Scott Begbie: Covid deniers aren’t just deluded – they’re twisted

I never had any doubt that the coronavirus deniers and anti-vaxxers were deluded – but now I can add twisted and vile to the litany against the Covidiots.

My proof for this? How else would you describe a sick individual who would plaster a “keep safe” banner outside a primary school with stickers spreading lies and disinformation about the pandemic?

I won’t go into details about what this nonsense, which I spotted at the weekend, was claiming. There’s no reason to give paranoid rantings the oxygen of publicity.

Let’s just say it was the usual tosh about a conspiracy to strip us of our freedoms and invoking Germans being brainwashed by their government and media in the 1940s. Oh, and a wee teaser to the “great awakening of humanity”. Yeah, right.

What gave me pause wasn’t so much the content of the stickers, but where they had been put

There were five of these pearl of wisdom, plastered over a banner outside a primary in Stonehaven. Each one was stuck over the five important steps of keeping schools and childcare safe and open.

What gave me pause wasn’t so much the content of the stickers but where they had been put.

Little children, many of who are no doubt already harbouring their own fears and uncertainties about what is happening in the world, were targeted here. This was a deliberate act to undermine the caring assurances and loving support being given to them by teachers, school staff and parents.

Kids who are just trying to get to grips with the narrative of a strange world now being invited to think about other, scarier things by these fools. And small children are sponges. They soak things up without thinking. If it is written down, it must be so.

There was nothing subtle about positioning this poison over the sensible precautions everyone is being urged to take – including wee ones.

How skewed is their world view?

So you have to ask yourself questions that go beyond the obvious one of: “What sort of mindset falls for this conspiracy theory nonsense?” How skewed is their world view if they see shadows and plots in the monumental and laudable drive to save lives and keep us all safe?

With just five small stickers I already know everything I need to know about the people responsible

Now you have to ask: “What would drive anyone to go to the trouble of printing this barking fantasy on stickers so they can plaster them in public places?”

And the nail in the coffin has to be: “What evil do you hold in your heart that you would put them somewhere you know wee bairns are going to see them?”

I could have checked out the online link emblazoned on the stickers to the organisation that is responsible, to find out more about what they think and are about. But, to be honest, I don’t want any more of their bile in my head than is necessary.

With just five small stickers I already know everything I need to know about the people responsible. And it’s nothing I’d be prepared to write where children might see it.

Scott Begbie is entertainment editor for The Press & Journal and Evening Express