It is complete paradox.
The government has to be seen to be taking action to contain and mitigate the effects of the virus but by threatening the NHS, closing the borders, destroying the economy and getting rid of the old, the sick, the poor and ethnic minorities, the virus is actually fulfilling policy aims and delivering on manifesto pledges.
Do we actually need the government any more? We could get, "what we voted for", by letting covid-19 run the country.
I agree with the sense of both your comments - but I think that something deeper underlies all this. Without being too wordy about it, we have 2 schools of thought that are fundamentally incompatible. Science is a quest which owes everything to what has gone before, standing on the "Shoulders of Giants", and accepts that all knowledge is subject to review, error, discovery and change. Thus the mind set of every scientist is, or should be humility and willingness to change their mind on better evidence and understanding.
The politician and the journalist are good for each other, because the adversarial atmosphere in which they thrive acts as a counterbalance, so sometimes they can be right. However, they are both "Gnostics" in the sense that they believe in their policies or perspectives as Fact and, despite what they say, they always think they know best and the other side is wrong. They tend not to do "humility" and never feel, as a sane scientist should, that a fair critic is your best ally. They are just plain "wrong".
The Yogi and the Commissar (1945) is a collection of essays of Arthur Koestler, exploring why people of belief [The Yogis] and people of objectivity [The Commissars] don't even speak the same language and their concepts are as mutually repellent as oil and water.
In his book "The Black Cloud" (1957) Astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle explores that same idea in his splendid science fiction romp. Still a good read.
Koestler is a bit heavier going!
You can spend the rest of your life trying to reconcile the two sides - good luck.
Roger
Edited by user
08 May 2020 10:22:01
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Reason: typo
RogerP
West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire
Everything taken together, here in Lincolnshire are more good things than man could have had the conscience to ask.
William Cobbett, in his Rural Rides - c.1830