Is popularized media coverage of Covid-19 lab leak theory a diversion?

An impertinent inquiry as to why They so enthusiastically are pointing the finger at the Wuhan lab.

Revised: 03-11-2023

Like many others, since 2020 I’ve watched the unfolding media coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic with mostly skepticism. One of many very odd aspects of the coverage was the shifting narrative about the virus’s origins. Most of what follows is from my memory, so details may be imperfect, but I think I have the general trends correct.

In 2020 once the virus became common knowledge, there began and continued the “conspiracy theory” that the virus was of artificial origin. This, of course, was vehemently denied in official media, to include articles published in respected journals. By 2021, due to FOIA documents released to investigators, we now know that the infamous Dr. Fauci at NIH and many other actors were communicating early on (ca. Feb. 2020) that the virus was probably artificial and how to manage damage control. I infer that Fauci et al. strong-armed researchers to remain mum and only promote approved narratives.

Despite the media's denials, in early 2020 then-President Trump and his advisor Pompeo both stated publicly they believed in a lab origin. A similar statement appeared on a State Dept. web site in early 2021, possibly a remnant of the outgoing Trump administration. But these, to my admittedly summary memory, were about the only appearances of the "lab hypothesis" in major media at that time.

Come mid 2021, however, the lab hypothesis began to appear, faintly, in more mainstream media. I'll skip over the details, but cite some media that the interested can peruse if they're curious in the history of this curious affair.

Even as early as 2021, I began to think it odd, this narrative shift from claiming a natural origin, to countenancing a possible artificial origin. Remember, this was during the first months of the roll-out of the mRNA "vaccines," unprecedented propaganda promoting their use, the mandates, and so forth. Why I asked, the shift in narrative? What was the goal?

By 2022 there were several "official" announcements seeming to support the lab hypothesis. In my opinion, the most important was Jeffrey Sachs, former chair of the Lancet committee that was to have investigated the virus origins. Sachs publicly complained that he'd been sabotaged by the very members of his team, most of whom had ties to the very agencies that would have been investigated, and that he'd been stonewalled at every attempt to gather information. At the time, I thought that Sachs a man with a long resume of Deep State associations, was sounding and acting precisely as a stooge, a paid actor, would.

Now here we are two months into 2023. In just a span of a few weeks, we've had closely spaced major announcements, most recently from the Department of Energy and the FBI. These last two are not known for their investigations of international pandemic events. Here's what's crucial: a skeptic should be asking himself "Why the first gradual, then lately, very sudden emphasis on the lab hypothesis? What, precisely, is driving the change?"

Major point: to my knowledge, not a single one of these “classified reports” or “disclosures” have provided information (note I did not say “facts”) that was not publicly available mid-2020.

I can only offer very hazy conjectures:

The mRNA jabs have been in use for well over two years now. The public's awareness of their inefficiency and harms is mounting. Many former advocates both in and out of government have backpedaled their support of the jabs as well as other authoritarian measures early in the pandemic. Public opinion and consequently the official narrative seems to be undergoing a sea change.

Of course I can't possibly know if there are deliberate motives to change the message. Maybe, maybe not. I'm only throwing out wild-ass guesses here. One very plausible explanation is that slowly dawning realization that rushing an experimental "vaccine" and especially, the heavy handed mandating of it as well as other restrictions of civil liberties were all very bad policy and now they're attempting to distance themselves from the repercussions.

But what if there are other, and potentially far more sinister explanations? Here are just a handful of possibilities. Perhaps there are more.

(1) SARS-CoV-2 (the virus causing Covid-19) is indeed of artificial origin, but it did not originate at the Wuhan lab. Other labs were known to work with similar viruses. Some of that research is published, other is probably secret military labs.

(2) The virus was deliberately released. This of course is the most disturbing possibility. And, in my opinion, it seems less likely than a lab goof. But when one examines the many shadowy individuals and "deep state" entities that gained power and money from the pandemic as well as the structures and laws that were in place before the pandemic, a paranoid could easily envision a rogue group or even a demented individual deliberately releasing a virus.

(3) Variation of 2: A deliberate bio-warfare attack upon China, presumably by a rogue group from the United States. This family of theories is widely discussed at unz.com. (Disclaimer: Many writers at Unz cover very controversial topics that some readers may find objectionable.) For years it's hosted many different theories surrounding Covid-19, to include the bio-warfare angle, which even most alternative sites won’t touch. Here's a link to one such:

https://www.unz.com/runz/why-the-lab-leak-theory-is-almost-certainly-false/

(4) U.S. Propaganda to manipulate domestic opinion to be hostile towards China. This opinion is raised in a RT (Russian media) editorial, the first place I've seen such issues broached. Obviously, anything coming from Russia should be assumed to be propaganda. Even so, the charge that recent lab hypothesis disclosures are propaganda too seems entirely valid. To boost U.S. support for sanctions against China seems a valid motive.

https://www.rt.com/news/572260-covid19-pandemic-lab-leak/

Anyway, I'm making no claims as to which view is accurate. I have no dog in the race. Even so I tend to root for the conspiracy theory guys. But it sure seems like the major media, and career famous people are going to very great pains to basically say "Look here! We are admitting the virus may have come from the Wuhan lab! No need to look anywhere else."

March 11 developments — still in play

In just the past week, both houses of Congress passed a measure that would declassify everything that intelligence agencies know about the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19. It’s not yet known whether President Biden will sign it. In the meantime, allow me to blow the bellows of oxygen onto the conspriacist coals: IF my paranoid thesis is right, that all te hoopla “admitting” a lab origin is really a diversion, wouldn’t a very strong endorsement of a possible cover-up be that the entire Congress is “doing the right thing” and demanding the government hang out its dirty laundry? Do your realize how exceptionally rare it is for the entire Congress to unanimously support a measure??? If it’s all an act, then Congress gets to look the hero, while the spooks can “declassify” whatever story they wish. Note, I am by no means claiming that 500+ legislators are all knowingly part of some dark conspriacy. I am worried that what by many lights seems a righteous demand for the truth might just might, be a masterful subterfuge, leaving the real truth undiscussed and unexamined.

Here’s a link to this news:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/03/10/joe-biden-forced-declassify-intelligence-covid-19-origins/

I sure don't know where the truth lies, but for damned sure you aren't going to read it in the Washington Post, the New York Times, nor will you see it on CNN nor hear it on NPR.