Modern Man - Surreal Times, Coming Down the Mountain

Sunday 10th May 2020 After 7 weeks of Lockdown the British PM's latest announcement came as a surprise to many, myself included, as all inclination had been for a stringent 12 week lockdown period to nullify the virus threat in the populous along with giving time to enable test, track and trace to be rolled out across the nation. Which as advised by the WHO and as proven by countries which have managed to reduce the impact of the virus, is the only way of controlling the virus.

Initially listening to the speech I was supportive of the address and relieved that the lockdown was to continue, although apprehensive to the instruction to return to work & school which seem fraught with potential problems if done to soon.

Overall the PM it seemed to me on first impression had delivered a meaningful and thorough speech although entirely different to the previous speeches and daily updates with no props and propaganda in place suggesting perhaps an impromptu or hasty address, not something that had been carefully orchestrated and put together.

But the message was clear, the lockdown remains in place for now and perhaps months ahead as exiting the lockdown is comparable to a descent "Coming down the Mountain."

The speech introduced some positives as the return of our individual Freedom of movement is re-established to all citizens, all be that still with social distancing restrictions in place as of Wednesday 13th May; Liberty day, we are once again allowed and actually encouraged to take unlimited daily exercise which can be taken for unrestricted time periods. Venturing further afield without restriction is now permitted, although social distancing rules still apply, with good conscience we can now;

Take unlimited outdoor exercise

Sit in the sun, in your local park

Drive to other destinations

Play sports with same household members

But We Must obey rules on social distancing still or the Virus will prevail and many more of us will die.

The measures when considered in isolation are and were a worrying encroachment on our human rights that we all eagerly accepted. Yet compared to Governments initially policy of herd immunity, with a les a fair attitude towards the Virus, its spread and its potential death toll, the majority of the nation, myself included preferred this draconian measure, one that would normally churn the stomach and worry the conscience of any free thinking citizen, apposed to the alternative which would have seen so many suffer unnecessarily.

Grouping people by age, gender, race or any other factor including clinical conditions and then deciding that these people are expendable to society, is not acceptable in the 21st Century and would conflict with all standards and ethics of Modern Man so we bought into the new measures of social isolation and self sacrifice, despite the restrictions to our freedom in the short term, this rare mutual exchange between Citizen and Government for the greater good, supported with a generous payout to the working population and businesses to see us all through the planned period of quarantine, an historical moment in time & hopefully a pivotal one for all things good and not the opposite?

The mainstream media immediately attacked the PM's speech post address, after a build up of weeks of clear media descent & pressure, despite public opinion largely supporting the lockdown and the lockdowns clear effectiveness in combatting the virus, the growing media storm had focused its eye on the lockdown being lifted, despite the consequences, and it seems expected more from the Government. With many News coverage "TV shows" covering the address that night, revealingly and preemptively being titled "The End of Lockdown" or "Lifting The Lockdown" before the announcement had even begun.

Yet after watching the Address live and forming my own first hand opinion based on the actual content of the address, I could then compare and see the entirely different interpretation and reporting of the content of the address by the Media immediately afterwards. Which seemed to be entirely hostile, spreading dangerous confusion, speculation & chaos, instead of reporting on fact, which leads me to see and think, is the News, in its current form, even relevant?

If reporters do not focus on facts, without first disseminating & applying critical thinking with competence & professionalism, all that follows is Chaos and danger, as messages that were made clearly and in good faith become fraught with bias and miss information which in times of crisis only fuel the flames, no good comes from the media circus and their actions when so much bias is evident and to that extent what motivates the media to be this way? No one or very few people buy news papers anymore, so they are no longer led by what sells. Journalism, the media and quality fact based News reporting are an essential necessity of democracy and should be the regulator of society, always being guided by truth & facts instead of sensationalism, self interest & pre conceived agendas, which threaten the integrity of the whole system as the reporting becomes meaningless.

Post speech and in the aftermath of the ongoing media circus, people are confused, speaking to people and seeing social media posts, the confusion comes not from the Government but from the news; the media irrelevant, trying desperately to stay relevant at any cost, the Piers Morgan's of TV, fueled with rage and self importance along with other media menaces who spread disinformation to support their own ego and political opinion or petty disputes, instead of reporting on truth.

Because of this reckless media frenzy clear advice has been distorted and no one seems sure of what can and can't be done, when the message was and is simple.

But is confusion and increased viral spread entirely the media's fault for creating the storm and clouding the message or do people see and hear what they want to hear, then do what they want to do, making their own reality along the way? Each persons reality slightly different to the next person until the differences are visible in the street, in the park, at the beach and round again once more back to the News & media.

Hopefully the majority of citizens do understand and continue to do what is required of them, if not then more death, despair and draconian measures seem inevitable?

We have the window of summer to get the virus under control and the clock is ticking, if we don't pull together now and continue to do so, the outcome could be catastrophic to all and for what? Short term profits and short term thinking! When clearly new ideas and actions are required to meet the new reality we are now all faced with, yesterdays normal now reserved to the history books.

As Liberty day fell on the Wednesday 13th May, after strictly adhering to the lockdown I was itching to venture further afield and took a lone, long country walk along the Wolds Way. Over the miles and hours walking I saw only a handful of people who all adhered to social distancing, passing a fellow freedom seeker, making the most of the ease off a lady cheers as we pass one another "freedom" she laughs arms raised, a moment in the river of time, modern history captured in an image, but what will happen next?