Peter Shokeir | [email protected]
Here鈥檚 a controversial opinion: the government has been fairly reasonable with its COVID-19 restrictions, and most people have been good at following them.
There are a hundred caveats to this opinion, of course.
The authorities have not always handled the virus well, such as the ill-conceived quarantine hotels and the massive amount of public spending, much of this due to how unprepared society was for a pandemic.
Then there are those who harass health-care workers and refuse to get vaccinated, largely because of misinformation and a libertarian attitude taken to such an extreme that it becomes a vice.
And yet, most people are willing to adhere to mask mandates, albeit with their noses sometimes sticking out, with only the occasional fool going viral with their public meltdown.
Political polarization already existed pre-pandemic, and when the virus initially showed up, it actually helped bring people together, at least for a time, facts that should be kept in mind whenever commenting on how divided people are over COVID.
Most people have learned to work within the current restrictions, limited in-person gatherings and postponed their vacations.
For every act of meanness that circulates over social media, there are likely dozens of mundane acts of kindness that never get mentioned.
In terms of government response, I鈥檓 skeptical of the Chicken Little rhetoric about how 鈥渃ommunism鈥� is upon us, but I do think we鈥檒l be stuck with the hanover of health restrictions for years to come, much like how we鈥檙e still living with post-9/11 security measures.
Others will criticize the apathy of the Kenney government, or perhaps they will share a link to a supposedly disturbing video from Australia, but Western governments have overall been cognizant of the need for a balanced approach.
Even the vaccine mandates in Canada could have been a lot harsher, although it does raise some interesting questions about what could come next. Do we mandate booster shots? What about other vaccines? Will this forever change the concept of medical autonomy?
Personally, I鈥檇 prefer a world where societies relied more on education instead of coercion.
Too bad education takes time and resources, and coercion is often seen as a useful expedient rather than an ugly necessity at best.
All this is not to deny the damage that COVID itself has done to society.
But in terms of how people are behaving in the face of this crisis, there is a lot more to be pleased with than we often think.
