Less like relief and freedom
So the prime minister says that with the removal of Covid restrictions we will now be able to make our own “informed decisions” about what we will and will not do. Generally, we might feel it’s a sign of a good government and a good society that it allows and enables its members to make their own informed decisions about how they want to live their lives.
Generally, yes. All things being equal, yes. In normal circumstances, yes. Obviously. Of course. We can figure out for ourselves when to go out and when to stay home, what to wear and where to live, how much to sleep and what toothpaste to use. But when circumstances stop being normal, then that’s the new world we live in. You can’t always do what you want.
But it’s hard to rejoice at the removal of most Covid restrictions with the current dramatic rise in new infections. When more than 100 experts have signed an open letter in the Lancet calling the full easing of restrictions “dangerous and premature”, it can feel less like relief and freedom, and more like we’re being released into a wild unknown – and one that comes with ever-increasing ethical burdens on us as individuals.
It can probably still feel like relief and freedom if you ignore all the realities, but what it feels like and what it actually is are two different things. Humans seem to be very bad at keeping that distinction in mind – we’re always hearing people say chirpily “I feel perfectly safe!” while doing something reckless.
Well, that has reduced to nil any chance that I might be able to visit my family this year. My mother is 87. I haven’t seen her since my father’s funeral, two years ago. It’s looking increasingly unlikely I’ll ever see her again. Not because of her health, but because of mine. She is considerably fitter than I am, but I cannot risk travel to a country where they’re no longer taking active precautions against infection. Yes, I’m fully vaccinated; but I know better than to rely on that fact alone to keep me safe.
Better to stay the course and ease restrictions as announced, than lose face by suddenly changing course in the face of changed circumstances. Mustn’t “flip-flop.” That’s weak and unmanly. Full steam ahead; that iceberg is going to swerve first.
Stupid bastards. As if they didn’t already have enough blood on their hands.
Fixed that for them.
YNnB, that’s the point isn’t it? The UK Government has done nothing but flip flop and fuck things up with each flip, flop, and in between moment of paralysis pretty much since things started. At least the Fiji government, which has also fucked things up royally, has had the good sense to pick the wrong lane and then charge down it with their foot flat on the accelerator. It’s wrong, everyone can see that, and then make plans based on that wrongness. Boris et al, not so much.
It all falls apart when the decision making is assumed to be ‘informed.’
Mary Mallon chose not to believe that typhoid was contagious, and refused to practice basic hygiene. I’m amazed that Fox News isn’t promoting her as a champion of fweedumb.