Sad that the pandemic didn't make us better

[Pennyforyourthoughtsplease]

Those first few weeks were terrifying, but we made it through. Many worse off. Isn't it sad that coming through a global pandemic, we didn't become kinder, more appreciative and less materialistic; realising what really matters. If anything, I've noticed a significant shift these last few years where people have become more selfish and entitled. What happened?!

No, because we all love being individualistic consumers and that's not compatible with solidarity

Way more selfish and every man for themselves. I’ve noticed it with driving, queueing. In shops. Most public places

Personally I believe that the many lies and incessant grifting spoiled what might have been an opportunity to focus more on the common good in future

People were expected to sacrifice so much, and to find out they'd been thoroughly manipulated by a cohort dedicated only to their own interests was unlikely to end well

I agree wholeheartedly

I think some social altruism died somehow. People realised that nobody cares about anyone else, really.

Same reason why people don’t generally have an Ebenezer Scrooge type epiphany and start acting completely differently after a personal tragedy. Or if they do, it tends not to last. Human nature 🤷‍♀️

I was living in another country when this happened. There was a curfew imposed and everyone followed it as fines were imposed, fairly, to anyone who didn’t. The government also appeared to follow their own laws. Even had an alcohol ban to give people less reason to congregate, and to curb binge drinking through boredom. It was so so embarrassing to hear how the U.K. handled it, and how people acted.

Who is this cohort?

I think life seems like much more of a struggle these days. I earn ok but am skint, joys of dc. It’s hard to get a Gp appointment, nhs dentist. I’ve just had my one year anniversary of non treatment for gallstones / dodgy bile duct so am grumpy about that, it’s not a horribly severe pain but like a niggly toothache thst you are really aware of and hurts when I move.

Essentialy life feels like a slog, lots of people are struggling on various levels. I remember hearing someone say that free range eggs are a middle class issue and it reminds me of that. Unless your own / your families basic needs are being met it’s difficult to put time and energy into the wider community.

I've noticed a few things which are really disappointing
Firstly, all the clap for carers and recognition for unpaid, family carers as well as paid carers has gone out the window. Local Authorities seem to have concluded that people coped without services and have responded with widespread cuts, so unpaid carers are on their knees
Secondly, people are so much more flaky when it comes to social arrangements. They agree to stuff and then call off last minute for no good reason, it drives me mad

We had a long term Tory government, which has convinced everyone to be envious of what their neighbour was getting and that single parents, the disabled, carers and people on low wages were the issue and if people are poor/badly housed, it's their fault, while giving us a non functioning justice system, you expect people to become kinder?

People only pretended they cared, many were just out to get others into trouble, spent all their time curtain peeping and worrying about what others were doing. They were the worst people but thought they were the good kind ones.

What's that got to do, specifically, with the pandemic?

Have people become kinder in the last year under Labour? Genuinely interested if the change in Government has had any impact. (I don’t live in the UK.)

Right so how have attitudes changed under Labour?

I think humans are intrinsically quite selfish. It is coded into us. This is why concepts like Communism have never worked properly in any country. Ultimately we put ourselves first. Most people don't like to see other suffering but there is a point where people don't want to support others in society if they feel that those they are supporting have more than them or that meeting these support needs is having a huge adverse impact on them. It is absolutely logical really. You see the exact same mentality between the groups you have referenced (disabled, single parents, working poor). I have seen on loads of threads disabled people suggesting that their benefits should be protected in a way that the working poor's aren't because the working poor can just go out and get a better job. Single mothers also apparently chose to have their kids so are less of a priority then disabled people.... Humans ultimately do what humans do and put themselves first.

Businesses are still using Covid as an excuse. It pisses me off.

I feel the same. You’d hope after something so horrible we’d all try and be grateful and work together for a better world. However it’s gone completely the other way. Shows there is no logic to human nature.

The government

An excuse for what?

The double standards from government have actually made many many people less caring.

My youngest is very vulnerable and pre pandemic people were brilliant. Nobody would dream of coming to my home with a cold or a bug. If their children had been in contact with my other children I'd get an instant heads up "Mary has come down with a cold" or "shit, I think Fred has chicken pox".

Now it's like people no longer care that a cough or cold, or virus like Covid, can actually be serious for some people. And more than they their wishes, or their child's wishes, are more important.

Three times in the last couple of years parents have actively hidden chicken pox and covid from us so we didn't cancel attendance at a birthday party. They didn't want their child to be upset. One of those occasions led to Covid in our house and DD4 ending up in ICU.

We live every day knowing that living - the children going to school, having social lives etc, is a risk. But it used to be a risk that was minimised because other people were considerate. We have to live it because our other children need an education and they need lives. It was much easier before Boris and Co pissed people off to the point they did.

They’ve been in power for about 2 minutes. If the country has gone through a decade of austerity, it will take a bit longer for impact of a new government to take effect and shift attitudes.

Sorry, BlueJuniper94, I should have made that clearer

I was referring to government and that section of the scientific community who sold their integrity for expediency

Boris was in charge of a government of self serving tossers.

If that’s the standard then yes, you start to look out for yourself. He showed the country his political ambitions were more important than our economic and cultural future. Now we are in a mess and other self serving tossers like Farage have a platform for their warped ideology.

People forget that bring good kind and generous actually feels really good, and is beneficial to mental health and it spreads. One kind act deserves another. That is what is sad.

Ok, we will see I guess. Personally I see attitudes actually hardening IRL and on MN. Lots more people openly demanding welfare reforms and complaining about tax increases.

Which country?