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Electric fences

Fernanda Mira*

The owner of a bar in England is tired of his customers not respecting the social distance that good practices force to deal with this pandemic that is plaguing us.

The man grew tired of scolding customers who insisted on getting closer and closer to the counter. But this man needs to earn a living. The bar is his livelihood. Even in England he chose the Portuguese maxim: for great ills, great remedies.

From there he installed an electric fence next to the balcony. You read that well, an electric fence! Those wires that are connected to electricity that when activated give a discharge to those who touch them. Depending on the voltage used, it may or may not be fatal.

Fear keeps people away

Hmm! Now there is a good idea, some will think, who at the moment are already seeing it applied in so many places, such the degree of non-compliance with the rules of social distance.

And how does man justify the application of such a device in his establishment? “Fear removes contact between people,” he explained to a reporting team from the Bandeirantes network in Brazil.

“Fear drives people away,” he said it like that, calmly and serenely.

Fear drives people away. This may even become the phrase that classifies what so many insist on calling “new normal”.

I am afraid of these people, much more than a virus.

*Publisher of the Portuguese edition of Plataforma

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