Covid 19 Part XXXI-187,554 ROI (2,970 deaths) 100,319 NI (1,730 deaths)(24/01)Read OP

Gruffalux wrote: »

NPHET recommended in a letter to government at the end of November that household visits be stricter over Christmas than what the govt eventually allowed and that pubs and restaurants NOT be opened at the same time. They said it would be dangerous for spread of Covid.

The govt opened hospitality industries regardless. They advised bigger allowances re household visit numbers.

Anyone who suggested caution loved hiding under beds etc.

There will be high numbers of deaths over the coming weeks that would not have occurred with more restrictions. That is just a fact.
They may mostly be elderly people, as some never tire of pointing out as if they were Stoic philosophers, but those people would not have died if Coronavirus had not spread so quickly and widely in December.
It could amount to several hundred people extra who would have lived otherwise.

If the govt had said everyone can drink up to 5 pints and drive over Christmas so we can all have a meaningful jolly time, and several hundred old people died directly as a result, then both the stupid govt who made the pandering allowances and the people who raced out to participate because it was "allowed" should give themselves a shake. It was both foreseeable and foreseen.

It’s kind of similar to what’s going on in USA, with a certain cohort asking for unity after causing an awful lot of trouble for a significant amount of time.. another example of People staunchly against common sense and the dangers of ignorance leading to tragedy. People blindly following a misguided mantra because it suits what they want to believe. As you’d said, this wasn’t rocket science but equally it was not inevitable either.

I’d like to believe that the people with these views on here are just outliers but I think they represent the views of a lot of people. The government reacted in December to what they believed the people wanted and of course to lobby groups. It’s a shame that as always we will learn nothing from this as a society. No open forums of conversation to discuss why this happened or why so many choose to believe their own bullsh*t.

I remember in 2007 thinking that the crash was actually needed for proper change in the political arena and the financial servings sector. Neither transpired. I’ve said it again and again, when people refuse to look at their role in something then they will inevitably find somebody/something else to blame. We all do it at times, but equally we are all responsible for state we are in now, some moreso then others. For my part I lack the tolerance or patience to properly engage them so I’m as responsible as everybody else. I have read so much moronic horseh*t in these forums from time to time that I’ve had to post less and less because I don’t want to engage these people whose views I find abhorrent at times . This is a chronic failure of tolerance on my part and serves only to make progressive discussions less probable.

Another thing I’ve noticed is people desperate to only hear good news and coining the phrase “scaremongering” which is the online equivalent to putting hands in ears and screaming “la la la la, I’m not listening”. Yes some bad news was misinformation but in many cases it didn’t matter , people even wanted actual bad news communicated in a more positive manner. This aversion to bad news is dangerous , makes people very vulnerable to news sources that will pander to their sensitivity’s. It’s a crisis, you don’t need news sugarcoated you need to listen and follow guidelines. The news wouldn’t of been so bad had people STFU and just acted responsibly.

I also wholeheartedly believe a lot of people are struggling to comprehend that this is a crisis. This is more of an observation of human behavior then a criticism. Maybe this is connected with the “don’t want to listen to bad news” point where people can react in different ways in a crisis. I think this helps explain why some people found it hard to get in line and why some made mistakes. I know people who were not against restrictions but made quite silly decisions , not intentionally belligerent like some of the “braver” individuals in here but none the less risky behavior.

We’ve all made mistakes and we have all interpreted certain elements of this to suit ourselves to different degrees. Again an open forum to discuss this and what worked and didn’t work and why would be great. It’s not easy because there have been sides on this. I personally find it hard to respect certain people so again I accept I’m as much part of the problem.