Dominic Delusion: rules are meant for other people
COVID-19 has been very useful in teaching us about that mysterious psychological phenomenon, Sense of Entitlement. This is a condition that informs the sufferer that the rules do not apply to him or her. It is also known as the Dominic Delusion, and more recently as the Mary Lou Me Fein Complex.
An early victim of the disorder was Scotland’s chief medical officer, Dr Catherine Calderwood, who resigned having been found not to have understood what lockdown meant. She confused ‘home’ with ‘homes’. Not far behind was Professor Neil Ferguson, a prominent member of SAGE, the body which advises the UK Government on Covid-19. He failed to understand that inviting his friend/lover over for the night was a clear case of putting his needs above those of the community he lives in. And then there is the recently resigned New Zealand health minister, Dr David Clark, who must have been so delighted with the NZ performance during the pandemic that he decided the methods used did not apply to him and his family. Off they went to the beach. One wonders if being very well educated and in a prominent job makes it easier to suffer the Dominic Delusion. And of course there’s Billy ‘I don’t self-isolate’ Kelleher.
Mary Lou McDonald has been doubly unfortunate. First of all, she got the virus in April and it “floored” her. One would have thought that would have made her particularly careful and she would know all about social distancing. I don’t know if she has been in the company of Mr Cummings, it seems unlikely, but in any case she caught the political strain of the virus too. From the photos I have seen, she clearly failed to understand words like ‘crowd’, ‘face mask’ or ‘two metres’. Mary Lou is now in the distinguished company of Dominic Cummings and Donald Trump in another unlikely 2020 coalition.
Sense of Entitlement seems to accompany positions of privilege and power. You see the condition in people who demand particular tables in restaurants. You see it when driving and are passed at speed by cars driven by people who know that speed limits are for little people.
I remember getting a touch of the delusion myself in my RTE days. It only takes a few times of being whisked up the back stairs and directly into the VIP section of a night club to begin looking at the people who queue up, go in the front door and actually pay as a very inferior species. Thankfully, that part of my media career ended before I became completely insufferable. Because the Covid Golden Circle has demonstrated so clearly that the rules do not apply to them, I fear for the stability of society. There is nothing that annoys plebs as much as being reminded that we are plebs. I sat over a cup of coffee a while back watching car after car stopping in front of a post office sporting a huge No Parking sign. All of these people used the same reasoning process... I am only going to be five minutes so it will be grand.
I did derive some amusement from the plight of a family of five who were denied entry to Sardinia, having gone to the trouble of landing in a private plane. Every fool knows that people who can afford a private plane are not infected and should be allowed to do as they please. And it is perfectly obvious that if you have a few houses, you should be allowed to visit them. You might have to feed the cat.
The next election should be interesting. The ballot paper should be two metres long to remind us who to put lowest, namely those that think and behave as if they are our betters.