During the Black Plague, a lot of people blamed cats. While it is disputed that mass purges of cats, which did happen, actually caused or made the plague worse due to an explosion in the rat population, there is no doubt that the superstition that cats are linked to the Devil led to mass feline murder.

Killing cats off didn’t work, because the fleas that carried the plague resided mainly on rats. Which cats eat.

Superstitions about cats survive to this day, including the suspicion that black cats are somehow evil. Having lived with a black cat, I can confirm that.

Not really. The cat was very cute and cuddly.

As an example of how The Science™ works so well, it turns out that the UK government briefly considered a mass cull of pet cats as a COVID prevention measure.

No, I am not kidding. It really happened. The government discussed killing off pet cats to stop COVID. Nobody discussed destroying brooms and pointy hats, or the burning of witches, but perhaps that was next on the agenda.

Just enraging. And yes, it’s true that they never did it.

But the idea that scientists actually discussed the idea of telling everyone to murder their cats because of Covid is just . . . We need to talk about there being something VERY wrong in science. https://t.co/TAmfqZ2a4W

— Zac Bissonnette (@ZacBissonnette) March 1, 2023

The UK government considered whether it might have to ask people to exterminate all pet cats during the early days of the Covid pandemic, a former health minister said.

It was unclear whether domestic cats could transmit coronavirus, James Bethell said.

He told Channel 4 News: “What we shouldn’t forget is how little we understood about this disease. There was a moment we were very unclear about whether domestic pets could transmit the disease.

“In fact, there was an idea at one moment that we might have to ask the public to exterminate all the cats in Britain. Can you imagine what would have happened if we had wanted to do that?”

Since the UK government was considering a return to Medieval practices, perhaps they were considering the use of stocks, the rack, and the Iron Maiden as enforcement mechanisms for their policies. No word on those ideas…yet. There is lots more information waiting to come out, so stay tuned.

All sorts of revelations about the government’s policy discussions are coming out in the UK because a whistleblower has leaked a cache of WhatsApp messages that were sent between government officials during the pandemic.

They used WhatsApp, of course, to keep their deliberations out of the public record. Can’t have the public know how their government is (not) working. If the public had any idea how idiotic the discussions were they might lose faith in their leaders.

My first reaction as a cat person (and dog person) is that millions of Britons would have rebelled. My second is depression at the knowledge that millions of others would not only have complied but happily imposed their will on sane people. Mass delusion reigned.

The reasoning behind the considerations tells you all you need to know about The Science™ they were following: “What we shouldn’t forget is how little we understood about this disease.”

Oh. Ok. I guess that makes taking out a gun and shooting millions of cats OK.

Are we certain beyond doubt that blind people aren’t more likely to transmit the virus to others? Maybe we should kill them off too, just to be sure. Dogs? Rabbits?

No. They decided to kill off patients in nursing homes instead by sending COVID patients in to live with them. Or was that Cuomo? I can’t keep track of all the idiots and their Science™.

Shockingly, nobody suggested killing off all bats. At least that would have had the virtue of being tangentially related to the disease.

In this biomedical security state in which we live, don't get too attached to your pets. https://t.co/FUJ8dujV4M

— Jay Bhattacharya (@DrJBhattacharya) March 1, 2023

This is how hysterical people behave: as if they are in a Monty Python script. Only these delusional people had the power of modern governments behind them, and those powers are mighty indeed. If going back to Medieval practices is on the table, may I suggest drawing and quartering? Heads on pikes?

Every time you hear a government official or a simp who defends them make the claim that they made mistakes because they had to make it up as they went along, remind them: we have known about pandemics for millennia. We created protocols post-9/11 to deal with biological warfare. We shared those with our allies. They didn’t have to make it up as they went along.

They DECIDED to make it up as they went along. They weren’t forced to. Plenty of scientists knew better, and a few of them even had the guts to speak up.

There really is no excuse for the sheer idiocy we have endured, and no recompense for the immeasurable damage caused.

But every time you hear somebody make excuses for the mistakes they kept on making, remember: government health officials seriously discussed reverting to the most superstitious practices of the Middle Ages.

I am surprised that nobody suggested leeches.