[euix]

The entire Covid years and the way government and society responded was the most cynical thing I have ever witnessed in my life and it completely altered my worldview and the way I see government, society and people in general. Some reckoning on this is in the future is small catharsis.

[didntcheck]

Yep. My faith in both specific institutes and "society" in general cratered, and it wasn't due to some Facebook meme telling me to arson a 5G tower. It was from watching the horse's mouth in full good faith and instead seeing brazen attempts to manufacture consent, "gaslight" last week's claims way, and spin the scientific method as "anti-science". And then the disappointment at seeing just how easily large amounts of society could be (gladfully) whipped into supporting almost any level of authoritarianism, up to and including literally celebrating the deaths of their "opponents", all while claiming to be the compassionate side concerned about public safety, and mostly from the political wing that claims to be our only line of defence against that sort of thing

[RandomLensman]

Seriously: why? We had things like conscription before but the Covid response was the one that altered your view?

[shwaj]

Maybe the person wasn’t alive during conscription. They lived through Covid.

[tbrownaw]

We've had government suppression of dissent before - that "fire in a crowded theater" case was about anti-war advocacy - but it's been a while since anything really big and the Internet makes it much easier to watch happen in real time.

[RandomLensman]

The cold war had some "red scares" etc.

[spookthesunset]

Same here. I don’t think we’ll see any reckoning until all the people involved are long dead…