Big Brother: the imposition of authority on family life during the Coronavirus pandemic | Michael Fraser
The Covid-19 pandemic and its concurrent impact on the world is, and will be, unprecedented in all history. The governments and societies of the world have been forced to react, adapt and learn from the inconveniences and problems that have arisen not just as a result of the virus itself, but also of the measures taken to curb the spread and rate of the infection. In a matter of months, schools and offices were shut down, people were subjected to a form of quasi-incarceration in their homes being quarantined regardless of their status of infection, and increasingly savvy and potentially sinister new surveillance techniques and technology were innovated.
In the space of a few months, we witnessed the most dramatic expansions of state power since the Second World War. Appropriate or arbitrary, proportionate or excessive, this represents a matter that warrants serious oversight. If powers are not duly given up once the crisis is abated, they may continue to negatively interfere with the key institutions of a free civil society in many ways that they already are doing. Specifically so, for the most elemental institution of all; the family.
At the time of writing, many will have witnessed the heartbreaking footage of two sons comforting their elderly mother at the funeral of their late father, and her late husband. Current Covid-19 governmental guidelines allow for up to 30 persons to attend a funeral. However, social distancing measures must be strictly complied with, meaning that a distance of one metre must be kept between separate households. The staff in this instance, therefore, acted accordingly and physically separated the sons from their mother, although it does beg the question as to whether a more measured, compassionate, and common sense approach ought to be taken in situations such as these. When do arbitrary rules that are intended to be in place for our collective benefit begin to obtrude our humanity?
The unpopular ‘Snoopers’ Charter’ bill was widely condemned upon its inception and its invasiveness was offered as the reason for such widespread discontent. Today, we live in a society where ordinary citizens are encouraged to spy on each other by their government in order to determine whether people are adhering to strict Covid-19 guidelines. There is, therefore, a very real chance that a family could be fined after being reported for visiting an elderly or dying relative, or even just for gathering to keep the family unit functioning as it always has- the state turning neighbour against neighbour in its pursuit of all-consuming control.
The importance of family, friendship, and other forms of kinship has never been more pronounced than since the emergence of the virus and throughout lockdown. From sweeping national lockdowns to the uncertainty surrounding post first phase interactions, the existence of familial bonds and friendships have offered a beacon of hope and light during what has been an otherwise mentally and emotionally challenging time. Whilst that solidarity and kinship has provided comfort to those lucky enough to have it, the emergence of a more authoritarian Big Brother government has threatened to break the family unit.
What the emotive example of a family being separated at a time of grieving touches on more broadly is the issue of family separation during the pandemic, both due to the virus itself and the measures that government and local authorities have put into place in order to enforce this. No government, let alone a conservative government, should interfere in family life to the extent that is currently happening. One can only imagine the howls of protest from the Opposition benches in parliament were it a Labour government advocating such policy.
Now, almost a year since the beginning of the first nationwide lockdown, the public are still being told who they can see, where they can go and at what times they can do this. With the Spring fast approaching, there may be an end in sight to these stifling measures that have been thrust upon us.
As conservatives, the desire for freedom (proper freedom, as that to achieve the good life and pursue one’s own path ethically and virtuously) is at complete odds with what the government policy had been for the last year. So, too, is the overreliance on state apparatus, such as the NHS, which has usurped the traditional family support structure and is now utilised as an all-encompassing care programme; a National Covid Service that treats everything else as a secondary concern. Throughout the pandemic, elderly citizens and ‘at-risk’ individuals have been denied access to support from family members. Grandparents and grandchildren have been separated and instead the elderly have had to rely on support schemes such as the NHS Volunteer Scheme, or care home staff.
Cases of the excessively forceful enforcement of lockdown restrictions emerged, in which family lives and core personal relations are infringed upon in rather disturbing ways.
The report of a mother dying alone because she couldn’t decide which of her children she could see before her death is further evidence of the trauma being inflicted on families. Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that it is not just the families of patients involved that are struggling with the restrictions, but that the staff involved in end-of-life care are struggling to adapt and their mental health is being affected as a result of this.
And what about the enormous harm we are doing to our children and young people in the midst of all this? Alas, the devolved administrations have shown the same appetite for totalitarianism as Westminster. The inhumane, almost prisonlike treatment of university students in Scotland, for example, is a national outrage that has been condemned in (almost) all quarters. An important part of the student experience is the chance to socialise and meet new people. At present, this is being denied to students owing to the draconian measures that have been put into place. Additionally, in keeping with the Westminster government’s anti-family policies, Holyrood has intimated many students were trapped in their university accommodation, unable to return home, this Winter.
Worse yet, is the way we are treating younger children, as silent carriers and potential killers of elderly relatives; immune yet dangerous little beings who must be separated from all but the youngest and healthiest of their family unit. The importance of family has only been reinforced by the emergence of the virus, and the benefits of a family unit have thus far been negated by government restrictions on socialising. As Roger Scruton put it, “the family is the core institution whereby societies reproduce themselves and pass moral knowledge to the young”. Scruton ‘s thoughts are supported by a Stanford report extolling the benefits of intergenerational relationships, which further highlights the destruction that government policy is wreaking on people, young and old. The shared learning that interactions between young and old can yield will only suffer under existing regulations. The extent to which this affects the younger generation in particular will only become clear later.
With furlough, redundancies, and job uncertainties plaguing the nation, families have enough problems with which to contend without big government flexing its muscles and removing the most natural and intimate support structure known to man. As Edmund Burke, one of the great fathers of conservatism, once said:
“To be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of public affections. It is the first link in the series by which we proceed towards a love to our country, and to mankind. The interest of that portion of social arrangement is a trust in the hands of all those who compose it; and as none but bad men would justify it in abuse, none but traitors would barter it away for their own personal advantage.”
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
Johnson’s government’s policies were seriously threatening to erode our already vulnerable family structures further- our “little platoons”- in a careless slide towards ever greater state dominance of all the wrong kinds, and history will not look kindly on them for it. After all, the family is sacred; for conservatives it is imperative the state does not make unwelcome incursions and trespass into this sphere to its detriment.
If you liked this article and want to help our organisation expand, please consider donating.
