不见棺材 不流泪
Most people lack imagination. No, really.... More people lack imagination than have it. To imagine a reality that is not yet, is something beyond the average person's capability. This is why we say some people are visionary, and visionaries are paid a lot more than the average person.
It takes a visionary to imagine in 3D surround sound a reality that he/she has never experienced. Mind you, it has nothing to do with IQ. I personally know people in high positions who are unable to imagine what it feels like to suffer a negative consequence until AFTER they have suffered it.
I think it has to do with being a reader. If you are an avid reader, you can convert words into 3D surround sound and feel the experience in your head.
How many of the stubborn old folks can even read? How imaginative do you think they are? When Lee Hsien Loong launched the Singapore Circuit Breaker, he counted on the common man's ability to imagine what it is like to catch Covid19 in 3D surround sound. Lee Hsien Loong thought that the instinct of self-preservation would kick in and Singaporeans would ownself keep ownself at home. The instinct of self-preservation cannot kick in unless the person can visualise the dire consequences in the first place.
Our government really is too kind. It has given out FOUR different budgets but people don't appreciate. To the old folks at Chong Pang, this is just free money. To some young folks (especially those who hate to read), this is not enough money. Neither group can imagine the Covid19 monster that the PAP government is shielding them from.
There are 2 ways to excite the imagination of people with none.
A) Meet The Natural Consequence
When children stubbornly refuse to heed well-meaning warnings of their parents, I help their parents engineer situations where the children will suffer painful (and not damaging) consequences. However, we are dealing with children. They are young and we owe them an education.
RE: the old folks who are proudly defiant against the government's guidance to mask up and INSIST on gathering in groups, why should they not be allowed to meet the consequences of their own actions? They should simply catch the disease and the disease should be allowed to run its course, whilst that old person is safely sequestered in a dormitory not unlike that meant for foreign workers.
At that ripe old age, you should be made accountable for your own choices. Why should the government offer you top notch healthcare at its cost if YOU were careless to begin with?!
Palliative care should be provided, but no more.
Ok lah... I am bad but not that bad lah... my real suggestions are the following.
B) Show Them A Movie Of The Natural Consequence
Make a reality show of real people with Covid19. Pick 4 people (2 old and 2 young). Video their travails inside the ICU. Make a video of someone undergoing the Covid19 swab test. Blast these videos out.
Excite these folks' imagination a little, because they don't have any.
Else, no amount of setting a good example etc... will help.
C) Spam Them With News of Dead Covid19 People
Don't interview the survivors. Interview those who died.
2 comments:
Reminds me of a post I made on another forum lately; let me reproduce:
My two cousins in the USA (one in Texas, one in Georgia) shared that things have changed dramatically over the past two weeks. Many people are staying home, and are wearing masks when they go out. All these behavioural changes without official rules and enforcement because, the media day in and out have been bombarding them with
1) Death rates
2) stories of overflowing hospitals in every state
3) stories of young people dying
4) stories of healthcare workers getting infected and dying
5) images of new york city refrigerated trucks and temporary mortuaries
6) poor administration crisis handling
etc etc
So most people, even without enforcement, scared to bits already. There are no rules about 1m or 2m social distancing, or where you can go or not go, definitely no rules on masks but by and large, everyone is scared into action on their own accord.
Singapore is very blessed that we don't have to witness such local images, but that also means our population may not be as scared into taking selfcare action.
Parents should not shield children so much that they stay naive. Small doses of reality won't damage but will teach accountability. When the old folks see their friends die of Covid19, they may not be so proud of living dangerously. Seriously! To hear them speak, it is as if they are sexy daredevils out to court danger.
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