The Covid battle for power isn't about a virus

The accelerating authoritiansim isn't about COVID.
It's the latest battlefield in a new war for control.
Cheap everywhere data has made the divisions of power in our society obsolete.
The political and ecoomic barnyard pecking order has been scrambled.
Power brokers emerge suddenly in academia, bureaucracies, music and film, talk shows, influencers with thousands and millions of followers and sometimes just people in the street who speak up.  All of this is at trifling cost, thanks to cheap fast data.    If our fellow citizens don't speak up, we'll be collateral damage in the multi-polar struggle to own the new power.  The new power of cheap fast data is a force multiplier.  It also shortens the (OODA) loop of action and consequence so that an institution that relies on elections every four years can be outmanoeuvered by unelected players within and without the institution and also by players in other lands.

COVID is well-suited to be a battle zone as it exploits fear, health, and the grey zone where we have trouble drawing the line between what's good for the community and what's good for us and our own.    It builds on safetyism and deference to experts which has replaced deference to chieftains.  Think about it:  Fauci (US) ,Tam (Canada) and  Henry (BC) are career bureaucrats with health credentials and their voice, not that of generals and presidents are the loudest.

The scary new feature is the power of our fellow citizens to reinforce authoritarian choices by others, excommunicating neighbours over masks and the difference between two and three and four jabs.  It does not yet appear what groups and alignments will prevail but much more than battles over vaccination passports will come upon us soon.