Ever since the COVID-19 crisis hit us, it feels like everyday is a constant bombardment of messaging about the need to maintain ‘social distancing’. Aside from the numerous restrictions about who we can and can’t see that are lumped in with the implementation and enforcement of social distancing, there’s also the advice about staying (as far as is possible) two metres away from anyone not in your immediate household.

A more accurate, prosaic and less loaded way of describing having to say two metres apart from any other human not in your household is physical distancing. Which is pretty much the phrase we’ve been using in a lot of the posts we’ve put up about the COVID-19 crisis. So why the f**k do the authorities keep on using a loaded term such as ‘social distancing’? Also, why the f**k do people who really should know better go along with this and also use this toxic phrase?

‘Social distancing’ subliminally implies a lot more that just staying two metres away from other people. When we hear the phrase ‘social distancing’, what immediately comes to mind is isolation, lack of contact, withdrawal from any meaningful social life, missing friends, family and loved ones…the list goes on. All of which is contributing to a growing mental health crisis which barely gets a mention in a media that largely seems to have lost the ability to ask some searching questions about the psyops that we’re being inflicted with. That’s not to mention the rise in alcohol and drug abuse.

What’s making this growing mental health crisis worse is there appears to be no f**king end in sight. Sure, some of us are slowly being nudged back to work but that’s counterbalanced by a directive about who you can and can’t make love to. How are they going to police that one for f**k sake? The ‘nooky’ police? Relying on an army of curtain twitching snitchers to grass up neighbours if they see someone they don’t recognise visiting for the night? Actually creating the ‘Anti-Sex League’ that was written about in George Orwell’s 1984? Mind you, things are so sodding weird right now, the appearance of an ‘Anti-Sex League’ wouldn’t actually come as much of a surprise!

So if you’re still insisting on using the term ‘social distancing’, please give your head a bit of a wobble. ‘Social distancing’ is not a neutral or descriptive term. As well as all of the ills we mentioned above, it also implies a level of control over our lives that feels like it’s going to be around for a long time. When people feel like they are losing their autonomy to authorities who don’t appear to give a shit about their mental health, eventually it’s going to have negative and possibly, tragic consequences.

For a growing number of people who are finding the lockdown and consequent social isolation harder to deal with as each day passes, reading or hearing the phrase ‘social distancing’ is a like a kick in the guts from some sadistic torturer. To hear some so called anarchists and radicals continue to use the phrase as if it’s something positive, feels like a sodding betrayal.

What do the government and their corporate backers want? An atomised, frightened, malleable populace willing to do their bidding. It’s not conspiracy theory to say that constantly banging on about social distancing is playing a significant role in bringing this about. So, if you’re still using the phrase, please take a step back and think about the negative consequences the constant use of such a loaded phrase will have. Then please use a more considered form of words otherwise you’re part of the problem.