It was all a lie
From the start, it was all a lie.
Some of us knew this all along. What better excuse for eroding freedoms and liberties than impose a world-wide epidemic of fear that left billions in terror, millions dead, and a select few (thousands) with the reigns of power and wealth unknown since the time of emperors of the past.
The US funded the research. The Chinese developed the virus. It was gain of function from the very start, but it was never real enough to justify the lies it took to cover the entire charade.
But the powers that be had to make it very real.
The virus was nothing new. It had a 98% survival rate. It could be tolerated if given time.
However, what they did was new.
Entirely new.
The virus became an immediate excuse for incompetent, illegal, and unconstitutional actions. The virus lead to mandates which lead to martial law, which leas to the fall of the Republic.
But even that was not enough.
The people had to be afraid.
So, fear became the real virus. They spread it. It came on thick like peanut butter. It festered in the shadows of ignorance. For the people who could think, they couldn't keep up with the changing science, the changing definitions, and the constant accusations.
The rest remained happily complacent and eagerly bought-off with stimulus check and free phones.
Some had to be sacrificed. Others had to be destroyed. The people must be kept in a perpetual lock-down. They must expect shortages. They must never question the science.
Above all, they must obey.
The US press, the 5th Column of government, ran cover as lap dogs must do. They could have told the truth. They might have exposed the liars. But the press sold out for their 30 pieces of silver so long ago they couldn't remember any other recourse. At some point, in the words of a former Secretary of State, "What difference does it make?"
"Never let a good crisis go to waste". "It all depends on what your definition of is is". The narrative was all important. The narrative was the law.
History, for those who read it or learn it, identifies those who participated in this high-stakes tournament.
Hitler played this game and was forever remembered by how easily he mastered it. Millions fell for his lies. Millions more fell from his bullets. As long as those who remained, remained in line, never looking past the hand that feeds them, all was good.
Until someone did look past that hand.
By Spring, trouble erupted in Tiawan. When the CCP came, the island fell quickly. The US government found a reason to stare into their hats while it all happened. But what did happen was the unleashing of a real virus, one that killed as indiscriminately as the first one was reportedly to have. Unlike the first one, this one moved fast to counter. Too fast for the CCP to react to stop it.
That is when the first nukes landed near Taipei.
Then the entire island.
The UN called this reaction as overreacting. A special report sits unopened, unread in a desk somewhere, verifying the veracity of that collective body and its failure to act when it was time to act.
But the damage was done. Taiwan was a scorched Hell hole never to be habitable again.
The press gleefully reported it as so.
But the press, also known as as spineless as the governing bodies they fail to scrutinize, decided to double down and ignore the spread of the retributive Taipei virus throughout China.
Twice in that final day, Taiwan became forever scorched Earth.
Within a month, with nearly 500 million infected and growing daily, China retaliated.
Korea fell in a week. Japan soon after. The next week, the Asian guns fell silent.
The 1949 Revolution finally ended. The Communists finally won their great pyrrhic victory at the cost all pyrrhic victories.
Ironically, the press wouldn't report even this singular fact.
Or any other.
It wasn't the fighting, but rather the spread of the virus that grew the death talley. By the end of the year, the world was doomed.
In retrospect, it could have all been prevented. With no where to go, even the rich and powerful fell to a forces they could not control. The press did report each of their deaths.
By this time, it could have all been a lie for all it mattered.
No one cared to listen.
Later, no one was there to listen.