Divide and rule: how bad is it and how can it be resolved?

[Richard Scott]

Probably becase it has to be somebody's "fault". First they scapegoated hospitality, but there is no correlation between areas where cases are rising and areas where hospitality is closed - so those who like to play the blame game (whcih definitely includes politicians) are now lookig for someone else to blame.

The fact that on a UK and international scale there is no correlation between restrictive measures and number of cases ought to be a pretty clear indicator that restrictions don't work - but the politicians, and a sizeable part of the population, seems unable, unwilling, or determined not to see this.

It's because politicians and many people think that putting rules in will help manage spread but viruses don't respect rules. Problem is these people don't get that. Human arrogance makes many think that we can control everything but we can't. To use a term I dislike, these are the true covidiots.

 

[Yew]

It's because politicians and many people think that putting rules in will help manage spread but viruses don't respect rules. Problem is these people don't get that. Human arrogance makes many think that we can control everything but we can't. To use a term I dislike, these are the true covidiots.

Not arrogance, fear; too many sensationalized reports, and our almost pornographic obsession with daily case and death numbers has cause the logical areas of the neocortex to shut down from feat, and we're left with the monkey logic of the limbic system and amygdala. These systems search for simple solutions, even if they're more damaging than more complex ones.

 

[Bantamzen]

Probably becase it has to be somebody's "fault". First they scapegoated hospitality, but there is no correlation between areas where cases are rising and areas where hospitality is closed - so those who like to play the blame game (whcih definitely includes politicians) are now lookig for someone else to blame.

The fact that on a UK and international scale there is no correlation between restrictive measures and number of cases ought to be a pretty clear indicator that restrictions don't work - but the politicians, and a sizeable part of the population, seems unable, unwilling, or determined not to see this.

Indeed, the public, politicians and even some experts seem to be fixated on there being a "source" that they can curtail to slow / stop the spread. If only viruses worked that way.

 

[Ianigsy]

The danger for our society over the next decade or so is that party politics becomes an irrelevance and today's young adults lose faith in the ability of the political system to improve their lives. Look at the way that youngsters have been drawn to Extinction Rebellion rather than established politics.

After the success of the pro-Brexit parties and the SNP I can see more single issue candidates emerging.

 

[brad465]

The danger for our society over the next decade or so is that party politics becomes an irrelevance and today's young adults lose faith in the ability of the political system to improve their lives. Look at the way that youngsters have been drawn to Extinction Rebellion rather than established politics.

After the success of the pro-Brexit parties and the SNP I can see more single issue candidates emerging.

This kind of goes back to the role of our voting system in causing divisions: our current system dates from the days when MPs had no party affiliation, as soon as multiple parties became established and voting on laws was a matter of what the whips say, rather than the best interests of constituents, it became out of date. If the youngsters don't like the mainstream parties they won't necessarily vote for other parties, even if they really like them, because their votes don't matter in effect. In the case of Extinction Rebellion, I imagine if the Greens could get better representation they'd get more support from youngsters, and if Momentum could be represented easily as a standalone party they wouldn't have effectively hijacked Labour.

 

[yorkie]

Neil O'Brian, an authoritarian MP, has used a strawman argument:


https://twitter.com/NeilDotObrien/status/1342921400173137920

..... In England and Wales, 65,000 aged 65+ have died with it, plus over 7,400 working age people. Many had prior medical conditions, but we don't hold their lives to be valueless because Britain isn't a fascist state.

Unfortunately for him, his attempt at divide and rule backfired as something like 90% of the comments are fundamentally disagreeing with his strawman argument and his authoritarian views.

It's really weird how an authoritarian attempts to label those opposed to authoritarianism as "facists"; I think he is so blinded he can't even see the irony in what he is saying. Shame on him!

 

[brad465]

This story about a French rave I think could go one of two ways in the divide and rule narrative: it could either make it worse by firing up more blaming rule breakers entirely, however for our sake it could be used to prove that it's not just a thing we have to deal with, but is present elsewhere too. After all, while no single cause is wholly responsible, the similar patterns of infection across Europe and the US shows that they either have the same problems as us, or as I think, there are limits to how much the virus can be controlled.

France: More than 2,500 break virus restrictions at illegal rave

The New Year's Eve event, held in a warehouse in a village in Brittany, was shut down on Saturday.

www.bbc.co.uk

An illegal warehouse rave that began on New Year's Eve in France in defiance of coronavirus precautions has been shut down by police after arrests and clashes.

Some of the 2,500 ravers in Lieuron near Rennes in Brittany had planned to party until Tuesday.

Police issued fines to revellers found leaving and the organisers were being identified as the party ended.

A number of party-goers were from the UK and Spain, police said.

Attendees clashed with police, setting fire to a car and throwing objects at officers attempting to shut the event down. At least three officers were injured.