gp2015 wrote:It's definitely a product of culture. People here are too used to doing whatever is best for themselves and not care about others. You look at Japan and a major thing there is consideration for others. For instance, it's considered to be rude to not wear a mask when you're sick because you don't want to be infecting others. It's the same thing about keeping their surroundings clean. It's just respect and consideration for other people.
When you tell people in Japan to stay home and use masks when they're sick, it's just second nature. They don't want to put other people at risk and it's not something that's foreign to them. Obviously, there are still some people that don't listen but the majority do their part.
I think in North America, we need to gradually put more strict measures in place. If we do it all at once, people will get angry and say that their freedoms are being taken away or some other bs like that. Since it's obvious that people are not going to listen, we need to threaten people with fines and/or arrests if people still keep putting others at risk carelessly.
I agree 100% with everything you said, including the bolded.
But, it is on leadership to take the wheel, and prepare people more quickly for this. There are logistics issues, there are the 'freedom' issues that people will react to, no doubt. It is on the PM, or president, to get in front of their people and lay it all out, in terms of the roadmap that may be needed to solve this issue. It is the PM's duty to get it into people's heads, that this is not a drill. This is not something to be 'massaged in' gently. It's his duty to protect everyone above all else, and he should take whatever measures needed to get there ASAP, damn the popularity of them.
And if you're not on board with those measures, you will be fined and/or jailed for it. This 'may we kindly suggest' mentality needs to stop. No more please, no more relying on the population, like those businesses that stay open, to do the right thing.
This is literally the time a gov't like Canada, which has spent years establishing a constitution and trusted systems, needs to lean on the trust on those systems to save its own people. Use the power of the federal government. This is why it exists.