Here is the relevant portion of the broadcast, paraphrased in some spots:
As 2020 slides into and probably infects 2021, try to take heart in one discomfiting fact: Things are most likely never going back to normal.
Normalcy has become an elusive prize. Perhaps it's nostalgia for the world of 2019, where daily life more resembled our past, when change was not so universally imposed upon us.
We are slowly learning if 2020's changes are permanent. If work will remain from home. If we will visit the grocery store less but spend more. If we will find masks to be just part of life. If contact and affection will become less common and interaction will occur mostly online.
2019 is long gone, and it's not coming back. Experts will tell you that's only bad if you can't come to terms with it. The danger comes from craving normalcy again.
"Those who pretend that normal is just around the corner are fooling themselves," said a distinguished expert. "People who suffer tragedies eventually return to their previous happiness level," he said. "But COVID-19 is different because we keep expecting it will end, so we delay permanent change."
The tendency to believe change is temporary and that the future will again resemble the past is called normalcy bias. People who don't adapt to change believe "normal" will return, and delay modifying their routines or outlook. Those who refuse to wear masks may be guilty of normalcy bias since they perceive this as a passing intrusion they don't need to embrace.
Maybe the future will eventually feel normal again, however different it is.
Essentially; "You ain't seen nothin' yet. Be prepared for whatever changes we decide necessary for society, including things previously only considered nightmares of conspiracy theorists. Anyone who has a problem with it will be dealt with."
After being told "it will take a few weeks to flatten the curve", and then "it may be several weeks but all restrictions and changes will be undone", and later on pressured to accept "the new normal", now we're being informed that normal is never coming back, and those who still dream of it are mentally ill?
From the opening line, "Take heart in one discomfiting fact: Things are most likely never going back to normal." Since discomfit means confuse and defeat, it's odd CNN is wishing that on the reader. As for the media announcing "things aren't going back to normal", is that reporting the news, or is that making an announcement to instill fear and mold public behaviour? I think any pretense that the mainstream media is there to inform us has been dropped.
This is some serious gaslighting, on a systemic scale. Truly disturbing signals from state media.
Craving stability and consistency in life is healthy and normal. You aren't crazy for wanting pandemic-related restrictions and societal changes to go away. You're not paranoid for noticing we were coerced into lockdown, economic shutdown, and restrictions on our lives with printed dollars and a promise it would be temporary. We should try to not overreact to the gaslighting. They're terrorizing us to keep us malleable and desperate, so we'll accept whatever "Great Reset" they have planned. Any system that works for the people will be based upon Liberty. Opportunities to advance Liberty will present themselves.
