They almost had me fooled up to about 2 weeks in. Then, the constant push, push, push, push, push was more than enough to prove to me that **something else** was happening here. (what it was, wasn’t exactly clear, at that time)
I was routinely dismissed with a wave of a hand by those closest to me. Some of which have never returned to normal.
I DID at that time liken it to the Mark of the Beast - the level of betrayal. Now I KNEW that it was definitely not the Mark of the Beast.
BUT, it was an excellent dry run. And still is.
A good description of how alot of us felt. Early on, I thought it was a prudent move to ‘flatten the curve’ and then get back to normal life. But people worked themselves up into a state, and the media pumped it for all it was worth. Then the politicians stepped in. Then the bureaucrats. Then it was open season, and society broke down as people freaked out and for some weird reason, decided to horde toilet paper (remember that?). Early on, I decided to get whatever vaccine they’d come up with. But then I learned what they were pushing, HARD, wasn’t a vaccine, per se, at all. I’d made an appointment for my ‘first’ shot, but canceled it the morning of after hearing reports of some nasty side effects. Then came the pressure, from ALL sides, and being ostracized by my entire family. Through it all, the only person who could have, but didn’t, come down on me was my MD. His view was that I should take it, but he was also one of the first to realize it wasn’t a sliver bullet, and told me so. “If you do get covid, and it ends up being a bad case, the odds of you dying from it are less than 1%”. I consider myself very lucky to have the Doctor I do.