Laura Dodsworth > Quotes

“From the first night we were told to lock down I realised I was more frightened of authoritarianism than death, and more repulsed by manipulation than illness.”
― Laura Dodsworth, A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic

“Although lockdowns seem to be accepted by the government officials, the media, and therefore the wider public as orthodoxy, the shocking truth is that they are not orthodox. They were specifically not recommended in the UK or the WHO’s pandemic plans”
― Laura Dodsworth, A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic

“From roadside signs telling us to ‘Stay Alert’, the incessantly doom-laden media commentary, to masks literally keeping the fear in our face, we’ve become afraid of each other. Humans are now vectors of transmission, agents of disease. We have become afraid of our own judgement about how to manage the minutiae of our lives, from who to hug to whether to share a serving spoon. Apparently, we even need guidance about whether we can sit next to a friend on a bench. But perhaps we need to be more afraid of how easily manipulated we can be.”
― Laura Dodsworth, A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic

“The issue with desire is at the root of what it means to be human. There are major issues with how we understand desire within religion. I studied Buddhism. The one sticking point I had with it was a flight from desire, a denial of desire. That was probably my own mis-reading. But, if anything, Christianity is worse because it doesn’t flee from desire, it demonises desire. One thing which distinguishes us as human is desire and, if that constitutes being human, we need to pay more attention to desire.”
― Laura Dodsworth, Manhood: The Bare Reality

“You could call psychology ‘mind control’. That’s what we do… clearly we try and go about it in a positive way, but it has been used nefariously in the past. Psychology has been used for wicked ends.”
― Laura Dodsworth

“When young men and women were separated at church seminars, the men would be talked to about what to do and not do with their penises – you can’t masturbate and you can’t have sex before marriage. Young women were warned not to lead men astray by the way that they dressed. When I was growing up I didn’t realise how toxic this was for men and women. What it does to young men is make you assume that your penis is powerful and you mustn’t do the wrong thing with it. There is very little talk of what women might want – just don’t touch them because you might get them pregnant and get into trouble.”
― Laura Dodsworth, Manhood: The Bare Reality

“Effectively, nothing is so permanent as a temporary government measure.”
― Laura Dodsworth, A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic

“We destroyed other countries in the war on terror. This time we’re destroying our own.”
― Laura Dodsworth, A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic

“2017 study How the Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction, not Engaged Argument2 estimated that from 250,000 to two million Chinese people are hired by their government to post approximately 448 million ‘fake’ social media posts per year. These undercover pro-government commentators set out to be ordinary citizens as they steer conversations in the ‘correct direction’ for the Chinese Communist Party. They are referred to as the ‘50c army’ as they are reportedly paid 50c per post.”
― Laura Dodsworth, A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic

“I want to bring your passion to the fore so when you get home and go through your bathroom door, stand in front of the mirror, stare at your own face, smile and think about your place in this humdrum world, think about the universe through which you’re being hurled, realise your strengths, confidence and slightly selfish part, notice the swelling of the good bit of your heart, focus all your energy on the best bits of you and really understand that you can be SUPERYOU!”
― Laura Dodsworth, Manhood: The Bare Reality

“Would you go along with another lockdown for a run on the banks, an act of terror, or a food shortage? How about regular lockdowns to reduce CO2 emissions? How about every winter to reduce deaths from flu? Would our fear be deliberately elevated again to make us comply?”
― Laura Dodsworth, A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic

“The anonymous special scientific advisor also told me they warned at SPAD and senior civil service level that there would be severe consequences for excess deaths if the country locked down. ‘Lockdown was not the way to go,’ they said. ‘Bluntly, you should try and power through an epidemic. Lockdown was obviously going to tank the economy. We have never trained for a lockdown like this. You don’t do it for a coronavirus. I’ve been through all my papers. It’s just not something we do.”
― Laura Dodsworth, A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic

“There’s a feeling after a year of restrictions that people will do anything to ‘get back to normal’. But declaring your health status to use businesses and services has never been normal. The introduction of a health status ID to access products and services will cross a rubicon.”
― Laura Dodsworth, A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic

“The energy that rapes and pillages women, and the world, and doesn’t see the long term, is an unbalanced, penetrating, aggressive male energy. It’s out of control. Male energy is a source of amazing creativity, a drive to learn and understand, but in the modern world it’s led to reductive thinking and exploitation.”
― Laura Dodsworth, Manhood: The Bare Reality

“Lockdown itself is prison terminology. Only wrongdoers are locked down. At least in law you are innocent until proven guilty. In our biosecurity state we are assumed infectious until proven healthy.”
― Laura Dodsworth, A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic

“For every Covid death we would estimate another four deaths over two to five years, and that is how we plan body storage. You see extra deaths for domestic violence and obstetrics, delayed or missed oncology diagnosis, no admission to A&E, sepsis and suicide.”
― Laura Dodsworth, A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic

“Propaganda, as a heavy blunt instrument, had been used for centuries,”
― Laura Dodsworth, A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic