In the opening scene of the modern science fiction classic, Independance Day, R.E.M's Michael Stipe declairs over the airwaves, "It's the end of the world as we know it". There are events, moments in history that leave an indelible mark, perhaps even shaping the future, changing the direction of a culture, technology and our very escence, our spirituality. I have been toying with the idea of attempting to write a dystopian novel, inspired by the events of recent days and weeks and the fine tradition of dystopianism exemplified George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. I'm not sure if I'll go ahead but the very concept has forced me to examine the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak and how society is tackling it, along with the technology employed to allow our society to continue to function.
Any anthropoligist will tell you, we are social animals, yes, there are loners, those that would rather keep their own company, but on the whole it's not just for convenience that we live in these social groups that we call families, villages, towns and cities. We are now facing a very rare situation, for the first time since 1918 the entire world is facing a threat that knows no national boundries, no ideology and respects no colour, creed, race or religion. During the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918 mistakes were made, decisions like the the one made in Philadelphia to go ahead with the Liberty Loan parade, which raised millions of dollars in war bonds but resulted in the city's hospitals being overwhelmed within 72 hours and 2600 being dead by the end of that week. Today we face similar decisions, we need to balance 3 main elements and our elected representatives have got their hands full and shoulders weighed down with the responsibility of keeping the world safe whilst maintaining a functioning society and protecting the economic interests of us all, to ensure that there is something to come back to when this storm is finally over.
So where does this leave us? Every country around the world is acting in what they believe to be the best interests of their residents and citizens, and it's important to recognise that no one knows 100% what the best solutions and measures are, indeed there is no "one size fits all" pre-packaged "How to..." Corona prepairedness kit, each society is at a different stage in the outbreak, each country has a unique infrastructure and each population has varying dispersal patterns. However, there are some common measures being employed in all societies around the developed world right now, namely, social distancing, self isolation, working from home and now we are starting to see various forms of rationing coming into play, something not seen in the UK since shortly after the end of the second world war. It seems that we really are on a war-time footing.
Governments around the world are investing huge amounts of money, not only in terms of resources to fight the pandemic but also in terms of support of individuals and businesses. Commentators have observed that Borris Johnson's right wing Conservative government, in the UK, will probably end up employing most of the election promises made by Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party in their socialist manifesto. With airlines and rail industries apealing to governments for economic assiatnce, it has been said that we might well be witnessing the death of capitalism, at least in it's curent form.
I don't know what the best solutions are for each country, indeed even the World Health Organisation can only give general guidlines, given the different needs and resources avaiable in each country, and I do worry about so called third world countries, that have neither the resources available to combat the situation, nor the communication channels or the education systems avaiblable to help their people understand the dangers and what they can do to mittigate them. I do know that, when this is all over, when we start to see light at the end of the tunnel and can return to our normal lives, we probably won't recognise the world we return to, that world will be gone: Businesses will have learned and habitualised new practices, many will realise that working from home is not only cheaper, it endemnifies them from future contageous outbreaks, that need not be as serious as the one we are curently experiencing, billions of pounds/dollars/euros/kroner are lost each year to seasonal flu. Many business meetings will happen through video conferancing, once this has become normalised, how many will return to international face to face, even national face to face business meetings that are so expensive, both in terms of time and money? We are learning a distrust, yes many of us are embracing the concept of socia responsibility, protecting the weak and vulnerable, but we're doing so by isolating ourselves and them alike, and whilst we mitigate this by means of social media, there is no substitute for human contact, the act of spending time together. Over the last decade or so, the concept of mail order, more recently internet shopping, has exploded to levels never seen before, the convenience of shopping from our livingrooms has been irresistable, especially with next day delivery and extremely cheap imports direct from manufactures becoming a reality, an industry which I am personally involved in, an industry that has seen significant and measurable growth just over the last 2 weeks. Will we ever return to shopping on the high street? Finally, despite a good number of people with good and noble intentions, we see a society being driven by insecurity and fear, something that has driven the phenomenon of panic buying that we are now seeing, an emotional state that breeds selfishness and mistrust, leaves people fighting over goods that are normally plentiful, and a cultivates an environment of "every man for himself" where we drop the frequent and often sociable visits to our local shops in favour of hoarding and staying at home as much as possible. Japan has previously identified falling birth rates, due to the younger generations social inhibitions brought about by a social media culture, with interpersonal skills being lost to the digital deity that rules our lives, I suspect that the rest of the developed world may find itself heading in the same direction.
Ultimately I am in no doubt that we will come through this emmergency with some form of society in tact, though probalbly not the society we all knew just a few weeks ago, but what scares me most in all of this is how this outlines a clear blue-print for the conscience-lacking religeous extremists to create far more damage and chaos in a world that they demonstrably despise, far more effectively and potentially requiring fewer resources to put in to action, than any paramilitary campaign. I just pray to my God, and any other that will listen, that we learn enough through this process to be prepared for the next time this happens, as it innevitably will, whether in the near future or not, history shows us that it will happen again. We need to be ready!
But oddly enough, I feel fine, yes, I'm concened but I have faith that we are resiliant enough to make it through this and I have faith in my fellow man to recognise their mistakes and to make amends, to make society work again, whatever form it takes. Now is the time to come together, if not literally, and work for a better future, let's use this disater as an oportunity to dismiss the "I'm alright Jack" tendancies of the 95%/5% society and embrace the opportunity to develope a caring, compasionate society. Let us be inspired by the British blitz spirit and face down this common enemy with the determination and unity that only the human race is capable of.
I recommend this TED talk from 2015 by Bill Gates:
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