Now that it is becoming clearer that the majority of Australians are willing to accept current scientific evidence, I feel that I can take a breath, and try to unravel what has been happening over the past 12 months. Mostly, I am now able to explain to myself, behaviour from people that I have found utterly incomprehensible during this worldwide catastrophe.
Like most of us, I have never really been involved in a collective upheaval this huge until now. There have been a lot of social and economic kerfuffles affecting Australia over the past 50 years, but nothing this widespread since World War II.
This unfamiliarity with global chaos and uncertainty must surely be one reason for the inexplicable behaviour that we have witnessed from people we know and like. Most of us will experience big, scary emotions when we’re faced with uncertainty. Hell, even I had a toilet paper moment at Woolies last year, and I’m not ashamed to say that I toyed with the idea of making sourdough bread at one point. I actually did buy ukulele online, but that’s for another time. There’s nothing like “I don’t know where all this is going or when will it end” to make you feel crazy, off-balance and wanting to lunge for anything that offers certainty or answers.
Unprecedented uncertainty is one thing. The steady, cynical dismantling of social safety nets via neoliberal policy (cheers Mrs Thatcher!) has become the norm throughout the Western world, leaving public confidence in the government’s commitment to social wellbeing at a generational low. It’s hard to feel a sense of community responsibility, or social connection when government policy makes it clear that we are all expendable unless we are financially productive.
Finally, the unmatched and overwhelming power of social media has to crack a mention. With its limitless capacity to present the user with any information, from any source, at any time of the day or night, this phenomenon is a fungating carcinoma of misinformation and disinformation.
I don’t think anyone could argue with a person’s inalienable rights to refuse to put any substance into their bodies without their consent, be it alcohol, medication, tobacco, vaccines or KFC. It is, always has been, and will continue to be, illegal to force any medication on any person of sound mind without their consent. What is becoming clear though, is that these are not the only rights demanded by anti-mandate protestors. They also believe that they should have the right to expose other people to infectious disease without any restriction.
I saw a photo in the paper last week of a nurse at an anti-mandate rally, carrying a sign that read : “I am not a biohazard”. If anything could crystallise decades of neglect of the higher education sector, it is the sight of a university-educated nurse with no concept of disease transmission. Now, maybe her shit doesn’t stink, but mine certainly does, and it’s a biohazard, just like every bit of gunk that comes out of my body. I know that if I have a respiratory infection, my breath, snot and saliva can carry that infection to another person if I don’t take precautions. Viruses aren’t too good without living bodies to invade, and if there’s one thing they absolutely love, it’s a living body with white cells they’ve never met. Living bodies that already have antibodies through previous infection or vaccination are less popular with viruses, although they will still have a crack. The longer that viruses can circulate throughout a population, the smarter they get, and the more havoc they can create: “Hi, my name’s Delta, how ya doing?”
Nobody likes being told what to do. Nobody likes restriction, or mandates or rules, but mistaking inconvenience for oppression is the epitome of toxic privilege. I enjoy the reckless, Wild West feeling I get in Bali when I see diners perched on 8 foot high mezzanines with no railing, and a hectic tangle of high voltage wires overhead. I love riding on the back of a motorbike with no helmet, and thongs and shorts on, the warm wind in my hair; but my enjoyment of this lack of restriction is a rich person’s fetish, not an ideal state of social utopia. I don’t romanticise the sort of “freedom” that exposes Balinese people to accidents, and gives them no recourse to compensation when injuries inevitably occur.
The fact that governments are being forced to mandate basic common sense and social responsibility is disgraceful. The fact that there are people lighting spot fires as fast as the exhausted nurses and doctors can put them out is beyond comprehension. If you think I like being told what to do by a vacuous spiv like Scomo, you don’t know me too well. But shockingly, me and my ire actually have to take second place in a global catastrophe. It’s called civic responsibility, or being a “goddam bloody adult”. (Thanks Jacqui ya big spunk.)
Adults need to understand that choice often involves some degree of sacrifice. My granddad chose to put his body on the line in the most drastic way possible when he went off to fight in the trenches at Passchendaele in WWI and so did my dad when he agreed to fly in missions over New Guinea in 1944. Both men made these choices because they thought that the wellbeing of the whole community was worth risking their lives for. I can admit to y’all that, even with the reassuring things I had read about Astra Zeneca, I was a little bit worried about the whole blood clot thing. What can I say? I’m human and I like scrolling through Facebook. But I needed to put my emotions aside, read the evidence, and commit to the clearest and most credible choice. In the smallest possible way, I put my body on the line for something bigger than me and my “right” to unfettered freedom.
So, don’t get the vaccine if you don’t want, but understand that your choice does not give you the right to infect other people, particularly those who can’t be vaccinated, like kids with some chronic illnesses; those with anaphylactic reactions or people undergoing chemotherapy. Inconveniently, you will find such people in cafes, hospitals, schools, servos, hairdressers, supermarkets, taxis, pubs and concerts. You never know where they are. They might be on buses, trains, libraries, dentists, police stations or sitting next to you on a park bench.
So, logistically, I guess governments could try and move all of these people and places a couple of inches to the left for you, or you could follow the lead of 87% of your fellow Australians and take one for the team. Sometimes, you do have to hold a hose mate.
Further reading:
https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-vaccines/numbers-statistics
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(21)00648-4/fulltext
Gay Taylor 