Just venting...

[Mobbd]

That's not even a pun about ventilators.

My partner works in funeral care. She's spent the past ten months commuting on lonely trains and risking her safety at work by dressing the bodies of the covid dead, treating them with respect and care while trying to stay on top of the, um, workload.

Just on the phone with my Mum today. She knows all of this. Yet she comes out with the "Where do they get these numbers? I don't know anyone who's died of it" line.

It's not nice, is it, when your lovely old mum and dad turn out to be fucking morons?

[bgmnts]

Lonely trains made me think of a Thomas the Tank Engine style train with a sad face.

It made me sad.

[idunnosomename]

imagine the train full of coffins :(

[bgmnts]

imagine the train full of coffins :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOTBU5QJJWM&ab_channel=EtherealSnake

[Butchers Blind]

Its not nice especially when we're giving the old people the vaccine first.

[Cuellar]

Yeah, it's hardly the aged and infirm pensioners of Fukushima volunteering to go in and clean up the nuclear waste because "we're fucked anyway" is it?

Entitled bastards.

[jobotic]

I was representing staff from a crematorium at a meeting recently. Fuck they know the score regarding deaths from Covid locally and I can't imagine their response if they were told it's all made up.

[Mobbd]

Lonely trains made me think of a Thomas the Tank Engine style train with a sad face.

It made me sad.

Hee!

I feel better.

*farts*

[thenoise]

I genuinely think that nobody over the age of 60 should be allowed to use the internet.

Believing any old bollocks was bad enough when they got their news from the papers and TV.

[Fambo Number Mive]

How does one cheer up a lonely train? Chat to it as you board?

[Icehaven]

I don't know anyone who's died of leukaemia, strangulation, in a boating accident or been trampled by a herd of cows but when someone who has is on the news I still believe it. Why is Covid special in that so many people have to know someone who's died for it to be real to them?

[BlodwynPig]

I genuinely think that nobody over the age of 60 should be allowed to use the internet.

Believing any old bollocks was bad enough when they got their news from the papers and TV.

It was better when all there news came from a natter session over the garden fence. "EEEEEEEE, did you hear about Marjory?! and her Terry, too...EEEEEEEEE"

[Mobbd]

Why is Covid special in that so many people have to know someone who's died for it to be real to them?

I sometimes think it's because they fear it and are looking for loopholes as to why they wouldn't get it. Then again, that might be too much logic. I think covid (because it's new) is all tied up with the conspiracy theory drivel they're glugging down day after day via Facebook and the Mail Online.

[Icehaven]

I sometimes think it's because they fear it and are looking for loopholes as to why they wouldn't get it. Then again, that might be too much logic. I think covid (because it's new) is all tied up with the conspiracy theory drivel they're glugging down day after day via Facebook and the Mail Online.

Yep this is true. Like that mad councillor who got into trouble for openly denying Covid existed then saying she'd only believe it when her friends and neighbours started literally dying in front of her. As if she hadn't even entertained the idea she could get it herself.

Conspiracy theorists never only believe one or two conspiracies either do they? You never hear them say "Oh we definitely DID land on the moon, and 9/11 wasn't an inside job, but a UFO did crash at Roswell" They always believe pretty much every theory they hear, at least to some degree.

[BlodwynPig]

Yep this is true. Like that mad councillor who got into trouble for openly denying Covid existed then saying she'd only believe it when her friends and neighbours started literally dying in front of her. As if she hadn't even entertained the idea she could get it herself.

Conspiracy theorists never only believe one or two conspiracies either do they? You never hear them say "Oh we definitely DID land on the moon, and 9/11 wasn't an inside job, but a UFO did crash at Roswell" They always believe pretty much every theory they hear, at least to some degree.

Did you know that in the off-period, Santa and his elves are the ones responsible for creating and disseminating conspiracy theories...on behalf of the marine aliens of hades, no less.

[Mobbd]

Conspiracy theorists never only believe one or two conspiracies either do they? You never hear them say "Oh we definitely DID land on the moon, and 9/11 wasn't an inside job, but a UFO did crash at Roswell" They always believe pretty much every theory they hear, at least to some degree.

Hah, true. You've reminded me of Barry Dodds now (Parapod) who can seemingly believe in *conflicting* conspiracy theories. He believed that the moon landings were faked but also that the moon is hollow (the evidence for the latter being that the moon apparently "rang like a bell for an hour" when the astronauts blasted off from the lunar service to come home). You can't have both, Barry! Well, these days, you probably can, actually.

[Mobbd]

Did you know that in the off-period, Santa and his elves are the ones responsible for creating and disseminating conspiracy theories...on behalf of the marine aliens of hades, no less.

Fascinating!

[Zetetic]

Conspiracy theorists never only believe one or two conspiracies either do they? You never hear them say "Oh we definitely DID land on the moon, and 9/11 wasn't an inside job, but a UFO did crash at Roswell" They always believe pretty much every theory they hear, at least to some degree.

In fairness, setting aside broader cognitive biases (like a preference for explanations that emphasise agency over mechanics or something), these are rationally tied together by not entirely ridiculous beliefs about - for example - their governments being prone to doing horrible things and lying about them and anything else scary or unpleasant, with some fairly specific exceptions, by default.

(These beliefs are perhaps implicitly overemphasised of course.)

[Chedney Honks]

Frightened little mice wanting the world to make sense, even in a nasty way so they can point at the baddies and shout.

FUCKIN LOSER DUMMIES

Just watch Godzilla vs King Ghidorah on a loop until you can't think of anything.

[Noodle Lizard]

A lot of garden-variety conspiracy theorists nowadays are also very religious, it seems. They believe world leaders and governments have been manipulating their public for millennia, but completely disregard the possibility that religion might be one of the most effective ways to do this (at least not fire-and-brimstone Judeo-Christian religion). This is a slightly new breed of tin-foil hat-wearer, though - I remember in the Zeitgeist days it was all about Myspace-quoting the "opiate of the masses" line or pointing out how Jesus was ripped off from Osiris or whatever.

Not that I'm above it all, mind you. I'm a bit of a conspiracy theorist at heart, but usually based more on that "something's wrong with this" gut instinct than anything else (and because it's often quitie fun). I tend to sympathise with Adam Curtis's view that the modern world is deliberately orchestrated to confuse and obfuscate the truth of things, whatever they may be.

[Chedney Honks]

The only way the human race is going in the right direction is into the fuckin ground.

[thenoise]

Lots of anti mask graffiti in Exeter. Of all the things to moan about during Covid lockdown, masks are a minor inconvenience at best. Not the economy crashing? Not being out of a job,not entire industries collapsing and companies going bust left right and centre? Not private companies getting rich off track and trace and the vaccine, not the continued eroding of the NHS's monopoly on public healthcare? Not Boris awarding lucrative contracts to his pals and rushing through a shitty Brexit deal when he hopes we are all distracted?

No. I have to wear a mask when I order a beer at a pub.

[Buelligan]

In fairness, setting aside broader cognitive biases (like a preference for explanations that emphasise agency over mechanics or something), these are rationally tied together by not entirely ridiculous beliefs about - for example - their governments being prone to doing horrible things and lying about them and anything else scary or unpleasant, with some fairly specific exceptions, by default.

(These beliefs are perhaps implicitly overemphasised of course.)

I think this is very true.  Once you've understood that nice policemen really did lie their arses off about Hillsborough or Orgreave and turned a blind eye to political nonces.  Once you learned that Labour politicians tried to draw a veil over Aberfan or that the Duke of Edinburgh is a lizard that gorges itself on the flesh of infant humans, it's not a big leap to harbouring some mistrust over advice given by Matt Hancock.

Having said that, if I had my way, these cunts would all be put in proletariat reeducation camps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO2zT9-B2X4

[Icehaven]

Lots of anti mask graffiti in Exeter. Of all the things to moan about during Covid lockdown, masks are a minor inconvenience at best. Not the economy crashing? Not being out of a job,not entire industries collapsing and companies going bust left right and centre? Not private companies getting rich off track and trace and the vaccine, not the continued eroding of the NHS's monopoly on public healthcare? Not Boris awarding lucrative contracts to his pals and rushing through a shitty Brexit deal when he hopes we are all distracted?

No. I have to wear a mask when I order a beer at a pub.

If you've got a bit more chin than you'd like masks are a godsend. If they made them for bellies and thighs too they'd be raking it in.

[Buelligan]

Have to admit, I have thought a small amount about doing something odd, writing a very rude word or wearing dracula teeth[nb]I do have some dracula teeth[/nb] under my mask when we were still allowed to work.  Just for that little pleasure of knowing it.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Of all the things to moan about during Covid lockdown, masks are a minor inconvenience at best.

I think people fixate on masks because wearing a mask is something they can control. The government tells you whether you can leave your area, your boss tells you whether you can come to work, the government tells you whether your kids can go to school. But nobody can physically strap a mask to your face. You decide whether to put one on.

[thenoise]

If you've got a bit more chin than you'd like masks are a godsend. If they made them for bellies and thighs too they'd be raking it in.

Without turning this into another wanking thread, a well-fitting tasteful mask can make a person look hot. Like a sexy ninja.

Not me,sadly, for I already dealt with my sagging chin by growing a big bushy beard, that sticks out from under my mask making me look absolutely ridiculous.

[Fambo Number Mive]

"West Midlands Police" is trending because people are moaning about them being able to break up a football club lock in against covid rules but not attend an armed road rage attack.

Now I would be annoyed at the people at the lock in for diverting resources away from serious crimes and the party who cut 20,000 police offices (the Tories). Instead most of the people tweeting appear to be annoyed at West Midlands Police for enforcing Covid rules.

It is concerning that the force didn't have enough officers to attend an armed road rage attack though. Perhaps those on Twitter who have been voting for the Tories this past decade might like to have a think about why that might be.

[Zetetic]

Less road rage in the first lockdown, I'd warrant.

[popcorn]

Have to admit, I have thought a small amount about doing something odd, writing a very rude word or wearing dracula teeth[nb]I do have some dracula teeth[/nb] under my mask when we were still allowed to work.  Just for that little pleasure of knowing it.

In my primary school at the end of playtime the teacher would go out and ring the bell and we all had to FREEZE ON THE SPOT!

NOBODY was allowed to move! we had to stand there PERFECTLY STILL!!!!! NO MOVEMENT!!

but I used to wiggle my toes in my shoes. ha ha ha ha!!!