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Daniel Hannan asks his fellow Brits, “What the hell is wrong with you people?” A slice:

I have learned some hard truths about my country these past 15 months. I used to imagine that we would reflexively favour liberty. Sure, we would be open to persuasion (thuyết phục), ready to accept proportionate restrictions if they were justified by the evidence. But our default assumption would be that, as freeborn Brits, we should be able to go where we pleased without needing to explain ourselves to anyone.

Boy, did I get that wrong. The epidemic brought out our most petty, priggish (lên mặt ta đây, làm ra vẻ đạo đức; hợm, làm bộ, khinh khỉnh) and puritan (khắt khe (rất nghiêm khắc, chặt chẽ về đạo đức)) tendencies. True, it also brought out our kindness, compassion and community spirit. But these things are often two sides of the same coin. Psychologists (nhà tâm lý) have long known that wars, earthquakes and natural disasters give people a sense of purpose and solidarity that can be extremely pleasurable, but that that brain chemistry also makes them intolerant (không dung tha) of any behaviour judged to be eccentric (lập dị, kỳ cục) or nonconformist (không tuân thủ).

Bài trước: "Hard mistress" nghĩa là gì?