A Nation of Compliant Drones

Europe is currently experiencing its “second wave” of the Wuhan Coronavirus, and a number of countries are in the process of imposing varying degrees of a new lockdown. Spain, France, and the UK have adopted particularly strict regimes.

MissPiggy sends this report of her personal experience with Coronamadness in Germany:

Yesterday I visited hairdresser’s and immediately ran afoul of the Corona regulations. First it was about not having the “right mask”. Then I was given my next instructions about going to the bathroom to wash my hands. After that I was told my hands needed to be disinfected.

I said, “I’m sorry, I just washed my hands — that should be enough.” I showed my hands, and said that I have an allergic reaction on my hands (fingertips) from all these disinfectants. So I refused, and they said, “Sorry, then we can’t serve you.”

Then they agreed to just spray the palms. So far, so good. Then I had to fill out a form with my contact information. That’s when I said, “Nope. I’ll spend my money elsewhere.” So now there’s a “mobil friseur” coming to my house on Tuesday.

As for that hairdresser’s, they can go bankrupt. The owner even said in the end that he had no understanding for people who wouldn’t comply with these measures. His reasoning was that because of people like me, there will be a second lockdown. I told him that was going to happen with or without people like me.

At one point I just asked, “What’s next, a PCR to get your hair cut?” Their response was, “No, no…” That launched a whole discussion about how this isn’t their idea, that they have to follow instructions, and they don’t want another lockdown because they barely survived the first one, etc.

I had the same conversation with a lady at the fish counter in a grocery store. I didn’t have my glasses on and she pointed at something I couldn’t see, so I leaned forward. She barked at me to stay behind the magic tape on the floor. I retorted, “If I don’t, will you call the Corona police?” She explained to me that they are also sick of it all, but they have secret shoppers from the health department checking up on them.

MissPiggy’s story brought to mind the following poem by W.H. Auden. I’ve posted it before, but it’s worth revisiting.

It was written in the 1930s, during another rapid expansion of the all-powerful socialist state:

The Unknown Citizen
By W.H. Auden

(To JS/07/M/378 This Marble Monument Is Erected by the State)

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word,
               he was a saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn’t a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were
               normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that
               he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital
               but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages
               of the Installment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for he time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace; when there
               was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for
               a parent of his generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered
               with their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

9 thoughts on “A Nation of Compliant Drones

  1. I was following for some time the number of new infections in the world. Sorting the numbers descending. Then looking what countries get most new cases. Interesting. It is like somebody is realising in specific areas new contaminants.

  2. We have no corona cases in Western Australia. We have closed our borders to the rest of the country, and the world. We never had any community spread at all. We are blessed to be able to live as normal… just can’t leave the State

  3. It’s disappointing to me to see how many people simply accept this virus narrative without question. Some even turn vicious if they think you might suggest there is more going on than a pandemic. Ultimately, I suppose it comes down to the fact that many people don’t want to think. They rather enjoy being led around by the nose, fed whatever slops are prepared for them, housed in whatever drafty barns are raised for them. As long as you call it “pop culture, convenience meals, and apartments,” then they get to continue pretending to be people. But this whole “Trump” thing is a threat to the system, isn’t it? The globalists have to lockdown the livestock so they don’t get too uppity and start thinking that they’re people.

    It’s unraveling. Day by day, all but the most dull among us are ready for some big changes.

  4. I am sorry to read about Ms. Piggy’s unhappy encounters at the hair dressers and grocery store. I have only had minor trouble a few times when I popped in to buy an item and did not first grab a shopping cart. But I think everyone realized that that rule could be a little silly and after a month or so it was largely forgotten.

    I visit a salon that trains the area’s hairdressers, so I have gotten to know both the apprentices, as they have progressed, and the Meisterin who lightly oversees them. (Only once have I felt like a test rabbit / guinea pig.) Before they reopened, they posted an illustrated list of the corona-related rules so that everyone knew what to expect and how things would run. And that was pretty much it.

    I wore a half-face respirator mask when I returned for a haircut after their several month shutdown. I gather some folks find such masks objectionable because of the vent. Instead, it amused my hairdresser who was not familiar with them – but she was in an rather good mood, having passed her lengthy, final examinations two days before and now a journeywoman. (She was my favorite student of her class and I think the best.)

    I am pretty sure Ms. Piggy would have gotten a different reception in these parts. As long as her mask covered her mouth and nose, per the rules on the door, the hairdresser would have no grounds to refuse her – or even to be unpleasant. Otherwise, it would have been acceptable to deliver a proper telling off. Those were the rules, she followed them and if the shop did not like that, they have to post new ones that she can read and agree to follow – before she opens the door. That is how things are done, at least in Northern Germany.

    She would have still had to give her contact details for outbreak tracing, but in my case, the hair dresser wrote them down, and much more neatly than I would have. I have yet to hear anyone getting barked at for overstepping a distance marking. I usually get an apology when I step to the side to restore the distance. The fishmonger is not kidding about the plain clothes inspectors.

  5. “A Nation of Compliant Drones” I don’t agree with this headline. If we are “compliant drones”, then why do people protest all over the country?

      • Oh, ok, then I misunderstood. Maybe you touched a nerve with me, though, because here, of course, there are those people who willingly comply with every restriction, but the country is very divided. Much more, in fact, than it ever was about mass migration.

  6. My doctor’s office closed the washroom to protect me from the virus. When I complained I was told I should have gone before I left my home. I pointed out I have an hour and fifteen minute drive to get to my doctor as I live in a small rural community. As an old man I simply can’t “hold it” the long even if I had gone before I left home. I was very reluctantly permitted to use the washroom with much grumbling and eye rolling. I was later told if I can’t “hold it” long enough to avoid using a public washroom I should buy an adult diaper.

  7. Here in the UK, although masks are compulsory, there are loopholes a mile wide. I can state that wearing a mask causes me “sever distress” and I cannot be questioned or need to prove it. I have never worn a mask – nor shall I. We do not have a Pandemic – or even a an Epidemic worth the name. There is no Second Wave. There is a rise in cases here but people are reluctant to believe that this is merely because more people are being tested. The number of dead remain a steady low. Almost as bad as ordinary flu and far less than other diseases. Furthermore, the NHS has stated that 75,000 people WILL DIE because they were unable to see their GP or specialist. Meanwhile hospitals remain half empty because sick people were moved out for the China Virus cases and temporary hospitals and mortuaries remain empty.

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