"A Message to the World from Italians Under Coronavirus Lockdowns"

An example of the kind of propaganda used to sell a Scary Virus and make authoritarian power grabs seem necessary and fun

A video posted the day before the Bergamo, Italy death peak is a primo example of how Italians were used to convince the Western world that a dangerous coronavirus from China was spreading with lightning speed — and coming soon to their country.

Produced by an Al-Jazeera media company, "A Message to the World from Italians Under Coronavirus Lockdowns” features beautiful messengers speaking over upbeat music with voices & expressions free of anxiety or worry.¹

The March 18, 2020 tweet was aimed at a U.S. audience, saying the country was “approximately 9 days behind Italy in terms of COVID-19 progression.” (In other words: Get ready, America.)

Being propaganda, it’s no mistake the 1-minute ad showcases mostly younger people talking to their "10-days-ago” selves saying things like, “There are kids our age who are intubated and in intensive care” and “…this virus is faster than you think.”² Clearly an objective was to persuade viewers of all ages that that staying home, wearing masks, and taking the virus *seriously* were the right and necessary things to do.

The full script follows:

These Italians have a message for themselves from 10 days ago.³

• Hey Daniele-from-ten-days-ago…

• I’m speaking to you from the future.

• I’m sure you have heard about the coronavirus, and I’m also pretty sure that you’re underestimating it.

• You’re now working the deadly shifts at the hospital.

• There are kids our age who are intubated and in intensive care.

• A whole country stuck at home. You didn’t see that one coming, huh?

• We’ve seen worrisome videos from France and the United States of people not taking this thing seriously.

• “It’s just the flu…Wait, maybe it’s serious.” We took it lightly.

• You’ll realize that just being able to breathe the air in your own house is already something to be grateful for.

• I know China is far away, but this virus is faster than you think.

• You’re not the only person in this world.

• Stay home.

• And relax, because it will end soon.

It did not end soon and the Italian influence extended far beyond “fun” lockdown commercials.

As John DiGregorio illustrated well, the Scary Death Spikes in northern Italy and (subsequently) New York City that were used to justify authoritarian power grabs and convince doctors everywhere that a new cause of death was on the scene.

We can see now the synchronous curves in “hard-hit” Lombardy are entirely inconsistent with a spreading virus - and that New York probably involves fraud - but the damage is done and propaganda like this ⬇️ played no small part.

1. AJ+ also produced the Emmy-winning animated version of Craig Spencer’s disturbing & dramatic “day in the life” of a New York City ER doctor, “Can COVID be Stopped?” featuring Dr. Lena Wen, and many other pandemic propaganda videos.

2. The idea that a novel coronavirus was on the move and a posed a threat to younger and healthy individuals was simultaneously being promoted in the U.S. — most notably in the federal government’s “15 Days” proclamation on March 16, 2020, and via elevated New York City doctor voices.

3. “10 days” is similar to the “two weeks”/”wait two weeks” message in America and elsewhere - the idea being that we were all waiting for the traveling virus to strike.