No longer neutral
Photography and Artwork Christophe Cachelin
As conspiracy theories and government distrust take hold in Switzerland, ‘facts’ take on new meaning
It feels taboo to say that you enjoyed lockdown, but I truly did. This is mostly because it made me get rid of a specifically Swiss property that I call “creative bad conscience” — that negative feeling you get when you spend too much time doing creative projects, rather than prioritising your “money jobs.”
Normally, when I would stay up until 7 a.m. writing songs or painting, I’d feel guilty. I’d keep telling myself I should have slept instead, or dedicated those hours to something that is considered more important, something paid. But when the whole country went into lockdown, and many people weren’t able to go to work anymore, my creative undertakings were valorised. At least I was still doing something.
Of course, this is just my subjective experience from a privileged situation. Except for the Italian part of Switzerland, most regions have been only mildly hit by the virus so far, and even though we had a nationwide shutdown, there were hardly any legal consequences if you didn’t follow the rules, as most of them were merely suggestions rather than actual laws.
But not everyone in Switzerland seems to recognise how fortunate we’ve been. Some people view the very anti-Covid measures that have immunised Switzerland to the pandemic’s harsher effects as a threat to their personal and political freedoms. At protests that regularly unite hundreds of people in bigger cities like Zurich or Berne, you can read signs likening the enforcement of mask-wearing for children to child abuse, and others decrying the Lügenpresse (“lying press”) — a term famously adopted by the Nazis to discredit critical reports. Even the most basic information published by government agencies is looked at with suspicion, and news outlets that disseminate the information are criticised for spreading “fake news.”
In my view, the protesters’ anger and mistrust is misdirected. Switzerland is one of the most open democracies in the world, according to the advocacy group Freedom House, and is one of the highest ranked in terms of freedom of press, per Reporters Without Borders.
While I believe it’s important to discuss the measures taken by our governments and to hear different opinions, these conversations will be fruitless if we can’t even agree on the facts — something that has proven extremely difficult in the context of this pandemic, as conspiracy theories and all sorts of misinformation flourish. (Swiss corona-sceptics often quote German “alternative media” YouTube channels that have gathered millions of views.) Some sceptics now go as far as to deny the existence of the virus.
A danger of this perceptual divide (versions of which we are seeing develop all around the world) is that we are less and less able to find a common ground or a universally valid truth — an issue a good friend of mine, the broadcaster and political commentator Nina Schick, covers in her new book, “Deep Fakes and the Infocalypse: What You Urgently Need To Know.”
She describes our current situation as the “Infocalypse,” which she defines as “the increasingly dangerous and untrustworthy information system in which we live.” She writes: “It is becoming increasingly difficult to form a reasonable consensus on how to represent or perceive the world. All too often, it can feel as if one is forced to ‘choose a side’... Even agreeing on a framework of common ‘facts’ within which reasoned debate can take place can be extremely challenging.”
So what can we do to address these divides? I suppose the best we can do is be patient, listen and — if people are willing to listen — try to explain our point of view. Try to direct the person towards sources with official facts, but some discussions I’ve had and Facebook posts that I’ve seen indicate that this doesn’t always make a difference. If you direct someone to a mainstream media, it’s written off as “fake news;” if you show them government information, you are “part of the dark side.”
It is one thing to disagree on the measures taken or the policies implemented by our governments. Questioning the very existence of the virus is quite another. I cannot understand how someone can have such a negative or distorted view of the world, in which literally every news outlet and every government would be part of one gigantic conspiracy.
By the time of finishing this article, the numbers have once again skyrocketed in Switzerland, displaying one of the highest rates in Europe. We all want this to be over as soon as possible, so I hope this time around, everyone will do their part. I’ll wear my mask, try my best to inform and create. It beats envisioning the end of the world.
Christophe Cachelin is an artist, singer and journalist based in Zurich, Switzerland.
