For the Covid Sheeple...

 I've modified this post slightly from something I sent a friend recently. An extremely intelligent man and someone I respect, who seems to have lost his logical thought.

As everyone knows, SA went on Lockdown Level 3 from today, 29th December 2020, as there are a large number of people blatantly disregarding the law and not doing the whole social-distancing-no-large-group-gatherings thing. Personally, I'm all for individual choice and wear/don't wear a mask and sanitisation. BUT...it is law in SA that you have to wear a mask in public places (malls, etc) and people are disregarding that (along with who knows how many other laws). As a law-abiding citizen I wear a mask in public places.

My thoughts from my message to my friend after being told my attitude to the virus was wrong...

I agree that this lockdown was expected and predictable. Every one of us in SA thought that. But attitude works both ways. Without pointing finger at anyone, both sides say the other side has a kak attitude. That's human nature. None of us have denied the existence of this virus. We all know it is real. Some of us, however, question the handling of the response. In fact, both sides question the response. Some say regulations are harsh, some say not harsh enough. Again, two sides, both claiming they are right.

Without changing the subject, Brexit is another example of this. Some for, some against, both claiming they are right and damning the other for various reasons, real, perceived, or just plain manufactured.

Do masks help with controlling the airborne virus? To a small extent, yes, but they are not completely reliable. In effect, breathing through a mask not only allows you to still spread your breath in diluted form (but still spread it), it also concentrates what you keep breathing in yourself and probably makes it worse for you. Changing a filtered mask on every single breath would be the only effective way to use a mask. Not going to happen because it is unrealistic.

Government will always be seen to be doing poorly because, again, there are two sides. Some say they are doing well, others that they are failing miserably but, in effect, they are probably somewhere down the middle (aside from decommissioning the Covid wards, which was plain idiocy as they knew a 2nd wave would come).

What HAS got us where we are is a combination of factors, mostly stupidity on some people's part. Whose stupidity, remains to be ultimately seen when this virus becomes run-of-the-mill, like our current flu viruses. And what you will find then is that, instead of both sides learning from it all, one side stands up and says "I told you so".

"Friend B" is right in his confusion, as many/most of us are. Some regulations regarding movement are okay, but others not, even though it is blatantly obvious that some of the latter are ridiculous (malls vs beach is my example)? IMO, government don't have a clue, and they are not learning as we stumble along this rocky road. They are remaining political, refusing to clamp down hard on a population that is keeping them in power. The reality is though, that clamping down as hard as is required, would literally kill millions of people, either through concentration of illnesses or mass starvation.

Cyril's crocodile tears during his speech summed it up quite nicely. He knows there isn't much more he can do before he utterly destroys the country, and he feels it. Fact of the matter is, this virus has to run its course, one way or the other. Until then, there will be two sides to the coin of what must be done or not. Personally, I'm okay to changing my opinion, but show me empirical proof why, don't just tell me I have to.  In the meantime, I say we should agree to disagree on some things.