Of course, the government can't lose, because if "case" numbers start to decline, they can say it was due to the success of the new restrictions they introduced, whereas if there is no decline, they can blame people who are breaking the rules.

The number of times I've been told on Facebook that the reason for the low numbers in my area is because people are "being good" - when it's a massive geographical area with no major population centres and a widely dispersed rural population. And if it even happens that a few cases are reported, you can be sure it's because of "incomers" who are "not following the rules"!

I've tried to point out that we have had low numbers of coronavirus infections in this area because there never was much transmission in the first place, but people prefer to believe it was because they were "doing something" about it.

I get the impression that lots of people quite like all this because it makes them feel important.

I've had to withdraw from one social group because of the feeling I'm being cold-shouldered for challenging the concensus.
Any of the Heneghan/CEBM ideas from the middle of August that I relayed into conversations were considered both vexatious and ridiculous - even now that they have gained currency. Until the CMO/CSO themselves change their language and are candid about 'cases' v 'positive tests', such people will never accept it. Like others here have observed, only Covid counts; any argument is countered by 'cancer/heart disease/strokes etc are not contagious...'
Has there been some sort of solar flare that coincided with lockdown that sent half the population nuts? I've started checking people's pupils to see if they have turned into slits.

I resonate with the frustration expressed here. People are motivated much more by emotion and the desire for acceptance than logical reasoning. So we need to be patient and subtle. This is a hearts and minds job. The thing to focus on is maybe the dissonance between people's opinions and their actual behaviour. For instance my wife and I belong to a couple of informal walking circles, most of whom are bedwetters. Yesterday nine showed up and this was just seen as a bit of a joke, whereas a couple of weeks ago some would have gone home. We always make a point of offering handshakes and hugs and after initial reluctance most people are relieved. I've recently met a few people who've hardly been out since lockdown and not touche d anyone. Onceyou get them to relax a bit they start telling you how stressful all the lockdown stuff is then you can introduce a few small doses of realism. I also think a big problem is the lack of much visible opposition other than things like the Trafalgar Square demo, which IMHO is counterproductive and just plays into the hands of the authorities. I loved mabelcow,'s ideas for masks and posters. However after printing off the muzzled sheep poster and sending to a few people I realised we need to be careful of only preaching to the converted. To an average person who thinks wearing a muzzle is doing their bit an image like that will just make them bristle. We need a positive image to go with it. Something like Community Immunity not Herd Conformity. With a positive image of matchstick men with linked arms looking up at the sun as a contrast to the sheep.

Let's keep this thread going. It's so important to process this frustration and not give up. Would anybody be up for a new Hearts and Minds topic!

I have one of my posters in my car window, but each time I leave the house I feel a little knot in my stomach as I read the words and wonder if my actions are counter productive. However, I still feel good driving around showing some kind of protest; I'm certainly the only one round here who does.

Having spent some more time reading How to Have Impossible Conversations, I have come to the conclusion that putting a sheep on the poster was probably a mistake because it immediately alienates the people I am trying to influence. It would have been much better to just have used a mask. I think I've been a bit too angry to think clearly of late.

Like many of us, I have been both incandescent with rage and laid low by frustration this year, not least because, unlike the vast majority of the braying public, I have actually suffered from what would appear to be COVID-19. Dunno if I really had the 'rona or just a bad flu (I'll be damned if I will ever get tested), but nevertheless I lost my sense of taste and smell six months ago and I can still barely distinguish one food from another. And yet when I tell some muzzled clown who objects to my bare face that I've had the disease, he just says "you can get it again, you know!". Good grief. How can people pin their hopes on a vaccine and at the same time tell me that I'll get it again? I guess they want to be vaccinated for the rest of their lives. Yeah, it sucks to get ill. It sucks to die too, and that's everyone's fate. Hence the wording of the poster.

But anyway, I digress. I think a Hearts and Minds topic would be a great place to collect positive ideas for influencing people. I'll leave creating the topic to someone else; I don't want to be seen to be hijacking the idea.

Best wishes. Mabel.

Thanks, Mabel

Very interesting your experience of thinking that you had the plague early on as I've heard that quite a bit. Whereas I haven't come across ANYBODY personally who's had it since the lockdown. And, yes, very interesting that people are unmoved by logic or personal experience. But then I guess none of us like to admit we might have been wrong or misled.

Which leads us back to the question of how on earth we influence people in a helpful way. This is if anything the elephant in the room that doesn't get much discussed here. So I will start something like a Hearts and Minds topic here and hopefully excite a bit of discussion.

What did you think of my idea of adapting some of your merchandise to reflect a more positive message? I think Community Immunity (as opposed to Herd Immunity) could be a good slogan.

Regards

Michael