RE: COVID-19: Liberty vs. Safety and Security
There are so many parameters that need to be reflected on when considering the response to Covid-19. The rate of infection, the different virus strains, the climate, the density of the population, the demographics of the population, the pollution. They all have an impact on how quickly the virus spreads and how deadly it is.
For example, the North of Italy is one of the most polluted areas in the world and also the strain of the virus in Europe may be more deadly than other areas.
Eastern Europe can push draconian government policies on to the people easier than the can in the West and have such been more effective than controlling the virus.
I do agree that some reactions have been too severe and perhaps others too little. They also have changed a lot over time. The UK started off very lenient compared to other European countries but has since found itself at with the highest overall death rate. It has now become a lot more cautious.
The fact is, they didn't know. They were all shooting in the dark and making up policies based on various hypothetical scientific models. No one knew the answer and there is still so much they don't know.
However, it is real. I live in a big polluted European city and not far from a major hospital. It is a bit better now but for the last few weeks, I have been hearing ambulances day and night. Usually, I might here police sirens but never anything like this with so many ambulances.
Your article seems to suggest a secret plan to restrict our freedom and impose this upon us. I don't see the evidence for that. First, I think there are too many people involved to keep anything this big a secret.
Secondly, though, I think the evidence shows that governments have been incompetent, out of their depth and shooting in the dark. They appear to be along way from any organised and deliberate ploy.
Just my thoughts though. I did find your article very informative and interesting.
I also agree with the points from @crypto.piotr the problem is real and exists. I too have a survival instinct. I don't pay too much attention to the government but do what I feel is right for the survival of my family and myself.
The government responses are perhaps an overreaction. We will only know that though for sure when we look back. It will be easy to criticise then as hindsight gives us 20/20 vision. It is difficult to make good decisions now when there isn't the right information available.
Thanks for dropping by and sharing your thoughts with us @awah
I agree with you on that. I think there is so many powers, with different agendas and goals. Surely not working together, but often against each other.
Seriously - amazing feedback
Yours, Piotr
Up before 🌄 (here) @awah, I appreciate you providing your view from somewhere in Europe. We can agree it is a very complicated issue facing us all. In an earlier post on COVID-19, I likened it to a "perfect storm," due the parallels I see between that great movie and what we all now face.
The point being when faced with death and fear of it, much is suddenly acceptable which previously had not. On the promise of safety and security … While I have my concerns about the accuracy of reporting on the seriousness of the threat to us all, as stated in this post, let’s accept the worst-case scenario. The “solution” provided is not viable. And it most certainly is not sustainable.
As in war, people are faced with extraordinarily difficult choices. They have no choice but to get through it as seems best to them, under the “war is hell” reality which they cannot escape …
I have no knowledge of a secret plan. I do, however, seriously question why "we" (collectively) chosen to address this threat in this way. Pandemics are not new. "Locking down" a good portion of the world, in response to it, is. Why?
Whatever the answer, we already experiencing the damage done to our economy and the supply chains upon which we are so dependent. And we are only just in the very beginning of whatever is coming …
If a little humor helps, here is what making its way around FaceBook:
I'll close with simply recapping the way I ended my post. Saying I will be happy to be proven wrong. An engineer by education and profession, I have spent my long life with this mindset - "prepare for the worst, hope for the best."
Thank you for investing your time in adding value to this post!
What I find surprising is how we have behaved so differently to previous epidemics in history. Perhaps 1918 is too far back to comment but I was speaking to someone the other day who got married at the time of the 1968 pandemic which reportedly cause 25-50 million deaths. We are nowhere near in the league of that at the moment. Yet in 1968, which is within living memory for so many, there was hardly any social reaction. Yes, people became ill but there was none of the huge business shut down and the economy grinding to the halt. The person I spoke to can hardly remember the event.
So I see, we have either
I can't quite work out where the truth lies in the above possibilities.
Yes, exactly reinforcing ...
... what the core question is to me @awah. Why are we responding to this pandemic differently than in the past? I don't think a valid argument can be made this response historically was ever even seriously contemplated, since it was explicitly understood it was simply not viable. And most certainly not (as we enter Week 8) sustainable ...
Yet here we are!?
Assuming like me here in America, they didn't ask your opinion (😉) "over there" about the "solution" either, we are going to live through the consequences of what has been decided for us. I can hardly wait (being facetious ...) to find out what the "new normal" is going to be in the "post COVID" world ...
We, as in the general population, are easily manipulated by the media. We accept what we are told without too much questioning and the horrific pictures of Italy where enough to put the rest of Europe and the US into a panic. The people easily accepted any lockdown.
I do believe @roleerob that we should be really careful about believing the media as it is easy to exaggerate the truth. I can show an empty city street during lockdown the paints of picture of an empty city but seconds later there were 5 cars driving by that are now out of shot. The media created a panic in the people to the extent that some people are crying with the thought of having to leave their homes again.
At the same time, the governments have been shooting in the dark. You are right, where I am in Europe, we were not asked our opinion but we did follow regardless. The government seem too worried about the public opinion which is why the Eastern European countries did better, they took decisive action.
The "new normal" is going to be interesting to see.
Not knowing anything about your background or the country in which you live @awah, I can tell you as an American, it saddens me to see how docilely my countrymen accepted these "guidelines."
While no scholarly expert, I have spent a considerable amount of time reading through the early history of my country - the colonial era, the Revolutionary War, and the early years after the creation of the U. S. Constitution. If there are any Americans today with the character, intellect, and wisdom of our Founding Fathers, I am unaware of them.
As an older man, it grieves me less to think of what is coming for my wife and I, than it is to consider what the future will be for my children and grandchildren. There is a famous saying rendered in different ways which says - "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it". Man seems eternally challenged to be faced with tyranny in all of its forms. I wonder if we are not about to endure "another round" ...
This is a good point. The lasting effects of the measures we have taken may impact us for decades. I too fear as to what it means for my children. What is the legacy we will have left for them?
We all need to ensure any attack on our freedom and privacy are temporary. We need to educate people as they don't see the danger.
We also need a combined spirit to rebuild similar to what we saw with the economic and technological boom after the second World War. It requires a compelling vision and strong leadership.
"Back in" for a bit @awah, thank you for this reply. Our legacy indeed ...
As an American, I was raised to believe "we the people" were the source of the power from which the State derives its authority to rule over us. We do not exist to serve the State. The State exists to serve us. Sadly, due to a steady decline (long, long arguments to be made here ...), far too many of my countrymen have lost the will to hold our governing officials accountable.
No surprise then, a deeply entrenched "ruling class" now has our fate in its hands ...
P.S. I am a part-time engager on these blockchains, so patience at times is needed, if waiting for a response ... 🙂
Hi @roleerob
I think the problem is that we are in an age where people just don't care. They are consumed by reality TV and social media. They have lost interest in what is happening around them as long as it doesn't interrupt the bubble they live in.
This is a great shame as, like you, I live in a country that has battled for years to progressively make society freer, more representative and to uphold rights. In my country, this goes back centuries to the battle between the Roundheads and Cavaliers.
When people don't care, it is easy to be walked all over. They don't even realise what is happening to them.
Don't worry, me too. I have a busy life outside blockchain. It has been good discussing with you though @roleerob