Boris Johnson - The Cnut of our times?
It's 'Freedom Day' tomorrow, and I expect it will be exactly that. It will be the day when Johnson absolves himself of all responsibility for our public health and becomes free of all accountability for any future deaths from COVID. I have been reading about 'Heard Immunity' (sic). (It was meant to be about 'herd immunity', but I quite like the symbolism of being immune because someone had told me I was immune. It seems to encapsulate the sentiment of 'Freedom Day'. )
"Keep washing your hands, because that what we are doing"
Some have written that Johnson is deluded, but I think that is over-generous. Delusion implies a conscious denial of something that is understood. Johnson understands nothing about what is going on. There are people around him (and behind him) that do understand though. People for whom malevolence is greater than incompetence and who are preying on Johnson's ego for their own gain. These are the people who defend him in parliament, bankroll him outside of parliament and vote for him both publicly and privately. Worst of all, these are the people who, like in Germany in the 1930s, fail to say or do anything to stop us being dragged over the cliff.
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Almost exactly 1000 years later, King Cnut (or Canute if you prefer) sat on an English beach and told the tide to go away. Johnson is doing exactly the same thing with COVID. But that is where the similarity between Cnut and Johnson ends. Cnut knew what he was doing. He was trying to prove a point about power. He had become tired by the sycophancy and flattery of his courtiers (unlike Johnson). He knew the limits of his powers (unlike Johnson). He used his wisdom and experience to teach others reality from dogma (unlike Johnson). He cared about the well-being of his subjects (unlike Johnson) - who even refers to us as 'a herd'. If we are a herd, then he is our shepherd and God help us all! But it's ok. He will. Jeremiah 23 says 'Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture.... concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: it is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you who who have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil wrong-doings.'
I get some solace from the thought that this current heatwave is nothing compared to what Johnson has coming his way.
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3 年Well said. Narcissists at the top are just doing what they do - not that it excuses it but, of course, he was going to push the boundaries, take risks etc. because they don't have the capability for empathy and as you say there is a heatwave a coming that he will have to answer to. But it's those people to enable the likes of Boris or Trump to get to this point, who knowing the disastrous consequences, empower the crazy, enable the spreading of false information through their platforms just to make money or have more power - they are the ones that deserve a special place in hell.