Anyone want a perpetual lockdown

[beentoldcomputersaysno]

I often see posters accused of wanting continual lockdowns, despite their post not suggesting it. I often assume it's done to deflect or antagonise posters who suggest a health measure(s) to adapt to life post-2019. However, is there anyone who posts on this board that does want perpetual lockdowns?

Of course I wouldn't imagine anyone wants to be in permanent lockdown, though comments from parents about their school age children being happy in lockdown has been a cause for concern for teachers.

As it should be. The parents I’ve seen saying this have kids who’s needs aren’t being met at school. Those with a school phobia, or who are being bullied, or who barely survive in the one size fits all, large class, chaotic school system. My daughter loves school and couldn’t wait to go back, but even she said there were some things about home schooling that were much better than being at school, not least because she didn’t have the distraction of the kids who were perpetually mucking about and nothing is done about it. I can imagine if you have a child who struggles more with that kind of stuff and found academic learning tough in that environment, online schooling would be great for them.

@Watercoloursky

And some of the most persistent/determinedly doomy (zoom Christmases forevermore, etc) have been banned, I've seen one complaining about this on another forum I use.

I can't see how their banning would have come as a surprise. They took 'broken record' to another level.

I know a couple of people who say they do. Not perpetual maybe but long-term. Only know them through online groups, so I don’t know how what they say corresponds to how they’re actually living, but I’ve known them in that sense since long before covid and am fairly sure they’re not trolling.

They are very scared and have been able to isolate (no kids, WFH) for ages, and have convinced themselves or been convinced that the world outside their front door is a scary place full of threats to them personally, and/or that the world is always teetering on the brink of mass death and social collapse and most people are in denial. So they think massively restructuring society indefinitely would be better, and they’re fine with locking themselves down and waiting for others to see the light.

It is pretty sad really.

Spain had an awful lockdown in early 2020 and they've never gone back to anything like it with social distancing, closure of businesses etc. I think the U.K. seesaw restrictions banning social mixing have been harder apart from the initial one they had there.

There are so many people who are just scared, and the media have fuelled it from day 1.

I dread to think how scary it's going to be for people in that mindset in two months' time when you no longer even have to isolate if you've got covid.

There were definitely posters (maybe the same troll name changing) who said we would have to get used to only socialising outside in winter, forever.

Why are some teachers concerned that some children were happier with their families and friends when schools were shut? Is it the realisation that school is a shit place for some kids?

@Butteryflakycrust83

I find people like to shout 'we need to learn to live with it' without actually demonstrating any actual LEARNING.

What they really mean is they want to pretend Covid doesn't exist.

Agree. Some posters, expressing valid concerns, have been shouted down and accused of expecting a 'zero covid world' when that is not what they were saying at all. It was just a way of shutting down the conversation so that only one point of view dominated. Of course we know that covid is here to stay and we can't eradicate this virus but hopefully it'll become endemic at some point soon.

Finally newspapers like BBC are coming forward with real stories about a young people committing suicide due to lockdowns

Suicide rates in 2020 were lower than 2019, 2018, and lower than most years prior to 2016. There was a fall in most age groups except 65-69, and those over 85. The falls in the age groups between 15 and 45 were pretty significant.

There are many reasons to give that show how lockdown impacted people, but suicide is provably not one of them.

@CorrBlimeyGG

I don't want lockdowns, I want an NHS (and social care) that is able to meet the needs of people who are sick.

We've barely had proper lockdowns at all. Being asked to wear a mask to a shop or pub is not a lockdown.

at this what level of severity were you after?

@BoredZelda

Finally newspapers like BBC are coming forward with real stories about a young people committing suicide due to lockdowns

Suicide rates in 2020 were lower than 2019, 2018, and lower than most years prior to 2016. There was a fall in most age groups except 65-69, and those over 85. The falls in the age groups between 15 and 45 were pretty significant.

There are many reasons to give that show how lockdown impacted people, but suicide is provably not one of them.

What’s your source for this information?

I find people like to shout 'we need to learn to live with it' without actually demonstrating any actual LEARNING.

Yep. We need to learn to live with it but I ain’t wearing no mask or doing no test or taking no vaccine or doin no distancin.

What they really mean is they want to pretend Covid doesn't exist.

Exactly and use these silly “everyone loves lockdown” tropes to defend themselves.

When all restrictions are lifted I don't know what the people shouting about wanting them forever will do with themselves.

We need to learn to live with it but I ain’t wearing no mask or doing no test or taking no vaccine or doin no distancin.

Well, people have different ideas for what ‘learn to live with it’ means. You might disagree with the idea that ‘learn to live with it’ should mean ‘learn to accept the remaining covid risk as we go back to normal’, rather than ‘learn to change things about how we live’, but that doesn’t make it inherently wrong.

@HarrietteNightingale

There were definitely posters (maybe the same troll name changing) who said we would have to get used to only socialising outside in winter, forever.

So ... one person, you estimate? One somewhat off voice, against a whole lot of of fairly nasty others?

I mean it wasn’t THAT long ago that anyone saying “we need to learn to live with it” was getting told that was a naive/heartless/unscientific viewpoint. Now it’s “well of COURSE we need to learn to live with it, but I get to decide what that means.”

So ... one person, you estimate?

Difficult to say. There seemed a few with the same extreme views, just going onto every thread saying the same thing, and quite nasty with it. Not interested in a debate, more winding everyone up. We'll never know.

@Sparklingbrook

When all restrictions are lifted I don't know what the people shouting about wanting them forever will do with themselves.

Who are these people, though, Sparkling? Have you ever met any? I haven't.

The hyperbole of wanting restrictions "forever" - that is, until the end of time - is really what is being up here. Not the thought of wanting restrictions in themselves - just the open-ended, always notion of it. That is the essential misconception.

@BoredZelda

I find people like to shout 'we need to learn to live with it' without actually demonstrating any actual LEARNING.

Yep. We need to learn to live with it but I ain’t wearing no mask or doing no test or taking no vaccine or doin no distancin.

What they really mean is they want to pretend Covid doesn't exist.

Exactly and use these silly “everyone loves lockdown” tropes to defend themselves.

I’m learning to live with it but I’ve no intention of restricting my life anymore to protect strangers.

Who are these people, though, Sparkling? Have you ever met any? I haven't

Only on MN funnily enough.

I think 'learning to live with it' is a societal conversation that's happening right now.

It's something on which the public will lead the politics on, not the other way around. At the moment people have lots of different ideas about what it actually means.

It's a bit like the 'how many deaths are acceptable' question -- it's not one that can be answered definitively by a single person's opinion. What will happen is that a broad consensus will slowly emerge which allows society to function at a level that the majority are broadly happy with.

So ... one person, you estimate? One somewhat off voice, against a whole lot of of fairly nasty others?

I don't know if it was one person or not, and the nastiness was from all sides, from where I'm standing, Pandora.

Also there's a lot of words being put into mouths, and assumptions. Assuming anyone wanting to learn to live with it doesn't care about the vulnerable or the deaths or anything when not saying that at all.

What will happen is that a broad consensus will slowly emerge which allows society to function at a level that the majority are broadly happy with

I think that too.

Well, people have different ideas for what ‘learn to live with it’ means. You might disagree with the idea that ‘learn to live with it’ should mean ‘learn to accept the remaining covid risk as we go back to normal’, rather than ‘learn to change things about how we live’, but that doesn’t make it inherently wrong.

I think "learning to accept that mandatory restrictions are ending and other people will make their own risk assessments which you have no control over" might be a good lesson for some.

I think 'learning to live with it' is a societal conversation that's happening right now.

It's something on which the public will lead the politics on, not the other way around. At the moment people have lots of different ideas about what it actually means.

Yes.