Relaxation of Restrictions, Part XII *Read OP For Mod Warnings*

I'm happy to leave people be.

Just wish they would do the same in return. You say masks are probably not going to stop too much but yet they are mandatory in various settings. Make such a thing mandatory and the justification needs to be a lot more than making a minority feel a little better.

Personal responsibility is a wonderful thing, I think this country should consider it.

while not applicable to Ireland, There was a funny comment that mask wearing in the US was the Democrat's MAGA hat

Again, I was picking up on your thinly veiled nonsense about vaccines again, you then started about mate stories to try and prove a nonsense point, it's kind of hilarious at this stage that your understanding of vaccines is so limited and so influenced by mad stuff you read on the internet.

The science is pretty clear on masks, they work. Now, how well they work will be down to how they are worn and the quality of the mask, but they do have the intended effect of reducing transmission rates for people who wear them. They're also the least impactful measure and likely be the last of the restrictions to go. And you have to laugh at idiots mixing up olfactory senses with viral transmission.

Completely pointless to wear outside if you're a few metres from people but it seems they've started replacing snoods and scarfs in the face warming department during winter months (much to the chagrin of the perpetually outraged that a pandemic is a thing).

They should take to the streets because many restrictions can't be ignored due to the closing time of 8pm.

It's a quasi-lockdown since anything that happens in the evening can't even get started (theatre, live music, nightclubs).

It looks like they will re-open in summer and who knows after that, possibly wind down things again in Autumn/Winter.

Basically the situation is that we're onto 2 years of eradicating large aspects of life, it hasn't ended and won't necessarily end at all.

I agree with you, but we both know that while the Irish like to grumble and complain, few will actually stand up and be counted as no-one wants to stand out from the herd and wants "someone else" to do it first - the Government know this and have turned it into an art form as they play one section of society off against the other to distract from the real issues and maintain the general apathy and status quo that's ultimately given rise to where we are now with Covid.

Unfortunately most Irish don't have any real sense or perspective of the bigger picture. Most issues don't extend beyond how it affects them directly or their immediate family - which is again why we have a Dail stuffed with parochial seat fillers, medical card and planning/council housing fixers, and pothole fillers.

Not until it directly affects them - through loss of income or a direct curtailment on their social lives (cinemas have been declining in favour of streaming anyway, pubs likewise dying off in favour of the off license and house parties) will they even think about protesting.

You only need to see the results of the general elections to see that - or more accurately how few bother even turning up to vote in the first place.

Saw a notoriously hysterical individual on twitter calling them a personal hepa filter for your face😏

Nothing is going to move until the start of Feb at least

If the average person is passive enough that streaming and home drinking can replace living life then they are sunk in demoralisation. They aren't just apathetic, they are broken.

Because a socially atomised sub-life would not be accepted by a whole person. (I'm not talking about new parents and older people wanting to stay in which is understandable but that doesn't cover everyone)

Seeing the bigger picture means also seeing that the people who are obedient and engaged in spiteful scapegoating are also apathetic and weak-willed.

Why Irish people are drained of all motivation is a metaphysical question beyond this thread. I think it ultimately has to do with nihilistic beliefs such as the conviction that that the universe has no purpose or meaning, everything is random or determined.

When somebody uses the term fighting Irish I imagine 2 drunk lads slugging away at each other outside a bar in Yonkers, Bondi junction or some other hot bed of Irish emigration.

Well the way I see it is that our ancestors had strong (religious) motivation whereas we are the ultimate hollowed-out modern people.

The self-image of a lot of countries, e.g. Australia, has taken a knock because a lot of contemporary people didn't even realise how feeble and unprincipled they are until recently.

So-called virtue signalling is predominantly from online echo chambers or an obsession that lives in the minds of millennials. Most normal people have no idea what it is. There may be anxiety levels at work there either in the parents or the child. Recall a hysterical child in a shop back in March or April 2020 who was freaked out by the number of people shopping. That was a parent problem, plain and simple.

And the dreaded "based on modelling".

The modelling has been wildy over estimates.

Your reasons for thinking masks, even cloth coverings are ineffectual are not true and not based on the science of how virus spread.

Would transmission be lower if we all wore high grade respirators instead? Yes.

Is that needed or practical when a cloth covering will get about 80% of the same effect if worn correctly? No, it's not.

Is it a problem that some people wear them under their noses or use them wrong? Yes, but probably not enough for the policy needing to be changed.

But it's weird, people act all sorts of reasonable, but when you get down to the real world usage of these things and why they exist, their rationality completely disappears and they get outraged if there isn't a binary answer to the problem. Managing the pandemic has all been about degrees of restrictions and rules to reduce social contacts, would it work better if we wore masks all the time, sure, but then restaurants can't open, does wearing a mask help much if worn when going between tables but not at tables? Probably a little bit but not a lot, it will depend on levels of ventilation, distance to others and time spent around others. As they are a low impact measure, it probably doesn't matter a whole lot, we know they work and reduce transmission.

"I want no restrictions, but if restrictions exist they need to be 100% or nothing" just isn't practical unless you plan on locking people in their homes.