Relaxation: The Only Way to Reconcile Freedom and ‘the Truth’
Nb. None of what you are about to read means ‘YOU’ relaxing in the here and now, the present state of affairs. We are talking about creating a post-capitalist society where the reduction of necessary labour to one hour per working day fosters relaxation that, in turn, practically resolves the contradiction between freedom and truth that has plagued philosophy since it began.
Our example: Vaccine Passports. On the one hand, vaccine passports have enraged many. Showing papers to enter venues is perceived as unnecessary coercion, and we agree it is a restriction on freedom whereas we dream of an uncoercive society. But on the other hand, the protesters are idiots, seduced by climate change denier and anti-Semite Piers Corbyn. At the current time of writing, a mob that segmented from a rally featuring Piers Corbyn, has just stormed a Covid test site, undermining the hard work of volunteers and NHS workers, causing misery, mayhem, and panic. The totalitarian technocratic state is perfectly correct in repeating that vaccines are safe and beneficial; furthermore it can be proved that the passports DO increase vaccine uptake. This is the contradiction between freedom and truth, as being played out today. But the manner in which the battle is being played out, means whoever wins, we lose.
The philosopher of ‘liberal society’ John Stuart Mill’s resolution of the contradiction was to say coercion is only justified when individual behaviour causes harm to other sovereign individuals. In the context of highly transmissable OMICRON, the anti-vaxxers are probably harming others, so they can be coerced, right? The problem is that coercion only entrenches their cretinism, and is disruptive to social harmony that allows their anti-science messages to spread, creating chaos and confusion. But then if individual freedom is sacrosanct, in disregard to what those individuals represent, more people are sacrificed to Fiendish Covid. Surely life has to be considered the fundamental ingredient of liberty? How do we resolve this explicit tension?
The motivations for the protesters are no secret. Piers Corbyn is a member of the International Marxist Group, and sp!ked who cheer them on, in some weird bastard mutant offspring of Marxism as well. They hold to a MARXIST theory of “the state” and are terrified of it, rather than just ekeing out survival like normal people have learnt to do. The state enforces economic relations that exploit workers and cause them intense alienation. This is the reason why they hate the state. But rather than express disquiet honestly and maturely, the Marxist Freak Show is lashing out against the technocratic component of the modern state, that only expands the contradiction between freedom and truth (think of an elastic band being stretched where opposing ends represent freedom and truth).
Both sides need to take a chill pill. The anti-vaxxers need to calm down in the realisation their refusal to get the vaccine is causing the very thing they fear – death and authoritarianism. And the state needs to realise it is pushing too hard and wrecking the social fabric.
Once social relaxation is recognised to be a positive, it can become a force in its own right, a motive for getting rid of stressful capitalism, and replacing the state with a collective dialogue that can mature the population to the extent that both capitalism and its state are incapable of coming back. The subsequent population has resolved the contradiction between freedom and truth by having both. As Captain Janeway said “There must be a way to have our cake and eat it too” (Star Trek Voyager: Endgame).
barryessex 
Is it, though? It seems a stretch to essentially say, “You are free to be unvaccinated, but if you don’t get the vaccine we will increasingly restrict your liberties until you choose to be vaccinated.”
Government responses to the pandemic and to the slowness of the booster rollout are political choices. That it should lead to increased restrictions on the unjabbed is not a predestined or necessary course.
Besides, the vaccine, while succeeding in its primary job of preventing serious illness and death from Covid, seems to be very ineffective at preventing infection and spread. The personal and economic disruption caused by the necessity to self-isolate on testing positive is equal for the vaccinated as for the unvaccinated.
Although I’m vaccinated and will be getting the booster because getting them causes minimal inconvenience to me, anyone in reasonably good health under 50 can be forgiven for wondering why they should bother. Hospital cases were higher after the nationwide vaccination than they were at some points prior to the rollout even before the highly transmissible Omicron was detected.
Let’s not lose sight of why we were plunged into lockdown: not because Covid is an especially deadly disease, but because NHS critical care capacity was close to being overwhelmed. The immediate political priority, then, should be to boost capacity. The Nightingale hospitals were opened, unused, closed due to staffing problems, and now re-opened in what seems to be a yo-yo PR stunt by Bozza.
Why not recruit as many doctors and nurses as possible, and keep as many as possible working, by doubling their salaries? It would be costly, but nowhere near as expensive as three lockdowns and intermittent restrictions.
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