In my view, South Africans are divided into two camps right now: Those fed-up with their neighbours ‘bending’ the lockdown rules and “putting everyone else at risk” and the ‘benders’ who are spitting mad at their neighbours for tattling on them.
Both are convinced they are in the right and rant online with the air of religious fanaticism at the evils of the other.
‘Snitches get stitches’ has become the refrain across social media.
Countries in lockdown worldwide are reporting this dilemma as citizens grapple with the ethics of whether to report on their neighbours or not.
The UK police have received more than 200,000 reports of lockdown contraventions; in New Zealand a dedicated website was flooded with reports; in France, the emergency number has been overrun with calls; in Singapore an official app previously for reporting things like potholes has been updated to report lockdown flouters.
While here in Ballito, neighbours report on parents taking children down to the beach for a dip.
Before the exercise rules were relaxed I heard of one Ballito man who had the cops at his door after he slipped out for a sneaky night run.
I don’t condone his choice but neither do I condemn him because who was he harming?
The justification for the tip-off, of course, would be that ‘if everyone just ignored the rules and did what they liked then what would the point of the rules be?’.
Anarchy, right?
But as I see his actions to be neither harmful nor spiteful I would rather the cops were left to follow-up on the real criminals.
What really bugs me though, is that worry that someone might rat me out if I don’t interpret the rules the same way they do.
Will you call the cops if you see me driving without a mask?
That my car is a private space that affects no one but myself and that a mask mists up my glasses making wearing one both irrational and dangerous might not have occurred to you when you pressed speed dial.
Nevertheless, I still hear of traffic cops fining motorists without one.
I do not think it would stand up in court but why should it have to go that far?
Could common sense not prevail?
What about if I run with my mask on my neck and pull it up when I get near people?
Would that be breaking the law?
If you think I should be fined then you have either never attempted to run with a mask on or you are he-man and the reduced oxygen just makes running more fun for you!
Either way, who am I harming?
The longer lockdown continues, the harder it becomes for everyone to abide by the rules and the more this ethical dilemma will be in our faces.
Many people are losing faith in the legitimacy of the rules as they watch their livelihoods, years of hard graft invested in a business, crumble into nothing.
Yesterday it was night runners, today it is coffee shops selling cuppas from the premises and people walking on the beach, tomorrow it may be hairdressers sneaking customers in via the back entrance (oh, the horror!).
Speaking of hair cuts (or the lack thereof), I was fascinated to read in the New York Times last week that a number of shops in Texas, including hairdressers and tattoo artists, decided to reopen in defiance of the state’s coronavirus restrictions.
To do this they hired private security armed with dogs and AR-15 semiautomatic rifles. Say what?
This is paramount to Shelly from Cutting Edge Hair & Beauty hiring the taxi’s security guards to stand guard while we go in for a cut and blow.
What do you say, Shelly?
I wonder if South Africans are as ballsy as the Texans? If lockdown goes on much longer who knows what may happen.
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In just eight weeks, 88 percent of blondes will disappear from the earth.
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