Authority, Participation and Obedience: The Power Dynamics Behind Covid-19 Responses

Without a doubt, Covid-19 can be a dangerous disease for a small percentage of the population, affecting certain people in various ways, including breathlessness, chronic fatigue and brain fog.[1] Fear of the disease has brought on many new protocols and restrictions. But just how fearful should we be? In 1961, Stanley Milgram conducted experiments in destructive obedience, to test how far individuals would go before disobeying authority. Further experiments were conducted by Thomas Blass who, in 1999 wrote “The Milgram Paradigm After 35 Years: Some Things We Now Know About Obedience to Authority.” According to Milgram and Blass, obedience is deeply ingrained. Most individuals will obey when certain elements are present: when orders come from a figure of authority, when any suffering is perceived to be minimal and for the greater good and when peer pressure to comply is present. 2020 has been like one big Milgram experiment. People have generally conformed to restrictions and lockdowns around the world because they come from authorities and experts, because they believe that the greater good will outweigh any negative repercussions and because of pressure to conform. 

Both Milgram and Blass found that individuals had a higher tendency to obey if orders came from a figure of authority, from an institution of reputability or from persons considered to have experience in the matter.[2] With few exceptions, governments around the world, backed by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other Health organizations, have issued restrictions and lockdowns in an attempt to control the spread of Covid-19. Most people obey, because they trust that these organizations are experts with our best interests in mind, and that the information that they are giving us is correct. However, as Blass explains, an individual’s own personal experience might undermine the authority of a presumed expert.[3] We are constantly being bombarded with the number of cases and the number of deaths attributed to Covid-19, but if we take the time to do our own research, we will find the number of deaths overall is comparable to last year. In Britain, the death rate is a mere 1.5% higher than the five-year average, and on a normal trajectory for the end of the year.[4] The number of deaths in Canada rises gradually almost every year due to the population ageing and 2020 saw an increase of about 13 000 deaths overall, not a huge rise despite all of the Covid-19 cases we had from March to June.[5] Restrictions, lockdowns and social distancing may have had something to do with that. However, if we look at similar statistics for Sweden, which has so far refused to lock down,[6] it does not look like there will be a huge spike in deaths there either.[7] On the CDC web page, the Infection Fatality Ratio (IFR) averages around 0.026 overall.[8]  [9] It seems that at least more or less the same people would have died regardless. Is it possible that people who would normally die of flu or pneumonia are dying of Covid-19 instead? It is important to do our own research in order to avoid relying too much on presumed experts.

Milgram and Blass also observed that people will obey when they perceive that orders are given for the common good or “designed to attain a worthy purpose,”[10] If they have value, cooperation is important.[11] It is generally believed that any sacrifices made to reduce the spread of Covid-19 will be temporary, benefits will outweigh the losses, no one will be hurt in the long term and that the contrary, refusing to obey, will result in great loss of life. After the lockdown, the Canadian economy picked up in August and September of 2020, growing 10% in the third quarter.[12] However, the future is uncertain for small businesses and with new lockdowns taking effect, confidence is once again being shaken as many businesses are being forced to close or reduce operations a second time.[13] Elsewhere in the world, in places like South America, unable to depend on government aid, people must defy stay-at-home orders and go out to work in order to eat.[14] In India, lockdowns put millions out of work, leaving them with little money or food. Migrant workers were forced to return to their villages, sometimes walking hundreds of miles. Many of them never made it home.[15] Joe Wallen of the Telegraph writes that people in India suffering from other diseases are dying because most of the resources are directed at stopping Covid-19 and people can no longer afford to pay for treatment anyway. NGO’s like the Red Cross can no longer provide blood transfusions to people who depended on them because donors are afraid to visit hospitals. Government policies may have kept Covid-19 death rates relatively low but has resulted in a wave of deaths from other diseases.[16] In Britain, more than 2 million operations were cancelled, and screenings, scans and treatments put on hold. Cancer waiting times have increased, lowering life expectancy and survival rate. Over 100 000 people are waiting for routine surgery and only half the usual amount of operations can be carried out, due to new protocols.[17] In Montreal, physiotherapist Marcia Aquino has noted a decline in many of her elderly patients in a CHSLD since family members who would help them with their exercises, could no longer visit.  some are no longer able to walk at all.[18] If we look at the outcome of the Covid-19 response from all its angles, will it have been worth the consequences? It is important to view all angles of policies before assuming that they are all truly for the common good.

Peer pressure to comply, or coercive pressure as Blass refers to it, seems to warn of negative consequences if we do not obey.[19] On any given day, the top news headlines for Covid-19 look like this: “Death of an 80-year-old who attended a small party in B.C. shows danger of at-home events” (CBC News), “Legault stresses that red-zone rules are crucial as Quebec records 25 more COVID-19 deaths” (CTV News), or “New daily record of 82 coronavirus infections in Saskatchewan, 707 active cases” (Global News).[20] We follow protocol because we are constantly being told that not doing so will result in more deaths. No one wants to be the one who infects their loved ones, leading to their death. Signs promoting social distancing, hand washing and mask wearing are everywhere. Police are routinely checking public spaces to make sure people follow protocol. There is a “correct” way to think. Those who protest the masks are ridiculed. Any mention of hydroxychloroquine has people smirking in derision, even if it is only to treat side effects of the virus.[21] T-cell findings and the theory that they may result in a lower herd-immunity threshold[22] have been brushed off in favour of the theory that we should shut down until there is a vaccine. [23] Even government leaders are feeling the pressure. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a second lock down in early November, just weeks after laughing at the idea.[24] In Sweden, the government preferred to avoid any policies it wouldn’t be able to keep up long-term and adopted mostly voluntary measures. Chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell believes that the voluntary regulations have worked quite well so far. He says, “We know that [with] these kinds of measures that we put in place in Sweden we can basically go on with them for months and years if necessary.” Even so, a group of 2000 doctors and public health workers signed an open letter asking the government to impose stricter regulations in an effort to further suppress spread of the virus. “Our nation should not be the exception in Europe” it claimed.[25] One of the first things that a totalitarian government does is take over the media, censor disagreement and bombard its citizens with propaganda. Propaganda does not have to be lies. It can also be truth taken out of context and it can come from non-governmental groups. Organizations that stand to profit, such as pharmaceutical companies or vaccine manufacturers who stand to make money from an eventual vaccine, can also use information and media in order to influence us. Keeping an analytical outlook on information can help us to avoid blind obedience.

Individuals will obey for various reasons, and, as Milgram points out: “Obedience may be ennobling and educative and refer to acts of charity and kindness, as well as destruction.”[26] Indeed, obedience is essential if we want to have any kind of order in society. However, it is useful to think about why we must obey, not only in order to help us avoid the consequences of disobeying laws that will keep us safe, but to help us avoid the consequences of blindly assuming that everything the experts say is the absolute truth, that what we are doing is truly for the better good, and that peer pressure is not making us lose sight of reality. In the case of Covid-19, this means having a nuanced view of what is going on so that we might avoid focusing so much on Covid-19 that we cannot see the collateral damage.

---

[1] Laura Donelly, “‘Long Covid’ Could Turn out to Be a Bigger Problem than Excess Deaths,” The Telegraph, October 5, 2020, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/05/health-expert-warns-long-covid-could-turn-bigger-problem-excess/

[2] Stanley Milgram, “Behavioral Study of Obedience,” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1963, Vol. 67, No 4, pp 371-378 and Thomas Blass, “The Milgram Paradigm,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 1999, Vol 29, No 5, pp 955-978.

[3] Blass, “The Milgram Paradigm”

[4] Sarah Knapton, “‘No Sign of Second Wave’ as ONS Data Shows Normal Level of Deaths for Time of Year,” The Telegraph, October 20, 2020. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/20/second-wave-not-sight-ons-figures-show-deaths-just-15-per-cent/

[5] “Deaths in Canada 2020,” n.d. Statista, Accessed October 26, 2020. https://www.statista.com/statistics/443061/number-of-deaths-in-canada/ The average increase over the last 20 years is about 4600 deaths. 2015 also saw an increase of 13 000 deaths and 2017 an increase of 12 000 over the previous years, while some years barely have an increase or even see a decrease (bringing the average down.)

[6] Johannes Ledel, “Sweden Sticks to Its Guns as COVID-19 Cases Rise,” CTVNews, October 23, 2020. https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/sweden-sticks-to-its-guns-as-covid-19-cases-rise-1.5157463

[7] “Sweden: Death Rate 2010-2020,” n.d. Statista, Accessed October 30, 2020. https://www.statista.com/statistics/525353/sweden-number-of-deaths/?fbclid=IwAR2GBfZrUT8O9omvOMvuIehqAGdZyptHP7ay0grY4LC75vsaTSTdrY4Q5uw The number of deaths overall from 2010 to 2019 in Sweden hovers from about 88 000 to about 92 000 per year (from January to December of the same year.) As of October 5, 2020, the number of deaths was at 71 647.

[8] CDC, 2020, “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19),” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, February 11, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/planning-scenarios.html The death ratio for Covid-19 averages around 0.00002 for ages 0 to 19, around 0.00022 for ages 20 to 49, around 0.0075 for ages 50 to 69 and around 0.0745 for ages 70 and over according to the CDC.

[9] Also see the W.H.O. web page for further statistics: https://covid19.who.int/ 1 204 028 deaths out of 46 840 783 cases worldwide = 2.5%.

[10] Milgram, “Behavioral Study of Obedience.”

[11] Blass, “The Milgram Paradigm.”

[12] Shelly Hagan and Erik Hertzberg, “Canadian Economy Shows Strength in August, September for Record Third Quarter,” Financial Post, Accessed November 2, 2020. https://financialpost.com/news/economy/canada-economy-grows-0-7-in-september-for-record-third-quarter

[13] Shelly Hagan and Erik Hertzberg, “Slump in Canadian Small Business Confidence Signals Sharp Slowdown in Economy,” Financial Post, Accessed November 4, 2020. https://financialpost.com/entrepreneur/small-business/slump-in-canadian-small-business-confidence-signals-slowdown

[14] Sebastián Lacunza, Anthony Faiola, and Terrence McCoy, “Latin America, Unable to Flatten Its Curve, Struggles to Cope with Pandemic.” Washington Post. Accessed November 2, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/coronavirus-latin-america/2020/09/11/6a2ecd82-f20b-11ea-999c-67ff7bf6a9d2_story.html

[15] Vikas Pandey and Anshul Verma, “Death and Despair as Covid Migrants Flee Cities.” BBC News, Accessed November 4, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-52776442

[16] Joe Wallen and Mohammad Sartaj Alam, “Hidden Victims of the Pandemic: Blood Bank Stocks Run Low as India’s Healthcare System Buckles.” The Telegraph, September 29, 2020. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/hidden-victims-pandemic-blood-bank-stocks-run-low-indias-healthcare/.

Additionally, Sarah Swain of 9News writes that India saw 8.2 million people contract the virus and around 123,000 people died of it, one of the lowest rates in the world at under 2%. She mentions that researchers have found a link between the number of deaths and the conditions people live in. People living in places where they are exposed to more microbes have a better immune system. Which raises the question: Why are we now taking measures to reduce our exposure to microbes? https://www.9news.com.au/world/coronavirus-india-slum-conditions-could-make-immune-to-covid-19/491646d2-f375-49f0-ae2c-c4b5313256bd

[17] Margarette Driscoll, “Hidden Victims of the Pandemic: The Patients Left Ill and Dying as the NHS Closed for Covid,” The Telegraph, October 18, 2020. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/body/hidden-victims-pandemic-patients-left-dying-nhs-closed-covid/

[18] Two out of six patients who tested positive in the CHSLD where Aquino works between March and August this year died, but both already had just days to live regardless. Of all the deaths due to Covid-19, how many more were also already dying of something else? This would also add some perspective to the numbers.

[19] Thomas Blass, “The Milgram Paradigm.”

[20] “Death of an 80-year-old who attended a small party in B.C. shows danger of at-home events”

“Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Oct. 29,” CBC News, October 29, 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/coronavirus-covid19-canada-world-oct-29-1.5781406

Katelyn Thomas and Daniel J. Rowe, “Legault stresses that red-zone rules are crucial as Quebec records 25 more COVID-19 deaths,” CTV News, October 29, 2020, https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/legault-stresses-that-red-zone-rules-are-crucial-as-quebec-records-25-more-covid-19-deaths-1.5166073

Thomas Piller, “New daily record of 82 coronavirus infections in Saskatchewan, 707 active cases,” Global News, October 29, 2020, https://globalnews.ca/news/7430522/coronavirus-covid-19-sask-update-october-29/  

[21] Hydroxychloroquine, often used to treat malaria, is a drug used in cases of autoimmune diseases, among other things, it keeps the body from attacking itself. It is not a cure for Covid-19, it can only be used to treat certain symptoms. Side effects may outweigh the benefits depending on the patient, but it has been used successfully by some doctors. However, just mention the name and people will treat you like you are crazy. More here about Dr. Raoult and his treatment of Covid-19 patients in Marseille: https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20200624-french-doctor-didier-raoult-championed-hydroxychloroquine-respond-covid-inquiry-france-mps-medicine

[22] Exposure to certain diseases, such as the common cold, does not create immunity, but rather a “memory” of the disease, which increases the number of T-Cells ready to fight it. This is why we can still catch colds over and over again, but while children may bring a cold home to their parents that they themselves are suffering bad symptoms from, their parents may have nothing more than a scratchy throat and a slightly runny nose. https://www.contagionlive.com/view/emerging-data-support-lasting-covid19-immunity-t-cells

[23] Stacey Lennox, “The Politicization of COVID-19 Science Is Dangerous and Inexcusable,” Pjmedia.Com, Accessed November 3, 2020. https://pjmedia.com/columns/stacey-lennox/2020/08/17/the-politicization-of-covid-19-science-is-dangerous-and-inexcusable-n800730

[24] Michael Deacon, “MPs Lined up to Give Boris Johnson a Whack... While He Dangled Helplessly, like an Outsized Piñata.” The Telegraph, November 2, 2020. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/11/02/mps-lined-give-boris-johnson-whack-dangled-helplessly-like-outsized/

[25] Paul Waldie, “Why Is Sweden Staying Open amid the Coronavirus Pandemic?” The Globe and Mail, Accessed November 4, 2020. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-why-is-sweden-staying-open-amid-the-coronavirus-pandemic/

[26] Milton, “Behavioral Study of Obedience.”