Plague Diary: Lumpen and Dangerous
The anarchist ideal and the libertarian ideal have something in common: they cannot work, because they are based on the assumption that people are sensible and well-intentioned, a thesis that can be disproved these days just by going outside, where you will view:
People wearing masks around their necks, not their faces
People wearing masks over their mouths, not their noses
People not wearing masks at all
People taking their masks off to cough or sneeze
People in any of the above categories standing close to strangers, and becoming angry when asked to distance
There is, as Marx wrote, a lumpen proletariat, but there is also a lumpen bourgeoisie, and the most sensible rules of lockdown will not contain the plague unless they are enforced.
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—GM Stevenson
Email: contact at stevenson dot scot