Coronavirus, Covid-19, the Wuhan wheezer, novel-Covid virus, China flu, the Xi JinPlague. Whatever title is preferred today, the global pandemic, which resembles nothing of the sort. Has grasped the world in fear, yet we all sat back and watched as an overweight man in his mid 70’s, who self admittedly does not exercise and has a diet consisting of daily McDonalds and Diet Coke easily staved off the virus which has crippled economies, killed industry, stifled freedoms and is supposed to be the plague to end all plagues. And what were the words of the elderly gentleman upon his recovery? Well, President Donald Trump told us not to fear the virus, not to live in fear or be cow towed by the talking heads on the TV. Yet here in Blighty we trudge on into the never ending wilderness of government control.
‘Two weeks to flatten the curve’, we we’re all told over 6 months ago. Yet the idiocy drags on, needlessly, endlessly into the thick fog of confusion and obscurity. The goalposts set in front of us have been moved so far they are no longer in the same field, the same county, indeed they are probably in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean by now. Every day there is a slow ‘drip drip’ of new rules and restrictions were expected to unquestionably follow. A quiet ‘chip chip’ away at our freedoms and liberties. A persisting ‘push push’ down on peoples will and positive demeanour. Soon cometh the loud clank of chains round our ankles and necks, followed by the silence shattering slam of metal doors in the face of dissenters, non-conformists and lovers of liberty.
But am I just being selfish? After all it’s not about me, which politicians and voices in media keep reminding us, lockdown is about…. well, saving lives? Controlling the virus? Public health? Other people? Or is it about protecting the glorious unquestionable sovereign lord of these isles, the NHS? It remains unclear the precise reason we continue this inept fanfare. All we know is precisely what it isn’t about, without being availed to the truth of what it really is all about. It’s certainly not about small business owners who are either struggling or have lost their life’s work and means of income. It’s not about people who have lost their jobs and are no longer able to support their families. It’s not about people in abusive relationships, who are told they cannot interact with anyone other than their abusive partners. It’s not about the elderly, imprisoned in care homes told they are allowed no physical contact with their loved ones. No it’s not about them, and it’s not about staving off the impending doom of recession, a tsunami upon which the water is yet to break. No no no, it’s not about that, it’s not about protecting mental health, condemning many to crippling isolation unable to socialise and do the little things that get them through a dark day. No, it’s not about those who’ve committed suicide due to the mental strain of lockdown and the constant fear being pushed my the media man. It’s definitely not about the increasing number of people, particularly children, getting bacterial lung, throat and mouth infections due to asinine regulations ordering us to put silly bits of cloth on our face. No no, not about them. It’s also not about the children who’ve lost months of education, the A-level students who had to endure weeks of stress and u-turns waiting to get their ‘results’, no it isn’t about them. It’s not about university students paying £9,000 a year for video conferencing sessions, or the students under house arrest in their dorms. And it’s most certainly not about people with cancer, who’ve missed diagnosis’s had operations and treatment delayed, people who have been wholly condemned to sit aside and wait out their final months, weeks and days with no hope of help from the glorious National Health Service. When will this perplexing, hexing, vexing mess cease?
What is it about? Really, it’s certainly not about saving lives, protecting the NHS? Goodness me, that over-swelled tax burden is supposed to protect us not vice verca. Controlling the virus? I weep at the idiocy of such a statement, it really does ooze the ‘holier than thou’ arrogance of 21st century liberalism. How on earth are we supposed to control a microorganism that has already spread the world over. I suppose if we all sealed ourselves into bubbles with private oxygen supplies, would indeed ‘control’ the virus, or would we be merely controlling ourselves? Because the answer to ‘why?’ does lie in the hollow slogan ‘Control the Virus’. The only thing this is about is Control. Control of society, Control of an individuals private affairs and more overbearing Control of the nation its self.
Do not regret
Never forget
Ignorance is knowledge, war is peace
Till we all cry, Sic Semper Tyrannys
© Joshua Dalton 2020
The Goodnight Vienna Audio file