Two questions lie at the heart of this post: (1) Are we sacrificing mental health in pursuit of physical health? (2) If so, what are the likely short, medium and long-term consequences of our actions, well meaning though they may be?
One year into the global coronavirus pandemic it is increasingly clear that, with only a few exceptions, leaders cannot lead and followers cannot follow. To be sure, forty years of neoliberalism hasn’t helped with its ‘shrink the state, expand the market, now off you go on your own now’ mantra. Each of these elements of the mantra have led to pathological outcomes: states incapable of forcefully and effectively taking the coordinated national, regional and global action necessary to ‘flatten the curve’; markets that have collapsed, including many delivering ‘essential services’; and people running off madly in all directions, from anti-maskers to dutiful citizens ‘staying the blazes home’. Indeed, many more nefarious elements have raised their ugly heads: vaccine nationalism, black markets for (often fake) vaccines, vaccine tourism for the rich, and widespread social protest. In some states, ‘leaders’ have simply used the pandemic to squash civil society. The private sector has done the one thing it knows how to do: respond to demand by developing a wide array of more or less effective vaccines. What this seems to have done, however, was to fuel a type of euphoria - there are clear skies ahead - quickly followed by a turn toward nihilism - there is no way out - due to the fiasco of many vaccine rollouts. And let’s not forget the stock markets which are, as usual, wildly out of step with reality and well on their way to another crash, the impact of which will be havoc for the average to poor, and a shrug of the shoulders for the one percent.
What is missing here is Malcolm Gladwell. Why Mr. Gladwell? Because what the world needs now more than anything is someone who can see outside of the scientific-rational box we’ve gotten ourselves into. One year into the pandemic and we average and well-meaning folks around the world are still being counselled to do the same things that clearly are not working: stay home, wash your hands, wear a mask, social distance. Don’t get me wrong; I am doing all of these things and am faring very well thank you kindly. But, like the ‘leaders’ of the world, I have options unavailable to almost everyone on the planet. I am able to work from home. It is not ideal but it is also not terrible. I continue to pull my weight and I get paid well for it. So does my spouse. We live in a rural area with lots of natural open space both on our property and all around us. For the first 60 days of the pandemic I did not leave my property but had a grand old time with my chain saw and assorted yard tools getting ready for summer. We also have no children, and we have a very strong marriage where prospects of '24-7' gives me shivers, but primarily of delight. We like being with each other. We have enough space to be on our own if necessary. The only hassle is the 20 minute drive to the shops for provisions. I suspect that all world leaders have a wide range of options similar to mine. Maybe not the ability to fly between personal golf courses on a government plane, but probably not too far off from that either.
If those at the top were able of walking a mile in the shoes of those at the bottom - or in the middle - they would most likely not be so wedded to rational thought informed by science. They would feel the emotion of cramped quarters, fraught gender relations (intimate partner violence and binge drinking are way up), and children of varying ages with differing capacities to process the logic of restrictions and adapt. Households in many parts of the world are multi-generational, and the responsibility for holding this all together falls disproportionately on the shoulders of women. They would also feel the emerging, unwelcome rise of mental illness. They would begin to see that isolation and lockdown is tantamount to a trade-off between physical and mental health: you are safe from the virus but slowly going mad as a consequence. The revolving door of lockdown, partial opening, red, yellow, green zones and so on makes things worse. Uncertainty goes hand in hand with high levels of stress. Will the market solve this problem too? Wellness apps are all the rage. We are constantly being counselled on how to get creative at home. And people are trying their best to be rational and to do their part for the common good. Are we better off? Amazon and Netflix most certainly are. But what of people? A simple scan of the global social environment reveals people in the streets protesting against lockdown; protesting against not only the loss of their livelihoods but also of their sanity. Governments respond with a combination of water cannon and charts showing vaccine delivery and roll out plans. It’s a powder keg ready to blow. Since ‘Plan A’ is not working, how can the answer to ‘solving’ the pandemic be more ‘Plan A’, or ‘Plan A prime’. We need a fresh approach. We need clear eyed thinking. We need Malcolm Gladwell?
