The authoritarian tone of the coronation debate is disturbing

Everyone should follow infection control measures, but we can’t help but ask ourselves critical questions.

Bergen Town Hall has been criticized for the way they introduced the five-person rule two weeks ago. Now the strict measures are extended for another two weeks.

More surprising is the fact that the municipality’s medical director is so tough on critics.

Trond Egil Hansen compares the situation with a hospital receiving a seriously ill patient.

“So you don’t sit down and write guidelines, then the patient is treated on time, and then you document,” he said during Friday’s press conference.

The department head combines law and medicine. Running a community and running a hospital are not exactly the same, even if life and health are involved.

Regardless: Doesn’t the doctor start a full operation without first taking a blood sample?

And do you explain to the patient why full anesthesia is needed instead of local anesthesia?

There is something haunting authoritative with the department head’s message.

“Those who criticize the authorities should also keep in mind that they provide a lot of inspiration for those who do not want to comply with the current restrictions,” he said during the press conference.

It is a great responsibility to relate to those who ask critical and very timely questions about the procedure.

Just to kick what I thought was a wide open door: Asking questions about the measures being introduced does not mean being against infection measures.

Everyone must do what they can to prevent infection, and intervention may be absolutely necessary to stop the pandemic.

But that doesn’t mean we have to be subservient. We can’t help but ask questions in case it might inspire someone to goad.

A good way to build support for measures is to justify them properly.

Handling criticism in Bergen it is sadly joining a national trend.

During the NRK program “Debatten” in October, Health Minister Bent Høie (H) almost addressed the throat of host Fredrik Solvang during a discussion about the effect of face masks.

“FHI actually says there is a weak scientific basis for recommending masks,” Solvang said.

“Fredrik, you cannot create uncertainty about this. These are serious questions. The National Institute of Public Health is behind all the muzzle rules in Oslo. Dot,” Høie said, emphasizing how important it was that Solvang not create the impression of nothing else.

That is also quite authoritative. And a rather weak understanding of the role of the press as a watchdog.

As Fredrik Solvang responded on VG: “The role of a journalist is to ask questions. I am not Bent Høie’s propaganda machine. ‘

Another feature that It gives cause for concern, it is the slavish attitude towards the measures imposed on us.

This spring, I wrote critically about the controversial booth ban. It was hasty and badly reasoned.

Those who went to their own cabins were threatened with punishment and civil defense, but the prohibition had no medical basis or effect. “This is nonsense,” said one of Europe’s leading infection experts and advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The response to the criticism was overwhelming.

The message was clear: This is the time to lie.

We must accept what the authorities say now, so that we can resume the discussion later.

The piercing tone was marked by poignant care for our heads of state during this difficult time, and that the least the rest of us can do is shut up and stop asking troubling questions.

I received a ready-made dismissal in my inbox, for unfair and deceptive behavior.

We have great confidence in the authorities of this country, and that’s fine. There is no doubt that they love us well and that they have good reasons.

Many people fear for their own health and that of others, and the fear of infection is understandable.

But now very intrusive measures are being imposed on us, and several of them are weakly justified and have little documented effect.

Asking critical questions For what happens, don’t make us traitors.

In fact, that’s our job.