I’ve been doing some thinking and this is what I think this worldwide shutdown is really about.
I have to provide the cloud to show the silver lining, so let me get that out of the way first. If you read through the doom and gloom, you may find yourself surprised at the outcome.
1. The Dystopia
I can imagine that once the novelty of this confinement wears off and we all start getting used to our new restricted lifestyle over the coming months (it’s called Stockholm Syndrome) that being confined to our homes will become normalised – for those who survive it or avoid being disappeared.
I predict that once we are used to it, the lockdown will be lifted – a little.
You will still be confined to your house except for necessary excursions for shopping and work, but even that will be reduced once the work-from-home infrastructure becomes emplaced.
You will still need “papers” to leave your city or state, citing your authorisation and business. You will have to apply for a permit for each day you want to be out of your home city, and there will probably be a long waiting list for permits – especially for the world’s famous beauty spots. Those with money, of course, will be able to jump the queue.
This will be enough to return the illusion of freedom after months of home confinement – but it would still be under conditions we would never have tolerated a year ago.
And the reason that these draconian restrictions will persist, confining everyone to their home cities except in limited numbers, restricting access to tourist areas and national parks and polluting overseas travel, once the coronavirus is “cured”?
You’ve forgotten all about it in the coronavirus panic.
CLIMATE CHANGE.
Greta: 1
Humanity: 0
😂
Now, here is how this can even be justified. The silver lining, so to speak.
2. The Utopia
Let’s start with the Instagram plague. For those who don’t know, this is the tendency for a once-peaceful village to be featured by some Instagram influencer with millions of followers, with the result that millions of people descend on the village phones in hand, to try to take the same pictures the influencer did.
These people invade people’s homes, damage gardens, ruin the ambience, and get in the way of everyone. That had to be stopped. Now, it will be.
Second, if you do wait for a permit to go to a particular tourist spot, it will no longer be packed out to the point where nobody’s enjoying themselves because they are all in each others’ way.
It opens the doors to make more friends, because with fewer people the place feels more personal and you are more likely to interact with strangers.
No more overcrowded packed beaches, wait your turn or pay your way and enjoy the time you have there that much more.
The reality is, as the world becomes more crowded, we have to find ways to manage an increasingly self-impeding population.
Now, here is how this can even be justified. The silver lining, so to speak.
He had taken two pictures at each place. The first was the standard Nat Geo shot, showing the majestic scene. The second he turned the camera around or to the side.
Each second shot, you could see -thousands- of people, half looking at their phones, the other half all taking the same shot, waving phones and ipads and the odd camera in the air. At Mt Everest there was a line of people stretching for miles back to the Base Camp. The Grand Canyon one was on a platform hundreds of metres long with people standing 6 deep along its entire length.
Nobody could seriously be enjoying such an experience. That, too, had to be stopped. Now, it will be.
What do you think?
So the question is, given so many of us, is the price we will pay in freedom too steep for managing the lovely places the world and keeping them enjoyable for those who visit them?
I probably go on a vacation once a year. So if I have to wait a year for my turn to visit, say, the Flinders Ranges, how much more enjoyable would the trip be, if it was not packed with people all tripping over each other and swearing at each other in traffic?
This may outrage you now, but in 18 months when they find the “vaccine” you’ll be so used to it that you’ll even agree with it.
What are your thoughts? Do you think it would be a reasonable compromise? Freedom of movement in exchange for greater enjoyment of less crowded holidays in unspoiled locations?
