Van Morrison’s “Dangerous” Songs

“But, furthermore, there is virtue in urging society to introspection over blind obedience to narratives.”

What does it mean to be virtuous in the era of the Coronavirus (COVID-19)? There is a unique character to this question, since the pandemic underscores a series of events: crippling economic downturn, overbearing government impositions on individual rights, and divisive racial upheaval. From these developments arise questions of clear ethical importance.

The intelligentsia at-large does not care about virtue or ethics, however. They would rather risk disrespecting personal freedom by solely considering charts and figures to conjure policy advisories about a sickness whose path has so far waded into questions of ethical import. Their strategy is foolishly to adulate data and bad omens as the crème de la crème of public policy prescriptions—ethics be damned.

Doubt me? Ask London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who is now groveling before Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ban all household visits in the city, ahead of a projected spike in COVID-19 cases. Or ask the Danish government, who orders that bars in Copenhagen close around 10 p.m., as if the virus emerges only in the late night hours like the vampires of Stoker’s Dracula. The list of rights abuse is endless.

Safety, however, is the bureaucrat’s chief argument for these excesses. And to challenge authority when it is attempting to achieve so-called safety is tantamount to “tin-foil hat” conspiracism, says Northern Ireland’s Health Minister, Robin Swann. Swann was referring to Grammy-winning musician Van Morrison’s statements against the COVID-19 lockdowns, during a Rolling Stone interview. Morrison’s offense? He denounced COVID-19 lockdowns and then penned a slew of songs against the practice. And for daring to question the established order, Swann called Morrison “dangerous,” “bizarre,” and “irresponsible.”