Has Covid-19 made you realise just how inherently selfish so many people are?

[Nicknamegoeshere]

It has me.
The world is a mess and most people only really care about themselves and their families.
Fed up to the back teeth of people trying to justify why they can't possibly do X, Y, and or Z.
Just be honest and say "Because I don't really care about passing this virus on, I'm not bothered about those more vulnerable than myself."

@Pollynextdoor

Yes - the my family is more important attitude.

You'd struggle to find anyone who does not believe this. Even great humanitarians value their own family way above strangers' families.

@BloomShine but some of the extremely vulnerable are working age. I'm 36 and shielding

That thousands of care home residents go weeks without visits from families because they're too busy, but all of a sudden it's of vital importance and ok to shove care workers to attempt to achieve it. I think you'll find that those agitating to see loved ones in care homes are the ones who have been visiting regularly, sometimes daily, to provide practical and emotional support. What you're saying is "some families do not visit relatives in care, and therefore it's quite all right for others to have to watch helplessly while their loved ones decline rapidly because they've been deprived (often without knowing why) or the familiar faces around them".

I used to visit my father 3 times a week - I haven't been able to visit him at all since the beginning of March.

@userxx

I still can't get over the shield the vulnerable so the rest of us can get in with our lives thing. Chilling.

Genuine question but why?

It's been made very clear that the vulnerable will also be at the end of the queue for treatment. So for one's fellow citizens to say, in effect "we're not going to lift a finger to reduce the level of the virus circulating in the general population and, if you get it, tough" is very "othering".

Of course the other message "we're afraid of getting the virus which is more of a risk to us than you, so you're going to have to lose your job, your savings and your house to protect us" is also "othering". Which is why tempers are running so high.

@amicissimma

I am not surprised that people strive to look after their own; that could be how the human race survives.

I have been taken aback at the level of sacrifice that some people seem to require of others in order to maintain their own illusion of safety.

I agree. In my opinion the most selfish ones are those yelling "stay at home" "do online shopping" as they are expecting very many others to be facilitating them to be able to stay at home, but seem to have very little concern for them.

So it comes down to "I want everyone else to do things that keep me safe."

My elderly dad went into a care home during lockdown. He's very vulnerable - he has Huntington's disease, a heart condition, and asthma.

He's puzzled and hurt by how my mum is only able to talk to him through the window - his mind has been failing for years, how do you explain this situation to someone in his state.

It's all so very sad.

*I agree. In my opinion the most selfish ones are those yelling "stay at home" "do online shopping" as they are expecting very many others to be facilitating them to be able to stay at home, but seem to have very little concern for them.

So it comes down to "I want everyone else to do things that keep me safe."*

Yep. Refusing to socially distance or wear a mask (unless you're exempt, which the vast majority of people are not) is indeed selfish. However, some of those who are accusing others of 'selfishness' are really saying that strangers aren't making big sacrificies to help them - in other words, surely they're the selfish ones?

@QueenPaws

I said the vulnerable should be protected and that would obviously include you. Locking up healthy people to protect people who are not does not make sense. If those that are not vulnerable get back to work there will be more resources to protect those that are.

As others have said, it's human nature to care less about strangers than about ourselves and our loved ones. If it weren't, there wouldn't be a huge market for clothes and electronics made using slave labour, chocolate and exotic fruits made with pesticides that harm farm workers in developing countries and so on, across virtually the entire developed world. Most people - including myself, I'm not judging - would rather spend their disposable income on nice but frivolous things for themselves than use it to help reduce the death toll across the world from poverty and preventable diseases. I don't think the pandemic has really made people more selfish, it's just made a lot of people think about it more, because for the first time the potential victims are our own friends and neighbours (and for some of us, ourselves) rather than people who live on the other side of the world and can be easily forgotten.

@BloomShine it's tricky when the vulnerable are also NHS, teachers, paramedics. If they all completely shield again then a lot of places are short staffed. Plus some can't or won't shield as only get SSP

No I don’t think so. Look at all the amazing volunteers etc back in April/May Retired nurses returning to work, the thousands of people that stepped up as volunteers to help the elderly etc. So many that some had nothing to do! The vaccine and clinical trial volunteers, thousands of them, their selflessness paying off now in droves. The global co operation in finding a vaccine etc.
I think there are a lot of positives which is not to say some people aren’t arses of course.

I completely disagree. Prior to this I was pretty sure everyone is inherently selfish and that view has not changed. It is what it is. But I have generally been very impressed by how people have behaved in my area. Basically, we've just got on with it.

I totally agree with @TheGreatWave, though. There has been a disappointing number of people demanding that others ruin their lives and using emotive and hysterical arguments to further their views.

The real shock for me is how stupid people are.

I know that sounds nasty, but I just can’t get over how many people believed the virus was gone and we could all go back to normality after the the first lockdown. The government’s messaging didn’t help — pushing people to stop WFH to support Pret etc. Now I see they’re planning a winter Eat Out to Help Out after lockdown 2.0. I despair.

I have been taken aback at the level of sacrifice that some people seem to require of others in order to maintain their own illusion of safety.

Totally agree with this.

Livelihoods, homes, mental health, education, opportunities all appear to be fair game for some.

@ForBlueSkies Are they seriously doing another Eat Out to Help Out?! Madness.

Now I see they’re planning a winter Eat Out to Help Out after lockdown 2.0. I despair.

I hope the pubs and restaurants tell them to fuck off. They've well and truly been thrown under the bus.

@3littlewords

Its the blind ignorance of some who feel the need to justify loudly why they are exempt or special or in a "unique" circumstance that means its ok for them to bend the guidelines too suit them. No one is exempt or special or unique its shit for us all maybe just in different ways. Im sure we could all dig a little and find a reason or get out clause that suits us but if we all did that then where would we be?

Ps I know there will be exceptional safety or emergency reasons why guidelines may need to be broken at times im not referring to instances like that

Exactly. Everyone thinks he/she is the special exception. It's disgusting.

I'm also shocked at how few people have any savings for emergencies. The whiners all have smartphones and cars and other depreciating goods but couldn't be bothered to practice frugality and set aside funds to tide them over in economic crisis. Really shameful how self-indulgent and imprudent many folks are.

I'm also shocked at how few people have any savings for emergencies. The whiners all have smartphones and cars and other depreciating goods but couldn't be bothered to practice frugality and set aside funds to tide them over in economic crisis

Kindly fuck off with this kind of moralising. Absolutely no one foresaw entire sectors having to be shut down for months at a time.

Could you cope with the guts of a year’s lost income? I doubt it, as the data clearly shows most aren’t that privileged.

And cars and smartphones are pretty necessary for many in the modern world. They don’t have to cost a fortune.

@TheKeatingFive

I have been taken aback at the level of sacrifice that some people seem to require of others in order to maintain their own illusion of safety.

Totally agree with this.

Livelihoods, homes, mental health, education, opportunities all appear to be fair game for some.

Livelihoods and mental health would be far better off now if everyone would have adhered to stringent distancing and isolation six months ago. It's the selfish deniers who got us exactly where we are today.

Pretending the virus doesn't exist only gives the virus a better opportunity to prevail, as we are seeing. Compliance to hard lockdown could have short-circuited it. Oh well.

I bet they've even got flatscreen TVs the feckless fuckers

@Burpeesshmurpees

The whiners all have smartphones and cars and other depreciating goods but couldn't be bothered to practice frugality and set aside funds to tide them over in economic crisis. Really shameful how self-indulgent and imprudent many folks are.

This is one of the most awful things I've read in ages. 'whiners'? So people shouldn't get a car or a smartphone until they've managed to set aside enough money to.support themselves indefinitely should they lose their job in a future pandemic they probably weren't anticipating?
Wow!

Yes. An emergency financial cushion is more important than gadgets and luxuries. That anyone is as boggled by the concept as you appear to be merely reinforces my point.

@SnuggyBuggy

I bet they've even got flatscreen TVs the feckless fuckers

Maybe they even went on holiday to the costa 2 years ago!

@TheKeatingFive

I'm also shocked at how few people have any savings for emergencies. The whiners all have smartphones and cars and other depreciating goods but couldn't be bothered to practice frugality and set aside funds to tide them over in economic crisis

Kindly fuck off with this kind of moralising. Absolutely no one foresaw entire sectors having to be shut down for months at a time.

Could you cope with the guts of a year’s lost income? I doubt it, as the data clearly shows most aren’t that privileged.

And cars and smartphones are pretty necessary for many in the modern world. They don’t have to cost a fortune.

It's not moralising, it's common sense and Adulting 101.

And yes, I could cope for a year if need be. It's a matter of planning, prudence and delayed gratification-- all of which seem in short supply these days.

Livelihoods and mental health would be far better off now if everyone would have adhered to stringent distancing and isolation six months ago.

Honestly, you’re just an idiot if you think we’d be over this is everyone obeyed the ‘roolz’.

It’s a virus. They spread. That’s their one and only job.

In the meantime, we are humans and cannot continue as a race if we lock ourselves away entirely.

Perhaps I should be calling you a ‘whiner’ because you didn’t have the foresight to stock years of canned food supplied to get you through a pandemic.