It is always interesting to read my "friends"
comments on Facebook. Like most people,
I assume, I have a range of friends, some of whom lean to the far left and a
few who are in the middle of the political spectrum with a tinge of the right
in them. What I am surprised about is how many of them are conspiracy nuts. To
be fair, it may be just that those who like to lose themselves in the ever
tangled web of "somebody is against us" thread of news are posting
more than anyone else.
It is really dangerous stuff. Anti-vaxers, anti-government near
anarchists, alternative medicines types and those who are anti-anyone who have
lots of money are combining into an unwholesome mess of, at best, useless
rhetoric and at worst dangerous rumour mongering designed to disrupt any
rational conversation. I am not sure if those who originally envisioned the
internet ever foresaw that it would become, instead of a free platform of useful
information, a vehicle by which people could distribute so much wrong
information.
I find it particularly disturbing to see people who declare
themselves to be trained scientists to declare that the whole virus thing is a
bit of a hoax, part of a maniacal plot to take over the world, or at the very
least take billions of government funds because they will own the vaccine that
we will all be compelled to use. Some of these reports and/or videos are well
written and produced. They are polished, professionally produced items. It is
difficult to know if their degrees are legitimate or if any of their stated
work experiences are valid. There are some who have a long history of being
opposed to what is referred to as "western medicine" and see the
current outbreak as proof as to how wrong we have all been. These people are
dangerous not just because what they say may be completely wrong but because
they offer easy answers to solve a complex problem. They allow a person to
blame someone or an institution for creating the problem which means that if
you stop the person - you stop the problem. It is not that simple, we all have
some responsibility in stopping the spread of COVID-19.
Yesterday there were a few comments about governments,
specifically Ontario's provincial government suggestion that people should not
go for a pleasure drive in their car. Others have questioned why provincial
parks and even some walking trails have been closed. There are those who are
furious that any government would attempt to limit the natural right of a
citizen to enjoy the outdoors. All of those decisions, unfortunately, feed into
the paranoia of those who are convinced that the government does not have their
best interest at heart.
If one reads the government's logic (I admit that sometimes
the government's definition of logic and mine are some distance apart), it is
not that they are banning all pleasure drives, it is just that they are
concerned that people, while on their drive - will stop and visit someone.
There is a very real concern that while most of us have been fairly careful
about social distancing, it is difficult to maintain such discipline for an extended
period. Parks etc are closed because people were unable to self-regulate. It
appears as if the government does not trust all of us to always do the right
thing all of the time.
Unfortunately, I think the government may be right.
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