Simone Reddington

2020 has certainly been a very strange year.  As we welcomed the new decade ten months ago, nobody could have predicted that any plans that we might have had, would be cancelled by a global pandemic that brought the entire world to a standstill.  Every day we are waking up to shocking headlines that would sound ridiculous if we heard them this time last year. I never thought that I would ever see the day when all the bars, restaurants and shops in Britain would be forced to close for weeks on end or that we’d have to queue for half an hour to get inside a supermarket, but we have truly seen it all in 2020. We’re used to seeing awful scenes on the news where other countries have had to declare a state of emergency whether for war, natural disaster or any other reason, but in Western society we have only ever seen national panic on this scale in fiction, such as episodes of Black Mirror. Now that we have actually had to experience a strict national lockdown, it can certainly feel very surreal at times.  There’s a million and one questions that everyone is demanding answers to, but unfortunately nobody on this earth has been able to provide answers for them.  Everyone has different thoughts and feeling about the lockdown, and this has lead to many COVID-19 conspiracy theories being spread online.

Conspiracy theories are nothing new of course, and the internet is full of people who believe that people from various powerful organisations are responsible for many events.  These alternative explanations for strange events are the subject of many popular books and documentary films and I personally find them very interesting as they combine both mystery and debate- two things that I absolutely love. However, the thing we need to remember about them is that, although some of the arguments to support them can be very convincing, they have not been proven to be true and most of them have been rejected by the professional scientists and historians who have dedicated a lot of time and effort to their research.

While the majority of people understand that most conspiracy theories are just a bit of harmless fun, the ones regarding coronavirus are completely different.  They claim that COVID-19 is a hoax, and that the government are just trying to distract us with the fear of the virus so that they can apparently ‘take away our freedom’ so they can take complete control of society.  It sounds ludicrous but I have seen an worrying increase in people sharing posts on social media that promote this conspiracy theory.  It is very insensitive to the thousands of people who have died, and the many more who have lost loved ones or have been extremely ill because of this very real virus.  Although society’s response to the pandemic is driven by political factors, the virus itself is not.  We have seen many powerful and high-profile people test positive and require medical attention, including both the Prime Minister of Great Britain and the President of the United States of America, proving that nobody is immune.  Obviously there are huge social inequalities in terms of wealth and privilege across the world (which this pandemic has highlighted) but so far, none of the scientists have been able to provide anybody with a cure or a vaccine.  The scientists and virologists have worked extremely hard this year to develop their understanding of coronavirus and their official advise, that that has been adopted by all governments across the world, is to avoid large groups of people, wear face coverings in public and to try and keep a distance when mixing with people from different households.  Ignoring and encouraging others to reject this official advise is therefore extremely dangerous.  Not only does it increase the spread of the virus but it also adds to the confusion and panic.  It was only a few months ago when we all stood outside and clapped for our brilliant NHS and the brilliant doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals who risked their lives to go to work and treat the sick.  Now we are discrediting their hard work and professionalism by believing somebody who has made a twenty minute YouTube video rather than those who have studied, trained and worked in healthcare for years.

As I write this post during the UK’s second lockdown, the point of this post is not to share my own political opinions or to discuss the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. I am simply frustrated at the people who are using people’s fear and anxieties from this pandemic to their own advantage by spreading false information.  The COVID 19 conspiracies mainly derive from far-right groups on the internet who also discourage people from vaccinating their children and have recently accused many Democrat-voting celebrities of paedophilia, despite having zero evidence.  They are not the peaceful, power-to-the-people hippies who they appear to be online. Obviously people are entitled to their own opinions and people have their right to be angry as the lockdown restrictions have been hard for everyone.  However, what were the anti-mask protesters’ response to the government rejecting the plan for free school meals during the Christmas holidays?  Why do so many of them support Donald Trump when he condemned the Black Lives Matter supporters in the summer? I’m not denying that there isn’t a lot of suffering and oppression in the world.  However, having being asked to wear a mask in public during a global pandemic is not the same as taking away your human rights.  

While a second lockdown is going to be tough for a lot of people, let’s  not make it any more stressful than it already is. If the experts are warning us to wear masks and socially distance, why don’t we think of the more vulnerable or anxious people who would appreciate us taking extra care to protect them. Instead of moaning on Facebook about not being able to enjoy Christmas with family and friends this year, why don’t you use that time to phone them and ask how they are doing? Nobody particularly enjoys having to wear masks and socially distance but in a global pandemic, it is what it is. And the next time you see a COVID-19 conspiracy post on social media, why don’t you think about whether that information is actually correct before you click share.