Although idiocy roams free on every street; humanity humours itself by believing it has conquered nature. Reality check reveals that even the best among us are prone to bad behaviour. History says every millennium brings humanity to its knees with a plague. It all looks like earth’s way of validating the principles of natural selection or balancing the act. Mankind has flown to the moon and back, nearly broke its own back with a millennial bug concept that never was only to be brought down by an invisible virus.
Three years ago when COVID-19 arrived, mankind was unprepared for it. If the pattern of past plagues is anything to go by, we may have two more years of mutations to struggle with. Some might deny it, but the relatives and friends of those who have succumbed to this disease would never deny its impact. Nor would those who have had to deal with long-COVID and its impact on their lives. Nearly six million victims after; and with over 300 million cases reported currently, humanity is nowhere near the end of this plague.
Thanks to those who, while the rest of us pulled our heads back into the cocoon of our shells like the tortoise, went to war with this virus at the risk of their lives. They brought us the MRNA vaccines that today have infused us with the courage to peak out of our shells with renewed hope.
At every juncture of the human struggle is a stoic determination to conquer the odds. After the first year of fear and trepidation, plus lockdowns, openings, and social distance rules, one thing we have not lost is the vision of life returning to ‘normal’. It is an epic struggle in which we are sometimes forced to pull back, like the battering ram and return with full frontal attack. COVID fights science, innovation and invention, but it is certain to lose the battle; what is uncertain is who among those living today would witness its end.
At the global level, political leaders were forced to make and take decisions and back out with mercurial frenzy. Mass communication revealed its inability to develop a convincing one-size-fits-all messaging to carry everybody along in the age of social media and fake news. Democracy has revealed its flaws when it comes to dealing with issues of national emergency. While dictatorial regimes had no limitations in trampling down the rights of citizens, democracy begs for rationality. As you read this, Tianjin a Chinese town of 14 million people is being shut down because of 20 positive tests to the Omicron variant. But in France, even a national curfew is not enough to keep protesters who feel their rights being trampled at home.
History would recall how global leaders were caught behaving badly at a time the virus was decimating the human population. Donald J Trump who tried to make political capital of communist China by calling it the Chinese virus. However the WHO, headed by Haille Ghebreyesus wrestled the narrative and stamped the seal of SARS-COVID-19 on the virus, discountenancing where it first began. As the writer of the book of Genesis would have put it, whatever Ghebreyesus called the virus; that is what it is. As the virus mutates, the WHO dug into the Greek alphabet without irking the Greeks who suffered as much as their European allies from this unseen foe.
Trump would go ahead to be one of the earliest loquacious leaders to catch the virus. Sadly, while his countrymen and women were dying in thousands, Trump was treated with a cocktail of the best antidote the world could find and was back on his feet within two days to keep the false narrative that it’s no more than the common cold. It did not change his attitude.
Boris Johnson, Trump’s UK counterpart was initially no better until the virus hit him. After a night in the valley of death, Johnson recovered and wavered between conviction and insouciance. The world was shocked discovering that in spite of his experience, Johnson was cavorting with his peers in Downing Street while the rest of the country was placed on strict lockdown and social interaction rules. Those who know Johnson swear there may be more revelations with time.
Emmanuel Macron, France’s precocious leader known to ride into controversies without diplomatese has seen la foule en marche with processions on the streets of Paris. It is the actualization of liberté, égalité, fraternité even though France has had 125,000 deaths from the disease. Angry at the defiance of his compatriots to new rules, Macron lapsed into another storm when he stalled parliament after using a colloquial expression to describe anti-vaxxers in France. French anti-vaxxers would soon find it hard to buy, sell or co-mingle according to France’s latest rules.
Africa’s clairvoyant seers were caught napping with COVID, they did not see it coming. However, social distancing threatened their soul-capturing enterprise forcing some to lapse into incredulous theories one of which linked the virus to the launch of 5G technology. The prediction of doom and gloom for the African continent did not materialise except in South Africa where nearly six million people have died so far and Omicron was unfurled.
When it comes to covidiocy, the virus that inhibits proper human thinking, they are scattered across board. Tanzania’s John Magufuli did not survive the virus he disparaged. Zimbabwe’s Emerson Mnangagwa, often named on the COVID-denial spectrum was just a political opportunist who imposed a curfew forgetting that he needed rallies to convince people to help him legitimize his hold on power.
With 620,000 deaths, Brazil’s right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro has refused to take COVID seriously. Nicknamed the Trump of Brazil, Bolsonaro a former military chief continues to spread lies about the virus and the efficacy of vaccines. The other leaders on this list lay no claim to any democratic values or glasnost.
In times of crisis, influencers are expected to lead campaigns to save lives. That is not a challenge that tennis star Novak Djokovic was ready to take. Djokovic has refused to take vaccines and is now known to have tested positive twice, the latest being in December. Djokovic claims medical exemption but flew into a political storm in Australia where he was billed to defend his title for the 21st time. The Australians did not find his so-called medical exemption convincing and clamped him into a detention hotel from where he has launched a legal challenge.
His fate was billed for decision yesterday but the political storm he has created would not die easily. He deserves a space on the list of people exhibiting COVID-induced bad behaviour.
