CoVid, Conspiracy, Confusion

How the virus exposes the disintegration of our societies.

Finally, there’s a vaccine. What a relief — my routine-filled everyday life can resume its normal linear predictability amidst an ever-escalating social crisis, a widening rift between rich and poor, astonishing levels of distrust in public institutions and the strangulation of our atmosphere.

I’d almost forgotten the old ‘normal’.

But how privileged of me to hail this return to one year ago, when we had no idea. Self-isolation, bubbles, lockdowns, facemasks, social distancing, working from home… New concepts. Sometimes quite pleasant ones for those with a bit of money and a family. For others…. the negation of life itself.

It’s thrown us all into confusion — ‘it must be a hoax!’ some exclaimed, demanding ‘freedom’ and seeing all CoVid restrictions as the evil machinations of an unseen, predatory elite, hell-bent on seizing absolute control and destroying both democracy and its middle-class backbone.

‘Governments must act more decisively!’ others shouted, considering the hesitations of their regimes to implement a full lockdown as evidence that the capitalist machine of exploitation and profit-making would tolerate no obstacles.