understanding of the true costs of feeding your family with values in tact. You think there is a choice to pay the cost or to pass it on? Pass it to government, to experts, to those you have ‘othered’ if you wish. Did they pay it? Of course not. There is no choice. Nothing is more empowering than such a realisation.”