A lot of people are struggling ethically with how they feel about Boris Johnson being in ICU. Many feel empathy but also rage at him for the govt’s policy. Here are some thoughts from a philosophical standpoint. 1/13

#BorisJohnsonCoronavirus

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I am going to ignore one reaction prominent on Twitter coming from critics and supporters: calling for the leadership vacuum to be filled without mentioning BoJo’s personal welfare. It is simply a disrespectful omission. 2/13

Another reaction, e.g. below, can be put aside swiftly. It is hard to parse laughing at BoJo from laughing at the awfulness of severe COVID. When @kenklippenstein tweets this, we can say that his sensibility has gone off on holiday. 3/13 https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/1247247684056109058?s=20

The reaction we need to reflect on is this: cheering on BoJo’s suffering in anger, or being tempted to do so. 4/13

First of all, it can be reasonable to feel anger, even incandescent rage, at political leaders. It may be appropriate to feel that for those behind the UK’s Coronavirus policy (I will elaborate on this in another thread). 5/13

Secondly, it can be reasonable to concoct images of politicians being made to pay for their crimes and misdemeanours (which is quite different to wanting it to happen in practice). 6/13

This is not exclusive to illegitimate regimes - one can feel anger precisely because one expects more in a liberal democracy. 7/17

Thirdly, it is easy to see how the second feeling can latch on to an actual misfortune that befalls a political leader. So, what is a reasonable balance? 8/13

The answer lies in the overall economy of ethical feeling. What matters is not so much WHAT one feels, but HOW MUCH one feels each of the different things one feels. 9/13

A degree of unease will be part of what many mature and emotionally together adults feel, who hold his government responsible for unnecessary deaths resulting from COVID19. BUT . . . 10/13

That is OK, so long as you find a large part of you wishing BoJo recovers, for himself, his family, his children & his pregnant partner. 11/13

The conflictedness of feeling in of itself should stop you expressing any ill wishes in public. I can only imagine one exception: if you are going through a personal COVID tragedy, and you blame the government. In that case ill wishing would be wrong, but forgivable. 12/13

If one expects anything more saintly, then one is asking for a world with human beings quite different to the way human beings are; which is to say, a world without human beings. Please comment with your thoughts. 13/13