Amid the ongoing debate about COVID-19 restrictions and when to lift them, an interesting argument has emerged among certain members of the chattering class—one where the entire discussion is already obsolete because the restrictions under discussion don’t actually exist. The idea of “returning to normal” is often met with ridicule. “We’re already there!”
This is a peek into another world. It makes it easy to forget that COVID exists, unless you turn on the television. It’s a world where kids are shuttled from gym class to birthday parties to weekend trips to the Zoo to Sunday brunches, and that is just one example of what it looks like. Substack’s Alex Pareene writes about the picturesque view from that point.
A flight to Bermuda could be booked for $107. Yesterday, the Knicks lost to home; one fan was at the game and listened to The Office while muted. Que Viet Vietnamese Restaurant, Minneapolis’ mainstay, will open a St. Paul branch. It is known for its giant egg roll on sticks and Minnesota State Fair-recorded Minnesota State Fair sales. Scream is currently the most popular movie in America.
This all sounds very natural.
It must—and it all sounds very nice. Given the facts, it’s not surprising that someone living in this universe might pen an essay titled “We’re all trying find the guy who policings our behaviour.” The obvious conclusion is that the man doesn’t exist.
For small-business owners or workers who are charged with COVID-19 enforcement, it is much simpler to locate the COVID police. You only need to look into the mirror.
Pareene wrote that most restrictions on our behavior, and the behavior of many other Americans have one thing in common. They aren’t being placed on us by powerful authority figures. While it is true in some ways, the statement remains fundamentally disconnected from reality. There are many restrictions, including vaccine passports, mask mandates, and others. These areBeing imposed upon us by authority figures. However, those authorities have delegated enforcement of the law to citizens.
It is an elaborate ruse. It’s a clever ploy to hide the truth. inflicting punishmentOn those who do not follow the rules. However, who is the only person that spits in their anger at being deprived of their basic rights? This is your airline attendant, restaurant manager or minimum wage cashier.
It isn’t necessarily a good thing for everybody. Some people—the Brooklyn bouncer who reportedly turned away a patron for being vaccinated with an inferior brand, the flight attendant who’s just a little too stoked about banning two-year olds who don’t wear their masks correctly—are all too happy not just to wield this power but to abuse it. For those who have never been interested in playing cop, the fact that we are being forced into this role is a constant reminder of how far things can get. It’s also a source of endless stress.
This includes me. My job is to instruct group exercise classes in a small town that enforces a mask requirement. It’s exhausting, but also frustrating. If people ask me “Who are you policing?”, I want them to shout “It’s ME!” It’s me! I hate it!” It is a shame that the mayor of my town has forced me to the Mask Police role, regardless of whether or not I like it.
These aren’t new developments, they’re simply the result of an old impulse that has been present throughout the pandemic. Since the initial lockdown, people have been spying on one another almost casually. Non-compliance reporting is not a new practice. This allows people, who feel helpless, hopeless, and powerless after the recent events, to temporarily believe they are in control. This enthusiasm is not limited to the blue states or pandemic policy. Take the Texas law on abortion, which is not enforced by DAs and police. It was created by individuals who have the desire to intervene in the lives of others.
The catch-22 is that you have power even during a pandemic. These mandates and the authorities that enforce them are constantly being shouted at. Get involved To stop the spread a highly contagious disease that they are unable to contain. They do their best, but don’t mind the backlash if they fail to contain the virus. Something doesn’t work. My town’s case rate will continue rising in spite of the mask mandate. Nobody will ever admit that this policy was flawed. Instead, it will be blamed on both the people who refused to comply with the rules and those small-business owners who made them not follow.
When ordinary people do the dirty work of enforcing the rules, the people who made those rules get to maintain the illusion of clean hands—aided by the narrative that nothing about this is abnormal at all, that there’s nothing to see here, that this is how things have always been.