Xã hội đổ vỡ

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Writing at Spiked, Daniel Ben-Ami uses the work of Hannah Arendt to take the measure of Covid-19 lockdowns. Here’s his conclusion:

Moreover, spontaneity (tính thanh thoát, tự nhiên, không gò bó, ko bị ép buộc) is virtually eliminated (xóa bỏ, xóa sổ) under lockdown conditions. The rules can make it impossible to go out on the spur of the moment, whether that’s to visit friends or family or just to go to the pub.

More than ever, we live in a world where the exercise of individual judgement is frowned upon. Challenging the rules laid down by experts – in this case, mainstream epidemiologists (nhà dịch tễ học) – is viewed as putting everyone at risk of death. The only responsible thing to do, so the argument goes, is to be obedient (vâng lời) and conform (tuân thủ). This message is constantly repeated both in the mainstream media and on social media (mạng xã hội).

So lockdowns, regardless of their intended purpose, increase social isolation (cô lập) and intensify pre-existing loneliness. Working out how to tackle these related social problems is an urgent task.

Arendt observes that ‘it may even be that the true predicaments (tình thế khó khăn, tình huống khó chịu, tình trạng khó xử) of our time will assume their authentic form – though not necessarily the cruelest – only when totalitarianism has become a thing of the past’.

So perhaps only when we have finally shaken off the locked-down world, will we be able to see our ‘true predicaments’ — namely, social breakdown, loneliness and vanishing spontaneity.

One thing is for sure. Lockdown, like totalitarianism, has made these predicaments a whole lot worse. The sooner we emerge from our hyper-regulated condition, the better.

Bài trước: Lạm quyền