3 ms·
Mostly, my mental condition has declined as I've started to realise that we have increasingly slid into considering perpetual lockdowns and cessation of democra
by esotericn 6y ago
Mostly, my mental condition has declined as I've started to realise that we have increasingly slid into considering perpetual lockdowns and cessation of democracy to be a normal state, rather than a state of emergency.
Initially, at the start of the lockdown in March 2020, people voluntarily acted far in excess of legal requirements, or even guidelines.
I think that this made sense, and I'm proud of our behaviour on that front. I remember walking out of the house, once a week, in my homemade mask, to do the weekly shop.
Beyond that, as we learned more about the virus, but bizarrely went the other way and started to make everyday activities unlawful in an attempt to control the population, well, I've been increasingly choosing not to comply for the sake of retaining my sanity.
The Government simply does not get to decide on my behalf whether I have my friends and family over for dinner. I don't give them that power; if they wish to send men with guns like an authoritarian despot, that's their choice.
I think that if we'd enacted sane policies it wouldn't bother me as much.
Amazon, Deliveroo, Uber etc should have had an 80-90% windfall tax for the duration given that their competition is essentially illegal.
Tenants with no income should have had their rent cancelled. Not delayed - cancelled.
Working from home policies should have been optional for employees. Students should not have been required to pay full rent and full fees for Zoom calls.
But we haven't done any of that. We've taken a public health crisis and used it to absolutely destroy the country.
- loopz 6y agoUK half-assed the lockdown response since March. So when a country lose control, their hands get forced. This leads to even worse outcomes. Witness consequences in US too. It's a leadership problem, and hard to fix for regular Joe.
- esotericn 6y agoNo-one was forced to enact laws against me visiting my family. It leads me to my original post: > They will throw you under the bus immediately and comprehensively as soon as there's even the slightest microscopic threat to their wellbeing. > And they'll cast the blame on you. They'll say it's your failing. They'll say - never mind our responsibilities to you - you need to do your bit regardless.
- loopz 6y agoThis leads you to circular reasoning to justify your own outrage that healthcare crisis laws exist for a reason.
- esotericn 6y agoThere's a distinction between "healthcare crisis laws" (such as the initial lockdown for a few weeks in the UK), and making it illegal to visit friends and family indefinitely. I'm just repeating myself now though.
- imtringued 6y agoYou know, the problem is that nobody goes and thinks "Oh we have messed up, now we need stronger lockdown measures, if only we had done a weaker lockdown sooner we could have avoided this" instead everyone thinks "The government is subverting democracy. We must fight back." x months later "The government is getting worse. We must fight back even harder"
- esotericn 6y agoWe are eleven months in. I voluntarily restricted myself for a long while. Far, far longer than I should have, to the point that I may have given myself brain damage. Now I am visiting my family because I'm not willing to do it indefinitely. The UK government is waffling on about restrictions until 2022 despite the fact we'll have vaccinated most of the vulnerable in a month or two. Everyone has their breaking point, and I've reached mine. Two weeks to flatten the curve, yo.
- loopz 6y agoMaybe news from other countries may be more informative than your current sources. Current projection in my country is that by summer every adult may've been vaccinated. The vaccine lessens severity of the disease, even if it doesn't block it entirely. So we might be on track to open up sooner than expected, which initially could be 2-3 years trajectory following fast-track of normal vaccine development.