The Power to Refuse: Naomi Wolf’s The Bodies of Others

"I am beyond exasperated by those who stay in the shadows, agreeing with the risk-taking of others." — Dr. Naomi Wolf, The Bodies of Others

Back in one of my former lives I was a delivery guy in San Diego, California for DHL Airways. I worked part-time and had a reputation for being somewhat of a part-time activist, that is, an activist for the cause of working part-time.

When I first started working at DHL in 1986 I worked the morning shift usually from six to around noon. I thoroughly enjoyed that schedule. It gave me time to read, exercise and write in the afternoons and later, after I was married, to spend time with my wife and son.

But a few months into my 17 years as a delivery dude management started asking me to also work in the afternoons, something, they said, that was only temporary. After a couple of weeks my temporary 40+ hours per week looked like it might not end. Once it did, after another week or so, I vowed I would never do that again.

The next time they asked if I could work in the afternoon I said, “No.”

It’s a powerful word. It’s short, to the point and unambiguous. I said “no” quite a bit early on until my managers finally just stopped asking.

Dr. Naomi Wolf in her new book, The Bodies of Others: The New Authoritarians, Covid-19 and the War Against the Human, writes near the end:

Above all, in the face of the globalist-aligned elites’ overwhelming power, and the certainty that they will continue their vicious rearguard action, the [Canadian] truckers reaffirmed what is most vital: the power of the individual to refuse to submit.[emphasis mine]

This, along with Wolf’s assertion that,

What matters most is that enough people stand up and resist all at once.

are the most important points made in a great assessment of the last two years. If you’ve been closely following what’s been going on during the pandemic there is not a lot of new information, but you do get a bit of an insider’s look into the elites as Wolf has been rubbing shoulders with them for a long time.

However, if you have not been closely following the last two years this book will help you catch up and, if you’re on the fence about the vaccines or think everyone should get them, give you a chance to experience cognitive dissonance. You will learn, as Dr. Wolf did, that the vaccines are not “safe and effective”, that the government has lied to us, that very evil forces are at work and that “there is no room left to equivocate; there is no room left to moon about in the middle. At this point there is no middle.” We’re not in Kansas anymore.

Wolf’s frankness and self-honesty is refreshing to see in a writer of her magnitude. The book is also, almost as an aside, the story of her political journey over the last two years from a progressive to someone who lauded the likes of Steve Bannon. Some time back I was both surprised and pleased to see these words from Dr. Wolf on her Gettr account:

Like many NYT and MSM readers I was fooled by this now-apparently-discredited set of Russia collusion allegations against President Trump, a huge factor in my aversion, and I am now publicly saying I am sorry.

That’s impressive. Really impressive. I suspect she lost a few friends over that one. Some of her friends also abandoned and dismissed her for speaking out against the COVID shots, for having an opinion that went against the MSM narrative. Most likely she’ll lose more friends because of this book.

Dr. Wolf ends her book with this:

“Dad, Mom, Grandma, Grandpa,” they will ask. “What did you do?” [during the pandemic]

So let me leave you with this question.

What did you do?

That is the crucial question. We are all needed in this battle no matter how small our contribution. It may simply be when asked to comply with mask mandates, booster shots or anything else our tyrannical governments throw at us to reply with one, simple, powerful two-letter word:

“No.”