AIBU to wonder why so many SNITCHES on here?!

[GinDaddyRedux]

This is not a joke thread. What is it with all the "AIBU to report..." at the moment?

I can understand the febrile atmosphere due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus. I too was angry when I read the Cummings story and the subsequent reinterpretation of the lockdown rules by no.10 - for a containment strategy to work, people need to trust Government and voluntarily sacrifice to contain the virus.

However... there are just so many scenarios where someone is keen to report a neighbour, friend or individual for suspected behaviour. They won't confront that person and ask them why. They won't gain much if anything from the reporting. But they just have to report... because anything else would mean they're locking down and someone else is gaining an advantage, and that won't do.

I wonder aloud if this will continue post-Coronavirus. Will we remain a tell-tale society where people immediately report like primary school on people they can't stand and want to be punished?

AIBU for being a bit fatigued by all the ratting and telling going on?

[WaterOffADucksCrack]

I think comparing them to people reporting people for being Jewish or reporting people in Eastern Germany for not adhering to the rules is a bit harsh and not the same, there were often benefits to the people doing the reporting and sanctions for the ones reported. It's harsh now but if you look at how the Nazis rose to power.....

[sofato5miles]

My friends live in a converted (modest) country house, split into 3. They and the other couple where having socially distanced drinks out the front with one of the other couples. The other couple were incensed by this and called the police. The police rocked up and said nothing to see here and were happy with the sitch. But now the reporting couple have completely screwed their relationship with the other two couples.

[AlexisCarringtonColbyDexter]

@Justanotherscumbag

Exactly. I completely agree.

[User8008135]

There is too much eager reactivity for circumstances that are explained multiple ways: people working getting notes, mental health improving etc... However there has to be a nice medium and i can understand some people getting very upset especially when they've sacrificed for the greater good- not overwhelming the NHS- and have seen some true pisstakers.

I've socially distanced with a family member with one of my children. Not great as I've the kids but that dc is attached to my breast clustering so needs must. I haven't told her as any breech upsets her, but she's a nurse who worked on adult COVID patients at their worst and caught it herself, taking it home. So of course it's all much more personal to her.

[eeeyoresmiles]

I don't know if other countries had their own brand of coronastasi but all those who said that the Nazis would never have succeeded in the UK - well now you know they definitely would have done - and potentially really enthusiastically.

The thing that has shown me that the Nazis would have succeeded in Britain is the readiness of some people to talk about some lives being more worth saving than others and how 'healthy' people shouldn't have to suffer any cost in participating in saving the lives of 'vulnerable' people.

As far as the reporting is concerned, its always going to look over the top if you think a rule is silly, and sensible if you think a rule is vital. The fact that there are people who would think reporting sometime beating up a family member or drunk driving is 'snitching' and so shouldn't be done tells me just how much I should care about that concept. Not that I've ever reported anyone for anything in my life but, if I did, I think worrying about whether I'd look like a snitch should be the last thing on my mind.

[PafLeChien]

What's the point of starting an argument with a neighbour exactly?

You report, hopefully they get fined, and that will be the only argument convincing them to stop. There wouldn't be anything to report in the first place if these people gave a damn about whatever antisocial behaviour they are into.

[malificent7]

Depends what people are reporting...nieghbours going out more than once a day...no way would i report. Large party...maybe...person licking cans in Tescos...definately.
I do hate the joy that people are gaining from snitching though.

[rawlikesushi]

Comparisons with Nazi Germany are ridiculous. The consequences of being reported to the security services in Nazi Germany were a bit more serious, don't you think?

Someone reporting their neighbour for having a party fully expects them to get a ticking off, not to be hauled away for robust 'questioning' at the hands of the gestapo.

[Footywife]

I'm a Snitch and I don't bloody care.

I have the foulest next door neighbour you can imagine. We've suffered 4 years of antisocial behaviour from her - verbal abuse, prostitution, drugs, spat at me, feral child wrecking our property, domestic fights, being videoed doing mundane things, vile lies about me. I've battled the police, her landlord and local authority the whole time for them to take action and nobody will do anything..

So, yes, when she was clearly breaking lockdown by having parties in her garden, people in and out of her house and even drug addicts moving in for a few days then leaving and being replaced by others I snitched. Anything which adds weight to my cause is ok with me as I'm at the end of my tether.

Flame me.

[paxillin]

There appear to be quite a lot of people who want to control how others live.

I don't like my neighbours' music either. I don't want the lovely park picnic area full of gym bunnies and their personal trainers during corona. I do think one set of neighbours drink a lot more than I would. I disagree with parenting decisions of some friends and I know someone whose financial dealings while legal are not very moral.

I do not get to change any of that nor do they get to change my no doubt equally irritating habits.

I agree it is snitching. The word belongs to the playground, but so does the behaviour. Is it a crime or is someone in danger of real harm? If not, stop snitching.

[Laaalaaaa]

I think the term snitch is perfect in a lot of instances to lockdown. Before restrictions were lifted and you could only go out once a day people complaining that neighbours were out twice a day or their neighbour exceeded the made up hour 1 hour rule. Those people who wanted to ‘report’ this would be snitching in my opinion.

[MsTSwift]

It’s the gleeful curtain twitcher “ooh look Mavis they are out again at number 43” types. Many posters early in lockdown reported village Facebook pages awash with this and pictures of posters innocent teenage sons having a kick about banded online as an example of crimes committed. Those types.

[MsTSwift]

And elderly men in florescent jackets striding around villages “policing” compliance. Hard not to identify who those that would gleefully have reported their neighbours to the Stasi are.

[BirdieFriendReturns]

I’m always surprised on Mumsnet how “go to the police / log it with 101” is the magic solution to everything. As if the police will even come out!

[Thecruxxofitis]

Because it’s so fucking annoying when you and your family and friends are obeying the rules and other people are off doing whatever they like against the rules. Don’t break the rules if you don’t want to get caught.

[MsTSwift]

2% of the East German population became voluntary informal Stasi informants.

[rawlikesushi]

And to think that the only thing you have to do in order to avoid people snitching on you, is follow the entirely-manageable, short-term rules put in place to keep us all safe.

[MsTSwift]

Which many of those reported were actually doing!

[marfisa]

So funny, I saw the thread title and thought, 'Ooh, Gindaddy would like that thread, he is obsessed with what he calls 'dry snitching''. Then clicked on the thread and voila, it's Gindaddy.

Honestly, his obsession with snitching is unhealthy. Or odd at best.

[larrygrylls]

Paxillin,

I don’t get this attitude of having no control of how others live at all.

We do live in a densely populated society, in cities cheek by jowl. If there were no cooperation or pressure for people to conform to basic laws and rules, we would have a really miserable time! Neighbour decides to party until 6AM and play loud music and you have an alarm set for 7AM for work? Not your business?

And, in an epidemic, this applies 100 fold. Because it is statistical and not guaranteed that anyone in a party of 100 will get sick, people use this as a justification. A party right now is like lobbing bricks off a motorway bridge. Sure, you might think it is fun and they may not hit a car. But, it is still a very dangerous and stupid thing to do.

People should use common sense to police their own behaviour. The same goes for reporting others. A kick around in the park or seeing a significant other who has also been locked down, not my business. A mass picnic in the park or a big party, I would report.

[rawlikesushi]

"Which many of those reported were actually doing!"

So what harm befell they when they explained that then?

[MsTSwift]

The unpleasantness of having been “reported” urgh horrible