Britain’s Jaw-Dropping Stupidity is a Danger to the World
Britain’s Decided to Let Covid Rip, and the Consequences Will Be Disastrous. How Can Any Country Be This Foolish?

英国令人瞠目结舌的愚蠢是对世界的一种威胁
英国决定放任新冠病毒发展，其后果将是灾难性的，怎么会有这么愚蠢的国家？

Britain is Opening Just as Covid Explodes All Over Again. What The?
Is Britain the dumbest nation on earth? Is it even possible for a country to be this dumb?
To help you decide, let me recount a story. My lovely wife, the doctor, had a conversation recently with a friend. Her friend is an American doctor, who was partly educated in Britain. It went like this.

英国在疫情再次爆发的时候开放，什么情况？
英国是世界上最愚蠢的国家吗？一个国家有可能这么愚蠢吗？
为了帮助你决定，让我讲述一个故事。
我可爱的妻子，一位医生，最近与一位朋友进行了一次谈话，她的朋友是一位美国医生，曾在英国接受教育，谈话内容是这样的。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


“So…things are looking pretty bad across the pond. About 50,000 cases?” That was my wife’s colleague asking, surprised, remembering Britain as a gentle, wise, friendly, and thoughtful nation, not quite knowing that, alas, that country is no more.
“More than 50,000 cases,” my wife gently corrected him.
“Wow! That’s about — “ he frowned and did some quick mental math — “five to ten times the number we have. In America! What’s wrong with them? We’re supposed to be the dumbest country on earth!”

“这么说...... 大洋彼岸的情况看起来相当糟糕啊，日增大约5万病例？”
这是我妻子的同事问的，他很惊讶，他记忆中的英国是一个绅士、明智、友好和体贴的国家，不知道，唉，那个国家已经不复存在了。
“超5万例 ”我妻子小心地纠正他。
“哇！“他皱了皱眉头，快速的心算了一下，”数字是我们美国的五到十倍啊 ！他们这什么毛病？我还以为我们美国是世界上最愚蠢的国家!”
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


He laughed at his own joke. She didn’t laugh back. He tried to ignore it. Why didn’t she find it very funny?
“So…they must be about to lock down again,” he said. It wasn’t a question, just a foregone conclusion. After all, that’s what any vaguely sane and sensible nation would do. And Britain — the one he remembered — was a society of gentleness, reasonableness, competence, and sanity, which he still thought of so fondly. That Britain had been the kind of place he’d always hoped America might one day become, too.

他被自己的的笑话逗笑了，但她没有笑回来，他试图忽略它，为什么她不觉得它好笑 ？
" 这样子的话......他们肯定又要封锁了，"他说。
这不是一个问题，这是一个意料之中的结论，毕竟，任何稍有理智的国家都会这样做。
他记忆中的英国是一个绅士、理性、有能力和理智的国家，他对这个国家仍然念念不忘，他一直希望美国有一天也能成为英国那样的国家。

But now his mind was about to be well and truly blown.
“Lock down? Oh no. They’re not about to lock down again at all.”
“What?” He couldn’t believe his ears.
“Quite the opposite. They’re reopening the country again.”
“Now? While a new wave is exploding?”
“Yup,” my wife nodded.
“You can’t be serious,” he replied. He didn’t believe her, the way men so often don’t believe women. Nobody could be that dumb, he thought to himself. She must be mistaken. Women!
“Go ahead and Google it,” she shrugged.

但是现在，他的想法即将被彻底地震撼。
“封锁? 不，他们根本不会再封锁了。”
“ 啥 ? ”他简直不敢相信自己的耳朵。
“ 恰恰相反，他们正在重新开放这个国家。”
“ 现在开放? 新一波疫情爆发之时开放 ?”
“ 没错 ”我妻子点点头。
“ 你没开玩笑吧”他回答道。
他不相信她，男人通常都不相信女人，没有人会那么蠢，他心里想，她一定是弄错了，呵，女人！
“ 你去百度一下啊 ”她耸了耸肩。

He did.
His jaw dropped. “What the…they really are about to reopen the country again. I mean, they’re lifting all the restrictions and protections. All of them. They’re not even telling people to wear masks! What on earth? What — ”
“They call it ‘Freedom Day,’” my wife explained, cracking a sardonic smile.
“But…that’s Orwellian. They’re not free from Covid! They’re neck-deep in it, all over again. Freedom day?”
“I know!” This time, she finally laughed. Mirthlessly.
“But…I don’t get it. Come on!! Literally, literally, nobody else on earth is that…that…”
“Go ahead and say it.”
“Stupid.” He exhaled heavily as he said it.

他照做了。
他下巴都掉了 " 我去......他们真的要重新开放这个国家，他们取消了所有的限制和保护措施，他们甚至没有告诉人们要戴口罩 ! 这到底是怎么回事？神马玩意——"
" 他们称其为'自由日'，" 我的妻子咧开一个嘲讽的笑容，解释道。
" 只怕是奥威尔式的自由吧，他们并没有从新冠疫情那里获得自由！他们正深陷于此，一切又重来了，这算哪门子自由日？"
" 你说的是，我知道！" 这一次，她终于笑了起来，无奈地笑。
" 但是我不明白啊，拜托！! 这个星球上还有哪个国家会这德性......"
" 你想骂人是吗，骂吧。"
" 蠢货 " 他边说边重重地呼出一口气。

He was lost for words. Suddenly, he began to understand why his joke hadn’t been very funny. It wasn’t one. He took a second to collect his thoughts, which by now had been shattered into a million glittering pieces by a whole new level of stupidity he’d thought impossible for human beings to achieve, just a scant few minutes ago.
“I can’t understand it. I don’t get it. What’s the deal? Why are they being such incredible morons?”
“Politics,” my wife shrugged again.

他说不出话来，突然，他开始明白了，为什么他的笑话不好笑，美国和英国根本没有可比性。
他花了一秒钟整理了一下自己的思绪，现在他的思绪已经被他几分钟前还认为人类不可能达到的愚蠢程度击碎成一百万个闪闪发光的碎片了。
“我不明白，我不理解，这算什么行为?为什么他们都这么愚蠢?”
“ 政治 ”我妻子又耸了耸肩。

“Don’t they know what’s going to happen? As in, this isn’t an experiment. We know exactly what the outcome will be! Hello, science!!?” He asked, frustrated. He was completely baffled at this point. Like he’d said, this was even out-stupiding America, which is no mean feat.
“It’s not going to happen, it’s already happening. 50,000 plus cases? That’s what the British government targeted two weeks ago.”
“Targeted? As in they let this happen? Wanted this to happen? But…” He couldn’t even finish the question.

“难道他们不知道会发生什么吗?这都不能算是一次实验，我们完全知道结果会是什么! 科学精神呢 ? ”他沮丧地问。
他对英国的措施感到困惑，就像他说的，比美国还要愚蠢，这可不是一件容易的事。
“ 超过50000的病例？本来不会是这结果的，但是已经发生了，这还是英国政府两周前的‘目标’。”
“ 目标? 他们是故意想让这一切发生的吗? 但是……”他甚至没能问完这个问题。

My wife sighed, and tried to explain.
“They think that, and let me quote, ‘the lix between infections and deaths is broken,’ so it’s totally OK to reopen the country, for political reasons, meaning some bizarre notion of ‘freedom,’ which apparently doesn’t include public health or sanity or facts or logic. Since Brexit took ahold of it, the country you remember is gone, and now it’s kind of a nationalist cesspool burning with the lava of human idiocy, all of which is slowly going thermonuclear. Brexit broke their minds. They believe every foolish fantasy and Big Lie their politicians tell them now. Britain post-Brexit is like a nuclear meltdown of human stupidity which never ends. It just keeps on combusting, into hotter, purer, more explosive forms of stupidity.”

我妻子叹了口气，试图解释。
“引用他们的原话，‘感染和死亡之间已经没有必然的联系了’，所以完全可以重新开放这个国家，出于政治原因，出于某些奇怪的“自由”的想法，显然他们已经不再顾及公共健康了，也失去了理智、无视事实和逻辑，自从英国脱欧以来，你印象中的那个国家就已经消失了，现在的英国有点像一个民族主义的粪坑，燃烧着愚蠢的熔岩，所有这些都是缓慢发展的热核反应，英国脱欧让他们崩溃了，他们相信了政客们告诉他们的每一个愚蠢的幻想和荒谬的谎言，脱欧后的英国就像一场愚蠢的人造核灾难，永远不会结束，它只会不断燃烧，变成更狂热、更纯粹、更具有爆炸性的愚蠢。”

He tried to argue. “But. But the lix between infections and deaths isn’t even the issue. First, infections still lead to hospitalisation at alarming rates. Second, Delta Covid hits young people harder, and they get hospitalized. Third, it has lasting consequences, like damaging your vascular and pulmonary systems, not to mention all kinds of stuff we barely know about. Fourth, what about elderly people and vulnerable groups. What about us doctors? What about…I mean…nobody else in the rest of the world is this stupid!”

他试图争辩。
“但是，但是感染和死亡之间的联系根本就不是问题所在。首先，病毒仍以惊人的速度传播，人们不得不入院治疗；第二，德尔塔病毒对年轻人的打击更大，他们也需要住院治疗；第三，病毒会对身体造成永久性的损伤，比如破坏你的血管和呼吸系统，更不用说各种我们几乎还不知道的影响；第四，考虑过老年人和弱势群体吗？还有我们医生呢? 还有......我是说，世界上真的再没有比这更蠢的事了!”

His list, it seemed, could run onto infinity. She could see it happening before her eyes. His brain was being melted down by Britain’s shocking, bewildering stupidity, and at that point, staggered, nobody much stops to ask: can you really argue with an entire nation that’s chosen achieving world-beating, history-making, brain-melting levels of human folly as its noble and glorious destiny?
“I know, I know!” She threw up her hands. “Science, facts, logic, reason. They don’t care! The whole world thinks they’re morons, and is flabbergasted and horrified. Join the list. They don’t care. I know. Covid is not a disease you want to get. It’s a lethal pandemic. They. Don’t. Care. Now read about Britain’s vaccination statistics for a second. I’ll wait.”

他要列举的似乎可以无限的延伸，她能看见这一切就发生在眼前，他的大脑已经因英国令人震惊、困惑的愚蠢而无法思考。
在那一刻，最惊讶的是，没有人会停下来问:
你真能和这样一个选择将世界性的、历史性的、让大脑熔化的愚蠢，当成它高贵而光荣的命运的国家争辩吗?
“我知道，我都懂! ”她举起双手。
“科学、事实、逻辑、理性，但他们不在乎! 即使整个世界都认为他们是白痴，并感到震惊和恐惧，他们也不在乎。
我知道，没人想得新冠，这是一种致命的流行病，但他们不在乎啊，你现在可以去看一下英国的疫苗接种统计数据，我等你看完。”

He checked his phone. And then he whistled. Then the whistle turned into a silent scream, which ended in incredulous laughter. “They’ve barely vaccinated just over half their population fully? With a vaccine which has about 60% efficacy at two doses and just 30% at one? And they’re going to reopen? Don’t they get that means their population doesn’t even have around half protection against Delta Covid yet?”
“Oh, it’s much worse than that,” she replied. “Keep reading.”
He did. And this time he pounded his fist against the nearest wall. His jaw dropped again. It was the third time already this discussion.
“The government isn’t going to vaccinate teenagers and kids? I mean…” he sputtered, looking for the words. ”Britain has a literal government of anti-vaxxers?”

他看了看手机，然后吹了个口哨，哨声变成了无声的尖叫，最后在难以置信的笑声中结束。
“他们刚刚给一半以上的人口接种了疫苗? 这种疫苗两剂的效力约为60%，一剂只有30% ? 他们会重新开放接种吗? 难道他们不明白，这意味着如果不继续接种，他们能抵御德尔塔病毒袭击的人口连一半都没达到?”
“哦，比那更糟，”她回答，“继续看吧。”
他继续往下看，这一次，他一拳打在了墙上，再次惊掉了下巴，这已经他是第三次掉下巴了。
“政府不打算给青少年和儿童接种疫苗吗? 我是说……”他结结巴巴地，试图寻找合适的措辞。
“难道英国政府是一个反疫苗的政府吗?”

“It makes sense if you think about it,” she said. “They’ve held on to power by telling Brits, whose minds are broken now, the Big Lies of nationalism. You know, they’re the greatest country in the world, the best in history, the chosen people, especially strong and smart, better than the rest. It’s a Nietzschean thing. And if you believe that, well, who really needs vaccines? You’re the ubermen of history, apparently, and vaccines are for the weak.”

“你仔细想想，不无可能”她说。
“他们用民族主义的巨大谎言来欺骗已经心神不宁的英国人，以此保住权力，你懂的，比如什么：他们是世界上最伟大的国家，是历史上最好的国家，他们的人民，特别强大和聪明，是上帝特选子民，比其他国家的人民更优越.....就是这种尼采式的观点——如果你相信这一点，那么，谁还需要疫苗呢? 显然，你们是历史上的‘超人’，而疫苗是为弱者准备的。”
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


“Or, maybe,” he replied, “It’s because the British government’s nationalism explains why they didn’t properly check out the AstraZeneca vaccine, order enough other vaccines, and ran an incredibly slow and ineffective vaccination program. I mean we have more people vaccinated in the States, with way better vaccines.”
“Could be that, too. Either way, they’re about to find out…

“或许，可能......”
他回答，“是因为英国政府的民族主义是为了解释为什么他们没有核查阿斯利康疫苗，订购足够多的其他疫苗，并执行了一个令人难以置信的缓慢且无效的疫苗接种项目，我的意思是，我们美国有更多的人接种了疫苗，而且疫苗质量更好。”
“ 可能是这样，但不管怎样，他们很快就会发现…”

“The hard way.” He finished the sentence. Then he summed it all up, thinking out loud. “They’re declaring ‘Freedom Day,’ victory over Covid. While they have ten times as many cases as we do in America. Which are exploding by the day. In a population which isn’t nearly vaccinated enough yet. And in which kids and teenagers won’t get vaccines at all. My God. Are they crazy? The hospitals are going to be overrun. The long-term consequences are going to be devastating.”

“这很困难“ 说完这句话之后，他大声地总结了这一切，“他们宣布‘自由日’，宣布战胜了新冠病毒，但他们的病例是我们美国的十倍，在一个没有完全接种疫苗的群体中，感染人数每天都在爆炸性增长，而且儿童和青少年都没有接种疫苗，我的上帝，他们是疯了吗? 医院人满为患的长期后果将是毁灭性的。”

My wife fell silent. She knew what he was about to say next. Anyone vaguely sane or thoughtful did.
“I mean that’s the perfect — and I mean the perfect — setup to breed new vaccine resistant strains. A half-vaccinated population in which the virus is allowed to run amok. No restrictions? You couldn’t ask for a better Covid-20 incubator if you tried.”

我妻子陷入了沉默，她知道他接下来要说什么，任何神志清醒或有脑子的人都会这么想。
“ 这就是一个培育新的耐药、耐疫苗变种毒株的完美培养皿，在一个只有半数人口接种过疫苗的群体中，病毒可以无限制的肆意传播，
想想看，再没有比这更好的 Covid-20 孵化器了。”

“Here.” She handed him her phone, and showed him the letter that more than a thousand doctors and scientists had sent to the Lancet, calling Britain’s approach to Covid not just an “unethical experiment,” but also a danger to the world.
“Arrrrrgggghhh.” He couldn’t take it any more. He finally let out something like a howl of pain at the incredible, lacerating stupidity of a nation as unbelievably, mind-shatteringly idiotic as Britain. “Their doctors and scientists — more than a thousand of them — have already told them how reckless and foolish this is? How it’s a perfect setup for new variants to emerge? And nobody’s listening?”
She smiled, a wan smile of sympathy for the sudden pain of being hit square in the face by a giant fist of stupidity.

“ 看这个”她把手机递给他，并给他看一千多名医生和科学家联名写给《柳叶刀》的信，信中称英国应对新冠病毒的方法不仅是“不道德的实验”，也是对世界的威胁。
“啊 ”他再也受不了了，对于一个像英国这样令人难以置信、令人心碎的白痴国家，他发出了痛苦的嚎叫。
“ 超过一千名的医生和科学家已经告诉他们这是多么的鲁莽和愚蠢，这是为新变种的出现提供完美的培养皿，难道就没人能得听进去吗?”
她微微一笑，那是一种同情的、被一只愚蠢的巨拳打在脸上面露痛苦的、苍白的微笑。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


“I don’t get it. They don’t even listen to their own doctors and scientists? But we’re the ones who’ve been on the front lines. I don’t even know how many people I’ve seen die over the last years. How many families I’ve had to tell things they never wanted to hear. How many patients came in perfectly healthy, and left via the morgue, almost overnight, faster than they ever could have believed it. They don’t even listen to us? The ones who literally risked our lives to fight this pandemic for them?”

“我不明白，他们连医生和科学家的话都不听吗? 我们一直在一线奋战，我甚至数不清过去几年里我见过多少人死去，我不得不告诉多少家庭他们根本不想听到的事，有多少病人来的时候非常健康，然后在一夜之间就进了停尸房，速度之快超乎他们的想象，我们可是冒着生命危险为他们抵挡这场大流行的人，他们连我们的话也不听吗? ”

“Well,” my wife replied. “To be fair, plenty of Brits are terrified of reopening the country while a fresh wave of Covid is exploding. The problem is that a) the government doesn’t care because b) it knows that the other half or more of the people don’t appear to care about anything. And I mean anything. Not even their lives. Their own kids’ health. Their healthcare system being destroyed. Anything.”

“嗯，”我妻子回答，
“公平地说，在新冠疫情爆发之际，很多英国人都害怕重新开放国家。但问题是，政府不在乎，它也知道另一半或更多的人似乎什么都不在乎 ——我指的是任何事情，甚至连他们的生命都不在乎，他们自己孩子的健康、他们的医疗体系遭到破坏，任何事情，都不在乎。”

“Come on, I always thought Brits were smarter than us Americans!”
“Not anymore,” shrugged my wife. “Now they give the word stupidity a whole new meaning. I haven’t even told you the stupidest part of all the stupidity yet.”
“Seriously? It can’t get any dumber than all this. Can it?”
“Sure it can,” my wife laughed, and this time she meant it. “Guess who got Covid the Friday before ‘Freedom Day’?”
“Who?”
“The…Health Secretary.”

“得了吧，我一直认为英国人比我们美国人聪明!”
“不再是了，”我妻子耸耸肩说，“现在他们赋予了“愚蠢”这个词一个全新的含义，我还没告诉你最愚蠢的部分呢。”
“最愚蠢? 没有比这更蠢的了，还能有更蠢的? ”
“ 当然有，”我妻子笑着说，这次她是认真的。
“ 猜猜谁在‘自由日’之前的那个周五感染了新冠病毒?”
“ 谁? ”
“……卫生部长”

Her friend spat out his coffee. “That’s too stupid for words.”
“Oh, we’re not done yet. Guess who’s isolating because of Covid contact the day before ‘Freedom Day’?
“Who?”
“The Prime Minister and the Chancellor.”
He laughed so hard his eyes welled up. He clutched his stomach in pain as he pounded his fist against the wall. “That’s…the stupidest…thing…I’ve…heard….ever.”
“I know!” She started laughing, too.

她的朋友把咖啡吐了出来，“太蠢了，简直无法用语言形容”
“哦，我们还没说完呢，猜猜谁在“自由日”前因为与新冠接触而被隔离了?
“谁?”
“首相和大臣 ”
他笑得眼泪都出来了，他痛苦的攥着肚子，用拳头猛砸墙壁 。
“这是...我听..过的...最愚蠢的事......”
“ 我知道! ”她也笑了起来。

It was funny because it all seemed so impossible. The gentle, wise, magnanimous, friendly Britain which had once been the envy of the world. Brought this achingly, painfully low, into the rank gutter of chaos, misery, despair, and ruin. A place so incredibly, breathtakingly stupid, that the very men who told the Big Lie that the people were to have a “Freedom Day” over a disease they hadn’t yet defeated, but was in fact exploding…got that very disease….the day before victory was to be declared.
A wiser nation might have even wondered if time and fate were trying to send it a message. But Britain, drunk on tepid nationalism, manic with delusions of grandeur, intoxicated by rage, delirious with idiocy….barely even noticed the impossible irony.

这太好笑了，因为这一切似乎都是不可能的，绅士、明智、宽容、友好的英国曾经是全世界羡慕的对象，现在却坠入了混乱、痛苦、绝望和毁灭的深渊，这个地方愚蠢得令人难以置信，令人震惊，以至于那些散布弥天大谎，说要为一种他们尚未战胜而且实际上正在爆发的疾病而庆祝“自由日”的人，也感染了这个病，就在宣布胜利的前一天。
一个稍微聪明一点的国家都可能会想，时间和命运是否在试图向它传递一个信息，但是，醉心于民族主义的英国，为妄想而狂躁，为愤怒而狂躁，为愚蠢而疯狂....再没有比这更不可思议的讽刺了。

They fell silent, at last.
“It’s going to be bad, isn’t it?” He asked.
“It’s going to be very, very bad,” she replied.
“How did Britain get this breathtakingly stupid?” It was a question that lingered heavy in the air.

他们终于沉默了。
“情况会很糟，是吗?”他问道。
“情况会非常、非常糟糕，”她回答。
“英国是如何变得如此愚蠢的?”这个沉重的问题始终在空中徘徊，萦绕不去。

They stared at the sun rising over the city. They’d just finished up a night shift, helping save a life here, a family there, doing whatever they could, still, to stem the terrible tide of a fatal disease. It was just another night in the life of a doctor.
She thought, she told me later, of the violence people do, allow to be done to them, in the name of the lies they come to think they love them back. Of how the sharp metal of grief is forged in the white-hot crucible of stupidity. She wondered if what Aeschylus had said was ever really true.Britain was the stupidest country on earth. And it was getting dumber every day.

他们凝视着太阳从城市上空升起，他们刚上完夜班，在这里拯救一条生命，拯救了一家人，尽他们所能，阻止致命疾病的蔓延，这只是一个医生生活中的又一个夜晚。
她后来告诉我，她想到了人们所做的、允许他人对自己所做的暴力行径，她认为，人们会以谎言的名义对他们实施暴力，人们允许别人以谎言的名义对他们施加暴力，他们依然自己也爱他们。
“悲伤的锐利之刃就是在白热的愚蠢熔炉中锻造出来的”她不知道埃斯库罗斯这句话是不是真的，英国是世界上最愚蠢的国家，而且一天比一天愚蠢。