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Please, please, please. I know you are all lovely (mutuals I mean, I’m not talking about randoms). But PLEASE, I am absolutely on my knees BEGGING you to rethink the sharing of ‘rule breakers’ stories. Or at least, before you continue doing so, read this: https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/01/07/pandemic-fatigue-how-adherence-to-covid-19-regulations-has-been-misrepresented-and-why-it-matters/
From that piece: “The narrative of blame is exemplified in the language used by politicians. For instance, in his televised address to the nation on 22nd September 2020, the UK prime minister Boris Johnson spoke of people “flouting” and “brazenly defying” covid restrictions.“
“It is also exemplified in a media focus on particularly egregious examples of violations such as raves and large house parties.“
“All in all, this narrative explains the worsening pandemic in terms of widespread non-adherence to rules which is a function of poor psychological motivations, which in turn are particularly prevalent in some people and some communities.”
(My capitals): “EACH OF THESE ASSUMPTIONS IS BOTH PROBLEMATIC AND INDEED DANGEROUS.”
The article goes on to explain exactly why it is dangerous. PLEASE, I am begging you, read it, and reconsider sharing the stories about rule-breakers.
People are not generally breaking the rules in droves: “To the surprise of many, adherence to stringent behavioural regulations has remained extremely high (over 90%), even though many people are suffering considerably, both financially and psychologically.”
But when people see article after article focusing on rule breakers, they believe others ARE breaking the rules, and on a grand scale, too. It reminds me very much of ‘benefit fraud’, which is actually really low, but the public believes is on a huge, widespread scale.
And because they believe that, they are happy to vote for politicians who promise to clamp down on benefits, to make things even more punitive. To send food parcels to hungry kids consisting partly of tuna fish flakes in a fucking money bag.
PLEASE think before you share these stories. Think what it is you hope to achieve. Are you hoping to shame others into obeying the rules? They almost certainly already ARE. The few that aren’t won’t see those articles and think, “ooh maybe I *won’t* have that party.”
Are you hoping to prove a point? You believe this is just as much a problem of ‘rule breakers’ as it is government and these anecdotes in the press prove it? We all know that anecdotes in the press don’t even prove the anecdotes happened, let alone that they are widespread.
That is all these stories are - they are anecdotes, and they are blown out of proportion by a press ready to feed the public’s obsession with ‘the general public’ being The Absolute Worst, although of course, that is always the *rest* of The General public, never the readers.
It is the same press who bring us demonising articles every day about asylum seekers, Muslims, trans women, committing terrible crimes, which make people believe this happens all over the place, rather than being a handful of one-off rare incidents that may not even be true.
So please, please, lovely folk of twitter, here I am at not even quite 6am, on my knees absolutely begging you to rethink.
Of COURSE selfish people exist - I only need to take my kids to the park & count the number of times they have to swerve dog poo to know that. But imagine if the government wanted to ban dog ownership & I was constantly sharing pictures of dog poo as proof dogs should be banned?
People would (rightly) point out that the vast majority of dog owners pick up after their dogs, but that doesn’t make as good a story. I can imagine dog owners all over twitter posting pictures of themselves with pooper scoopers to prove how most dog owners are good ‘uns.
Now imagine that the government has also released feral hounds all over the country and it is *them* that are *actually* producing the majority of the dog poo you see in parks. But then imagine that people STILL keep saying, “we should ban dog ownership“.
I know, that took a turn. But just think for a moment. Imagine how a responsible dog owner would feel. “But most dog owners pick up after their dogs! It’s the government and their feral hounds!“ Except the papers show a pic of Sandra leaving the scene of a dog-do crime.
You’d scream from the rooftops: “it’s the government! It’s the government! Focus on the government! Don’t ban my dog! Please!“ But no one would listen, because someone actually *saw* Steve walking off from an uncollected dog poo yesterday. Meanwhile feral hounds shit EVERYWHERE.
And that imperfect analogy is what’s happening here in the UK. A minority are breaking (actually, having read some of the stories, even most of THEM are *bending* the rules, or acting in accordance with the letter rather than the spirit of the law) rules and the focus is on THEM.
THE GOVERNMENT IS CONTINUING ITS DISASTROUS ‘HERD IMMUNITY’ SCHEME JUST BY THE BACK DOOR (more on that later) AND YET WE ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT SOMEONE GOING TO SCARBOROUGH FOR A BURGER. We are playing into the govt’s hands.
Ah, people say. But SHOULD someone go to Scarborough for a burger? You know what? I don‘t give a flying fuck because I *know* it is a distraction. I honestly don’t care, because I know it is rare that these things happen, and it takes away from the much bigger picture.
Ah, people say. But if EVERYONE went to Scarborough for a burger, we’d be in trouble, wouldn’t we?
EVERYONE IS NOT GOING TO SCARBOROUGH FOR A BURGER, JENNY, THAT IS THE FUCKING POINT - COMPLIANCE IS ACTUALLY REALLY FUCKING GOOD AND THE SCARBOROUGH BURGER IS AN OUTLIER.
EVERYONE IS NOT GOING TO SCARBOROUGH FOR A BURGER, JENNY, THAT IS THE FUCKING POINT - COMPLIANCE IS ACTUALLY REALLY FUCKING GOOD AND THE SCARBOROUGH BURGER IS AN OUTLIER.
It is honestly like - it’s like when anti-vaxxers concentrate on the few cases where vaccines actually have caused an adverse reaction, rather than looking at the MILLIONS for whom it hasn’t, and for whom it is lifesaving.
And focusing on the few cases where actually something has gone wrong (actually with every medication there’s a risk of a reaction - look at the leaflet that comes with your paracetamol next time you have a headache) it causes ppl to believe it’s more common.
IT IS LIKE THAT.
BY SHARING THOSE STORIES YOU ARE AMPLIFYING THEM. WHETHER THEY ARE STORIES OF LAW-BREAKING REFUGEES, BAD VACCINE REACTIONS, OR THE SCARBOROUGH BURGER CLUB.
BY SHARING THOSE STORIES YOU ARE AMPLIFYING THEM. WHETHER THEY ARE STORIES OF LAW-BREAKING REFUGEES, BAD VACCINE REACTIONS, OR THE SCARBOROUGH BURGER CLUB.
Honestly I really am absolutely begging you all to stop.
Please.
I don’t know if many of you even read my tweets any more, and I suspect some have me muted, and that’s fine, that’s twitter, but those of you who don’t, and who see this? PLEASE share, please TALK about this.
Please.
I don’t know if many of you even read my tweets any more, and I suspect some have me muted, and that’s fine, that’s twitter, but those of you who don’t, and who see this? PLEASE share, please TALK about this.
Anyway, instead of the Scarborough burger club, PLEASE amplify this. https://twitter.com/Dr2NisreenAlwan/status/1349453542281637888?s=20
No, seriously, PLEASE. THIS is going to be a million times more devastating than any house party or busy beach: https://twitter.com/dgurdasani1/status/1349441046325981197?s=20
Seriously - you really do need to share this. I’d say ‘and write to your MP’ but it actually pains me almost physically how few people will do that. https://twitter.com/BylineTimes/status/1349412341486653440?s=20
That’s the end of the thread, I am begging you to stop sharing those stories, but I fear very much that the ppl who do are doing it have some kind of agenda that I don’t fully understand, and won’t listen to experts*, because we hate experts now don’t we. *the BMJ article, not me
But in case you missed it, it is not just me: THE EXPERTS ARE BEGGING YOU TO STOP SHARING STORIES ABOUT RULE-BREAKERS. Only Brexiters ‘hate experts’, and you aren’t Brexiters... are you? https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/01/07/pandemic-fatigue-how-adherence-to-covid-19-regulations-has-been-misrepresented-and-why-it-matters/
And I’m back off again, because I do not have the *wanky voice* ‘emotional capacity‘ to deal with either disagreements, or worse still, the inevitable tumbleweed that will greet this long thread as soon as you all wake up.
