“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it
means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”.[1]This
apparently also applies to numbers particularly when governments need them to
support a decision. Perhaps the most shocking example of this from the 63-day
lockdown is 243 164. This is the number of arrests made by the police in
that time for crimes (?) related to not adhering to the rules of the lockdown.
This averages out at almost 4000 arrests per day, a rate which must be putting
a severe strain on what we are told is an under resourced police force. Another
puzzling statistic is the claim that the government had mobilised some 73 000
military forces to help the police in their duties. How this fits with the
official total of just 64 000 uniformed members of the defence forces has not
been explained. And then there are the daily Humpty Dumpty type numbers none of
which appear to be flattening anything very much at all.
A common theme promoted by those calling for a complete and immediate
end to all restrictions on civil liberties imposed in the last 9 weeks is that it
is expected and inevitable that most people will in due course be infected. Sadly
for a few this will have a fatal outcome Waiting until the last known germ has been
eliminated from what ever size area one chooses, is a fool’s errand both because it’s probably impossible to know
when this might happen and secondly because it just takes one outsider to pop
in for a drink or even, heaven forbid, a smoke or a haircut to restart the threat
of an infection chain. However, there are many people, including so-called
influencers who can’t or won’t understand this inevitability feature of a viral
infection, and who work and plan tirelessly but fruitlessly for a germ-free
future. Unfortunately, there also are politicians eager to use this opportunity
of a distracted nation to ram through their deluded and discredited plans for a
communist utopia.
Like: rescuing SAA “for the people”, wresting control of the lucrative tobacco
industry from the “clutches” of white monopoly capital, exposing the many alleged cases of “crass profiteering”,
furthering the program of property expropriation, tightening the controls of
freedom of expression and rewarding loyal but incompetent and corrupt cadres
with positions of power. As if coping with a potentially lethal escapee virus
from an experimental bio lab is not enough for us to cope with.
The many alumni of Pretoria Boys High include some who in friendlier
times share a beer or two with your scribe. When next this happens, I shall be
asking them about their fellow old boy who has saddled his infant daughter with
the name “X Æ A-12”.
Yes, just like that! Even the Californian authorities objected to the (almost) Roman
numerals “Xii” in the original application and required that they be replaced
with the more conventional 12! This poor child’s mother calls herself Grimes and
daddy is Elon Musk. Money just cannot buy class.
A welcome addition
to the now imminent reopening of bottle stores will happen when both professional
and amateur sports restart and return to the TV screens. Understandably,
players, officials and spectators will individually need to decide upon and
manage their own risks about being infected. It perhaps won’t be an easy choice.
But the cardboard cut-out fans and crowd noises played on public address
systems to accompany the first matches, probably won’t survive for long.
Whether the pay cheques will immediately return to pre virus levels will be
almost as interesting as the games. Administrators have been busy in this dead
period trying to reduce contact in contact sports. Also, they have been
tinkering with other rules. Reportedly rugby referees have been asked to attend
conjuring classes in order to learn how to store and produce on cue, the red, yellow
and now an orange card. What happened to the white one?
James
Greener
Friday
29th May 2020. Day 63 of my government caring about me.
