Anyone else had enough of the preaching?

[Treasr]

NC as think my friend may be on here.

I know I know, venting on a forum about your friend is pretty shit. But it’s not just her. I’ve had my fucking fill of bearing about people complaining that their neighbour has been to Tesco more than once today, speculation over whether someone has used up a school place they shouldn’t, anger towards single people meeting a friend for a walk, the utterly vile attacks on here when anyone dares so much as mention they are worried about the vaccine (no, I’m not anti the vaccine). It’s all so depressing and I can’t fathom what makes people desperate to get on their high horse at every opportunity.

My friend spent an hour nearly yesterday talking about a single friend she has (I don’t know her), explaining that she’s selfish, she exercises with another friend, she dared to go on a date at Christmas, etc etc. For some reason, my friend, like every other person it seems, has assumed the role of Knowing Best.

I know reading the news and Mumsnet etc is fuelling this and if I stop then I wouldn’t hear about it so much. But of all the things to emerge from the pandemic, i don’t think I will ever forget how fast and easy it was for people to turn on others. It’s very sad.

@Treasr

Fair, there is certainly irony in my post!

No OP, you’re not supposed to understand the ironnnnny 😂

Yes, sorry, maybe, I'm just so tired of threads complaining about people complaining

People are starting to turn on each other, much more so even than in the first, but then I suppose that is what the government wants.

Sitting on a park bench, collecting a takeaway, walking twice a day rather than once or buying something 'non-essential' in a supermarket is not driving up the infection numbers and sticking to the ever changing rules is not going to change that.

Yet I still stick to them and now have massive anxiety about walking the dog and kids to the local nature reserve so they can all run about in the fresh air.

@HelloThereMeHearties

Yes, sorry, maybe, I'm just so tired of threads complaining about people complaining

Fair enough ☺️

Fed up of all the social media posts preaching at us yes, whether from local councils (who are completely useless anyway) or from other organisations who feel they have to keep putting disclaimers on their posts because otherwise they'll get complaints. Example - Visit Scotland which posts pretty pictures of Scotland but has a disclaimer with a !! and says you can't travel at the moment.

Also BBC Countryfile who keep having to put on disclaimers saying certain items were filmed before the latest lockdown.

I mean really?

I’m fed up of all the flouters who tell me I am being hysterical or irrational for staying home and following the rules. I’ve not been preaching at them! Just doing my own thing. Now two good friends who have ignored the warnings are ill and I wish I HAD preached at them. The tinfoil nutters who dismiss every warning are responsible for the spreading. Plus Gavin Williamson for keeping schools open.

I genuinely don’t know any rule flouters in real life and this constant one upmanship and clamouring for stricter and stricter rules wouldn’t affect them anyway as it’s not like they don’t know what they are, it feels like it’s all just making the already anxious more anxious

@Fembot123 don’t you?

I know my next door neighbour has her extended family round. I wouldn’t dream of saying anything to her. I know other friends who met elderly relatives on Christmas Day (banned here) and also socialised on New Year’s Eve. When I still had to go to the office people were leaving at the end of the day dressed up to go out for the evening even though it was banned to meet anyone from another household indoors. I have a relative who loves to tell me how supermarkets are not enforcing the mask rule and who travels all over the place to shops and religious services (not religious normally).

When I have voiced any opinion that we must stay in and order shopping online I’ve been told I am overreacting.

I was pressurised to return to my office after the first lockdown. It was not properly distanced. I tried to discreetly mention my own fears for my own safety to HR and was dismissed as making a fuss. I feel totally disillusioned with any idea people care for anyone except themselves.

I find myself getting very irate with the people who have hacking coughs going into supermarkets

I can see why, @MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously, but here’s the thing - a Covid cough can persist for a long time after someone ceases to be infectious.

Isolation now is for 10 days unless you have a fever, because they discovered that only about 2% of people are still shedding virus after that time. But you can still be coughing for weeks or months. Am I not supposed to go to the supermarket because other people might get irate with me?

I went on Monday. Perfectly legal. Tried hard not to cough while I was in there.

I’ve had this on facebook. So called ‘friends’ kicking off at me when I’ve been within the rules! Apparently if I’m not just sitting at home all day, every day then I’m killing old people. It’s ridiculous. The same people are in tears over Christmas plans when they still have their 2 children and spouse there with them. I had mine on my own.

@PuzzledObserver so you’re saying you’ve already caught Covid and see no problem going to a supermarket? I’ve not been to one for ten months - because I have no wish to get Covid! See any difference in outcome?

@Excited101

I’ve had this on facebook. So called ‘friends’ kicking off at me when I’ve been within the rules! Apparently if I’m not just sitting at home all day, every day then I’m killing old people. It’s ridiculous. The same people are in tears over Christmas plans when they still have their 2 children and spouse there with them. I had mine on my own.

@Excited101 I’ve had the same. A very close friend told me she had decided she wanted to be ‘very strict now’ and her and her partner were going to have lots of film nights and just focus on home life for a bit. She suggested I do the same...I don’t have a partner.

We will probably stay friends but the ignorance of people has been astonishing. I don’t feel as close to her as I did but then I am aware that the government is largely to blame for that. It has driven many people apart and that I find the most sinister thing of all this, not some virus.

In my experience those who are moaning about the preachers are the people who are breaking, or at the very least, bending the rules, hence their discomfort with said preaching

Nope. I'm following the rules. I just find the constant preaching, snitching and 'holier than thou' attitudes a massive fucking pain in the arse

If you want to go to Tesco twice and, heaven forbid, pick up some non-essential goods (I mean, who decides what's essential anyway?), then feel free. It really isn't going to spike the Covid cases!

I don't agree that all anger is the same response to normal human stress. I do think that although we may feel the anger, we can choose our response to it.

For example it is easy to indulge your first response to thinking you see someone flouting the rules; it is easy to feel anger, indignation, judgement. But we also have the ability to stop and think about those feelings, if they are true and how you are going to react to them.

We are not small children, captive to every emotion, we are adults with the ability to reason.

I agree with you. I literally shake my head in despair at the vitriol aimed at one another. How spiteful people have become. The judging, the reporting one another, the smugness, the virtue signalling. People have become so vile.

I’ve followed the rules completely, partly because I feel anxious about the situation and this helps me to cope but I’m also very aware that everyone’s circumstances are different and lots of people are starting to struggle with their mental health. People going for long walks or more than once a day aren’t doing any harm at all and I can’t understand people moaning about people doing stuff that’s within the rules but they don’t agree with. My elderly neighbour lost her husband recently and has formed a bubble with her daughter and one with her best friend. Technically against the rules but she’s being very careful otherwise and needs the support. Who am I to judge. I’d only ever report someone who was breaking the rules in a big way. It would be great if everyone followed the rules but life is really tough at the moment. I hate being judged for being overly cautious so I try not to judge others unless there are massive rule breaks like big parties or seeing lots of different households with no distancing etc which does annoy me. We are all just trying to get through this.

@Bettydot

I’ve followed the rules completely, partly because I feel anxious about the situation and this helps me to cope but I’m also very aware that everyone’s circumstances are different and lots of people are starting to struggle with their mental health. People going for long walks or more than once a day aren’t doing any harm at all and I can’t understand people moaning about people doing stuff that’s within the rules but they don’t agree with. My elderly neighbour lost her husband recently and has formed a bubble with her daughter and one with her best friend. Technically against the rules but she’s being very careful otherwise and needs the support. Who am I to judge. I’d only ever report someone who was breaking the rules in a big way. It would be great if everyone followed the rules but life is really tough at the moment. I hate being judged for being overly cautious so I try not to judge others unless there are massive rule breaks like big parties or seeing lots of different households with no distancing etc which does annoy me. We are all just trying to get through this.

@Bettydot so nice to read that. I can imagine some people going crazy over that situation and it really does beggar belief.

[quote TorringtonDean]@Fembot123 don’t you?

I know my next door neighbour has her extended family round. I wouldn’t dream of saying anything to her. I know other friends who met elderly relatives on Christmas Day (banned here) and also socialised on New Year’s Eve. When I still had to go to the office people were leaving at the end of the day dressed up to go out for the evening even though it was banned to meet anyone from another household indoors. I have a relative who loves to tell me how supermarkets are not enforcing the mask rule and who travels all over the place to shops and religious services (not religious normally).

When I have voiced any opinion that we must stay in and order shopping online I’ve been told I am overreacting.

I was pressurised to return to my office after the first lockdown. It was not properly distanced. I tried to discreetly mention my own fears for my own safety to HR and was dismissed as making a fuss. I feel totally disillusioned with any idea people care for anyone except themselves.[/quote]
No, I don’t. Everyone I know is just getting the fuck on with it, it’s hard boring work but needs to be done. I saw something on a local FB page blaming everyone in the area for the fact the rate had gone up, fucking seriously 🤦🏼‍♀️

[quote TorringtonDean]@PuzzledObserver so you’re saying you’ve already caught Covid and see no problem going to a supermarket? I’ve not been to one for ten months - because I have no wish to get Covid! See any difference in outcome?[/quote]
If you are implying I caught Covid by going to the supermarket, you are wrong. I caught it from my husband, and he caught it by going to work in a care home which is now in a major outbreak, despite following all the required rules and procedures.

They had succeeded in protecting their residents all the way through, but eventually were pressured into allowing visits a couple of weeks before Christmas. Maybe it’s a coincidence they detected the first case just after Christmas, who can tell?

If you are implying that because I have caught Covid I should stop visiting supermarkets - well, clearly I didn’t go anywhere while I was isolating, I got a delivery and people dropped stuff round.

There is no reason now for me to stay away from supermarkets. I will of course wear a mask, sanitise my hands and keep my distance as I have done throughout.

I don't know anyone like this. Opened this, thinking it was going to be about the government and how it really is a bit rich they are now getting all shouty when they are the ones massively fucking up the rule making and communication of those rules! Which I would totally have agreed with.

Not heard anyone preaching. Your friend does sound a bit strange if she managed a full hour on the activities of someone you don't even know.

I am more bothered about selfish entitled individuals who put others at risk by their actions. Not the trivial popping to the shops twice a day etc but dangerous stuff.
For example a friend has been exposed to the virus at work as an individual came in with symptoms. As she got message to self isolate her employers furloughed her. Work was actually helping his mental health so now she could potentially have COVID, will struggle mentally and lose out financially. To think people were actually condoning this behaviour on here..
Also sick and tired of posts by two family members who think it is a plandemic or flu rebranded and refuse to wear masks claiming they are exempt.

@Northernsoulgirl45 I agree. I’ve had enough of the breaching, not the preaching!

@dameofdilemma

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/13/lockdowns-uk-true-character-nation-snitches-useless-leaders

I quite liked the way the author of this article put it.

This is a great article and the writer's quote "the stress of seeing other people enjoy a crumb more life than us becomes unbearable, and we lash out by weaponising morality." could have been written for many of the posters on here.

@TorringtonDean love that.

I'm finding this thread very refreshing. Nice balance of views. Good points on all sides. I follow all the rules, my sister does not. I am a bit embarrassed by her lack of responsibility, but she also has very different struggles in her life. She has started to follow the rules now, as it's quite obvious we're in a pretty desperate situation and she's so sad for my kids that she is trying to do her bit so that they can go back to school.