Pandemic of irrationality
Why are so many listening to conspiracy theorists rather than scientists?
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I am reading a steady stream of pieces stating with absolute certainty that the rise in Covid-19 cases in Britain is a statistical mirage.
The rise “doesn’t take account of false positives” or “increased testing”; it is “not producing any increase in serious illness or deaths”; and Boris Johnson’s latest restrictions are therefore not only completely unnecessary but will recklessly destroy the economy for no good reason. The Covid-19 emergency is all but over.
Yet here I am in Israel watching a catastrophe unfold as deaths from Covid-19 have quadrupled since restrictions were eased in May, with the number of deaths rising every day along with the infection rate which is now more than a hitherto unthinkable 8500 and with the hospitals calling for help as they reach capacity in their Covid wards. Seems to me that, as things currently stand, Britain is just a few weeks behind this nightmare; indeed, the number of hospitalised cases and deaths is reportedly beginning to rise.
I read that in London yesterday, thousands of people demonstrated against lockdowns, mandatory wearing of face masks and other coronavirus restrictions. I read that among the speakers they flocked to hear and to whom they listened so appreciatively were David Icke and Piers Corbyn.
What on earth have we all come to when thousands of people flock to listen to David Icke and Piers Corbyn?!
Icke is a conspiracy theorist who claims he is the son of God and that the world is run by reptiles. Corbyn, a noted eccentric, has claimed there isn’t a Covid-19 virus at all.
At the rally, Icke called on people to take off their masks and embrace freedom. He urged police forces and militaries around the world to take the side of the people rather than “psychopathic” governments:
We will not hand control of our lives and our children’s lives to people like the UK health secretary Matt Hancock; a man who if his brains were gunpowder would not blow his hat off.
Referring to the prime minister, Boris Johnson, and the chief scientific officer, Sir Patrick Vallance, among others, he added:
Where is the self-respect in giving our lives to such people and doing whatever they tell us? Enough, no more.
Opined Corbyn:
There is no justification in any terms for the lockdowns and the Covid rules, they are a complete hoax… Masking is mad, it’s like asking a fly to not fly through a fence, it’s stupid. And we know that distancing is daft because you need to get close to people and hug them to improve your immune systems and feel happy.
I have no brief for Matt Hancock, and am prepared to listen to reasoned argument that the government’s chief scientist is wrong; and there’s no question but that these restrictions are inflicting terrible damage on the economy; and the government has undoubtedly made serious errors, and continues to make them, in trying to tackle the virus crisis. But do thousands of apparently otherwise sensible people really prefer to place their faith in David Icke and Piers Corbyn?
I’m reading over and over again that people are panicking unnecessarily, that they have been “terrified out of their wits” by people like chief scientist Vallance and chief medical officer Chris Whitty.
Those making this charge claim to have heard the same kind of thing before in the Remainers’ apocalyptic “project fear” scaremongering during the EU referendum campaign.
But aren’t they now treating the public as imbeciles unable to process information and evidence precisely as the Remainers did?
But then hey, what are Vallance and Witty compared to the stellar authority of Piers Corbyn and David Icke?
