Politicians and bureaucrats are the walking embodiments of the Peter Principle, which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their “level of incompetence”. What this means is that people who are competent in one area are promoted until they wind up in an area in which they are not at all competent. In politics and bureaucracy, this means that people who are adept at playing political games end up as leaders, ministers and heads of departments – whether or not they have any expertise in the field they now lead.
Jacinda Ardern is a classic case: brilliant at the sort of manipulation that leads to success in politics; absolutely, hopelessly, appalling incompetent at anything more complicated than wrapping a piece of fish in paper.
But, fret not, New Zealand, you’re not alone. We here in Australia have incompetent politicians to rank with the worst of them.
We are only two weeks into January but there seems little point waiting to announce the winner of this year’s Dumbest Tweet by An Australian Politician award.
Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath, please step forward (while maintaining a safe 1.5m distance) to receive your gong.
And since she has two hands, she might as well take the prestigious 2021 Covidiot trophy while she’s here.She deserves it for this tweet, fired off on Saturday morning as Brisbane entered a three-day lockdown:
“If anyone in the Greater Brisbane area is leaving their home they must wear a mask throughout the entire period they are out until they get home. This includes while driving.”
That’s right: while you’re driving, alone in your car.
What possible reason could the Health Minister have for insisting that people driving in their own car wear a mask? Does her government even science?[sic].
Where is the data on virus transmissibility in a car, alone?
Can Covid-19 now jump through glass and steel?
Are health officials worried that the cleaner who contracted the virus while working at the Hotel Grand Chancellor might pull up along-side us at an intersection and cough into our window?
Must we wear masks while driving just in case our car caught Covid overnight in the driveway?
I suppose wearing a mask while driving alone does prevent you from catching Covid from yourself.
D’Ath’s is not the first or most stupid official dictate on the Wuhan plague. There are, after all, thousands public health officials who attested that it was safe to attend a BLM protest even while citizens were being sternly warned to “stay home, save lives”.
Governments and bureaucrats are addicted to control, even if it’s just the illusion of control over a virus. They are driven to be seen to be doing something, anything, so long as it keeps up the appearance of being in charge.
There’s risk management, and then there’s insane bureaucracy. The Health Minister’s directive is pure hygiene theatre. And it would be funny if it were not dangerous.
It’s dangerous in two ways. Firstly, do we really want oxygen deprived people at the wheel of a car?
And what about drivers crashing because performative mask wearing fogged up their prescription glasses, obscuring their sight on the highway?
No doubt such fatalities would be recorded as Covid-19 deaths and used to provide justification for even more rules and regulations.
But it’s also dangerous because stupid directives like this undermine whatever sensible instructions the Health Minister might issue. It starts to feel like we are being played, tested to see the limits to which we will go in order to comply.
The Good Sauce
“Sensible instructions” and politicians and bureaucrats are anathema to each other. It doesn’t just feel like we are being played – it’s exactly what it is.
Every step of “pandemic management” has been about control; and the COVID totalitarians must be astonished and delighted at how much they’ve been allowed to get away with.
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