To have to accept that many in this country just don’t give a shit about others?

[Fortheweekend]

I live in Essex which, like many areas has been heavily hit by Covid.
Just heard on the news that Essex Police have had to issue many, many fines last night to people having New Years Eve parties.
I really deeply saddens me that so many people just don’t give a toss about other people.
They can not see past their own noses. Can they not see or do they not give a shit about the long term costs of their actions? That this goes beyond the virus, that because the NHS is overwhelmed people with potential life threatening conditions such as cancer will be overlooked or diagnosis/treatments delayed as they will not be able to get appointments or appointments cancelled because of too many Covid cases in their hospitals.
That people such as those I work with who suffer from disabilities or people like my poor mum who has Alzheimer’s have been isolated for many, many months and many more to come because support groups open and they and their carers will and are suffering from terrible depression and mental health issues which cut deep and will probably never heal.
Do they not care that people like my 90 year old neighbour who is all alone is shit scared every single day because she feels that she will never be able to live out her last months/years with the freedom she had been used to and genuinely believes she will die alone, without help and never having the freedom to just pop to the shops for she fears she will get the virus.
It truly leaves me feeling nothing but despair as I don’t think we will ever control this virus if people don’t do as asked for the short while it would take.

@cjpark

The older I get, the more people disappoint me and the more animals enrich me. A crisis brings out the worse and the best in some people. People's selfishness is magnified as is a few people's kindness. It does make me sad and angry when I see people flouting and bending the rules to meet their own wishes but you can only change and improve yourself.

Totally with you on that. I’m now late 40’s and the older I get the more my eyes are opened to these things. Stick me in the countryside with a pack of dogs and I’m much happier.

As time goes on and vaccinations are more prevalent, it makes sense for those of you that are vulnerable/in contact with vulnerable people to continue to isolate whilst the rest of us get on with life.

Agree with this.

To me, this pandemic has just opened people’s eyes to the narrow mindedness of others. Try living with MH issues, year in year out. The professionals done care, let alone the general public. People will traumatise and ridicule, which is the MH equivalent of partying during a pandemic.
People use body spray or bleach round severe asthmatics.
People are racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic.
People will bully and attack from behind a keyboard.
People lie, cheat, scam, abuse.
The list is endless.
People are not very nice. Just try to find the ones that are and treasure them.

@Bizawit

Yeh I can’t believe all the selfish people, who think it’s ok to put an entire population under house arrest, to ban children from going to school, to make decisions for others about when and it what circumstances they can see and hug their loved ones, who think it’s ok to force people to die alone, who would ban weddings, religious gatherings, funerals, who have no thought for destroying livelihoods that people have invested their lives in creating. All for the sake of assuaging their own irrational anxieties over a fairly ordinary pathogen, that is only dangerous to a small minority of the population.

Well people better qualified to make those decisions do not think it is an ordinary pathogen do they. The arrogance of these sort of pronouncements would be funny in other circumstances.

Of all the violence, sex and abuse that is shown on television, the 3 things shown that received the most complaints this year were:

Amanda Holden wearing revealing clothes.
A dance that included a segment depicting BLM
A black family celebrating Christmas in a Sainsbury’s ad.

That should tell you all you need to know about people these days.

@Bizawit

Yeh I can’t believe all the selfish people, who think it’s ok to put an entire population under house arrest, to ban children from going to school, to make decisions for others about when and it what circumstances they can see and hug their loved ones, who think it’s ok to force people to die alone, who would ban weddings, religious gatherings, funerals, who have no thought for destroying livelihoods that people have invested their lives in creating. All for the sake of assuaging their own irrational anxieties over a fairly ordinary pathogen, that is only dangerous to a small minority of the population.

But how can we be 100% sure who is vulnerable or not? Are you 100% sure you are healthy with no underlaying issues? My friends sister was rushed into hospital on Monday after collapsing. She is currently in a coma due to undiagnosed type 1 diabetes, she had no idea she was unwell. You cannot ‘gather’ up all the vulnerable and stick them somewhere ‘safe’ just so others can get on with life. We all want/need to get on with life, we have all been affected in one way or another but it’s still a virus with unpredictable outcomes at times.

I dislike the way the narrative from the beginning is about blame and fault. "Don't kill granny". We wouldn't ever tell someone it's their own fault they came down with flu, or their child had chicken pox. But from the start there has been this way of separating this particular virus from all other viruses, indicating that it's not spread in the same way as any other virus, but purely by people being naughty and flagrantly blatantly flouting the rules.

Viruses spread. It's what they do.

This entirely! Well said @RaspberryCoulis

I'm afraid that we're seeing a modern-day version of witch-hunting. People find it hard to accept that we don't have complete control of events, or of our health. That's even harder in an era when we expect modern healthcare to be able to insulate us from the realities of disease and death. So we want people to blame - the Chinese, the EU, people in the next town, the next house.

We in the West have chosen to live our lives for many decades in ways which cost lives elsewhere (and in some cases in our own countries). This is really no different, except we seem to have become hysterical about it.

I was disagreeing with DH about the higher case numbers and he was insisting its all about people not adhering to the rules (BIL and family have not kept to not mixing households from way back in March ) and I was saying its more to do with the more transmissable virus, and the winter being the time of year for respiratory diseases etc
...But then saw the news this morning of parties, and raves etc and had to agree he had a point. While I know that its hopefully a small minority of people, the problem is it only needs a small number of positive cases spreading to infect a huge number of people including those who are following guidelines and restrictions.

@cushioncovers

As time goes on and vaccinations are more prevalent, it makes sense for those of you that are vulnerable/in contact with vulnerable people to continue to isolate whilst the rest of us get on with life.

Agree with this.

That covers nearly a quarter of the population including people working to prop us all up. This group needs to be vaccinated before normality can be contemplated. You seriously can’t be suggesting that such a huge number of people can stay in isolation. Also the number would be far higher as the group would include parents so their children would also have to isolate. There is a reason this idea has gained no traction despite the internet warriors trying to push this.

Some people on here accuse EVERYONE of being "selfish" though for every little thing.

Yes, having parties is shitty.

But I'm sick of hearing the word "selfish" aimed at people who are upset about losing their livelihoods or not being able to see family. I've been called selfish because I don't want school to close. But most people put the welfare of their own families before others. That isn't selfish.

People are selfish the world over, it's not just a UK thing.

@CarolEffingBaskin you judge the British public by your own deplorable standards.

I do not agree and think the majority of us care deeply about people outside their own family and friends.

There will always be the idiotic few who break rules. We had two police cars outside our house at 5am this morning attempting to arrest a drunk, emotional bloke. Real tears people in between having to be restrained of course. Some people are selfish, reckless and stupid. But I prefer to believe the rest of us are not too shabby.

@Bizawit

Yeh I can’t believe all the selfish people, who think it’s ok to put an entire population under house arrest, to ban children from going to school, to make decisions for others about when and it what circumstances they can see and hug their loved ones, who think it’s ok to force people to die alone, who would ban weddings, religious gatherings, funerals, who have no thought for destroying livelihoods that people have invested their lives in creating. All for the sake of assuaging their own irrational anxieties over a fairly ordinary pathogen, that is only dangerous to a small minority of the population.

This!

I actually think we have been pretty bloody good. Putting our lives on hold for a virus that is not going to cause any serious harm for the vast majority of us. I haven't seen my grandparents for a year, and don't know if I will ever again. I have missed family, friends and my children's education has been pretty crap. People losing their livelihoods for a virus that isn't going to hurt them. People dying alone. Being told we can't see our loved ones or have people in our own homes to protect other people- strangers.

Why not concentrate on how the majority of us have made sacrifices to protect a small percentage of society, instead of focusing on people who broke the rules. We have been asked to give up so much for the benefit of so few people, but knock yourself out and dwell about how selfish everyone is, when the compliance levels actually show the opposite.

But @Waxonwaxoff0 we're all in the same boat. We're all cut off from someone we love.

I think everyone has a opinion about what's selfish. A good friend of mine is quite vocal on SM about people not following the rules etc but last week travelled to Spain with another household . I'm not sure why that's ok but what she defines as not following the rules .
I actually think the majority are doing as they are told but it's giving people someone to blame that the virus is spreading due to selfish people.
Some truth in that but we are all spreading it as less face we all have to leave the house at some point .

Blackberry what I was suggesting was people who aren't vulnerable go back to work those who are vulnerable get the vaccines first including all key workers and those like my vulnerable parents will have to continue to isolate until such time as the vaccine has worked. Didn't say it was a perfect solution.

@gypsywater and @chilling19 I agree with both of you.

OP, YANBU, but it's not just in this country, there are selfish people all over the world. Thankfully there are also kind and decent people, who have empathy and generally try to do the right thing.

Vitaminsss posted:

"How long do you expect young and healthy people to put their lives on hold though?

As time goes on and vaccinations are more prevalent, it makes sense for those of you that are vulnerable/in contact with vulnerable people to continue to isolate whilst the rest of us get on with life."

@Vitaminsss I think everyone should follow the guidelines and accept the restrictions necessary, until the time comes when a sizeable percentage of the population has been vaccinated, including all the over 65s, NHS staff, carers and vulnerable people. We have been told that this might happen by Easter. It's hard, boring and difficult for many people, but necessary, I think. Young people have many years ahead of them, they shouldn't be resentful of doing the right thing.

I don't know that we are all in the same boat. I have a primary age child and hadn't much social life pre Covid. We have a garden. I was able to do my job from home (sort of). I have already completed my education. I don't feel I've got as much to lose as younger people do and it's easier for me to stay in when I've got plenty of private space. I'm certainly not in the same boat as someone living in a shared flat. My risk of death from Covid is 10x that of 20-something colleagues but still very low compared to my 80-something parents/PIL. If Covid has shown anything it's stark differences.

Have not known a year like 2020 for mass walking and a Lake District resident said it was rammed with tourists over Christmas!
It’s crazy.
Cummings and others who are so say in power just carry on regardless.. and I think Cummings was a tipping point for many to think
“
Fuck it...” I’m going to have a party or whatever.

At midnight on local fields, there were gatherings around fires, and gatherings in front gardens, despite the cold and icy frost.

I think there are a lot of people who have absolutely no idea of the suffering that months of social isolation has caused others.

I keep seeing posts saying that people should be more resilient, that they can keep socialising through Zoom etc, that they can form a support bubble, nonsense about the War. That people desparate for some real human company are selfish and 'granny killers' and the reason this is going on so long. I suspect that such posters are either in a situation where they have someone, maybe several, with them, or have always been very self-sufficient and just don't feel the need for others. Well, they're very lucky. Others are really struggling with the isolation and are now being condemned as well.

Some people are really scared of the virus which is hardly surprising the way the Government and media have whipped us up with daily updates on the deaths with Covid, omitting to mention the approx 1500 other deaths that occur each day anyway.

The virus spreads through normal human activity. Without people going out and doing stuff which we need and thus spreading the virus we would have all perished by now.

The selfish people are the ones who are making this dark time harder by being unkind to those who are experiencing it in a different way.

Yes it is true that there are lots of irresponsible people.

However, you can't see all the people sat at home obeying the rules, who I reckon hugely outnumber those out partying and behaving like idiots.

Keep your faith, this will pass soon.

U2HasTheEdge

"Why not concentrate on how the majority of us have made sacrifices to protect a small percentage of society, instead of focusing on people who broke the rules. We have been asked to give up so much for the benefit of so few people, but knock yourself out and dwell about how selfish everyone is, when the compliance levels actually show the opposite."

I cannot believe people are still trotting this out. Sacrifices have not been made to protect a small percentage of the population. It is PROTECT the NHS. The NHS filling up with covid patients means that regular treatment of other life limiting or life changing diseases is delayed leading to potentially even more deaths as a by product of the disease. Moreover unless the virus is suppressed there could even be greater dangers. The more people who catch the disease the more potential for it to mutate. This could have implications for the possible efficacy of vaccines or it could result in a more lethal variant. It may not be a lethal virus for many younger people at the moment but that may not always be so. Professor Devi Sridhar has spoken about this.

The restrictions you are being asked to adhere to are for the benefit of society to protect everyone's ability to access healthcare through the NHS.

I could have written this post myself today. I try not to give a crap about what others are doing, generally I don’t. But all I’ve seen is parties, get togethers etc in the last day or two.

The British public are shameful. Just cannot do what their told to do.

I’m not talking about people meeting their families, I can understand why people want to see them their close ones. But it’s the group of friends etc having parties that get my back up!!

I live in a touristy area. It’s full of people that don’t live here!! The police are out and about trying to get people that don’t live here to go home and for groups of people that don’t live together to get home too but they won’t listen.

I don’t think it’s entirely down to selfishness - though IMO ignorance - sometimes wilful ignorance - and stupidity are often involved.

One factor not often mentioned, is that in a good many other countries, including some European ones, people are are lot more wary of the police. How many people here are actually afraid of penalties beyond a mild telling off, if they break the rules? And very likely not even that.
Let alone being afraid of being roughed up or locked up!

Well, we were forwarded with

A) Brexit vote
B) tory government after tory government over the centuries

The general public is composed of many perfectly nice people who make appalling decisions to pursue their own self interest.