Snake Oil: How Xi Jinping Shut Down the World

The CCP effectively put Western governments into a bind; through their soft influence of world institutions such as the WHO and a remarkably aggressive propaganda campaign circa March 2020, a narrative was introduced and welded into the public consciousness - you must lockdown and social distance in order to save lives. From that point on, to differ from the policy of lockdowns was to go against the prevailing narrative.Boris Johnson, whom I voted for under the belief that he was a libertarian, was initially reluctant to lockdown, and this is well documented with various media appearances from himself and his closest scientific advisors (Vallance and Whitty) in Feb and early March. Then, something switched, and the policy did a 180. This book details the influence campaign meticulously carried out by the CCP. It is fluent and well researched, with over 500 references, and for me one of the best pieces of investigative journalism to emerge from this period.The large majority of people in western countries spend a good chunk of their day consuming media, either through their phone, TV or radio. In the UK the average is 4 hours looking at the phone screen. That is 28 hours of every week whereby an individual is susceptible to propaganda, such as the campaign detailed in this book, especially on the Chinese platform of TikTok. The CCP utilised a digital army to carry it out. The UK has something similar with their Nudge Unit (BIT), but it is a far cry from the tens of thousands of paid workers in China.For me, the book helped in putting the events into more context. 'A State of Fear' by Laura Dodsworth is a fantastic piece of journalism about the fear campaign deployed by the UK government, in order to ensure compliance with their new lockdown laws. Snake oil is much wider in its scope, and offers a convincing explanation of the 'why' that I felt was missing from Lauras book. It doesn't, however, detract from her book, in fact quite the opposite. I am looking forward to more books to help piece together the events in an increasingly accurate light. I have also just finished 'The Psychology of Totalitarianism' which is a further tool in the arsenal to discover what truly happened.In line with some other reviews on here, I do feel that too much credit is given to Xi as an ultimate conspirator. There was a definite trend before the events in this book, towards more top down government control. 9/11 was a catalyst for the security state, climate change for more government interference in our daily lives. The book does not delve into the trends of world politics of the past 40 years, nor is any context given, but nevertheless it does not detract from this shocking long-form essay on the lockdown fraud.

Throughout the whole COVID-19 pandemic, many people have sensed that "something is wrong" with the world's response to it, without being able to quite explain why it all feels wrong. Other books have been written explaining why measures that were taken might have been wrong, or ineffective. Experts in many fields have clearly explained the errors made. Some have tried to understand the origin of the virus - whilst accepting the basic and ambitious lies that underpin the whole experience.Nobody however until now has really got to grips with understanding the situation as a whole. Why did the world react with such panic to the virus? Why did the measures taken apparently not work? Why was debate shut down so vigorously? Why did "facts" confidently asserted by experts and leaders one minute become heresy the next? How could the normal approach of the world's democracies to crises, and even to pandemics, be so easily abandoned?This book provides the answers to those questions. It is a meticulously researched account of how and why it all happened. (There are 590 references in the bibliography!)It is easy to read and thoroughly gripping. You will not be able to put it down once you start reading - at the end you will understand what happened and why. It is a thoroughly convincing explanation of the events of 2020/21.In providing an understanding what happened, it provides a solid foundation for the debate that is to come in the West: which direction do we take after the great coronavirus crisis of 2020/21?

I was slightly skeptical before reading this book but, since reading, I am confident that it is a well evidenced record and narrative of CCP influence on global Covid-19 responses. It shows in clear, concise and well considered prose, how Xi Jinping and the CCP has used underhanded tactics to have a huge impact on our governments' actions and thus our health and livelihoods.The inconsistencies of covid measures had convinced me that there had to be nefarious bodies at work, in spelling it out, this book has given me a kind of peace. I am no longer in doubt as details of how specific people, platforms and institutions have been under the financial and political influence of the CCP are layed out clearly. I have dug deep into many of the references and have not once been unable to find the key points being used in Senger's text. A lot of effort has gone into this work, it is thorough, correct and very readable.I am reading with shock throughout, but the truth is undeniable. When brought together in this book, there is no room left for doubt. Our governments have failed to defend us, the citizens from a new form of subtle but devastating warfare unleashed from by Chinese Government.

There are plenty of nuggets of info in here I was unaware of. Plenty of this surrounds the early manoeuvrings of China. The author is at his best when generally deriding the sanity if lockdown and in unearthing some interesting statistical manipulations. My only criticism is that at times he seems to project an image of Xi pre planning everything that happened perfectly. That credits Xi with too much control and power in manipulating events. I don’t doubt there were many nefarious actions from the CCP but the West deserves opprobrium for capitulating to China…which wasn’t inevitable no matter how much propaganda China produced. Overall though a useful book in the cannon decrying lockdown.We’ll keep persevering and uncovering more truths as time tumbled on. The crooks who perpetrated this crime against humanity will be held to account one day.

The last two lost years were strange, especially with how fast all things closed, how most governments in the west copied each other with few deciding not to lockdown, ban gatherings etc (Sweden being a good exception despite being pilloried in the west). Perfectly sane reasonable people became afraid of their neighbours, stepped off the sidewalk when you passed by and willingly stood in lines to get into banks/grocery stores, put on masks and have "non-essential" businesses closed. It was the strangest phenomenon in my entire life. This book explains how it happened and how we let it happen. This book explains it in easy prose that is face paced and a page turner. Basically we were all duped by one country and one man. He also explains the rat race we all got into where governments scared people into accepting a loss of liberty for "safety" and that how we all fell into the 2 weeks to flatten curve line. It is a must read for all.

This is one of the very few works to come out of the Covid crisis that deserves to be called journalism. Its nine well-sourced chapters document the origin and propagation of the "lockdown" mentality that swept the globe in 2020, and that continues to resonate with us today. Mr. Senger takes up his brief with a grim determination to get to the bottom of this question: who originated the lockdowns, who cheered them on, and who collaborated with the flawed thinking that put them in place. The answers are not pleasant. Yet if we wish to understand the world in 2022, we cannot shrink from facing them.The writing style is fluid, clear, and cogent. Unlike many writers of contemporary events, Mr. Senger has no need to garnish his phrases with hyperbole, because the material is dramatic enough on its own. We can be confident that the book's thesis will be vindicated in the coming years.

Michael P. Senger has documented, from early 2020, the unfolding of the hysteria around the COVID pandemic: for example, how twitter was flooded with faked images of collapsing people on the streets of Wuhan, and how decades of empirical epidemiological policy was discarded after pressure from CCP-influenced WHO in favour of the flawed policy of lockdowns, masks and isolation. His central thesis is that COVID hysteria is the latest act in a decades-long war on the West by the CCP. The account is detailed, compelling and chilling.

¿Estás preparado para saber la verdad del COVID? ¿Quieres saberla? Este libro te cambiará la percepción de lo que ha ocurrido en los dos últimos años y el resultado es terrible. Un libro imprescindible.

Michael P Senger har done an incredible job with Snake Oil. This should be required reading for anyone who fell for the massive propaganda campaign by the CCP known as "lockdown".I partly fell for the first wave of propaganda in early 2020 of China building hospitals in 2 weeks and people falling over dead in the streets. As things progressed I turned more and more critical of lockdowns and have followed the debate for the last two years. Even though I've been very interested in the debate and propaganda back and forth this book revealed MANY things I didn't know and laid it all out in a very clear and concise way.This is a perfect book for anyone who wants to know more about the CCP propaganda underlying the catastrophe of lockdowns. Have a friend or relative who still buys the "two weeks to flatten the curve" BS? Give them this book! A great gift and conversation starter.