The Blog

2020-

2020-12-13 g
WHEN "SCIENCE" GETS IT WRONG X

The COVID-19 Inversion of Reason

... We are forced to wear masks – we are told - not to protect ourselves but to protect others. It is an inherent symbol that – similar to a religious face covering - one cannot trust either oneself or others. Surely it is in itself extremely divisive in this age of seeking to create safe spaces. The silent killer is amongst us and anyone can be the facilitator – “how would you feel if you gave the virus to someone who then died” is now the perverse moral blackmail being used.

When an unseen threat is widely thought to be endemic in society it can pull the strings that bind us apart. The symbol of the mask or panicked avoidance of other individuals compounds this sense of mistrust. The inevitable consequence is that people who have a medical condition and are not forced to wear a mask and others who simply choose not to, become tacitly accused of a lack of solidarity (or encounter a much worse reaction). Demonising people as “the other” has had catastrophic results throughout history, as we all know.

Thus have we been terrified and bullied by Governments and the press into seeing our fellow citizens as a threat. We have also been coerced into seeing ourselves as a threat to others. In reality since time began this has always been true with viruses, bacteria and general life and we have never been in control of these things. It is also depressingly familiar. When virulent disease often did become a moral issue it inevitably ended up in scapegoating (see Sontag). The response to the plague in the middle ages and witch hanging or burning is a rather prescient case in point. The hysteria surrounding HIV in the 80s is just a continuation of such moral turpitude. The absence of a face mask, a walk in the park, seeing your grand children “against the rules” is putting “lives at risk”. It is no wonder that the inevitable puritan streak has burst through to the surface with alcohol and in some places cigarette bans. The religious orthodoxy must be maintained. Casual sex? Forget it, you’re endangering lives! (read more)

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