JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY WEIGHS IN

On April 27, 1961, John F Kennedy made a speech The President And The Press: Address Before The American Newspaper Publishers Association . Many points he made then resonate now. Today, our undeclared war is with an Invisible enemy whose practice is “infiltration instead of invasions”.

The influence of the media has increased dramatically, especially as an instrument of change. As such, the responsibly for ethics and morality in journalism has, as well. And this despite the enduring proliferation of false news by those who would twist the truth for their own anti-social agendas. Through our experience we see that every story has different sides and depending on the angle given, will trigger different emotions and reactions.

We see now how the concentration of news on corona-virus only, disregarding other threats sometimes more vicious, and most importantly not giving enough accent on solutions, brought a distortion of reality and one might argue in a way was counterproductive.

One might think how induced fear, hopelesness and losing control will help. Seems like in recent months the world-wide strategy was to put it simply “Make ’em scared so much, they will stay at home” with giving no other option.

Looking at the experience of rare countries that dared take their own approach to fighting this pandemic, we could ask if lockdowns actually work. Millions people are suffering from other illnesses, including those with symptoms similar to C-1. But somehow – and one might say unfairly — it got all the attention. Just a few headlines: ‘Calamitous’: Domestic Violence Set To Soar By 20% During Global Lockdown, Ease Lockdown, Let Other Critical Patients Get Treatment: Hospitals, Economy Suffered Record Collapse In Activity Even Before Virus Lockdown.

I’m not even going here to mention statistics on other diseases. One can find it on their own and see how unfair and incomparable the numbers to not let people receive their treatment on lockdown terms.

Seeing that inconsistency. protests were pretty the expected outcome: Brazil’s Bolsonaro Joins Protest Against Stay-At-Home Orders, Hundreds Rally Against Coronavirus Lockdown In Southern Russia, Dozens Arrested In Anti-COVID-19 Lockdown Protest In Germany, Ukrainian Businessmen Demand Easing Of Lockdown And Government Support

Is it time to realize that total lockdowns are even more disastrous then the cause? How valid is this approach then? Perhaps easing it depending on regional circumstances, like how you are doing it in America makes much more sense, as local administrations see the risks and understand people’s attitudes better. The mayor of the Ukrainian Cherkasy oblast was the first in my country who decided to take the risk using legislation which gives local authorities control over decentralization. Check: Scoop Of The Day: Cherkasy Jumps The Gun By Easing Lockdown.

One might think that if the numbers are greater in our capital, Kyiv, social distancing and other restrictive measures there should be taken more seriously. However, in places like Cherkassy, where they are lower, different measures should obviously be taken. One size clearly does not fit all, here or in any other European country, especially when people see the example of neighbouring (and lockdown free) Belarus, where despite of all international and domestic fears to the contrary is stable and probably the best in Europe.

In conclusion I want to quote again from President Kennedy’s speech.

“It was early in the Seventeenth Century that Francis Bacon remarked on three recent inventions already transforming the world: the compass, gunpowder and the printing press. Now the links between the nations first forged by the compass have made us all citizens of the world, the hopes and threats of one becoming the hopes and threats of us all. In that one world’s efforts to live together, the evolution of gunpowder to its ultimate limit has warned mankind of the terrible consequences of failure. And so it is to the printing press–to the recorder of man’s deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news–that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent.”