Our human rights have been taken away

[Soph7777]

I know it's for a good cause.

I know it's to save lives.

But our basic human rights have been taken from under us, in the short space of a week.

I find this part most of all the scariest.

I'm really struggling mentally with government control to this extent.

How long can this last before people lose their minds and rebel?

And now suddenly, Boris is concerned about the elderly and vulnerable. Yeah, right........?

You are very silly to compare cancer and flu deaths to CV. Cancer isn't contagious and there is a vaccine against flu plus I don't think it is as infectious as CV.

I used to go out at least once a day, usually twice with the dog plus errands and shopping; plus I have low MH at times but I've stayed in and it has been fine, even now I am poorly it is fine. It is for the bigger picture and I do not want anyone's death on my conscience.

Oh for goodness sake, just shut up and put up!

For context my 21 year old daughter is in her final year of a nursing degree. She has had to put her final exams on hold as she has been asked to work full time in the hospital. Front line as A&E! She is having to be fully kitted out in PPE and taking risks daily. She will not graduate this year as planned. She will return to her studies and pick up from where she left off when this is over.

She has not seen her boyfriend of 5 years during this period and doesn't know when she will next see him.

She has not moaned once about any of this. She is just getting on with it as most people are. If she can cope at her age then I am sure you could manage!!

Obviously this situation is not ideal for any of us and came without any warning. Yes it is a total shift in lifestyle. It has taught me to never take my freedom for granted. I worry more about my daughter being exposed daily rather than my 'lack of human rights'!

If I DONT stay at home and follow the restrictions, then many tens of thousands will die because of me and others like me.

I appreciate you are trying to help, as we all do, but do you realise cornishdreams1 that it is actually not because of your actions that people will die?

Agreed catte.

With luck, it is only ill thought out waffle we can ignore. People do say the maddest things.

Have a rant, have a moan, but you need to rise above it and try and make the most of it. There is no mileage in dwelling on it.

Be kind op.

It isn't just the old and vulnerable who are getting I'll and dying though, people need to wake up to this.

Oh for goodness sake, just shut up and put up!

We've shuffled into an alternate reality in the space of weeks.

New strains of flu can kill young and fit people, swine flu obviously did (thankfully not as many as feared) and even more so the avian flu, which had a 60% mortality rate, though thankfully that never transmuted to transmit from human to human.

And a lot of us have mentioned the pandemic of Spanish flu, which decimated soldiers coming back from WW1.

But whereas new strains of flu can kill fit young people, the normal flu strains don't. I got it very badly myself last year when it turned into pneumonia and I was nearly hospitalised, so I'm not being dismissive. Thankfully antibiotics did treat that.

That Doesn't mean we discard the human rights and mental well-being of the living.

What human rights will you have if they end the lockdown and let the disease run wild?

If they do that pretty much everyone will catch it and the hospitals won't be able to cope. Thousands will die needlessly. Is that a human right that you want?

It is really simple and, whilst I have eery sympathy with OP and anyone else who is finding this incredibly stressful and scary there is only one thing to sya

WITH RIGHTS COME RESPONSIBILITIES

And for many this is the very first time they have been told NO in a manner they cannot circumvent. OP says as much, she is not a person who likes to be restricted, told no! Like many she has always had the rights and never had to be held to a responsibility. So of course it feels wrong to her... and many others.

All I can say is, tough! Whilst it is hard to deal with, these temporary restrictions are necessary. No human rights have been removed, they have been suspended during a crisis (as the Act allows if you read on a bit there is a section about possible derogation). Yes all sorts of people all around the world will be harder hit than others, rich, poor, old, youn, sick, well etc etc. But as this virus doesn't care who or what we are socially, then we all have take on the repsonsibility to break its transmission chain.

That shared responsibility is what makes a democracy work... not hanging on to your rights, no matter what!

Your rights end where another’s rights begin.
In other words, my human right to not be negligently infected with a deadly disease is more important than your human right to autonomy/freedom of movement.

We can vaccinate against one strain of flu per year not all

They try to pick what they expect to be the most common one that year

They don’t always get it right.

We do not have a universal “vaccine against flu”

Certainties have vanished, almost overnight. That is what is troubling to so many people. It's a far wider question than Covid. We kidded ourselves that we had freedom. And now we discover that we never did. Not really. It was all an illusion. That's scary. But I'd agree that our perceived rights go hand-in-hand with responsibilities. With personal responsibility seeming to have taken a backseat over the past few decades, it's maybe now a hard concept for some to get their heads around.

Im so sorry you are struggling. you are not alone although it must feel like it. I know it is really tough but honestly it won't last forever. We are fortunate that we have things like Skype, forums, phones, video calls, etc etc. It's not the same but it is a window and a way to interact and it's better than nothing.

The government didn't want to do this. In fact they've been widely criticised for not taking action sooner. They advised and people ignored. They asked and people ignored. They told and people ignored. Now they've made laws and wait for it... People (some people) are ignoring. This is happening not because the government wants to take away freedoms but because too many people are concerned about their human rights and not their human responsibilities.

Iam
appreciate you are trying to help, as we all do, but do you realise cornishdreams1 that it is actually not because of your actions that people will die?

Not because of my actions, no, I am staying firmly at home and doing my level best to make it as comfortable and enjoyable for my children as possible.

But it will be on the conscience of every single person that decides the restrictions are not for them, and we then see a huge surge in cases and deaths.
So yes our actions will directly impact survival chances, of course they do, if the hospitals are swamped many many people that could have survived will die.

It is on all of us, every single one of us, to do the right thing.

The only human right I am interested in is the right to life, and that is the only one we should be focusing on at the moment.

just reread and it sounds like I'm having a pop! I don't mean you! I wasn't having a go. I meant those who aren't doing the right thing!

You have a human right to keep alive for as long as you can.
It's nice to have the luxury of pondering the rights of man.

People are being too harsh on the OP. I'm the first one saying that Human Rights is a political concept - if governments collapse and the whole structure of democratic society disappears overnight human rights do no exist.

I think many of us have never experienced something so dramatically socially changing and is OK to be scared. What's no is to think that your "right" to enjoy life, comes at the expense of someone else dying.

Your human rights end when the basic right to living starts.

Be kind OP
Yet another one who has totally misunderstood what OP wrote. Which is usual for Mumsnet I guess?

@MarginalGain. Yes we have and having to make the most of it I am afraid.

Certainties have vanished, almost overnight. That is what is troubling to so many people. It's a far wider question than Covid. We kidded ourselves that we had freedom. And now we discover that we never did. Not really. It was all an illusion. That's scary

That is hysterical claptrap.

The rights of every single person will be restored the minute it is safe for us to do so. Honestly, you will not help yourself by inventing illusions! This is a crisis, we are responding to the crisis. End of.

And woman, obviously.
Right now, your job is to do what you can to reduce tbe spread of this virus. This is the least intrusive way of doing it.

Shami Chakrabarti from Liberty

“We’ll beat this virus, but these measures (the extreme ones) must be a last resort in that battle and these powers must be removed as soon as possible. We cannot and must not sacrifice all of our hard-won rights and freedoms.”

I feel reassured by this. A Last Resort. If We Follow The Rules.

I am in isolation with my husband, because he is at the top of the vulnerable people list. Do I want to isolate...... NO! Do I want us both to survive this...... YES!

I can’t physically see my children or grandchildren, which is the hardest thing I have ever done, as we are an extremely close family! However, if this is what it takes to survive, then so be it! I will do whatever we need to, to give us the best chance possible, for us both to come out the other side of this alive!

The Government should really crack down on those who flout the rules, (and risk killing others) and if necessary, bring in the army to deal with it! At the moment this would be completely justifiable. Nobody should be allowed to put anyone at more at risk than is necessary!

My and my husband’s “basic human right” is to be allowed to survive this Virus!!