Monday 29 November 2021
But this fear is witless
Yes, my dear Lucilius; we agree too quickly with what people say. We do not put to the test those things which cause our fear; we do not examine into them; we blench and retreat just like soldiers who are forced to abandon their camp because of a dust-cloud raised by stampeding cattle, or are thrown into a panic by the spreading of some unauthenticated rumour. And somehow or other it is the idle report that disturbs us most. For truth has its own definite boundaries, but that which arises from uncertainty is delivered over to guesswork and the irresponsible license of a frightened mind. That is why no fear is so ruinous and so uncontrollable as panic fear. For other fears are groundless, but this fear is witless.
Seneca - Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium c. 65 AD
I’m trying to work up some panic about the Omigod variant but it isn’t easy. I don’t know if it’s a missing panic gene or something, but I can’t find my panic anywhere. Maybe I should watch more television.
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6 comments:
Yeah, I too find myself yawning cynically. Her Majesty's Government is obviously no longer driven by opinion polls and focus groups but instead by what it expects opinion polls and focus groups to say.
What jellies these people are.
As someone pointed out on Guido this morning, when V2 rockets were raining down on London and there was a real chance your entire street could be instantly obliterated, we were told to keep calm. Now, however, when six people in the UK have got a new type of man-flu...
The Truth That Dare Not Speak Its Name (for this millennium) is that life is risky for all people and The Government cannot guarantee that bad things will not happen to good people. The Government has increasingly adopted a 'Good Shepherd' role and spends a lot of effort minimising risks - and it is guaranteed to fail sometimes. And sometimes badly.
So, Mrs DiscoveredJoys and myself are fully vaccinated and boosted, and flu jabbed, because it makes sense for us to do so. Stuff what the Government believes, although I appreciate their efforts to provide vaccines. Similarly I have been wearing a mask in shops ever since it was first recommended, and don't travel by public transport. But these are my choices, for my circumstances, and I would not comply with Government edicts if I thought they were detrimental.
As for Omicron it may be nothing much or it may be the fifth pony of the Apocalypse. Time will tell, not the Government.
It seemed like there was a new virus every year for the last decade or so. I ignored them all. To my shame the sheer scale of the fear mongering by news outlets and the government had me concerned about the cv in 2020, for a short while anyway. My own observations made me draw my own conclusions. Subsequent events have cemented that opinion.
Just an example of what I saw. I play bowls, at 67 I am the youngest in my club. Each winter our club secretary sends emails informing us of fellow bowlers in the club and county who have died. Sometimes as many as a dozen a year. Winter 2019/2020 just a couple, winter 2020/2021 one. That one had cancer and lost the battle. Conclusion: it's a load of twaddle.
As I said somewhere else: A month before Christmas and up pops a new scariant!
Didn't see that coming, did we?
dearieme - it probably knows what its versions of opinion polls and focus groups will say.
Sam - on the face of it, a staggering change which should be the basis for much public debate but I don't see it happening.
DJ - yes, life is risky for all of us and it would be much healthier for us to have that admitted officially and for it to form part of any public debate about such risks.
Andy - I'm sure the twaddle theory is correct. A vaccination policy which needs three doses and counting doesn't inspire confidence but does inspire confidence in the twaddle theory.
Unk - almost as predictable as night follows day.
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