Dr. Julie Ponesse Delivers Remarkable Speech (about the COVID vaccine mandate) – “DO NOT GIVE UP YOUR RIGHTS!” | Eastern North Carolina Now

    In our world, politeness, getting by, and flying under the radar appear to be the goals. Gone are the 60's revolutionaries, the patriots of early America. We are the victims and the soldiers of a pandemic of compliance. But compliance is not a virtue; it isn't neutral and it certainly isn't harmless.

    When Hannah Arendt covered the trial of Adolph Eichmann (Nazi Party leader who was a major architect of the "Final Solution of the Jewish Problem") for the New Yorker in 1961, she expected to find a complex, arrogant, diabolical, perhaps psychotic, man. What she found was quite the opposite. She was struck by his very ordinariness. He was "terribly and terrifyingly normal," she wrote, "a man who was just 'following orders,' as he said over and over again."

    What she found was what she called "the banality of evil.... The thoughtless tendency of ordinary people to follow orders in order to conform without thinking for themselves."

    The dismissive well-rehearsed messaging of our public health officials has created a highly-efficient machine that does not publish its evidence or engage in debate, but only issues orders that we obligingly follow. With the help of the media, its mistakes are hidden, its policies unquestioned, and its dissenters silenced.

    How do we break this silence? How do we regain our sanity and rebuild our democracy?

    Perhaps its time to get a little bit noisy. Studies have proven that once an idea is adopted by just 10% of the population, that is the tipping point when ideas, opinions, and beliefs will be rapidly adopted by the rest. So, a vocal and noisy 10% is all it takes.


    Democracy, a word which comes from the Greek words demos, meaning "people" and kratos, meaning "rule" is the idea that the citizens of a country should take an active role in the government of their country. Democracy means, literally, "rule of the people." Democracy just doesn't allow for freedom of expression and inquiry; it requires it.

    The little secret that I promised you at the beginning of my remarks is this: You are not a bad person for demanding evidence. You are not a bad person for trusting your instincts, and you are not a bad person for wanting to think for yourself. In fact, the opposite is true. If you are worried about a loss of justice, if you are worried about what kind of lives will be available for our children, if you want your country back - the country that was once the envy of the world - then now is the time to act. There is no reason to wait. There is no luxury or excuse to wait. We need you now!

    Now is the time to call your politicians and write to our newspapers. Now is the time to protest. Now is the time to challenge and even disobey our governments.

    As Margaret Meade said: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

    In other words, you don't need a tribe of heroes, a mass of heroes, or a country of heroes. You need only one.

    You can do your part and you can make a difference. The Southwest pilots, the Canadian mounties, the university healthcare workers and nurses are all making a difference.


    And lastly, the favor I have to ask you - We need heroes now more than ever. Our democracy is asking for volunteers. Will you be a hero for our country? For our children? Will you be a part of the noisy 10% ??