It is time for the meddling moralisers to chill out:
I know I am not alone in getting rather sick and tired of all the corona alarmists and their incessant moralising, preaching and finger pointing. Sorry, but I will not bow down to your bullying, intimidation, and ugly naming and shaming. Indeed, I refuse to obey your newly established greatest commandment: “Thou shalt live in fear.”
And I don’t care who is pushing this baloney, be it a politician, a journalist, or some arrogant celeb. I have already highlighted many of these sanctimonious folks and their patronising nonsense, such as Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt telling me this rubbish: “Want to go to the footy? Download the app.” Or faux conservative Paul Murray on Sky News telling us we must download it for the sake of Mother’s Day!
Um, no, I will not be bribed or blackmailed. I will not be treated like a child. I will not be spoken down to. I will not be treated like some low-life scum. I will not put up with your patronising and condescending assault on my freedom. So back off now, thanks.
Nor will I take it from smart aleck journalists who think they know so much better than I do what I should and should not do. There are far too many of these moralising media types out there. Let me mention just one (and I won’t dignify their fearmongering by providing a link to it).
Some know-it-all by the name of Angela Mollard had an opinion piece entitled “Coronavirus app: Why you should download COVIDSafe now”. It began this way: “If you are not willing to join millions of Aussies in downloading the government’s new coronavirus tracing app, you’re just plain selfish.”
Um, take a hike mate. I will tell you who is being selfish here: all these fat cat media meddlers and celebs and politicians who all enjoy very comfortable lifestyles with guaranteed pay cheques and heaps of money in the bank who keep lecturing us poor plebs that we just need to suck it up and do what we are told.
They are not worth listening to. And plenty of Christians are quite happy to take the high moral ground here as well, all the while revealing what utter Pharisees they are. One of the more appalling things I read from one of these folks was this:
To protesters of stay-at-home orders:
Find something worth protesting and learn self control for the sake of others. The leading fruit of the Spirit is self-control.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law”–Galatians 5:22-23.
I was strongly tempted to say this in reply:
To insensitive corona alarmists:
Find something worth whining about. 30 million Americans have lost their jobs. They have bills to pay and families to feed. Learn some Christian charity for those who are suffering so greatly now. Treating them with contempt is neither edifying nor godly. The leading fruit of the Spirit is love, especially for those who are in such hardship.
“Be careful, Jesus said to them. Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”—Matthew 16:6.
But I thought that I should show him more grace than he was showing to all those unemployed people who are wondering how they will make ends meet, and how they will get food on the table for their loved ones. And what really irked me is the fact that this guy would have a cushy job at a Christian seminary in a very nice part of the country.
I do not doubt for a moment that he has a nice guaranteed income, and a very nice home in a very nice part of town. Yet he has the audacity to sit in judgment on those who are not as well off as he is, and pontificate about how they need to be more spiritual – like he is. Hmm, Jesus had a lot to say about the Pharisees.
While this guy happens to live in the Rockies (tough gig if you can get it), what I said a few weeks ago about all the egotistical and annoying celebs preaching to us about how ‘we are all in this together’ is worth repeating: “Yeah right – as if. I am getting really sick and tired of all these bozos claiming we are all in the same boat. Um, no: they of course are in their 20-room mansions, their yachts, and their villas on the beach. Their lockdown is a whole lot easier to handle than mine and yours!” https://billmuehlenberg.com/2020/04/11/corona-and-the-rule-of-law/
Last week an American commentator said something very relevant to this discussion which I readily shared. It is worth sharing again. Matt Walsh put it this way: “New rule. If you’re criticizing lockdown protestors, you have to preface your criticism by saying whether you still have an income. Because if you’re criticizing people for wanting their income back even as you still have an income, that’s important context for us to know.”
Quite so. If this smug professor wants to open up his home and let a few dozen unemployed fellow Americans into his home, or better yet, if he wants to sell his home and vehicles and give the proceeds to the new poor created by these austere government lockdowns, THEN he can start lecturing us about Christian morality and spirituality.
Until then I suggest that he just zips it. He is helping no one by taking the high moral ground here. He is just making things worse, and giving biblical Christianity a real bad name along the way. But I am not picking on just this guy, as there are many thousands of other self-righteous Christians just like him doing the same thing, and saying the same nonsense.
Here is the bottom line: if these folks want to stay paralysed in fear, lock themselves in their (often quite comfortable) homes, never go out, and do everything the State tells them to do, that is up to them. But they really should stop lecturing me and millions of others about the choices we think are the best to make for ourselves during this time of crisis.
Postscript
While I am at it, let me share one more issue that gets my goat. Another thing that bugs me is this: the media going on and on about how the corona death toll keeps rising. Um, guess what? It cannot UNrise – it cannot go backwards. It can only go in one direction. So even if we get a handful of deaths a week, yes, it will rise! Duh. Let me repeat the actual numbers: Australia has 25.5 million people. 95 have died from corona so far. Um, in the same period 5000 Australians have died from cigarette smoking.
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