“You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every moment scrutinized.”

1984 by George Orwell

I must confess I do like a good dystopian tale. Not just for entertainment purposes but because they warn us about what things could be like in the future. I particularly liked series 3 episode 1 of Black Mirror. Entitled ‘Nosedive,’ it told the tale of a woman whose dream was to get a place of her own in an upmarket neighbourhood. Everybody’s smartphone gave each person the ability to rate (on a scale from 1-5) every other person that they had a social interaction with. Higher overall scores entitled one to privileges, such as the ability to move into an exclusive neighbourhood or attend exclusive parties and events. Through a series of mishaps or ‘nosedives’, our main character sees her overall score diminish so that she can no longer travel to a friend’s wedding by plane and then is excluded from the event itself because of her (accumulated along the way) low points score.

I was horrified to read about China’s ‘Social Credit’ scheme…whereby the government can increase or decrease your overall points based on good works or bad misdemeanours (like jay walking!!) But this scenario would be far worse. Being in Lockdown because of the coronavirus gave a new angle to the ‘tittle tattle’ in the neighbourhood…who was going beyond the 2k walking limit, who was visiting someone else’s home when they didn’t live there, who was driving somewhere other than the supermarket. It was almost a remaking of the ‘clerical police force’ days in Ireland, of ostracising the unmarried mother or peeping behind the curtain to see what gentleman was visiting the unmarried woman next door, or who was working on the Sabbath! Can you imagine the ‘tittle tattler’s’ armed with smartphones to give everyone else a ‘score’? Doesn’t bear thinking about!

Thank God our worth and value is given to us by God and not by other people or governments! Without God, the future does indeed look bleak.

“There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbour?” James 4:12