This is a one of those 'read it and make up your own mind' books.
A State of Fear by Laura Dodsworth. It's about fear - fear of a virus, fear of death, fear of losing our jobs, our human connections, health and our minds. It's also about how the government weaponised our fear against us - supposedly in our best interests, until we were the most frightened country in Europe. Questions include -
"Why did the government deliberately frighten us, and how has this affected us as individuals and as a country? Who is involved in the decision-making that affects our lives? How does the media leverage fear? Ahead of any official inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Laura Dodsworth explores all these questions and more, in a thought-provoking discussion of an extraordinary year in British life and politics."
I didn't read the whole book so I just dipped in and out of it, but some of the newspaper headlines and TV news that the author researched is incredible. Here are a few.. From The Daily Star, 23th July 2020 - "Baldies are 40% more at risk of Coronavirus says US study." The Daily Mirror, 12th November 2020 - Covid survivors could have life threatening allergic reaction to hair dye." The Daily Telegraph, 28th July 2020 - People over 6ft have double the risk of Coronavirus. Where would we be without our media??
This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »
@Jemimapuddleduck that seemed to be the common consensus worldwide, and still seems to be. The pandemic still poses major risks, but politicians followed the uninformed voters into denying and/or not caring. Which is especially ironic as the politicians were the ones failing to inform the voters.
@NerdyPotato I wouldn't trust any of them. They are supposed to make decisions on our behalf that affects every aspect of our lives, but they just prove each time how corrupt they are. They lie, they look down on the public, make false promises to get votes. It's been the same year in and year out. They are not interested in the needs of their constituents and serve their monied interests.
@Jemimapuddleduck true... They're all in service of capitalism, especially on the short term. For the next year or two it was more profitable to ignore the virus and just let it spread, so politicians convinced everyone it was nothing to worry about, and so everyone kept doing their thing.
That it will cause major trouble in the long term to make a large portion of the population disabled is something for the next government to worry about.
