CoVID-19 – Day 55

I don’t know about you but there are many things going on in my life at the moment and CoVID-19 is a convenient peg to hang them all on. We do like a crisis because it gives us something to rally around only we don’t want it to shift our foundations, just rattle the windows. I personally don’t like horror movies but plenty of people do and enjoy being scared up to the point of threat.

Someone had to play the grownup

While the virus is the real threat we are taking precautions to avoid, our lives actually revolve around those precautions. ‘Be Alert’ is such nonsense because in practice the virus itself is secondary. Its all about social distancing and washing our hands. ‘Be Attentive’ might make more sense except we still have to figure out what in particular we are being attentive to. “Stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives” was perfect, not because its explicit in its instructions but because it perfectly encapsulates our priorities.

What’s particularly concerning is how casually the initial phrase was dropped because the government was adjusting its policy and that is reflected in the fact that safety and provision was not considered before the call to ease the lockdown. Being cynical, the plan could well have been to shake us up because we had been to compliant when the lockdown was called. We too readily took the economic impact ‘on the chin’ in favour of public safety and that didn’t play well with the ethos of our current government who systematically put profit before people.

The plain truth is that if you present money, freedom or pleasure to society you will not be short of customers but such incentives don’t make for social cohesion. Margaret Thatcher gave us personal ownership of the utilities and council houses (which the nation owned in the first place) on the basis of advancing personal agency against state control. The result was most council houses being transferred from common ownership to private landlords and UK state ownership of the utilities being transferred to other nation states. We didn’t so much bite her hand off as mangle our own. Given the freedom to do so we worked against our own best interests as a society.

For all intents and purposes society as a whole behaves like a reception class. We want to play, eat sweets and receive gifts but we crave order, security and love. What those in power want is to give us a sugar rush, lead us to believe we are getting our own way but to know our place. Children instinctively know where their best interests lie. They might play one grownup off against the other to get the best deal but they will always gravitate to the one who makes them feel safe and loved rather than the one who treats them most. Given the stark reality that the lockdown was going to have a profound economic we still chose safety. Its not rocket science.

As a graphic designer I learned that constraints are not only useful in knowing the boundaries but also inspire creativity, much the same as necessity gives birth to invention. Freedom is an illusion. Only when you understand the constraints can you be fully free. I fear that the current confusion over lockdown policy is a combination of social engineering and incompetence. That makes for a toxic mix. What is comforting is the alliance between the different teaching unions and the BMA, speaking clearly, intelligently and with one voice.

Someone had to play the grownup