The combination of people thinking misery is virtuous and thinking this imaginary "general public" (of which they themselves are not a part) exists, that is so stupid they can only understand the most simple and overly general rules is suffocating tbh.

"Well I can understand nuance and be very sensible, but the imaginary general public can't so it is a good thing that we totally do away with nuance and I am being a Very Good Citizen by both reveling in my own misery whilst judging other people for experiencing pleasure."

What we've ended up with is a "simple message" (Stay At Home) that basically applies to nobody because nobody can just stay at home forever, but one that everybody thinks applies to *everyone else*.

And because it's a simple message that applies to nobody, everybody is asking for clarification and exceptions that apply, governments are issuing clarifications and points of nuance while still attempting to push the original simple message.

And the Very Sensible people and Very Good Citizens are criticizing the messages for being confusing and inconsistent, when the reason they're confusing and inconsistent is an attempt at one simple message can never work.

Ultimately people *are* idiots - even the very sensible people who consider themselves much smarter and engaged than the imaginary general public. But the problem is that people understand that when the simple message doesn't apply to them, they work their own rules around it.