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“I believe most members of the public want to do the right thing,” said Sonja Rasmussen, professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the University of Florida a

“I believe most members of the public want to do the right thing,” said Sonja Rasmussen, professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the University of Florida and a former executive at the CDC, in an email. “It’s essential that people know the implications of their actions. Nope. Just wrong. you only have to look at peoples' behaviour in parts of the UK at the weekend to realise that even if some people know the implications of their actions they don't care. The UK has largely degenerated into an "entitled" society, and any veneer of sensibility and fairness has been stripped away with a vengeance. Unfortunately for us, the Prime Minister's advisers seem to think like Prof. Rasmussen and now we're in a dire situation.

brootstrap 7y ago
This is happening across the pond as well. My wife's best friend was texting her saying she was going on a first date with a dude. She was asking for date ideas , in corona virus season. We are just like, paige shut the fuck up. This was 7 days ago. Just yesterday she texts my wife again saying she went to the mall with her friend. She says wow all the stores are mostly closed and the fitting rooms for trying clothes are not open... this person is a fucking doctor. A DOCTOR. and she cant comprehend the severity of the situation.
- growlist 7y ago
  I think a lot of people - including me to an extent - are about to come crashing into the real world at 1000 mph. The difference is that I've suspected this was in the post for a long time. It only takes a few hours or less on a plane from almost any part of the world to reach somewhere that demonstrates clearly how utterly detached from reality advanced nations have become.
  - badpun 7y ago
    If the virus hits hard some poor country, we'll be able to compare and verify if the advanced countries are detached from reality, or is it really just baseline human selfishness.
- prox 7y ago
  Many people can’t imagine if they are not directly effected by something. It is not necessarily they are not intelligent in certain domains, but they have trouble seeing beyond the familiar. All this is explained in Black Swan by Nicholas Taleb, everyone should read it! Please do it now.
- bryanrasmussen 7y ago
  someone I know in Italy, Lombardy, decided one month ago to go on a ski vacation. It was ok though, because they were going with a scientist and a doctor so they must know what they are doing! When they got back from the vacation they spent a week going out to the park when they could with the kids.
rscho 7y ago
Just to put that in context, MD big bosses were still laughing dismissively at us for worrying on Monday evening. A week later, the hospital is at 2/3 from max capacity and they're pissing their pants. This doesn't stop them from engaging in academic research for their own interests and assuring the public that all will be fine, though.
durge 7y ago
I think the ties that bind in the Anglosphere are pretty much done for. These countries are basically malls that people move-to to get stuff, I think we need a little more collectivism - at least on the state/provincial level to be better balanced (US perspective).
growlist 7y ago
> The UK has largely degenerated into an "entitled" society, and any veneer of sensibility and fairness has been stripped away with a vengeance. Why should people do the right thing when they feel they have nothing in common with their fellow countrymen? It used to be the case that we had a strong shared national culture that enforced certain standards of behaviour, and thus one had a stake in maintaining these standards due to collective reciprocity, but we've been told for decades that said national culture is hateful and outdated and must be destroyed without any decent replacement. I cite Orwell: 'England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality.' 'If the English people suffered for several years a real weakening of morale, so that the Fascist nations judged that they were ‘decadent’ and that it was safe to plunge into war, the intellectual sabotage from the Left was partly responsible.' edit: yeah, suspected a dose of uncomfortable truth wouldn't go down easily.
- shawnz 7y ago
  > Why should people do the right thing when they feel they have nothing in common with their fellow countrymen? .. why would that ever be a condition for doing the right thing? What does having a shared culture have to do with having humanity?
  - growlist 7y ago
    > What does having a shared culture have to do with having humanity? I'm not trying to kick off a flamewar but this is hopelessly naive - divide and conquer has been used for thousands of years - just look at Rwanda for a recent dreadful example. With the UK being a diverse multiracial population it's even more important to attempt to unify everyone around some kind of shared values etc. Otherwise you end up with people living right next door to each other that are mentally living in completely different universes. It should be obvious that this is not an ideal starting point for rallying a population around a unified goal. The USA used to be seen as particularly successful in absorbing everyone no matter their origins, and giving them a strong identity as American that superceded everything else. Not sure if that's still valid though.
- fader 7y ago

brootstrap 7y ago

This is happening across the pond as well. My wife's best friend was texting her saying she was going on a first date with a dude. She was asking for date ideas , in corona virus season. We are just like, paige shut the fuck up. This was 7 days ago. Just yesterday she texts my wife again saying she went to the mall with her friend. She says wow all the stores are mostly closed and the fitting rooms for trying clothes are not open... this person is a fucking doctor. A DOCTOR. and she cant comprehend the severity of the situation.

growlist 7y ago
I think a lot of people - including me to an extent - are about to come crashing into the real world at 1000 mph. The difference is that I've suspected this was in the post for a long time. It only takes a few hours or less on a plane from almost any part of the world to reach somewhere that demonstrates clearly how utterly detached from reality advanced nations have become.
- badpun 7y ago
  If the virus hits hard some poor country, we'll be able to compare and verify if the advanced countries are detached from reality, or is it really just baseline human selfishness.
prox 7y ago
Many people can’t imagine if they are not directly effected by something. It is not necessarily they are not intelligent in certain domains, but they have trouble seeing beyond the familiar. All this is explained in Black Swan by Nicholas Taleb, everyone should read it! Please do it now.
bryanrasmussen 7y ago
someone I know in Italy, Lombardy, decided one month ago to go on a ski vacation. It was ok though, because they were going with a scientist and a doctor so they must know what they are doing! When they got back from the vacation they spent a week going out to the park when they could with the kids.

rscho 7y ago

Just to put that in context, MD big bosses were still laughing dismissively at us for worrying on Monday evening. A week later, the hospital is at 2/3 from max capacity and they're pissing their pants. This doesn't stop them from engaging in academic research for their own interests and assuring the public that all will be fine, though.

durge 7y ago

I think the ties that bind in the Anglosphere are pretty much done for. These countries are basically malls that people move-to to get stuff, I think we need a little more collectivism - at least on the state/provincial level to be better balanced (US perspective).

growlist 7y ago

> The UK has largely degenerated into an "entitled" society, and any veneer of sensibility and fairness has been stripped away with a vengeance. Why should people do the right thing when they feel they have nothing in common with their fellow countrymen? It used to be the case that we had a strong shared national culture that enforced certain standards of behaviour, and thus one had a stake in maintaining these standards due to collective reciprocity, but we've been told for decades that said national culture is hateful and outdated and must be destroyed without any decent replacement. I cite Orwell: 'England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality.' 'If the English people suffered for several years a real weakening of morale, so that the Fascist nations judged that they were ‘decadent’ and that it was safe to plunge into war, the intellectual sabotage from the Left was partly responsible.' edit: yeah, suspected a dose of uncomfortable truth wouldn't go down easily.

shawnz 7y ago
> Why should people do the right thing when they feel they have nothing in common with their fellow countrymen? .. why would that ever be a condition for doing the right thing? What does having a shared culture have to do with having humanity?
- growlist 7y ago
  > What does having a shared culture have to do with having humanity? I'm not trying to kick off a flamewar but this is hopelessly naive - divide and conquer has been used for thousands of years - just look at Rwanda for a recent dreadful example. With the UK being a diverse multiracial population it's even more important to attempt to unify everyone around some kind of shared values etc. Otherwise you end up with people living right next door to each other that are mentally living in completely different universes. It should be obvious that this is not an ideal starting point for rallying a population around a unified goal. The USA used to be seen as particularly successful in absorbing everyone no matter their origins, and giving them a strong identity as American that superceded everything else. Not sure if that's still valid though.
fader 7y ago