Anyone else amazed by how quickly society learns to self-police?

[Lycidas]

A few weeks ago there were only a bunch of 'oddballs' discussing the virus on this forum. (misty-eyed nostalgia)

Now all I see is lots of angry, sometimes shrill and judgemental, policing of others' movements on MumsNet. I can partly see why - this weekend was pretty embarrassing from a social distancing POV. But there's also an element of aggression there that is quite unsavoury. At the same time, ti's fascinating to see how people take on that mantle of policing themselves. The government gives a few nudges about needing to take responsibility, ratchets up the rhetoric and and we're suddenly clamouring for more control and suppression of freedom.

Absolutely. If you have read The Testaments you’ll see Atwood’s very shrewd eye for this. It’s easy to see who the Aunts would be from a brief scan of this forum...

No. Scientists have done experiments on mice around this. They leave out food then punish the mice (all the mice) if the food gets eaten. The mice self-police. Then they introduce new mice into the group. When they try to eat the food, the original mice stop them (push them, fight them, bite them).

If mice can get it to get her to lock that shit down, it’s no surprise humans can too.

That's interesting @RosieSunset

The Mumsnet 'Aunts'!

I have a friend in lockdown in Italy. She has to walk her dogs once a day, and in the last week has been getting some shouty abuse from the neighbours for 'spreading the virus'...

This is why culture is so important. Even in “normal” times, the majority of crime and disorder is prevented by the fear of social ostracism/peer pressure since the threat of being caught and actual enforcement is always fairly remote given how few police etc we actually have. It’s fascinating, but scary as it makes you realise how fragile the equilibrium is.

How do they "punish the mice" 🐭?

Now all I see is lots of angry, sometimes shrill and judgemental, policing of others' movements

I really couldn't give a fuck about 'policing' anyone in normal circumstances.

But I'm in a high risk category for the virus and I'm fucking sick of people dismissing my life as expendable, and therefore it doesn't matter if they don't do what they can to reduce the spread through sensible behaviour like social distancing.

So yeah, I'm fucking judgmental. I suspect quite a lot of the others you refer to as shrill or angry are coming from a similar place to me.

Probably elec shocks/tacks or similar.

You’re now going to say that’s cruel and they shouldn’t do it, aren’t you?