#FauciSyndrome is Real

Fauci Syndrome: The addiction to fame and relevance experienced by government bureaucrats caused by the public perception that they uniquely hold the answers to life and death.

Anyone with a shred of dignity and an ounce of common sense has long ago stopped listening to Anthony Fauci. The man has taken virtually every conceivable position on the epidemiological issue of our day, and yet somehow he continues to shamelessly show up on TV every few days to issue a new pronouncement contradicting everything he has said previously. His statements were never science. They were always dogma.

In no other profession could a so-called expert publicly contradict themselves dozens of times and still hold onto their job, much less be hailed as a hero and national treasure. Yet Anthony Fauci has managed to do just this. Millions of Americans have become so indoctrinated into the COVID Cult of Fear that they can’t separate what government officials say from reality, and rationalize the government’s embarrassing incompetence under the claim that “science changes,” or “they’re still figuring it out.” American society continues to suffer.

While it is tempting to chalk up Fauci’s mind-blowing inconsistency to sheer incompetence, there is another factor that is far more powerful at play. We see it every time a government bureaucrat holds a press conference. We see it every time we scroll through social media. And we’ve seen it for well over a year from state governors and government health “experts.” They are addicted to relevance and the power over the lives of others that this relevance brings. This is #faucisyndrome, where entrenched government bureaucrats become addicted to public relevance and are unwilling to return to their pre-emergency irrelevance. To keep the public adulation flowing, they will say anything necessary to keep the public fearful, confused, and (more importantly) hanging on their every word.

While a job as a government bureaucrat provides a relatively risk-free and benefits-laden existence, 2020’s unprecedented government response to COVID fear brought these people new levels of societal respect, authority, and power over the lives of their fellow citizens. We were willing to hang on to their every word and hand them extraordinary authority over our most basic decisions on the promise that they knew better how to ensure our safety. And Fauci was the gold standard – maintaining his relevance with his latest God-like proclamation concerning the “pandemic” with a 99.96% survival rate. He could say anything as long as he said something, and so he continued to remind us how much we needed him with his endless stream of confusion and contradiction. The disease of the panic needed the cure of the all-knowing bureaucrat, and Fauci (along with every governor and small-time government health expert) became addicted to providing that cure – and receiving the adulation of the fearful public in doing so. They are still addicted, and their drug is our lack of freedom.

The pushers in the media, similarly encouraging the dependency of a scared public, breathlessly echoed every doomsday proclamation coming from those with Fauci Syndrome. They knew that a scared and confused public is a desperately loyal audience. In contrast, they knew that a fearless and self-reliant public would find no need for them in the same way we would have no need for the government-sponsored fear-mongering of Fauci and his ilk.

Understanding Fauci Syndrome is essential to explaining why these people continue to not let us return to our pre-coronavirus freedoms. Their relevance depends on it. Their addiction depends on it. Much like the crack addict refuses to give up their pipe, we will have no choice but to take the power away from them. If we wait for them to give it up willingly, it will never happen. Stop listening to them and stop doing what they say – it’s that simple.