To think that Mumsnet should clamp down on the scaremongering threads?

[callmeadoctor]

Thats it really, you come on Mumsnet and anxiety levels are ramped up. Surely thats not safe?

The problem with scaremongering threads is the add to the confusion. They don't add clarity. Because factual and science based threads and posts get lost amid the mayhem.

Yes that poster wasn't asking permission, just wondering how allotments fit into the new guidelines that were announced. And it wasn't just people telling her it wasn't a good idea, it was like she was a terrible person for even thinking about it.

I do wonder what these types of people were like before all this.

I can't help thinking that there seems to be a certain type of person around at the moment who actually seems to be enjoying this. I can almost see them rubbing their hands in glee as Boris makes his next 'announcement' on what draconian measures are going to be put into place next. It's as if they think we must pay penance for our sins of having 'too much freedom' and 'always having fully stocked shops at our disposal'. Piousness at its very best.

The supermarket boss being interviewed yesterday about food shortages - reassuring everyone that there were no shortages and then in the next breath ranting that people eat too much and they should be eating less - even promoting the infamous MN magic chicken - he was rubbing his hand with glee about all the fat greedy people who could now be officially shamed for over eating - they were eating everyone else’s share. It was a really weird take on things - fucking country has gone mad!

Thank you for this thread OP ... it gave me a bit of much needed hope (that everyone is not an utter wanker) this morning.

It's really quite sickening really.
"Our trust is running our of bodybags"
"Theres a massive increase in deaths in my small town"
"The govt are making that hospital so they must be expecting it to be full shortly"
"Imperial's numbers have changed and look more optimistic, they're wrong"
"The govt are lying about death rates because we cant handle the truth"
Some of those are paraphrasing but that is the general feel. It's like people forget there are real people at the centre of this. It's not some soap that they can gloat over and predict what's going to happen next. It's people.
They really are like the women knitting at the gallows.
Having taken the advice to report the bodybags post, I did, and its still there.

I’ve seen some stuff which I know about irl talked about on mn with the most breathtaking hysteria (I know we’re not supposed to say that but that’s what it is) and completely misinterpreted and misrepresented to the point that either a) the posters are doing it maliciously or b) we really are fucked because a lot of people are very very dim & quite unwell.

It’s really depressing.

I'm approaching the point of coming of MN for a while because of a) the hysterical scaremongering (which doesn't bother me too much but must be horrible for anyone with even slight anxiety) and b) the sanctimonious and competitive twattery about how you're taking lockdown so much more seriously than anyone else because you're rationing yourself to a slice of dry toast each day rather than go to the shops.

Knitting at the gallows -- yes, that's what it feels like!

I remember maybe 5-6 years ago, it was common on here to refer to 'frothers', i.e. posters who would be hysterically frothing and getting people worked up. There has always been this type around.

I wish MN would clamp down on all the fucking "bash the self employed" threads.

I wish MN would clamp down on all the fucking "bash the self employed" threads.

They're shocking. Most cleaners are self-employed!

Agree I've seen posts on Facebook implying that your child will die if you don't keep them indoors for weeks on end ?? When I said this was a scary post to write the OP said 'good, you need to be scared Ito taking this seriously".

I blame the rise and rise of shitty reality TV. The fact that RT is incredibly popular demonstrates that a very large portion of the population are actually stupid and lack any critical thinking skills. These fools probably view the current crisis as just a more extreme version of reality TV laid on to entertain them.

Good article here about how unfortunate it is that people are freaking out and attacking each other instead of the people in charge:
theoutline.com/post/8881/coronavirus-quarantine-social-distancing-covidiots?zd=1&zi=kr2zsu5u

Excerpt:

Granted that when you’re exhausted and afraid, yelling at random strangers for not doing enough seems like an understandable, human reaction. But while going to the park, or meeting up with friends, or even going for a frivolous trip to the shops, might in the present circumstances be pretty irresponsible, it is not — in and of itself — why far too many people will catch coronavirus and (perhaps ultimately) die. Individuals might spread coronavirus by not socially isolating properly — but the conditions under which they might spread coronavirus by not isolating themselves have been created by the poor decisions of states unwilling to take decisive action when the crisis first presented itself because they were scared of the economic damage it might do....

What we are witnessing here is an attempt to privatize responsibility for the crisis. Obviously this seems likely to work out great for the powers-that-be: if people can be made to blame each other for the disaster that is being wrought on us by coronavirus, then they are much less likely to turn their blame on their leaders as well. And then, as the dust settles, the present regime will be able to remain in power — with the pain accompanying rebuilding largely falling on the less well-off. This, of course, is exactly what happened following the global economic crash in 2008...

Basically, I think it's probably not in the government's interest to try to reduce the scaremongering and bashing of others. It keeps people angry at each other and not the ones in charge.

If there no calm voice at the top urging people to settle down, it will never end.

I mean look at the state of this:
www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-52052830

'Government lockdown rules allow people to leave their homes to take one form of exercise a day. Nick Adderley, from Northamptonshire Police, said the force control room has had "dozens and dozens" of calls about people ignoring the order....

"We are getting calls from people who say 'I think my neighbour is going out on a second run - I want you to come and arrest them'. "We have had dozens and dozens of these calls."

*
I find this so depressing and creepy. We will get rid of the virus eventually but what damage will be done to our societies in the meantime?

We will get rid of the virus eventually but what damage will be done to our societies in the meantime?

^ exactly this, I find it heartbreaking to be honest. Something has gone very wrong in society & the mn coronavirus board demonstrates it beautifully!

In RL I think a lot of good things are happening in societies.

Relieved to see the Admins in our local community facebook group have taken control and put an end to the rabid scaremongering, covid policing and shaming of others in the local group - it's now a safe place to visit, with posts concentrating on supporting the community - it's about time MN took a similar stance.

We will get rid of the virus eventually but what damage will be done to our societies in the meantime?

The parallel to this is the Benefits phoneline set up so that people could report on their neighbour or anyone they suspect of being a Benefits "fraudster".

So it has ever been thus. It doesn't take a virus for people to turn into a judgmental curtain-twitcher.

It's hardly like the virus has caused the breakdown of a previously well-functioning, salt-of-the-earth society, there always has and there always will be unpleasant mean-spirited people, and kind selfless people.

The hope is that even if it takes a long time to get our lives and economy back as a nation, and as a global community, it will mend, just as happened after the World War, when infrastructure, economies and emotional devastation all had to be rebuilt, piece by piece.

And then, as the dust settles, the present regime will be able to remain in power

The last time I checked, UK was a democracy, not a dictatorship or military junta. People do have the democratic right to change the government at election time.

Admittedly....the difficulty is when all political parties are run by a shower of idiots and there's nothing to choose between any of them.

Relieved to see the Admins in our local community facebook group have taken control and put an end to the rabid scaremongering, covid policing and shaming of others in the local group - it's now a safe place to visit, with posts concentrating on supporting the community - it's about time MN took a similar stance

I agree