Irish Examiner view: Unlocking anger after Covid-19

Suppressed anger and frustration after two years of Covid restrictions is now being expressed in an often unsociable and dangerous manner.

An Irish passenger en route to New York has been charged after allegedly refusing to wear a mask, throwing a can that hit another passenger and exposing his buttocks to a flight attendant.

Emerging from lockdown will have unforeseen consequences and eccentricities as we attempt to recover the etiquette of what was once normal, every day, shared experiences.

Among those will certainly be examples of the release of suppressed anger and frustration after two years of official and, sometimes officious, interventions into our lives.

An unpromising location to let your fuse run short is on an aircraft, where the tensions of travel were already in place before most of us had heard the word coronavirus.

Unfortunately, one Irish passenger to New York may face a hard reminder of that reality after, it is alleged, refusing to wear a mask, throwing a can that hit another passenger, and showing his buttocks to a flight attendant. He has been charged with interfering with the crew, a potential felony which, if proven, carries a possible jail sentence of 20 years.

Last week, a transatlantic jet heading for London turned back to Miami after 500 miles when a “disruptive customer” refused to comply with federal requirements to wear a mask, and 129 fellow travellers were inconvenienced.

The Federal Aviation Administration noted 5,981 unruly passenger reports last year, 71% of them “mask-related”. This year already there have been more than 150 cases, 60% of them in that category.

Behavioural psychologists will be watching closely to see what happens as citizens readjust

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