Covid-19 - The Authoritarian Social Hygiene Regime Is Illiberal & A Global Threat To Civil Liberties

Dr. Niall McCrae is a senior mental health lecturer at King's College London and co-author of "Year of the Bat: Globalisation, China & the Coronavirus". Dr. McCrae argues that the Covid-19 pandemic has given rise to an illiberal and authoritarian global social hygiene regime. To quote: "I remember in January watching news clips from Wuhan in China, where the coronavirus outbreak began. At a police road block on a dual carriageway, a man on his way to work wound his window down and his forehead temperature was taken. He was ordered out of the vehicle, to be immediately taken into quarantine. He protested, and was beaten to the ground and pummelled by thuggish police. "Such abuse of human rights couldn’t happen in the West, could it? Well, look at the state of Victoria in Australia. The governor, nicknamed Kim Jong Dan, has imposed a severe lockdown with ruthless policing. A man heavily fined for taking out his rubbish without a mask. A young woman throttled by a male officer for the same offence. A pregnant woman arrested at home in front of her children for incitement. Inciting what? Encouraging Facebook friends to attend a freedom protest. "A long-running cartoon in the satirical Viz comic is the "Bottom Inspectors". The hygiene Gestapo who check you’ve wiped yourself properly. In the latest edition they look even more sinister, with their Covid-19 visors. Who would have believed we’d be living this dystopia. "This Covid regime is for controlling us, not the virus. But why are so many people in favour of this denial of basic liberties? This is about social class and morality. The supposedly liberal, progressive establishment is imposing its authority on the "great unwashed" You need to be told to wash your hands, to keep your distance, and to muzzle yourselves. "Of course mask-wearing isn’t based on science. It’s not much more effective than a string vest to stop mosquito bites, but masks have become a moral fault line. Sophisticated middle-class people wear them as a means of virtue-signalling. The wearer is a GOOD person, unlike the selfish ignoramuses who reject what the Guardian describes as ‘our shared reality’. "This is Cultural "Mask-ism" "The pandemic has exposed the fallacy of liberal progress. The harshest Covid-19 discipline is in countries led by left-of-centre leaders, such as Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand. Because they care. Meanwhile supposedly authoritarian presidents such as Donald Trump and Jaio Bolsanora prefer less extreme restrictions. "Our establishment is keen to instil a new normal. There’s scant opposition from politicians, trade unions, students, human rights campaigners, celebrities. Rock stars and actresses seem unperturbed at this indefinite loss of limelight. Instead of speaking out, they’re all conformists. Not edgy at all. "Look on Twitter and you’ll see middle-class snobs celebrating the aggressive policing of anti-lockdown protests, and the persecution of Piers Corbyn. "These fraudulent liberals have no respect for Enlightenment values – freedom of speech subverted by cancel culture. Democracy – they tried to overturn the EU referendum result. And equality before the law - the blatant hypocrisy in promoting Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion demos while accusing lockdown protestors of killing people. "The masked moralisers are neither liberal, nor hygienic. Our pavements are strewn with discarded face masks. Who’s really being irresponsible? "Cicero asserted ‘The health of the people is the highest law’. The Chinese Communist Party has shown how to exploit this noble duty for totalitarian ends. How sad that the civil democracies of the West chose to follow Beijing, and to trash individual liberties for a rigid collectivism." --------------- SUBSCRIBE: If you are enjoying the show, please subscribe to our channel on YouTube (click the Subscribe Button underneath the video and then Click on the Bell icon next to it to make sure you Receive All Notifications)