Why is “Border Force” Peter Dutton’s answer to every question?
You know what would attenuate panic buying? People believing they had a government that had their back. People believing that even if things get tough, that we’re out there for each other, and we’ll get through together.
Instead, we’ve been told for the better part of a decade that we’re on our own. That our problems are our fault and our own responsibily, and that we’d better look out for ourselves. Not only have we been told, but they’ve demonstrated that they mean it, abandoning us during drought and bushfires, commanding robots to hunt us down to reclaim welfare payments, and the incessant gnawing at all of our public institutions. Everybody in this country knows where we stand in terms of government magnanimity: it doesn’t exist. We’re on our own.
Unless you happen to own a casino. Then they’ve got your back, come what may.
There are two ways to squint and look at this situation. Yes, there’s a lot of unbecoming stress and undignified behaviour in supermarkets right now. But local communities are also awash with stories of people who are there for their elderly neighbours, their parents, their less able friends. The people who are willing to venture out, wrath of government ministers notwithstanding, to shop on behalf of others who cannot keep up.
If I recall correctly from my childhood, the Australian mythology was all about mateship, and that’s exactly what I see now. Fuck all the government pronouncements to the contrary.
It is exactly Dutton’s punitive attitude that’s causing people to panic. Instead of being reassured that the government will sure we all have some minimum level of basic necessities, all we’ll get is admonishment and punishment.
Ignorance may be bliss
If you’re out there shopping for essentials, just trying to look after your family and your community, keep on keeping on. You’re doing it right. If you’re shopping for friends who might be scraping for income right now, you’re absolutely doing it right. If you’re just buying more food because you’re at home all the time now, you’re doing it right.
The system is working. It’s just being driven a bit harder than normal. Just as a horse breaks into a trot and then a canter, the rhythm of the supply chain has changed a bit. It needs to settle into the new rhythm, but it will come good.
So treat the proselytising from politicians like you treat an irritating sibling. Just ignore it.
Caveat: some of the advice coming from the government is factual, sensible and should be heeded. It’s important to distinguish valuable information from the stream of slobber that’s delivered with it. I’m not recommending tuning out altogether. I’m just saying: take the useful bits and throw away the junk.
The road ahead
What appears to be panic buying is a manifestation of the stress we’ve all been under for years. So many have been desperately holding on, trying not to fall behind the pace of society, knowing that if they fall behind, nobody is going to come back for them. Every time the carriage jolts, of course people are going to grab onto anything they can, fearing that the whole thing is going to come off the rails.
Now we’re taking a collective breath. Just as soap bursts the lipid bubble that protects the virus, I’m hopeful that some of the unbearable tensions in society will be temporarily relaxed, and reassembled in a more sustainable way when we all get going on this journey again.