The world is very different today — and not just because of the coronavirus. Events seem to turn it more quickly: Viruses become pandemics in weeks; medical challenges become life-and-death emergencies in days; and freedoms, once sacrosanct, are removed in minutes live on TV, or with the stroke of a faceless bureaucratic pen. Once secure and prosperous societies now seem precariously vulnerable, even fragile — open to new challenges governments have neither the experience nor the intelligence to address.
The reality, of course, is that the world has changed — it has never been quite as small. It took the Black Death years to reach Europe in the 14th century. It took the coronavirus a matter of weeks to go global. The politics of this pandemic reflect this — jarring and seemingly out of control, forced into a furious sprint just to keep up with the exponential mathematics of epidemiology (be they as flawed as they have turned out to be). But while the world is different, certainly at least in Australia where life has largely been locked down, humans are not. Then as now, we fear death and crave security and search for leaders who fend off one with the other. One after the other, World leaders sort security by hibernating their economies — repelling borders and terrifying the population at large. They ordered that no one leave their home and empowered our police force to fine anyone who does so for anything other than life’s essentials. International and State borders were and still are closed.
Battle analogies are everywhere. And for good reason. “The way ahead is hard, and it is still true that many lives will sadly be lost,” urging each and all to do their duty. Our State leaders use 11am terror talks to broadcast the message of fear citing alarming levels of infection in the community. They sum up the spirit of the ANZAC’s as fuel for courage — rallying cries such as: “we’re all in this together” abound.
Our State leaders use 11am terror talks to broadcast a message of fear citing alarming levels of infection in the community. I assume that by doing this they pilcate their guilty consciences and thereby justify their actions.
By using the language of war, Morrison inevitably both invites comparisons with history, and suffers in light of them. Karl Marx wrote: “The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living,”. As was then, as is now. Each country today, as it battles the coronavirus, has its own memory weighing on its leaders.
World War 2 rallying cry poster
In times of national crisis, people turn to what they know — to the myths and caricatures that define them. They seek hope and vision from our leaders. They look to leaders who are strong and take responsibility for their decisions. Along with the admission they go about fixing the problems. It is without question the vaccination roll-out has been an abject and utter fiasco. Sadly, it would appear that nothing is really being done to solve the problem.
On this occasion the sad but inevitable truth is that this national crisis is very much a homegrown, and a self-inflicted one. We have been living with the coronavirus in its various forms the latest and recently the most contagious Delta variant for the past 18 months. Regrettably we seem to have learnt nothing that would assist us in dealing with it. Health bureaucrats continue to make mistakes in drafting regulations. The Bondi limousine driver is a prime example. Yet are other problems.
We as a nation are one of the slowest in the vaccination programme on a worldwide basis. It is hardly surprising however as there are mixed messages on which vaccine is the correct one for our community. State medical officers have gone as far as to suggest that the AstraZeneca vaccine may kill those are considering you using it. Dr Young the Queensland Chief Medical Officer, in a fit of irresponsible insanity said: “We have had very few deaths due to COVID-19 in Australia in people under the age of 50 and wouldn’t it be terrible that our first 18-year-old in Queensland who dies related to this pandemic, died because of the vaccine. It is hardly surprising people are confused.
Shortly after World War II, British writer and theologian CS Lewis examined what he called “moral busybodies” in one of his essays on ethics. “Of all tyrannies,” he said, “a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.”
Some might say that I am overstating the issue by using such a strong word as tyranny. However, to counter that I would draw your attention to the ramshackle policy on the run thinking that we’re experiencing now. Incompetent politicians exercising powers they have no idea how to control in response to Delta Covid fallout. I site the debacle over the building industry lockdowns. Premier Berejiklian with no medical evidence making a Captain’s call, sending the industry into a freefall.
Covid-19 Delta variant is a virus, no doubt a highly contagious one, but one that will be with us all as a community for many, many years to come.
When we reach the end of this economic disaster, let’s not forget it was self-made. When the chickens come home to roost, and you can be sure they will, the political fallout will be cataclysmic. History is littered with the remains of political leaders who appeared to fight the good fight but were then defeated at the next ballot box. Fisher, Menzies Churchill to name a few.
The indisputable truth is a healthy economy is necessary for life and prosperity. The decision that must be made now is to allow business to endeavour to pull itself up from the canvas and get back to some form of normality. The equation now is lives versus lives: the fractured lives of people left unemployed, destitute, and facing bankruptcy, with the inevitable physical and mental health issues, against the lives of those who will succumb and die with Coronavirus. Let us not lose sight of the fact that the average age of those who have died with the virus is 82 years, with 86% of reported COVID deaths involved at least one or more comorbidity issue.
Yoram Lass, the former Director of Israel’s Health Ministry recently argued, “The draconian measures are of biblical proportions. Hundreds of millions of people are suffering, in developing countries many will die from starvation. In developed countries, many will die from unemployment. Unemployment is mortality … more people will die from the measures than from the virus. And the people who die from the measures are the breadwinners. They are younger … what has been done is not proportionate, but people are afraid. People are brainwashed. They don’t listen to the data and that includes governments”.
The time has well and truly come for governments to get out of our lives and let us try and get ourselves back to some form of normality. CS Lewis, once wrote: “Those who torment us for our own good, will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” Mr Morrison, Ms. Berejiklian please, I beg you stop helping us and let us help ourselves. Please remember the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
