Dear MSP
I hope you can take a couple of minutes out of your busy schedule to read this.
Today is a
big day for everyone in Scotland, but it seems that many people haven’t quite grasped
the significance of it. I refer to the introduction of the so-called 'vaccine passports'.
I object to them as a matter of principle, but before you are tempted to dismiss
me as a crank, I will point out that I’m neither an ‘anti-vaxxer’ nor a
conspiracy theorist.
Having watched,
with mounting concern, as the British and Scottish governments reacted to the
virus by engaging in sustained bouts of psychological warfare on their own
people, I welcomed the arrival of a vaccine and was relieved that we were finally
able to glimpse some light at the end of a long and very dark tunnel. My age
and my caring responsibilities for my elderly father led me to conclude that
being double-jabbed was the appropriate choice for me. I have no difficulty accepting
that the vaccine has been important in breaking the link between cases and
hospitalisations, but the benefits don’t seem to have accrued in quite the way we
were led to expect.
By now, our national
conversation ought to be focusing on the appalling damage done by some of the political
decisions made in response to the virus. By that I mean the patients not
diagnosed, the illnesses not treated, the support groups abandoned, the lost
jobs, the destroyed businesses, the suicides and the broken families. And much will eventually be written about the crushed hopes of our young people, often disgracefully traduced by
the media as ‘super spreaders’, their education disrupted and devalued by a political
establishment which reacts to statistics like a nervous dog reacts to sudden noises
in the street outside. Many have come to believe that the Covid cure will eventually
be judged to have been more damaging than the disease, but instead of having
conversations about that, we are being held in a state of febrile confusion by
ever-moving goalposts and increasingly ridiculous and contradictory rules.
And now, in
Scotland, we appear to have accepted the division of citizens into ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’.
History, when
we are willing to pay attention, warns us against such developments; it tells us
that this has happened before and that it doesn’t end well. It tells us that
the unchallengeable invocation of concern for public health provides a golden
ticket to those of an authoritarian bent. And, when people are motivated by a desire
to exert control over the lives of others, they will welcome and embrace
(sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously) any conditions which allow
them to consolidate and enhance the mechanisms of control.
If you are
one of those MSPs who view themselves as part of the opposition and you voted
against the vaccine passports, I feel that I should disabuse you of the notion
that you have somehow discharged your duties. Because it wasn’t your job just
to vote against this bill. We all knew that the authoritarians would carry the
day; we knew that merely counting the votes in the house would give them the
permission they required. Your job was to not to quibble about the practicalities of the bill; it was to oppose the principle of it and make it as difficult as humanly possible
for it to pass. You would have lost the battle, of course,
because they are currently in charge. But you would at least have given an
important signal to a proportion of our demoralised, fearful, but increasingly
angry population. And your vigorous opposition would have forced the
authoritarians to reveal just a little bit more of their true natures.
You may feel
that what I have proposed would have breached the normal rules of engagement,
but perhaps the ‘new normal’ we’re being asked to accept also requires new
rules of engagement. You were elected to protect the rights and freedoms of all
citizens, not just the clean. Someone has to make a stand, however unpopular
that might be, for the unclean. If not you, then who? And if not now, then
when? If you are unwilling to draw the line at dividing citizens into clean and
unclean, where exactly might you take a principled stand? On compulsory
vaccinations, perhaps? Or excluding unvaccinated people from the employment
market? Or how about forcing the unvaccinated to wear badges in public?
Some of you
reading this will think: “Oh, don’t exaggerate … none of those things are going
to happen.”
In response,
I’d say: how do you know that? Given what we’ve been trained to tolerate over
the last eighteen months, how do you know that?
The descent
into totalitarianism does not happen with a big bang and a sudden announcement that “Big Sister is in charge and you’ll do as you’re told. Dissent is not an
option.” The retreat from civilisation is always gradual, featuring hundreds of
little steps, some of them barely perceptible, but each with the goal of preparing
you for the next one and acclimatising you to the direction of travel. How many
of those little steps are you willing to take? Is there any point at which
you’ll say ‘enough’?
I’m just one
person -a vaccinated person- but I’ve now reached that point of principle, my personal
line in the sand.
I have
friends and family who, for perfectly legitimate reasons, have concerns about
the vaccine. I will not consent to them being treated as lesser citizens. I
will not consent to them being excluded from society on the grounds of choices
they have made about their own health. I will not consent to handing a world
like this over to my children and grandchildren. I will never present medical
papers or proof of vaccination in order to enter a bar, a cinema, a concert or
a football match. Going to gigs and big sporting events are two of my favourite
things to do. My sacrifice -such as it is- may be modest, but it is one that I
feel compelled to make, because my head, heart and gut are completely aligned
in opposition to the direction of travel.
The introduction
of this law was a significant and, I believe, shameful moment for our country.
You were in a position of relative power and could have made a difference.
I fear that
history will judge that you were weighed, you were measured and you were found
wanting.
