The lack of empathy and humanity for other human beings exposed in this pandemic

[HumanFemale1]

I know I'm not the only one who noticed this but I just wanted to vent really and talk about.

A friend shared with me that they are terrified of venting about their mental health issues caused by the lockdown because every time they tried venting they were shamed and told they are selfish for caring about anything else than people dying (of covid)

Another friend called my thinking 'dangerous' when I said I think the govts approach should balance covid with all the negative aspects of lockdown such as job losses, isolation etc.

This idea that only covid matters and anyone who is negatively impacted by lockdown and restrictions just needs to suck it up is baffling.

I wanted to ask for your opinions on whether you think people in general lack empathy towards other and this pandemic just exposed it or is it something about this pandemic that brings this out in people?

It has shown some people are very bad at assessing risk, are fearful, appear to never have considered the general fragility of life, are unable or unwilling to make hard choices, can't accept we can't control everything, can't handle not everyone sharing the same opinion and like to blame some else.

I have been shocked by the number of posters who seem to think that people who are elderly, isolated, possibly confused, a bit deaf, a bit blind, with arthriticky hands, possibly all of these, can be kept in satisfactory contact by 'just using Zoom/Facetime/a phone call, wave through the window' etc.

And these people, so thoughtlessly abandoned, tend to be the ones most likely to suffer from Covid as well.

There’s long been an epidemic before covid hit, and that’s an epidemic of narcissism. Guess Covid just highlighted it.

@amicissimma

I have been shocked by the number of posters who seem to think that people who are elderly, isolated, possibly confused, a bit deaf, a bit blind, with arthriticky hands, possibly all of these, can be kept in satisfactory contact by 'just using Zoom/Facetime/a phone call, wave through the window' etc.

And these people, so thoughtlessly abandoned, tend to be the ones most likely to suffer from Covid as well.

Shocking isn’t it

@Snog

I think that viewing others as lacking empathy is unattractively judgemental and also a sign of lack of empathy in the observer.

‘Who ever smelled it dealt it’ eh?

For those worried about mental health - 1 in 5 Americans with covid were subsequently diagnosed with psychiatric illness.www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(20)30462-4/fulltext

Covid gets into every organ in the body, including the brain.

Did you read the full study alreadytaken? The probability of experiencing a first-time psychiatric diagnosis within 14-90 days of gettng covid was 5.8%, not 20%, the majority were anxiety disorders, and it was at least partly situational, as diagnoses of anxiety went up in people who contracted any illness after April 1st, not just covid. It's not exactly a shocker that people contracting covid in the middle of a pandemic, with 24/7 news coverage about the dangers of this unknown virus and all of society locked down to prevent it spreading, might experience some anxiety that lingers after they get better. I'm not dismissing the potential seriousness of anxiety disorders, but it's very disingenuous to suggest that there's a high likelihood of severe mental illness due to covid causing physical damage to the brain, and the article doesn't suggest that at all.

The part about a somewhat higher likelihood of dementia diagnosis in patients over 65 is interesting though, and merits further investigation as to whether that's a direct effect of covid infection or due to extraneous factors (as the authors suggest it could be).

It has shown some people are very bad at assessing risk, are fearful, appear to never have considered the general fragility of life, are unable or unwilling to make hard choices, can't accept we can't control everything, can't handle not everyone sharing the same opinion and like to blame someone else

This sums it up perfectly and I agree completely. I’ve lost friends during the pandemic, not because I’ve broken any of the rules personally, but because I’ve expressed sympathy with some of those who do, whether out of despair, desperation or economic hardship. These people simply couldn’t accept any criticism of their ‘Covid is all’ stance and were unable to see any nuance or grey areas in the argument. Even when I cited a family member who had attempted suicide as a direct result of lockdown - zero sympathy. The whole experience has been very eye-opening.

We're shielding and any sympathy for our situation has long since run out. I get the distinct impression that many people ( including people I thought were close friends) think we are just being over dramatic or awkward.

There is some really strange behaviour around at the moment. It's mainly fear in my opinion, either fear of Covid or fear of the effects of lockdowns.

Some of it I think is sheer self righteousness, people who just love to get on their high horse.

So much hypocritical behaviour too.

I'm also shocked OP but for the opposite reason. I was shocked by how many friends didn't have a second thought for abiding by the rules, didn't think or care about those who were vulnerable...They only seemed to care about getting back to the pub. I found that shocking, how some people tried so desperately to socialise whilst the background noise of death got louder and louder due to their actions

Well the media have a big role in stoking fear, spreading information based on sources that you cant even verify their expertise in the matter

Even now there are articles about anyone questioning vaccine is labelled as an anti vaxxer, even if its reasonable questions to be asking.

So people see this in news almost programmes to think that and when they hear or see people questioning it the person is labelled

Same thing with masks and this rigid covid supercedes everything mentality developed through article after article in the media and spread through on social media platforms

Encouraging people to spy on their neighbours and report them.

If you turned off your social media and didnt read the news you find you can actually still have reasonable debate and discussions without being labelled or made to feel selfish etc.

The only thing I have noticed is one of my neighbours who I thought was OK, has reported two sets of families on my street for socialising in Lockdown 1 to the police.

He decided they were doing something wrong without finding out the facts.
I don't have the same opinion of him any more. He's a prying tiny minded little man with a long nose.

@LastTrainEast

I think the pandemic exposed that many people can only think about their own convenience and get put out when asked to help save the lives of others. A lack of empathy bordering on sociopathic.

I wish I could disagree with that

@FieldsAndSun

I'm also shocked OP but for the opposite reason. I was shocked by how many friends didn't have a second thought for abiding by the rules, didn't think or care about those who were vulnerable...They only seemed to care about getting back to the pub. I found that shocking, how some people tried so desperately to socialise whilst the background noise of death got louder and louder due to their actions

How do you know they were specifically responsible for deaths? Or were they just following government guidelines because we were told were allowed to go to pubs/restaurants/play areas.

Or is this just a ‘everyone else but me are murderers’ PA post?

.I found that shocking, how some people tried so desperately to socialise whilst the background noise of death got louder and louder due to their actions

Back ground noise of death?

It’s just figurative language !

The whole experience has definitely not been unifying and each ‘side’ is so exasperated with the other that is for sure.

I fall on the side of ‘we have to consider more than just Covid’ when we are implementing these fundamental changes to our lives. That makes me murderous and selfish, obviously.

I’m pretty sure it’s a personality driven thing, people high in trait neuroticism seem overcome with intense fear and have taken the more ‘single issue’ stance on the flip side, people high in trait openness seem to be more open to looking beyond the single issue and question the new status quo

Difficult to deal with these differences as when under pressure (which we all are) we revert to type.

@Codexdivinchi

There was no social distancing going on when my friends went to the pub and I know that as they plastered their pictures all over Facebook. Made me sick. And they were baffled when I didn’t want to join.

And yes background noise of death is figurative, in other words 10s of 1000s of deaths meant fuck all to them

It makes me sick, it really does. I’m not at risk. But the narcissism I’ve seen, I’ve seen posts of friends in places where masks are required take them down and take a photo cheek to cheek with a friend with beaming smiles. Fantastic! How beautiful you are!

I’m really struggling with my mental health.

And I find the constant policing of my behaviour by others absolutely is destroying me.

I’m not scared to go out even with my daughter to help me because according to a thread on here I’m a granny killer deserve to die and everyone is judging me.

It’s horrible.

@psychomath I read this one too pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33053430/

There were new psychiatric diagnoses in people who did not previously have one, there were psychiatric problems for people with a previous diagnosis who had been managing previously. I dont dismiss anxiety disorders as you have done, especially given the evidence that covid affects the brain. I dont dismiss, as you have done, a recurrence of illness in people who were managing previously.

Catching covid leads to mental illness in a significant number of people, you are deliberately minimising that.

[quote alreadytaken]@psychomath I read this one too pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33053430/

There were new psychiatric diagnoses in people who did not previously have one, there were psychiatric problems for people with a previous diagnosis who had been managing previously. I dont dismiss anxiety disorders as you have done, especially given the evidence that covid affects the brain. I dont dismiss, as you have done, a recurrence of illness in people who were managing previously.

Catching covid leads to mental illness in a significant number of people, you are deliberately minimising that.[/quote]
No that’s not true. No where in that article does it say Covid causes mental illnesses so stop it with the hysterical scare mongering.

There is a questionnaire going out in December to all covid patients to ask about ‘brain fog’ or mental fatigue. Of course your going to have mental fatigue your recovering from a serious virus.

This ‘it doesn’t matter if you have mental health issues because you’ll probably get mental illness from covid’ inclination has to stop.

@Kcar

I’m really struggling with my mental health.

And I find the constant policing of my behaviour by others absolutely is destroying me.

I’m not scared to go out even with my daughter to help me because according to a thread on here I’m a granny killer deserve to die and everyone is judging me.

It’s horrible.

MN is not a true reflection on real life. There are always extreme posters who navigate to these kind of threads to purposely make people feel like shit to make themselves feel better.

Go out. Get your stuff from the shops. Exercise. Even meet up with a friend outside of you can SD.

Don’t let it ( or them) get you down.

[quote FieldsAndSun]@Codexdivinchi

There was no social distancing going on when my friends went to the pub and I know that as they plastered their pictures all over Facebook. Made me sick. And they were baffled when I didn’t want to join.

And yes background noise of death is figurative, in other words 10s of 1000s of deaths meant fuck all to them

It makes me sick, it really does. I’m not at risk. But the narcissism I’ve seen, I’ve seen posts of friends in places where masks are required take them down and take a photo cheek to cheek with a friend with beaming smiles. Fantastic! How beautiful you are![/quote]
You should take them off your friends list and let them know how you feel instead of simmering away and angrily posting on a anonymous forum.

The deliberate minimising of developing mental illness post covid needs to stop.

At no point would I claim mental illness does not matter - I'm saying the risk of developing it post covid is being deliberately minimised. Clearly your mental health requires you to pretend it doesnt happen or that "brain fog" is somehow normal and/or unimportant.

Deliberate minimising of post covid mental illness.

[quote FieldsAndSun]@Codexdivinchi

There was no social distancing going on when my friends went to the pub and I know that as they plastered their pictures all over Facebook. Made me sick. And they were baffled when I didn’t want to join.

And yes background noise of death is figurative, in other words 10s of 1000s of deaths meant fuck all to them

It makes me sick, it really does. I’m not at risk. But the narcissism I’ve seen, I’ve seen posts of friends in places where masks are required take them down and take a photo cheek to cheek with a friend with beaming smiles. Fantastic! How beautiful you are![/quote]
Your post is definitely one sided here.

IMO death has been represented very distortedly during Covid and many people struggle to process what is seen as a the disproportionate response we have enacted for Covid.

No one thinks Covid doesn;t exist - except perhaps a few David Icke followers - everyone knows it is a disease that can kill vulnerable people, but when you look at generalised death stats and the Covid response it is really difficult to understand the extreme response imo.

For example, it is estimated we have spent half a trillion in our response to Covid. Whereas the UK spends approx. £500 million on cancer (164,500 yearly deaths with average age of death being younger)

Even if you took Ferguson's absolute worst case scenario of 500,000 people dying from Covid (which was never ever going to happen anyway) the response is still out of sync with our usual ways. And cancer is just one of many diseases.

The rebuttal to this is often that cancer is not a contagious disease, but for me that argument falls down very quickly. What would the benefit be of pouring half a trillion into constant and very early testing for cancer? What would the benefit be of doing very draconian measures to lifestyle so that cancer is prevented in the long-run? What would the benefit be of banning all cancer causing substances? We could do that and reduce the 164,000 deaths a year substantially, but we don't. And that is the way we have all lived peacefully for the decades - it is an acceptance of risk and death balanced with liberties. Covid has taken us in a different direction completely and for many people it is incomprehensible and so they continue with life, like your 'friends' were doing.