5 Years of Covid: Finger-Pointing in Austria's Parliament and Legacy Media
Part one of a three-part mini-series on commemorative legacy media pieces showing off how far gone, mentally and from reality, most politicos™, journos™, and experts™ are these days
These days, it’s become quite fashionable to commemorate™ the fifth anniversary of the first-ever country-wide ‘lockdown’ (a prison term) in peacetime, which also gives away what doing so was: the imposition of martial law absent any such state of affairs. I’ve written about this before, and I’ll continue to do so, if only these pieces must be preserved for posterity:
As another towering and enduring testament to the utter depravity of those who ‘acted’ to ‘keep everyone safe’, I shall offer a three-part series this week.
First, the Austrian parliament and legacy media were the scene of the sustained efforts to gaslight everyone, which is today’s posting.
Second, while we’re somewhat on the topic of Norway and Covid, I’ll post a translation of the insane amount of navel-gazing going on among my peer group, academia.
And, third, to round off this mini-series, I’ll post a timely rebuttal from autumn 2020 by Milosz Matuschek—he writes mainly in German over at
—who, on 1 Sept. of that memorable year, asked the pertinent question, ‘what if the Covidiots are right?’ in his regular column at the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Needless to say, he was ‘cancelled’ for simply asking about Covid policies…
With that introduction said, please follow me down a few particular rabbit-holes in this first part: Covidistan, here we come. Sigh.
Translation, emphases, [snark] and swear words mine.
Biggest Corona Mistake: Anschober Now Admits to Everything
Five years ago, Covid kept Austria in suspense. Now, former Health Minister Rudolf Anschober talks about that time and is unexpectedly open.
The image is from this other piece in Heute from 22 Sept. 2020, but I don’t know as to why these mentally ill people like to wear speedos.
Almost exactly five years ago, Austria went into its first coronavirus lockdown. The head of government at the time decided on a nationwide shutdown on 16 March 2020. Rudolf Anschober had only become the Green Party’s Minister of Health two months earlier.
Five years later, he comments on the events of that time, the consequences of which can still be felt today, and is thoroughly self-critical.
The Biggest Mistake
‘In my view, the worst thing that was done was the lack of preparation. That really was the biggest problem we had’, former Health Minister Anschober told [public broadcaster national radio] Ö3 [how convenient to blame whoever came before him for whatever decisions he took while in office: you wouldn’t let your kids get away with that kind of absurd nonsense if you caught them at the cookie jar…].
It took weeks to create the structure that would enable us to deal with this pandemic and implement any measures at all. There was no crisis team, there was no pandemic plan, there was no modern pandemic law [which we didn’t need to address, say, the flu ‘pandemics’ of yesteryear…]. That was back in 1913. We didn’t have any staff positions, so the staffers weren’t there. [you see, in Mr. Anschober’s depraved mind, everyone and everything that happened after 1913 and didn’t bring about a new ‘pandemic law’ is to blame, not him].
‘Kickl was the spearhead for lockdown’
Anschober has the impression that it is impossible to convince ‘corona deniers’, however, it is possible to talk to critics of the measures and also admit to having made mistakes—‘I didn't do everything 100% right either’ [sorry not sorry, Mr. Anschober, but you were virtually 100% wrong, and you continue to downplay your actions and deflect from your own failures]. Deniers need a scientific reappraisal of the pandemic [here, Mr. Anschober admits that despite the gov’t’s claims to that effect, we didn’t get this]. ‘We need to talk to each other,’ he demands. ‘A lot has been broken’ in terms of mutual trust [there was little, if any trust, before Covid; now, I’m firmly of the opinion that that you assholes must explain and justify your sucking at the taxpayer’s tits much longer, let alone running around declaring you’re not responsible for your own actions].
Anschober looked back to the beginning of the pandemic: Herbert Kickl, for example, was the ‘spearhead’ of the call for a lockdown [Mr. Trump backed them too, yet these same people now vilify him (if you’d like to criticise Mr. Trump, point to his avoidance of putting Tony Fauci, Deb Birx, and their camp followers among ‘experts™’ on trial]. Back then, all parties pulled together [re-read this if necessary: what Mr. Kickl did was—he joined all other parties, which implicates Mr. Anschober’s Greens and every other politico™: yet, this sorry excuse for a man now blames but the Freedom Party] and we need to get back to that point, said the former minister. Co-operation with the ÖVP was also very good at the beginning. Subsequently, there was exhaustion and friction, which is why mistakes were made [if you people run out of steam, why not resign? But, fuck no, you assholes hung on to your sinecures: you’re such a disgrace, even by the admittedly low-to-non-existing standards I have for politicos™].
Criticism of a Parliamentary Corona Committee
The former health minister is critical of the FPÖ’s consideration of a parliamentary committee of enquiry into coronavirus policy: ‘Party politics is the worst thing during a pandemic, a party-political investigation will lead to even more rifts in society.’ [note the illogical argument™: the pandemic™ is over, hence it cannot be that someone, anyone, let alone parliament, considers the actions of those who were in charge during the pandemic™ (even if, as Mr. Anschober has done, already declared himself not to be responsible while in office: if that’s the case, who is responsible?)] If the members of the National Council nevertheless initiate a sub-committee, he will of course appear and testify ‘to the best of his knowledge and belief’, said Anschober [of course he adds this because not showing up when parliament calls is a felony: you f******* asshole].
In his view, it would make more sense to commission the European Health Inspection Authority to carry out a Europe-wide investigation:
We need more Europe in a pandemic, this is not a national issue.
Intermission
Isn’t it awe-inspiring—and fury-inducing at the same time—that those who willingly took over comfy positions in gov’t to refuse to take any responsibility for their decisions?
I mean, how far would anyone get with this stance outside the mental institution masquerading as politics™, journalism™, or expert-dom™?
I suppose, we should all try that stance at-work, eh? It’s so hard to get my children to admit whatever with their hand still stuck in the cookie jar (‘I didn’t do a thing’, my daughters would tell me), but they’re not yet teens and their misdeed was eating extra cookies. I suppose that we should hold those in office to somewhat higher standards of accountability.
And that brings us to the second legacy media piece below, which is the Freedom Party’s response to the nonsense spouted by Mr. Anschober.
On Saturday, former Health Minister Rudi Anschober spoke out again. His statements have the FPÖ up in arms—Secretary-General Schnedlitz is outraged.
By Nicolas Kubrak, Heute.at, 15 March 2025 [source]
Almost exactly five years ago, Austria was in its first coronavirus lockdown. The head of government at the time decided on a nationwide shutdown on 16 March 2020. Rudolf Anschober had only become the Green Party's Minister of Health two months earlier [so what? If you’re part of the gov’t, you’re in on their decisions (and if you don’t want that, don’t become a party hack with ambitions)].
Anschober About his Biggest Mistake
Five years later, he spoke in an [another state broadcaster with national programs] Ö1 interview about the events of that time, the consequences of which are still being felt today, and was quite self-critical. He cited the lack of preparation for the pandemic as his biggest mistake: ‘There was no crisis team, no pandemic plan, there was no modern pandemic law. We didn’t have any staff positions, so the staffers weren’t there,’ said Anschober.
FP Schnedlitz: ‘No introspection, no remorse’
On Saturday afternoon, FPÖ Secretary General Michael Schnedlitz reacted to the statements made by the former Minister of Health:
No introspection, no honest remorse, no apology, and not a word about a real reckoning. Anschober’s statements are a single continued mockery of the victims of the forced coronavirus regime that he installed under ÖVP leadership and from whose consequences tens of thousands are still suffering today [I find it hard to argue with that summary of Mr. Anschober’s blabber]
The new heads of government were also criticised: ‘[Chancellor] Stocker [of the People’s Party, or ÖVP], [Vice-Chancellor] Babler [of the Social-Democrats, but he’s a self-confessed Marxist], [Foreign Minister] Meinl-Reisinger [of the small NEOS party, which is oligarch-funded (Peter Haselsteiner, STRABAG) and is staunchly pro NATO] and company believe they can weasel themselves out of this and “move on”. But Herbert Kickl and us Freedom Party members are certainly not done with it when it comes to the coronavirus regime’, said Schnedlitz [hear, hear: problem is, since all the other parties and their camp-followers dominate both the judiciary and legacy media, there’s little hope for any kind of reckoning].
‘Fall from grace’ of compulsory vaccination
The FPÖ secretary-general recalled the lockdown times:
Children and young people were virtually locked up at home, old people were isolated, trenches were torn right into families, businesses were ruined, and people who criticised all these evidence-free measures and also demonstrated peacefully against them were vilified as Covid deniers, conspiracy theorists, conspirators, sectarians, right-wing extremists, etc. [which is why none of the perpetrators wishes to talk about it]
According to Schnedlitz, the planned and later cancelled compulsory vaccination was a ‘fall from grace’ [orig. Sündenfall].
Anschober, whom the FPÖ politico described as a ‘political pensioner’, is no different from the new government with his ‘detached attempts to whitewash the corona madness’. [and these are 112% true words].
Even if the word ‘corona’ does not appear in the new government programme, the government must not forget: ‘The Austrians have not forgotten what the black-red-green-left system parties have done to them month after month.’
Bottom Lines
In the most pathetically predictable manner, Mr. Anschober also blamed FPÖ party chair Herbert Kickl for having been ‘the loudest voice calling for a lockdown’—as did everybody else in politics™, legacy media™, and among experts™.
Oh, funny that—Mr. Anschober was on the same side as Mr. Kickl back then, which renders his utterances both fully despicable and entirely fake.
Word of advice if you’re aspiring to enter politics™, by the way, turn off the internet because we have kept the receipts.
You, Mr. Anschober, should shut TF up, go away, and never come back—that is, until and unless you stand trial.
I hold few, if any, sympathies for the FPÖ or Mr. Kickl in particular, but for whatever reason—party politicking, personal conviction, etc.—he changed his stance after the Covid-induced mania of spring 2020. I do know that some of the people whom he talked to—MP Gerald Hauser comes to mind—are vaccine-injured (hence their stance) while others in the FPÖ (won’t say who) noted as late as September 2023 noted that ‘well, if the jabs are required, they are’.
If you’re interested in Gerald Hauser’s enquiries, please see here:
Finally, let’s briefly mention one more aspect of the pathologies of Mr. Anschober and and his ilk, which incl. a childish irresponsibility for his very own actions, a seemingly mental disposition to lie, obfuscate, and point fingers, and, of course, a documented inability to learn from personal experiences or scientific studies.
He who was in office in 2020/21, has had, of course, no relevant competence other than many years of party membership, and left politics due to ‘exhaustion’.
Rudi Anschober, 7 Dec. 2023, at 5:49 a.m. (left-hand tweet)
Good morning! Yes, I’m wearing masks again on public transport. Read today’s blog post ‘what did we learn from the pandemic’ via my blog, anschober.at.
The piece in the lower right corner is the one that’s meant, it was kinda relayed by the FR, and basically saying that a ‘study published by NIH suggests N95 Covid masks may expose wearers to dangerous level of toxic compounds linked to seizures and cancer’. In case you’ve missed that legacy media ‘story’, click here.
But those who objected to the mandates were, of course, all ‘science-denying’, ‘dangerous’, if not ‘murderous’, and many other things, incl. ‘far-right extremists’. And we’ve been called that because we allegedly spread ‘misinformation’.
Another one of those days with the pot calling the kettle black.
So, GFY, Rudi Anschober, and may you, at some point in the not-too-distant future, stand trial to answer for your actions.
If that also includes you taking responsibility for the BS you did, well, we’ll see about that (but I won’t hold my breath).
What a disgrace of a man and politico™, and I remain hesitant to call one worse than the other.
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