No global conformity
“EMERGENCY” is a word typical of the opaque, euphemistic terminology used by governments in recent decades. Together with “incident”, “sensitive”, “operation” and “elements”, it is called up when things are going manifestly wrong.
There are two basic kinds of emergencies: the natural and the political. The natural, often called a disaster, is usually self-evident, in flood, famine earthquake and fire.
The political is a declared state by government decree when a situation is becoming uncontrollable and the niceties of the due process of law have to be dispensed with.
Edward Gibbon, using the neutral sense, referred to the “emergency of war on the frontiers” in his monumental Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-88).
South Africa has experienced many states of emergency, especially under the Nationalist government when the pressures resulting from the war of liberation became increasingly acute.
Now the alarming and unpredictable deaths resulting from the Coronavirus has created a global problem, even for wealthy nations with strong health-care facilities.
This is a new category showing up inconsistencies of behaviour. There is no global conformity, even on the wearing of masks, let alone social distancing.