People willingly surrender their freedom

Former UK Supreme Court judge Lord Jonathan Sumption (BBC Radio 4 interview March 30):

‘The real problem is that when human societies lose their freedom, it’s not usually because tyrants have taken it away. It’s usually because people willingly surrender their freedom in return for protection against some external threat. And the threat is usually a real threat but usually exaggerated. That’s what I fear we are seeing now. The pressure on politicians has come from the public. They want action. They don’t pause to ask whether the action will work. They don’t ask themselves whether the cost will be worth paying. They want action anyway. And anyone who has studied history will recognise here the classic symptoms of collective hysteria.’
When there's a pandemic everyone jumps into their stasis chamber and waits in suspended animation until the problem is resolved by a crack team of specialists. Everyone is then reanimated and everything begins again. No depression, no production, no consumption, all hunky dory.