Before our lives switched to lockdown and immobility, I was enjoying a few pints with a friend in a pub on Fulham’s bustling North End Road. We were discussing one of our favorite topics — Germany — and how we’ve both noticed that the country is infected with a rancid culture of snitching.
By contrast, Britain, I said, can take great pride from our national attitude against tattletales, which starts in the school playground before fermenting into full-blown opposition to informing on neighbors when the police come knocking.
He told me I was wrong, and that we’re just as ripe for the Germanic grassing (informing) that we both lamented.
He has been proven right. The coronavirus epidemic has revealed that vast swaths of our society need little incentive to transform into curtain-twitching, proto-Stasi informants.
A little over two weeks ago, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced tougher restrictions on our liberty to prevent the spread of the virus. “Stay home and save lives” was his rallying cry. Unfortunately, many took this to mean “Stay home and make sure your neighbor does the same.”
Northamptonshire — which I now rank as one of England’s bottom three counties — has reported a thriving snitching community, with its chief constable, Nick Adderly, recently revealing that the force has faced a surge in calls from people reporting their neighbors for “going out for a second run.”
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See Also:
(1) Even COVID-19 can’t diminish U.K.’s happy warrior
(2) EU: Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic Broke EU Law
(4) EU Ideologues Target Essential Oils
(5) ‘This could kill the EU’ Former German MEP admits coronabonds a MASSIVE threat to bloc
