The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor

Your papers, please

German Ordnungspolizei men examining Polish man’s papers, Krakow, Poland in 1941. (Wikipedia)

The longer the coronavirus pandemic continues, the more serious becomes the discussion about creating “immunity passports”. Here, here, here and here

It would be something like a license or certificate proving that you have an immunity to COVID-19, giving you special privileges that others don’t have. The others being those who haven’t been exposed, those who have been but tests don’t show an existence of an immunity and those who have not been exposed.

In other words, just about everyone.

Most of the debate appears to be centered on the practicality of creating, issuing, identifying and enforcing such papers. But, on principle alone, it should not and must not happen.

The very idea brings to mind the expression of “You’re papers please,” a movie trope that depicts the random demands for identification as exercised in a police state. It’s based on real life situations when you need to justify your presence or very existence.

For some, it is no different than having a driver’s license, showing that you are authorized to operate a vehicle. It will be required especially if the lockdown continues for another 12 or 18 months, to separate us, I gather, into safe people and unsafe people. Scary, that.

It’s a step on the way to having a national ID. Surely those who oppose requiring voters to show an ID at the polls will see the problem. It’s also another facet of the coronavirus lockdown that endangers our liberties. Nip this one in the bud.

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www.dennisbyrne.net

My historical novel: Madness: The War of 1812

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Filed under:
Health

Tags:
Coronavirus, COVID-19, Immunity passport