© REUTERS/Ammar AwadNational lockdown in Israel
It's a topsy-turvy world when nations putting millions of people under house arrest are ranked among the globe's most 'free' countries - yet that's exactly what the
Economist magazine's latest survey claims.
Hey, people of the world. Do you still live in a free country? It may be hard to tell these days, given all of the restrictions that have been introduced into your daily life over the past year, and which in many cases have yet to let up. To give you a hand, the prestigious
Economist magazine has taken it upon itself to let you
know whether you're actually free or not.
Logically, you'd think that the more restrictions introduced in the name of the pandemic would mean a lower civil liberties score. But the Economist makes its pro-lockdown position clear at the outset: "That the course of the pandemic has proved lockdown skeptics wrong does not mean that they should have been prevented from expressing their views, however erroneous some proved to be."
The Economist neglected to present any evidence to support the notion that strict lockdown alternatives are the best option for freedom, democracy, and the economy (or even for being the best way to tackle the pandemic). Instead, it just assumes the position that countries really didn't have a choice whether to lockdown, when they absolutely did. It then pays lip-service to the notion of free speech by arguing that those anti-lockdown cranks should have at least been allowed to speak. It's not like even the
Economist set the free speech example by giving lockdown skeptics the front page of its magazine to make their case, though, did it? Perhaps it could answer that question first before pointing fingers at others.
Comment: Here's footage of the 'off-duty' police officers beating the father (and later the daughter, who attempts to stop the brutal assault). It's disturbing to watch, so please watch at your discretion:
According to this report, both father and daughter sustained serious facial injuries. The coppers involved have since been arrested - which is probably for their own good because the whole town reacted when they saw the above footage by seeking them out in order to give them a little justice of their own. Riot police have since been called in to scatter the protesters:
We can't yet establish what the original 'offense' was - what led the police to assault the father and daughter - but we would not be surprised to learn that it was 'lockdown-related'.
The situation isn't just a 'powder keg' in this small city in Spain; the situation is ripe for vigilante 'snapback' right across the West.