Why are sane people

[Bicycle Bill]

not leaving the USA in droves?



These people are a threat to your lives...

Well, in my case, it's because my job is here in the US, not Canada or someplace else, and I can't afford to pull up stakes and haul ass.  And I'm damned sure there are tens of millions of others who are in the same (crowded) boat with me.

In fact, when you get right down to it, most people who are working, even though we may FEEL we are free, are slaves to the system just as much as any black person in 1820s Georgia or Alabama or Mississippi or Virginia was a slave to the plantation owner.  Maybe they don't actually own us like they do the building, the machinery, the computers, or the ball-point pens on the desks, and they can't sell one of us down the river — but they still have tremendous power to be able to fuck up your life anyway, since they can pretty much hire and fire someone at any time they wish, for whatever reason they wish, and the worker doesn't have Jack Shit to say about it (fuck you very much, 'at-will employment' policies and the union-crippling 'Right to Work' laws).

So you learn pretty damned quickly to do your job, do it as well as you possibly can, keep your mouth shut, don't make waves, and if your employer hands you a shit sandwich you say "Yummy!" and even ask for seconds.

-"BB"-

[Gob]

To answer Gob's question: I am seeing far more reluctance in UK to mask wearing than I see everyday around here.

Where do you "see" this?

[MajGenl.Meade]

 Maybe they don't actually own us

No shit?

[ex-khobar Andy]

To answer Gob's question: I am seeing far more reluctance in UK to mask wearing than I see everyday around here.

Where do you "see" this?

On the Beeb, a couple of days ago - 15 July to be exact.

[Gob]

A poll of 1000 people in each country is hardly representative, is it?

Taken over four days in May?

[BoSoxGal]

For fuck’s sake, there are stories with video all over the news about the massive failure of UK citizens to take up mask wearing in the face of the pandemic. Your resistance to basic facts in order to hold onto your superiority complex is ridiculous.

[Scooter]

A poll of 1000 people in each country is hardly representative, is it?

A poll of 1000 people by a reputable pollster is a pretty reliable indicator of a population. Whether things have changed since May is a separate question.

[ex-khobar Andy]

A poll of 1000 people in each country is hardly representative, is it?

Taken over four days in May?

I can't get to the original data on the yougov site. According to the Beeb it's 1000 people but clearly it's much more than that. The original chart from which the BBC data was culled lists 26 countries and has at least 10 data points for most of them, often more, for the period Feb 21 to July 16. They probably mean 1000 people in each country for each date but it's not clear. What is clear from the chart and the .csv table I can get to, is that there must be at least 100 people for all the polls on each date because most of the percentages are clearly to 2 significant figures. (If there were just 4 people in each poll then the numbers would be 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% - nothing else.)

So it looks like pretty reasonable data. I have no idea where the 4 days in May comes from - the date axis clearly goes from February to mid-July.

And I hear regularly from my sister in Nottinghamshire.

[BoSoxGal]

There’s a video all over the interwebs of selfish drunk Brits refusing to wear masks in public while on holiday in Spain, where mask adherence and lockdowns have been strict and successful - talk about your shitty behavior! Do they even have insane conspiracy theories to excuse themselves, or are they just entitled wankers?

[BoSoxGal]

[BoSoxGal]

Hundreds of anti-mask activists march on London's Hyde Park wearing plague doctor costumes brandishing signs reading 'I will be not be masked, tested, tracked' as they protest against compulsory face coverings

[Guinevere]

I can’t decide to laugh or cry over this one — but choosing to laugh:

[Gob]

Funny isn't it, how a thread about the utter lunacy stated by some people in Florida can be "whatabouted" into Brits not wearing masks?

[ex-khobar Andy]

Funny isn't it, how a thread about the utter lunacy stated by some people in Florida can be "whatabouted" into Brits not wearing masks?

Not really. The Florida issue (and I completely agree with your 'utter lunacy' comment) was about a reluctance to wear masks based on frivolous anti-science 'reasons.'

While the exact same 'utter lunacy' reasons (misconceptions about the US constitution; junk science [plenty of asthmatic doctors wear masks all day]; my body is a temple) may not exist or are greatly altered in the UK, there is an even higher reluctance to wear masks - shown by what appears on the face of it to be a reliable polling operation - in the UK.

It's hardly whataboutery. I understand that to mean an attempt to denigrate someone else's argument by introducing irrelevant information which appears to show that the the original argument is hypocritical. The refusal to wear masks on spurious grounds is in fact more than just a US problem and may be a real impediment to slowing the spread of this virus.

I will be interested to see if the incidence of 'flu related deaths has gone down. One would think (hope?) that the same measures we are taking to reduce CoV would also reduce transmission of the 'flu virus. Because we have year to year 'flu data and I assume that there were expected numbers for 'flu deaths before CoV hit, based on the known type of 'flu, we should be able to compare known death numbers with anticipated numbers to get a real evaluation of the effectiveness of masks, social distancing and so on.

[Gob]

I'd be happy to discuss our home grown loonies, here's some;

Hundreds of activists have descended on Hyde Park in central London to protest the wearing of face coverings, which will become compulsory in shops and supermarkets from Thursday.



Demonstrators raised signs reading 'I will not be masked, tested, tracked' and 'no mask' as they gathered for the Keep Britain Free march from 1pm.

The movement was founded by Simon Dolan, an aviation tycoon worth around £200million, who earlier this month lost a High Court bid to overturn the government's lockdown rules.

Launching the movement on July 6, the Essex-born entrepreneur said: 'I believe in freedom of choice for all and the protection of personal liberties. The Government’s actions are crippling the economy, denying children education, and trampling over human rights.'

One man wore a plague doctor costume, another had a mask with the front ripped out and one donned a vest saying: 'Save human rights. No to 5G. No to vaccinations.'



The protest was to counter the government announcement that masks must be worn in shops from July 24, which organisers branded a 'liberty-sapping regulation'.

The march, which started in Speaker's Corner and moved to Marble Arch, also looked to repel 'the erosion of freedoms in the UK' brought in during lockdown.

Two months after attending a similar protest in Hyde Park, Piers Corbyn, brother of former Labour leader Jeremy, travelled to a demonstration in Nottingham today.

It comes as the UK government toughened its stance on the wearing of face coverings in public places.

Passengers have had to use them on public transport since June 15 and they will be made compulsory in shops and supermarkets in England from July 24.

Rule breakers will be hit with a £100 which can be reduced to £50 if paid within a fortnight.



(Jeremy Corbyn's brother on the left there!)

[ex-khobar Andy]

Change (again) of topic. It's difficult to imagine an American cop standing on something to attempt to persuade a crowd to do something. Without going into the rights and wrongs of a mask, he'd have to defend his weapon on his hip. Too many people around him might attempt to steal it. And the British cop can be pretty sure none of them, however much they might disagree with his point of view, are carrying a weapon. No-one's gonna die here.

[Big RR]

Give it a few montns--What do you mean--no shirts, no shoes, no service? This is America and you can't force me to wear a shirt or shoes; I have a Constitutional right to go anywhere I want barefoot or bare chested or both. As Forrest Gump says, "Stupid is as stupid does".