As we are confined, so we reach out

I am fascinated, entertained and impressed by the number of parody songs, images and memes that have emerged – and continue to emerge – about Covid19 – specifically about being quarantined, or living under lockdown.

It is fascinating to see how people all over the world, for once all in the same circumstances, are really all just the same. Corona has become a common enemy and all of us, despite any differences in location, beliefs, age, gender (etc etc) rally together to make sure we survive.

Of course, there are those who insist on flouting the rules and behaving almost as though things are as normal. But they aren’t. They won’t be again. At least, they won’t be the ‘normal’ we’ve known: a new ‘normal’ will emerge. In fact, I think it is already emerging.

This is where online is the key: people are working from home, kids are being taught and universities are ready to launch entire programmes online. Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. Well, it seems as though, thanks to Covid, necessity has become the catalyst for adaptation. The world is dominated by technology and communication is key.

Just about more than 40 years ago, when Marshall McLuhan coined the term ‘global village’, I doubt he had even the slightest inkling of what was to come. Now, though, it is in our isolation that, thanks to the technology, that, as we are confined, so we reach out and we build the village across so many divides to make it truly global.