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>People were cooped up for months in their homes, and angry at police for enforcing lockdowns and treating them like children. The George Floyd protests were n

by 99_00 3y ago

>People were cooped up for months in their homes, and angry at police for enforcing lockdowns and treating them like children. The George Floyd protests were not anti-lockdown protests.

EGreg 3y ago
Sure, ostensibly it was to protest a gruesome killing of an unarmed man on TV. But so many more people came out than for any other killing. It became bigger than any other before or since, and George Floyd was venerated more than any other victim except possibly MLK. Why? The timing. It gave people an excuse to leave their house. Many left in order to be free and to shout at the police. The mass protests around the country even got approved by public health officials who had been strictly telling everyone to stay indoors to save lives — suddenly many of these PUBLIC HEALTH officials publicly announced they felt strongly that low-level chronic case of police killing minorities justified going out in the middle of a pandemic to massive superspreader events that could overwhelm hospitals a week later: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/04/public-health-protests-301534 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/04/public-hea... “We should always evaluate the risks and benefits of efforts to control the virus,” Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, tweeted on Tuesday. “In this moment the public health risks of not protesting to demand an end to systemic racism greatly exceed the harms of the virus.” I find the above to be an example of the “mass hysteria” overwhelming even the judgment of public health officials and our system. But perhaps I just don’t understand their reasoning. Similarly now, with the Ukraine war, Iraq war and other wars, I find the mass hysteria capturing governments on both sides very troubling. In situations that inflame “the passions of the mob”, I have come to see firsthand how people and institutions are unable to reason clearly about collective action problems, solutions and de-escalation.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- 99_00 3y ago
  I think we are saying the same thing. I'm confusing the specific phenomena of mass psychogenic illness, with general mass hysteria phenomena, as you pointed out in your original post. In the George Floyd protest, the stress is lockdowns and the mass hysteria phenomena is the extreme and exaggerated reaction to G.F.'s death.

by 99_00 3y ago

>People were cooped up for months in their homes, and angry at police for enforcing lockdowns and treating them like children. The George Floyd protests were not anti-lockdown protests.

EGreg 3y ago

Sure, ostensibly it was to protest a gruesome killing of an unarmed man on TV. But so many more people came out than for any other killing. It became bigger than any other before or since, and George Floyd was venerated more than any other victim except possibly MLK. Why? The timing. It gave people an excuse to leave their house. Many left in order to be free and to shout at the police. The mass protests around the country even got approved by public health officials who had been strictly telling everyone to stay indoors to save lives — suddenly many of these PUBLIC HEALTH officials publicly announced they felt strongly that low-level chronic case of police killing minorities justified going out in the middle of a pandemic to massive superspreader events that could overwhelm hospitals a week later: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/04/public-health-protests-301534 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/04/public-hea... “We should always evaluate the risks and benefits of efforts to control the virus,” Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, tweeted on Tuesday. “In this moment the public health risks of not protesting to demand an end to systemic racism greatly exceed the harms of the virus.” I find the above to be an example of the “mass hysteria” overwhelming even the judgment of public health officials and our system. But perhaps I just don’t understand their reasoning. Similarly now, with the Ukraine war, Iraq war and other wars, I find the mass hysteria capturing governments on both sides very troubling. In situations that inflame “the passions of the mob”, I have come to see firsthand how people and institutions are unable to reason clearly about collective action problems, solutions and de-escalation.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
99_00 3y ago
I think we are saying the same thing. I'm confusing the specific phenomena of mass psychogenic illness, with general mass hysteria phenomena, as you pointed out in your original post. In the George Floyd protest, the stress is lockdowns and the mass hysteria phenomena is the extreme and exaggerated reaction to G.F.'s death.