Calling all Machiavellis and von Clausewitzes!
After many fruitless attempts to alert ordinary, intelligent people to the danger that our country is facing as a result of this combination of ministerial bumbling and political opportunism, I have concluded that a more nuanced approach is going to be required if we are to convince the unskeptical majority that they are being manipulated.
The principal problem is that every person I speak to sincerely believes that they are doing the right thing. They are scared for themselves and for their families and they truly want to help. Unfortunately, the only way they know how to help is to wear the muzzle.
When I show people the evidence that masks do not prevent the spread of viruses, they simply shrug and say, "Yeah, but it can't hurt, right?".
Even pointing out the harm that masks do has no effect because the discomfort and inconvenience of the muzzle actually feels good to them because they are "doing their bit".
And once they are fully habituated to the muzzle, the next imposition will be accepted even more willingly because of the consistency bias. They have already accepted that muzzles are the right thing to do, and so it would be psychologically inconsistent of them to resist whatever restriction is imposed upon them next. And so it will go, until we literally cannot walk down the street without presenting our mobile phones to passers-by to demonstrate that we tested negative that week.
I no longer believe that lecturing, hectoring, doom-mongering, outrage, or pleading will have any effect. Instead, I think the solution is actually quite simple:
Make them doubt themselves.
Don't tell them what to think, just make them question what they think they know. Once they starting doubting, they will look for answers for themselves, and those answers are everywhere to be seen, if only you are looking:
So, fellow skeptics, any ideas?
I will think about this, I have had your same experiences and I have been wondering the same.
I always tell the story of my father in law who lives alone and has dementia (early stages). When I explain that we couldn't possibly abandon him because that would be cruel, they have no other option but to agree.
I think that reminds them of their humanity and helps them understand why certain rules cannot be followed. Having said that, I am not sure that this is a transferable skill.
I've tried using facts. It just doesn't work. People are so wedded to the idea that obeying restrictions is the right thing to do (and what follows from that is they think any increase in "cases", hospitalisations or deaths is directly attributable to people NOT following the rules), they are impervious to facts.
If I say I don't wear a mask and it's not a problem to anyone because I don't have covid either, I invariably get the "but what if you've got it but haven't got any symptoms?".
It's sad and depressing how ready and willing people were to believe utter bullsh!t: your mask doesn't protect YOU, it protects other people; you can be infected with covid without even knowing it, yet somehow if you have an infections that isn't powerful enough to give you any symptoms, you can nevertheless give someone else a big enough dose merely by passing them in the street for them to end up in ICU on a ventilator.
Lots of people also did their heels in with the "even one death is one too many" line. I tried arguing about this on Facebook until I was nearly screaming with frustration, and I just could not get anybody to give a damn about the abnormally high and very unusual increase in the numbers of people dying at home. Similarly, people are really nonchalant about the heart attacks, the strokes, the missed cancer diagnoses, the suicides, the doubling in clinical depression etc. etc. Covid is the only game in town.
I think we're facing a mass delusion/mass hysteria, and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.
Completely agree with all posters. It is making my blood boil
I've had two groups of friends now bail out of visiting because including a 3-yr old in one instance and a 5-yr old in another it would have made our group in a massive outside space and very large house seven people! They feel they are "doing their bit" to not come and not break the law or medical guidance.
I started to try and point out that they are likely to break the 70mph limit by 1mph on the way up and probably drink more than 14 units of alcohol in the weekend or eat 5-a-day that week all of which are either breaking the law or medical guidance but fell on deaf ears. and it certainly isn't doing their bit to help the economy around the extra income this would generate on fuel, food and entertaining related sales.
And as you say, if you just point out the charts to them of deaths vs cases, the flu death rate being way up to 10x higher than corona in recent months, or the false positive rate on tests (and these are people with good degrees and jobs) they just seem oblivious to it or the common argument back is "well if we didn't have these rules on lockdowns and masks etc etc how do you know the deaths wouldn't have been 400000+"
Finally - the worst group of people is fat obese or generally unfit people who are "doing their bit" by staying home, getting even fatter but wear a mask when they eventually hobble out to Sainsburys. They are a much greater risk to public health and the NHS than anyone!
Sheep. I asked a bloke wearing a mask outside a shop when he'll stop wearing the mask - "When I'm told not to!" was the reply! People stopped clapping for the NHS when they were told not to!
My marriage has been invigorated by the Kong Flu - my wife likes being married to a 'rebel' - very agreeable to an overweigh bald bloke in his 50s.
