Covidiplomacy 050821

 

            I'm struggling with the ground-swell of opposition to government mandated restrictions put in place to stifle the spike in COVID-19 infections. I understand people's reluctance in complying with measures that are at the very least inconvenient and at most financially crippling. Not to mention the level of stress associated with a wholesale societal change that tinkers with the mental health of all affected.

            A huge portion of the population seems to consider being infected with COVID-19 as being a lower risk than the economic consequences stemming from the virus. Another significant portion is convinced that the threat of the virus is just a ploy to allow governments to assume control and that they will never relinquish that control. Yet another portion considers those of us who comply with Public Health orders and criticize those who don't to be mindless sheep eager to be herded to our doom.

            My struggle is one of absolute bewilderment. I'm bewildered at those around me who deny that Covid-19 is serious at all. I'm bewildered at otherwise intelligent people descending into conspiratorial sewers and wallowing in pseudo-scientific slime that has zero credibility and holding it up stating that this shit doesn't stink. I'm bewildered by so-called doctors who take to social media for a moment's exposure and trot out their anecdotal theories for all to see without regard to their profession's reputation. I'm bewildered by Facebook famous provocateurs who publicly defy orders and hold mass demonstrations to polish their own soap boxes when in fact those same orders are in place to foster an environment where a return to normalcy might come sooner than later and actually allow gatherings and economic recovery. I'm bewildered at how the distinction between those who believe in the seriousness of the virus and those who don't are very much aligned with people's political affiliations. As a Conservative, I'm ashamed at how many of those right-of-center friends are behaving.

            I'm willing to admit having a great amount of privilege in this debate. My livelihood relies on agriculture - an essential component of the economy according to the criteria that defines such things. My paying job is a combination of trucking - another essential service - and agriculture, as I primarily transport ag commodities. My pocket book has not been adversely affected by the restrictions. I have no children in school and my retail and supply needs are still operating for the most part. I do not travel or vacation, and I have a very small personal cohort. That said, my job requires some interaction with the public and the measures to facilitate that are easily performed. I also have the luxury of living in an area with a relatively low incidence of infection and a large amount of space. I've also received one dose of Covid vaccine which I consider to be vitally important in the race to get around the pandemic. I am aware that much of that privilege might evaporate should the virus rage large enough to disrupt ag commodity supply and processing chains. Ag products need to have unimpeded movement and processing disruptions cause backlogs and supply issues that ripple right through the food industry. We witnessed that for a time when meat packing houses were shuttered during the early months of the pandemic.

            That aside, the next biggest skin I have in this game is related to my family members. Someone dear to me has been waiting for double knee replacement for over two years. Her surgery has been delayed time and again as new Covid waves occur. Another family member works in the service and hospitality industry and has had many disruptions as those same waves ebb and flow. Fortunately he also has other employment but at a reduced rate as his employer copes with the impact on the economy. He also has a daughter in school who is coping with the on again/off again in-person/virtual schooling and all of the challenges associated with that. She's a resilient young lady and she's learned to make the best of her social needs and can participate in modified extra curricular activities. Her mental state seems to be fine but she wishes this whole thing was over so she can freely interact with her friends.

            The biggest impact is with a related senior. As a senior living in a group facility, she has been restricted the most. One of those "most vulnerable" members of society, she has been denied the most liberty of us all. Many of the restrictions placed on these facilities are justified; the vast majority of mortalities occurred in her demographic. It makes sense to be very careful but not all of that care makes sense. She is allowed minimal contact with designated people while, at the same time, the attending staff and administration personnel in her facility is not encumbered by any extraordinary restrictions. She can have a designated visitor in her small room but cannot visit us in our home where we've had very few visitors at all. She's fearful of disclosing the smallest of health symptoms lest she be locked in her room for a quarantine period. The state of mental health in the building is very much depressed as people yearn for personal contact with loved ones or the liberty to get out and socialize or travel. It's for her that I feel the most sadness.

            So there's my position. A combination of bewilderment, privilege, and sadness. Whether or not that gives me any authority to say much about what is going on in my community, my circle of acquaintances, friends, and family, or my province is up to you to decide.

            I'll humbly flex a bit of my intelligence with the qualifier that it's based on the same sources of information where those conspiratorial sewers exist. I rely on information from qualified accredited sources. If that information is challenged and stands up to professional scrutiny, I'll add it to my personal database. If it fails that scrutiny, I'll discard it and willingly admit its weakness. My filter has a pretty small mesh and I've spent hours trying to confirm something that interests me and have had to abandon it because it just didn't hold up. I'll admit some bias but I strive to find counter information that challenges that bias. That said, I'll also admit that I've discovered that the more information I gather, the less I know for sure. I don't pretend to call what I do "research". I'm not qualified to call myself an authority just because I've spent hours reading.

            But I do recognize those who have fallen victim to their conformational biases and refuse to budge from their positions. They'll be the first to accuse me of not thinking critically while wrapping themselves in a cloak of misinformation that keeps them warm. I'm naturally skeptical which drives me to find root truths and discover mistruths. Much of the noise being created today doesn't come from skeptics or critical thinkers, it comes from cynics. There's a fine line between the two and it's defined by contempt. Critical thinking explores what's wrong with a difficult concept that makes it plausible or implausible. Cynicism focuses on why it must be someone's selfish or ulterior motive to make the concept difficult and therefore there is no plausible outcome. Cynicism dissolves into contempt and intolerance and gathers mass quickly.

            Witness the societal happenings over the last couple of years. What started as critical and well meaning movements surrounding race quickly devolved into riots and disruptions that had very little to do with the initial mission of the movement. Political campaigns have become cynical studies where polarized camps lob hatred and vitriol at each other without a shred of regard for the issues that matter or the democratic process. The Covid-19 pandemic that saw us all "in it together" has dissolved into another demonstration of rabid cynicism. Fact and science has been shouted down by legions of nay-sayers waving their "found this on YouTube evidence" that we're all being lied to, masks don't work, and the vaccine is an insidious tool to forward a Globalist agenda.

            More recently we're seeing that cynicism rear its head and challenge the basic rule of law. The portions of the Public Health Acts that govern emergency situations are written in to make sure that there is authority to enforce unpleasant restrictions. They were put in to ensure that wanton disregard for measures to protect public health would be met with severe consequence. It's nothing new and it was a necessary component. The authors of those acts knew that there would be resistance. They knew that imposing hardships on the population would result in pushback. They knew that people wouldn't be happy with limitations on civil liberties guaranteed in other formative documents.

            In the 60's a psychologist named Jack W. Brehm posited that people would be motivated to reassert freedoms they previously enjoyed if those freedoms were threatened or eliminated. It's a bit of reverse psychology or psychological reactance as some behaviorists call it. If people are threatened or told to do something often enough, they'll do quite the opposite. Particularly if they're cynical and that cynicism has resulted in rampant mistrust.

            People are more likely to comply with efforts to change public behaviors if they trust those requesting those changes. Even if that compliance requires personal sacrifice. The suspicious, the conspiratorial, and the cynical are far more reluctant to sacrifice and consider themselves as being disempowered and aggrieved. Hence the non compliance. And hence the propagation of that mistrust.

            As I've said, I'm among those who have considerable privilege and compliance doesn't interfere with much of my day-to-day. But I'm seeing gathered throngs of people with like privileges pretending they're being oppressed and assuming to speak for people who are truly suffering. They're spitting in the faces of those who recognize the need to be prudent and cautious so that we don't spread infections and promote variant strains of the virus. They're slapping the faces of medical personnel who are doing heroic duty trying to keep people alive who've contracted serious illness. They're insulting the families of those who've died a terrible death often quite alone. They're facilitating a culture of non-compliance that leads to increased infections, greater chance of variant mutation, overloading of intensive care resources, delay of my loved one's knee surgery, financial hardship for the bartender and car dealership accountant, psychological disruption for the twelve year old who would like to go to her favorite teacher's class and learn with her friends, and spirit crushing sadness for that senior who just wants to play cards with her friends, go for a drive or go shopping, and hug her great-great grandchildren without worrying they or she will get ill and die.

            You can argue that the Alberta Government has not done a good job of fostering trust among the population. But I'll argue that headstrong, cynical, misinformed, ignorant Albertans have done their best to manufacture reasons not to trust the Government.

            As all hatred seems to stem from ignorance, that culture of mistrust and cynicism has ignorance at its root. People under stress grasp at any lifeline. People look for the easy answers. It's easy to jump on the wagon with a mob and it doesn't take long to learn the words to the song they're singing.

            Yes, there's hardship. Yes, there are liberties being stifled. Yes, it's going to be tremendously expensive. Yes, there are those genuinely suffering.

 

            So, this to those who are flaunting the rules:

            While you're in that crowd marching for freedom, or watching that protest rodeo, in a gathered church congregation, or sitting in that rogue café eating dinner, or simply ignoring a mask bylaw, you're disrespecting that hardship. You're promoting the culture that ensures liberties might be stifled for a lot longer. You're delaying a recovery that will begin to pay those bills. And you're prolonging the suffering. Perhaps you've spread an infection that might kill someone.

            If you find that unreasonable or offensive, you have to know that I'm not stating that from a place of contempt. I'm coming from that place where I spent hours looking at sets of data, graphs, and statistics, professional and layman interpretations of that data, and studies trying to divine why it is you're behaving like you are and I'm behaving like I am. I've learned that there are unreasonable positions on both sides. The reasonable are struggling quietly in the middle.

            The reasonable are still looking at what to do to bring us back to where "we're all in this together". They're trying to discover motives that might change the character of the debate. They're scrambling to communicate the long term benefits of virus control. They very much want to de-politicize the responses and discussions.

            It's unfortunate that it has come to a place where people are being arrested. I'm struggling with my reactions to that. I should feel some empathy and understanding for those who are demonstrating for their causes because our Constitution allows for peaceful protest. But I do not. I regard these people as simple lawbreakers. If they are wilfully defying the rule of law, there should be consequences. There has to be action to quell that ground-swell of civil disobedience before it becomes unruly and violent. The rule of the mob will dismantle our system if it is allowed to propagate. If defiance becomes acceptable it will become the norm. Our laws will become meaningless and our society will become a dangerous place. Again, the emergency Public Health orders allow for exceptional action to protect the public. Those orders are frightening and they must be rescinded the moment that the health threat is gone.

            I just want to move about without worrying about catching Covid 19 or giving it to someone else. I want to hug my grand-daughter and mother-in-law. I want to sit around the barbecue with friends and talk about anything but the damned pandemic. I want to be able to ask someone to help out on our ranch without putting them at unnecessary risk so that they might not be able to go to their own job or be a hazard to their loved ones. I want to go through at least one day without being angry or disappointed that people think they're above the law and somehow immune from the consequences of their actions or immune from what they regard as just another flu just because they ate dirt as a kid.

            As much as I'm disappointed and angry about the cynical actions and statements of friends, family, community members and other people who won't budge from their fortified positions, I'm hopeful that there will be some sort of solution that offers the motivation to move cynicism out of the argument and begin a healing.