Kiwis caught up in pandemic hotspots are now being ruthlessly beaten-up on social media and told not to try coming home, says Bruce Bisset. Photo / File
Kiwis caught up in pandemic hotspots are now being ruthlessly beaten-up on social media and told not to try coming home, says Bruce Bisset. Photo / File
COMMENT:
There's a significant disconnect between the reality of our nation's situation in dealing with Covid-19 and the chorus of carping and moaning over what-ifs and might-bes speculating something other.
Sadly, that speculation is being driven by my fellows-in-trade: the new breed of opinionised reporters who seem to believe thatany fault, no matter how minor, must evidence a conspiracy or collapse of epic (read newsworthy) proportions.
Some stressed-out over-worked at-risk healthcare worker makes an error of judgement and lets someone out of quarantine without testing them, and ipso facto the minister must resign.
Cue a shovel-ready queue of blue and yellow talking heads calling for red/green/black-heads to fall.
Even when they've made up the "evidence", or cynically withheld it from the government they're denouncing, in order to score cheap political points.
And the flock of seagulls fighting for a titbit – the so-called journalists circling these stories – have no hesitation in squawking about every picked nit as if it's a precursor of doom.
Particularly when the result of these facile factoids is to heighten the degree of "pandemic panic" such that half-mile-long convoys of cars are instantly lined up outside every virus testing station, further overloading an already-overloaded system.
Perhaps worse, some poor Kiwis caught up in pandemic hotspots, many having lost jobs and paying a heavy financial price, are now being ruthlessly beaten-up on social media and told not to try coming home in case they bring the virus with them.
For pity's sake, let's restore some sanity here. Yes, we've had a few new cases brought in lately; that was predicted, and is nothing to panic about.
Keep calm and carry on, says Bruce Bisset.
Yes, we've had a few front-line slip-ups with testing and control; but those are a drop in the bucket of properly processed arrivals overall.
And yes, the back-stop tracking and tracing regime may have the occasional hole in it, but it's working nevertheless, else we'd have "community transmission" to worry about.
However, it seems you only have to have a good sob story, or some inadvertent rough luck, or feel an ideological need to expose some minor slip, and you're front-page news painting the Government as somehow harsh and incompetent.
Where's the balance? Perhaps more importantly when it comes to Opposition politicians, where's the proof?
Have we really reached the point where any unfounded accusation can be parroted as if it's true with no-one stopping to ask – or apparently even thinking of asking – for some evidence?
Think about that. Then think about Donald Trump. Put the two together. That's where we're headed.
I get slagged, constantly, for "daring" to be a left-wing columnist in what is perceived as a rabidly right-wing media. It's a tough gig, especially as that critique seems valid when almost every other columnist can't wait to put the boot into Labour or the Greens on the flimsiest pretext.
But regular readers will know that while I make no pretence as to my colours, I'm also quite willing to point up left-wing failings – when there's substance to them.
That's all I ask of my fellows – that they check the facts, and keep some balance. It's what you, as watchers and readers and listeners, should also demand.
Else chances are you'll be lulled to lie back and let the next conspiracy theory seep through you.
Bottom line, nothing's perfect; but this Government, and the thousands of caring workers who have the difficult job of containing this disease, have done a damn fine job so far.
We should be proud of that, and never forget it.
• Bruce Bisset is a freelance writer and poet. Views expressed are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper.
