In the past few days it has become clear that an irrational false dichotomy has arisen in the New Zealand public square regarding ending the Covid-19 lockdown.
Anyone who believes or dares to suggest that our country should be quickly moving out of the current extreme state of shutdown is being unfairly labeled as either a greedy psychopath who wants people to die for the sake of economic gain, or as an unthinking idiot who lacks the smarts to understand the risks of allowing more people out of their homes.
I understand why people are reacting this way - they are afraid.
Fear is an important emotion that, when responded to proportionally, causes us to take prudent actions to avoid danger or death.
If we are not careful however, it can easily become disproportionate, and instead of acting prudently we start to become panicked, paranoid or even paralysed by our fears.
There are good reasons to be afraid of Covid-19, but there are also very good reasons to be afraid of the lockdown.
This is not, as many are now falsely claiming, about saving lives vs saving the economy.
This is a decision where the outcome is about saving lives vs saving lives.
We have already had at least one NZ death that is being directly attributed to the lockdown itself, and I suspect that there are others that will also come to light in the coming weeks.
The lockdown is NOT a zero sum game, and the longer it continues the greater the harms caused to our people as a direct result of the lockdown itself will become.
Serious mental health issues are already being caused and amplified by the lockdown, and the longer it continues the worse these problems will become.
Domestic abuse is rising as a direct result of this lockdown. The longer it continues the more abuse will happen and the greater the risk of abusive violence leading to death becomes.
As a direct result of the lockdown people are not able to access the usual standard of medical care and diagnosis that would normally be available to them. The longer the lockdown continues the more lives will start to be harmed, shortened and lost as a direct result of this.
The longer the lockdown continues the worse our economic situation will become, and that means major unemployment, a lowered standard of health and well-being, major risk to our already struggling healthcare system, an increase in crime, domestic abuse, substance abuse, premature death, and suicide.
These dangers are real, and whether we like it or not, the economy is an essential component when it comes to saving New Zealand lives from both the Coronavirus and other causes of death and serious harm that are not Covid-19.
I have seen plenty of people in online comment sections over the last couple of days speaking glibly about the economic harms of this lockdown.
Some seem to be under the mistaken impression that the negative economic outcomes will be minor, or that bouncing back from a potential depression is no big deal.
These strike me as the sentiments of people who aren't really connecting the dots about just how important economics are, and just how bad the coming economic crisis is going to be. This is understandable in a culture that has almost no living memory of the Great Depression, and which has enjoyed a very comfortable economic state of affairs for many decades now.
I have also seen people who seem to be speaking from a place of economic privilege as they accuse others of greed for wanting the lockdown to end. It's easy to opine that the lockdown should be maintained even longer when you still have a job, or your employment or economic situation is such that it won't harm you as badly (even if only for the short-term).
From the very beginning of this crisis we have been in a war, but what some don't seem to realise is that this has always been a war on two fronts, where failure at either would exact a devastating toll.
This is not about greed.
This is about moving beyond the extreme state of fear that currently holds the world in a vice-like grip and beginning the challenging journey of recovery, which, if not undertaken will cause more mayhem and death than the virus itself.
To paraphrase a quote that was once shared with me by an audience member after one of my public speaking engagements:
"On the plains of desolation lay the sun bleached bones of all those who, on the verge of victory, sat down to wait, and waiting, died."
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