Health Freedom Defense Fund

Interview with Leslie Manookian

One of the very possible outcomes of waking up is helplessness.

The sheer breadth, depth and history of the problem can be overwhelming.

You feel powerless.

There is a science to helplessness. You can “teach” it. It can be “learned.”

It’s called Learned Helplessness.

The key finding is that the experience of being put in a position in which there is no possibility of escape from harm or pain can lead to an overall fatalism and resignation, in which it is believed that there is no point in trying to improve the situation. More generally, it can describe a belief in one's own powerlessness, which renders futile any attempt to learn.

This is well understood by those PPPs (Public Private Partnerships) that seek to rule.

Many of those that “wake up” fall into this trap.

Leslie is living proof that it does not need to be so.

She is testament to the power of one person to change her surroundings and impact the system.

With thanks to Leslie Manookian.

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Background and Personal Journey:

1. Leslie, could you please share a bit about your background and what pivotal moments led you to leave a successful career on Wall Street to pursue a path with more personal meaning?

There were many events that led me to realize I wanted more from my life and that I was focusing my energy in a place that did not serve me or others. First, in December of 2000, I came home from work one evening and was opening the refrigerator to get something, when my husband said, “hey, did you find out your bonus today?” I answered him “yes” and told him the amount - which was more than I ever thought I would earn in my whole life - then I began to cry. He asked, incredulous, “what’s wrong, are you disappointed?” Tears rolling down my face I said, “No, I’m not disappointed, I’m empty.” The amount of the bonus had crystalized a realization for me; I had all the trappings of success but I felt like an emotional husk of a human being as I was unfulfilled in what I was doing.

Not long afterwards, the management team of one of the largest and well-known pharmaceutical companies in the world came into our office to reassure us, as one of the company’s largest investors, about the future of its block buster drug which was in phase III of clinical trials. Phase III is the last phase before a company can apply to the FDA for licensure for the drug in question. Rumours were leaking out about the promising blockbuster drug, which was the very reason we owned the stock, and those rumours were deeply concerning which caused the stock to fall some 25%-30%.  

Several individuals on the clinical trial had died from a side-effect that damaged the heart but this drug was supposed to protect the cardiovascular system! When the CEO of the company looked across the table at me, he confirmed that a few people had died in what he termed very rare circumstances. (Yes, this sounds exactly like what we are told about vaccine reactions but at that point in my life I was oblivious to the dark side of vaccines – and most drugs, for that matter.) Then the CEO attempted to reassure our investment team by saying, “the bad news is the FDA is going to require us to place a “Black Box” warning on the packaging [of the new drug], the good news is we still think we can do $7 billion in peak sales.”

Sitting there digesting this information I felt as though someone had kicked me in the gut as it was obvious that he knew the new drug would kill some people but the company would generate billions in revenues. He expected us to be relieved, but I was nauseous with shock and disgust. I left the meeting, went to my office and paced back and forth. Then I marched down the hall to our pharmaceutical analyst’s office, flung the door open and strode in. Our analyst, let’s call her Jane, sitting at her computer, looked up at me, a little caught off guard. I said to her, “Jane, this is wrong!” She just shrugged her shoulders as if to say, “I know, but what do you want me to do about it, lady?”  She was a young analyst and surely felt there was nothing she could do.

That moment ripped any vestige of blinders from my eyes and I realized that I was using my education, brain, and experience inappropriately as I felt like I was playing for the wrong team. I decided I had to get out and start planning how I could do that to ensure that my departure did not harm the team I had built or the company that had given me so much opportunity.

2. From finance to filmmaking and advocacy, how have your past experiences shaped your current mission and values?

That’s a tough question to answer in a succinct fashion as all my life experiences have taught me so much. First, I had a front row seat to the corporate world that few have had and then I trained as a homeopath and learned of the vaccine controversy which prompted me to make The Greater Good, an award-winning documentary on vaccines. All those experiences were instructive in a profound way forcing me to realize that we, and we alone, are responsible for our individual choices and our lives. The corporations are not going to tell us the truth and the government is not going to protect us or save us, it is therefore incumbent upon each and every one of us to educate ourselves so that we are empowered to make wise choices as we, and we alone, will have to live with our choices.

Wall Street Experience:

3. What were some of the most valuable lessons you learned while working with Goldman Sachs and Alliance Capital in London?

Amongst the most valuable lessons I learned are that book smart people are not necessarily thoughtful and they don’t necessarily possess a moral compass. That said, there are many nice and well-meaning people who are not really aware or conscious of the role they are playing in the globalist scheme or they’ve accepted the narrative they’ve been fed and are simply not thinking critically. They are just going along with the flow as they are paid a lot of money and likely never considered that they might be part of something destructive. For example, when I was in business school, I was taught the many virtues of globalism and adhered to that line of thinking for many years before the destructiveness of those policies dawned on me. I just believed what I’d been taught until I saw through it. There are millions like that out there. The bottom line is, even if you think someone is smarter than you or has more credentials, that doesn’t mean they’re wiser and it doesn’t mean they are good. Always follow your heart and do what you think is right.

4. How did your career in high-stakes finance prepare you for the challenges of advocating for health freedom?

I worked very long hours and travelled about 100,000 miles per year. While this all took a toll, it brought to the surface the grit I did not know I had. At the same time, the corruption and malevolence I’d encountered eviscerated my previously naïve world-view. All combined, these experiences enabled me to clearly see the darkness, deceit, coordination and malevolence we face in fighting for our health freedom – and ALL our freedoms. And they also clarified for me a singular truth: when we succeed and thrive outside the extant medical paradigm, we pose an existential threat to the medical complex which is why the main actors fight our information, experiences, and independence so fervently.

Transition to Filmmaking:

5. What sparked the shift from finance to documentary filmmaking, especially on such a controversial topic as vaccines?

When I attended the first day of homeopathy college in London and heard the first teacher mention vaccine damage as one of the many topics we would address during the three-year program, I was incredulous. I shot up my arm in class and blurted, “Vaccines are the greatest invention of mankind, what are you talking about?” He smiled and replied, “Well, that is one perspective, but we’re going to learn another.” I shook my head and dismissed him as a nut case but after class he suggested I read a book called Vaccines: Are They Really Safe and Effective. To say it shocked me would be a gross understatement. I read the book then looked at the endnotes at the back and saw over 950 citations to mainstream medical literature, newspapers, and doctors. Then I cried because having heard the CEO of the big pharma company tell me he knew the company’s new drug would kill some people but the company would make a lot of money, I could not simply dismiss the book as the rantings of a crazy person. It hurt, because in my heart, I feared what I’d read was true. I took the book to homeopathy school the next weekend and confronted the president of the college. I half cried, half shouted at her, book in hand, “How can this be true? If it’s true, that means they are injuring and killing our most innocents!” She just shrugged her shoulders and said, “Money.” In that moment, I felt called to investigate vaccines more thoroughly and to some-day make a movie on vaccines so that I might share what I would learn with the world. That’s how The Greater Good was born. So it was more of a call to action than a conscious choice to make a film.

The Greater Good Movie – a documentary film about vaccines in America

6. In producing The Greater Good, what surprised you most about the vaccine debate?

Two things really shook me up in making the film. The first was the large body of science already in existence contradicting the claim that vaccines are safe and effective. It’s not that there is not enough science, it’s that the damning science is simply ignored by those in control in the media, in Congress and other legislative bodies, in government health agencies, in the medical trade groups, in the universities/medical schools, by the vaccine makers, and all the other vested interests.

The other surprise was the division down political lines regarding the vaccine debate. I and my partners on the film all live in an affluent ski resort which is very left leaning and we three filmmakers were all very left leaning at the time. We all thought we’d have no problem raising money for the film in our area but when we started conducting small screenings of the rough cut to potential funders, every single one of them was utterly unmoved by the stories of vaccine injuries. Our team had thought that those on the left are the “good guys,” that they care about the truth, scientific integrity, and the rights of individuals. Then, we met with some donors who are on the right and they were so receptive to what we shared. When we said the government is corrupt or CDC is lying, they replied, “Well, of course, the government is corrupt and of course, CDC is lying.” That was the beginning of my journey away from the left to a place where I see politics as a mechanism to divide the people and manipulate them into unconscious behaviours.  

7. Can you describe a particularly moving or challenging moment during the creation of The Greater Good?

The Christner family is one of the three families featured in the film. I conducted most of the interviews of the characters in the film. For one of our shoots, we were in Tulsa, Oklahoma to interview Danny and Dr. Stephanie Christner and their nanny. As I interviewed each of them about the death of their baby daughter, Victoria Christner, at age 5 months and heard them recount the heartbreaking story of how that beautiful little girl just stopped breathing not long after a round of baby vaccines, I could barely hold it together. With the tears flowing, the pain of the loss was palpable in the room. I myself, the mother of a young boy at the time, could not imagine a greater pain than losing a child. On that same shoot, our film crew accompanied the family to visit baby Victoria’s grave site. I still cannot watch that scene without sobbing.

Health Advocacy and Freedom:

8. You're a vocal advocate for health freedom; what does this term mean to you, and why is it important?

Health freedom means many things to me. First, in the most basic sense, it means the freedom to choose how to keep oneself and one’s family well and how to handle the situation when one falls ill, free of any harassment or coercion to use any kind of medicine or medical intervention. It means having all the information available to make a voluntary informed choice about whether to submit to any kind of medical treatment.

That used to be the complete definition for me, but my thinking on this has evolved in recent years to encompass something more. I now believe that true health freedom means having the resources and tools to care for oneself, free from the clutches of the sick-care medical paradigm. Genuine health freedom is not just the right to choose which drug or intervention to use, it means knowing how to nourish oneself with clean, nutritious whole foods so that one is more likely to stay well; growing one’s own foods and connecting with our communities to buy or trade whole foods; knowing how to use homeopathic medicine, essential oils, herbs, and other holistic medicine so that one does not need to access the sick-care system; and knowing the importance of exercise, rest, sun exposure, stress reduction, fun, and much else to have truly vibrant health. To me, health freedom isn’t just choice in the existing sick-care system, it’s not being a captive of the system by being educated and prepared to take care of ourselves. All that said, medical doctors and hospitals still have a role to play as they are superb at handling emergencies and they play a vital role in saving lives when emergencies happen.

9. The Health Freedom Defense Fund is a significant part of your life's work. What inspired its inception?

I began researching the vaccine controversy in 2001 and learned that since 9/11 legislation and international treaties had been changed in ways that facilitated the draconian Covid protocols purportedly for public safety. I had already followed the avian flu, swine flu, and zika scams and was well aware of the tactics of the medical complex to harness a purported public health scare as a pretext to push vaccines. Given all the legislation that had been changed to facilitate an authoritarian response, I already knew in early January 2020, that a major agenda was being unleased. As such, I determined to do something to fight back and HFDF was born. I had had the great fortune of meeting some great attorneys and began telling them all about the lies and injustices surrounding national vaccine programs and the US’ Vaccine Injury Compensation Program and once they’d done some research and realized how unjust the system is, they were on board. We started researching in anticipation of coming vaccine mandates and filed our first case in March of 2021 challenging the Los Angeles School District’s (LAUSD) mandate of the Emergency Use Authorized injection. The next day, LAUSD backed down and said the mandate was only a recommendation.

10. How does the Health Freedom Defense Fund approach the balance between public health and individual rights?

For me it’s not about balance but about right and wrong. In western society we’ve decided it’s better to let ten guilty people go free than to incarcerate one innocent person. In this same vein, we don’t serve society by harming some individuals. Society is nothing more than a group of individuals and we believe it’s immoral to harm one individual in order to benefit another. As the goes, two wrongs don’t make a right. Public health agencies have never before claimed the right to lock us down or dictate our behaviour for a respiratory infection, and they shouldn’t have that power. Public health authorities should focus their efforts on public threats to health such as they did in their early days when they focused on removing the sewage from the streets, providing clean drinking water, prohibiting businesses from dumping toxic waste onto our lands and into our waterways, and that sort of thing. We don’t help one person – or society – by harming another. That’s not public health, that’s immoral. 

Current and Future Focus:

11. Reflecting on your journey so far, what would you say has been your greatest achievement in advocating for health freedom?

I’m torn! I’d say there are two things that stand out. The first came in 2011 with the release of my film, The Greater Good, as it opened the eyes of millions to the lack of scientific rigor surrounding vaccine programs as well the risks and corruption inherent in the whole vaccination system. People still tell me to this day that the movie inspired them to learn more and ultimately inspired them to protect their children. While the film did not change policy on a broader level, its impact is still being felt and audiences now tell me it's more relevant today in the aftermath of the Covid circus than it was at the time of release.

The second achievement had a much more material and visual impact – defeating the US federal travel mask mandate implemented by the Biden administration in early 2021. As your readers likely know, the US’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) implemented a mask mandate for all individuals travelling by air, plane, train, bus or any public conveyance across the country. As the individual states in the US possess the power of health policy, not the federal government, I did not believe the mask mandate was lawful. Our attorneys at Heath Freedom Defense Fund researched the issue and agreed that CDC had overstepped its authority. Our lead attorney on the lawsuit drafted an articulate, thorough and well-reasoned complaint and we filed in July of 2021.

On April 18 of 2022 he phoned and said, are you sitting down?  I sat down and said, what happened Brant? He said, we won, we won the mask case! I leapt up from my chair and shouted to our team, we won, we won!! It was one of the most exciting moments of my life. Who would have ever thought that I, a woman from a small town in Idaho who founded a little non-profit could defeat the federal government and strike a huge blow to the government bureaucracy – all in defense of our health freedom? Mid-flight, pilots announced passengers could remove their masks and flight attendants collected the discarded masks to chuck in the garbage. People posted photos and videos of themselves giddy with excitement. I believe that win marked a turning point in the whole covid era as it inspired those who saw the truth to keep fighting and, perhaps more than anything, it gave them hope. I will never forget the pure joy I felt at this improbable – but just – turn of events.

12. With the recent lawsuit against the federal travel mask mandate, what do you believe was the key to your success?

When we initially filed the lawsuit in July of 2021, we did not request any kind of expedited review such as a preliminary injunction, we simply made our arguments and filed the case. So, time was on our side as fear dissipated and the truth of the lack of efficacy of mask mandates spread more widely. But more critical was the fact that CDC’s mask mandate rested on regulatory quicksand as CDC, a federal agency which sits under the executive branch of government, was designed to act as an advisory body. As such, CDC may not implement laws, only recommendations unless it is doing so under specific authority granted to it by the legislative branch, the US Congress, and when it does, it must follow specific regulatory procedures.

In the case of the federal travel mask mandate, CDC not only overstepped its statutory authority as an advisory body, it violated its regulatory requirements by failing to notice the public and take public comment on the proposed mask mandate rule as well as failing to properly justify the mandate. Moreover, as we argued and the federal district court agreed, if CDC did possess the authority to mandate masks to millions of Americans not even suspected of being infected with a dangerous pathogen, that represented an unlawful delegation of power from Congress to a federal agency. These factors – failure to follow regulatory procedure and overstepping statutory authority combined with the benefit of time worked in our favour – and it was very fortunate to draw a constitutionally oriented judge.

13. How do you respond to critics who might argue that health freedom can conflict with public safety?

I think there are general misunderstandings regarding the meaning of public health and public safety.

First, public health originally meant implementing measures such as human waste systems, drinking water systems, garbage collection, and removing animals from city streets in order to protect the community from the threats posed by open sewage, contaminated water, rotting garbage, and infected animals. It expanded to include risks posed by companies dumping toxic wastes on our lands and in our waterways, by the trafficking of contaminated animals and articles into and within our countries which might pose a threat to human health. It also meant quarantining sick individuals for diseases deemed highly dangerous. Importantly, with respect to CDC, nowhere is the agency authorized to intervene in or dictate the behaviour of individuals.

Second, “the public” is nothing more than a collection of individuals and, as the golden rule instructs, we do unto others as we would have done unto us. This means that in a moral and ethical society we don’t harm any one individual in order to benefit another or “the public” in general.  But this is not just some hollow adage, rather utilitarianism, the misguided notion that it is acceptable to sacrifice one person in service to the greater good, was summarily dismantled subsequent to the Nuremberg trials and the formulation of the Nuremberg Code. Unfortunately, our governments seem to have forgotten our history and the atrocities committed by the Nazis when they experimented on human beings purportedly in service to “the greater good.”

With those two points in mind, how can any thinking, caring person rationalize forced medical interventions on anyone, at any time? I fail to understand how someone can demand that I risk my wellbeing and life in order to theoretically protect them – or the public in general. And how do my personal choices about how to keep well have any bearing on public health? Personally, I eat well, exercise, expose myself to sunlight, get plenty of rest, and try to avoid stress (which has been quite a challenge in the past 4 years). That’s how I keep well and I am confident that if I do get sick, I’ll be just fine but I use homeopathy and other holistic interventions when I need them. Others may eat garbage and engage in other lifestyle choices that render them more susceptible to all manner of illnesses. Am I responsible for them? Is government responsible for their behaviour?  If government is responsible, then why does government not outlaw sugar, processed grains, and toxic vegetable oils and mandate exercise, sleep, and sunlight which would all make our communities healthier?  Wouldn’t that serve public health and public safety? They surely would but we as free societies have agreed that individuals are responsible for their lives and get to make their own choices so we don’t force medical interventions on those who don’t want them – even under the guise of public health.

I would add that illness is a part of life just like hardship and even tragedy. There is no way to insulate ourselves from all the risks inherent in being alive. If some folks want to live in a bubble, that’s their choice, but most of us want to live rich, vibrant lives – even if with some risk.

14. The pandemic has been a period of contention and change. How has this affected your strategy and focus going forward?

First, I think it is imperative to acknowledge that no pandemic existed according to any historical definition of the term so let’s refer to it as the Covid era or Covid circus – because that’s what it was. We knew from the Princess cruise ships that whatever was making people sick was not much more dangerous than a seasonal flu – and that was in an elderly population.

Regarding how it’s changed my focus, this whole episode has reinforced for me the perspective I already held in 2019, namely that government is broken and we need a reset, we just don’t need the reset envisioned by the WEF and western governments. Having witnessed the hype, tyrannical protocols, coercion, and deception, my perception has been solidified which has led me to reorient my focus towards helping people to focus on independence and self-reliance, in particular at the local level. It’s a Pollyannish to believe that the same governments that perpetrated this on the world will reform themselves so the solution must be to change our local communities and how we live our lives. So, Health Freedom Defense Fund is spending time developing resources to help empower individuals to take charge of their own lives which can be done using holistic healing modalities such as homeopathy, herbs, and essential oils in combination with growing our own food, and local engagement.

15. Considering the various aspects of your advocacy, what are you most passionate about right now?

Teaching homeopathy and protecting this wonder medicine from government control. Homeopathy is the most magical medicine I have ever seen and it poses a serious threat to the hegemony of the medical complex, as such, powerful forces have been attempting to quash the practice of homeopathy even going so far as to regulate it into oblivion, essentially a de facto outlaw of the most safe, effective, inexpensive healing modality we have. I raised my family exclusively on homeopathy. I urge everyone to learn homeopathy as it provides true health freedom by liberating us from the shackles of the medical complex and paradigm. With homeopathy, when our children become ill, we reach for a homeopathic remedy instead of a drug. When my son was young and would wake with a croupy cough, I’d give him a couple of doses of the homeopathic remedy aconite and he’d be back asleep in 15 minutes. I’ve seen countless responses to homeopathic medicine that the drug-based conventional medical paradigm could only dream of. Learning to use homeopathy and accumulating a collection of homeopathic remedies means one is not helpless when one is unwell and has a safe effective way to help one’s family. So, we’ll work to bring homeopathy to more people.

Looking Ahead:

16. As you look to the future, what areas will be your primary focus for the next few years in your advocacy work?

We’ll be focused on protecting consumer access to homeopathy and other holistic medicines, on teaching people the benefit of traditional whole foods, growing our own foods via regenerative farming, and targeted lawsuits to protect informed consent and health freedom.

Staying Connected:

17. For those interested in your work and the ongoing debate around health freedom, how can people stay informed and engaged with your initiatives?

People can follow the work of Health Freedom Defense Fund at HealthFreedomDefense.org by joining our free newsletter, by becoming a member for US $10, and/or donating to our work. Readers can also sign up for my personal email list at LeslieManookian.com and my Substack:

Heretic with Leslie Manookian | Substack

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