The Austrian abyss

UnHerd is an independent British news outlet. It sent its correspondent to Austria in November, after that nation had just implemented a lockdown of the unvaccinated, while people with vaccine passports and ID cards can do pretty much what they like. The unvaxxed, by contrast, are confined to their houses for most of the day. Since one third of the Austrian population is unvaccinated, this essentially means an apartheid system segregating a very large minority of the population. 

So what do ordinary Austrians think of this? Or, say, human rights lawyers?

At least in the "good" part of Vienna, the Austrian capital, UnHerd´s reporter can´t find a single person (except a guy who obviously doesn´t live there) that opposes the measures. Quite the contrary. People seem to positively relish the fact, accusing the unvaccinated of being "crazy", "Flat Earthers", and so on. Then it gets really chilling. UnHerd interviews a long-standing human rights activist who calls for mandatory vaccinations (i.e. an even harsher measure), since he believes the partial lockdown is in some sense "hypocritical"?! The lawyer also accuses the far right party (the FPÖ) of "creating divisions in society" by opposing lockdowns and mandatory vaccines. 

Ahem, what? *Who exactly* is tearing society apart here? In an unguarded moment, the lawyer admits that mandatory vaccinations probably can´t be implemented, but if so, what´s the point of the measure in the first place? And if vaccine mandates fail, what should the Austrian state do? Strap everyone to a chair and force him to take the damn jab...?

The short docu ends with UnHerd´s reporter (who is vaccinated himself) entering a Christmas market in Vienna after showing his ID and vaccine passport. Then something remarkable happens. Once inside the parameters, *almost everyone removes their masks, without the police intervening*. And yet, chances are that *somebody* in that huge crowd carries COVID! So why do people suddenly relax once inside the parameter, as if it was somehow full proof from this apparently super-lethal plague?

UnHerd suggests that there are two reasons for the widespread support for the repressive measures. One is that a certain segment of society positively wants to repress certain "undesirable" groups, perhaps working class people. The other is that the matter is one of social control and psychological safety.

I never imagined that the New World Order would crumble because of a disease which, while serious, is much less dangerous than the Spanish Flu (the most obvious metric). Nor did I imagine that liberals would give us basic democratic rights, and leftists enact another 1914, over a flu vaccine. This world really is cursed.  

Coming soon to a supermarket near you...

PS. Recently, the Austrian government has changed its policy to an even more repressive one. From February 2022, vaccination will be mandatory and anyone who can´t pay the steep fines will be jailed.