Having, over the past 20 months, not seen many people they used to see, I wonder if people are experiencing, or will soon experience, a Rip Van Winkle Reaction to the rediscovery of various extended family members, friends and activities.
Actually, they have been there my entire life! I've always just reflexively ignored them. I spent some time feeling bad about writing so many people off. The Covid hysteria revealed that I had been doing the right thing all along! The masks just make them more conspicuous now.
I still get a punch in the gut when someone I respected wears a mask in the park. How can I still have a meaningful conversation with them about anything?
You can only communicate within the dimension that they have confined themselves to. When you really think about it, it would be easy to manipulate them, as they have already voluntarily imprisoned themselves. A fact that our "intelligence" agencies are quite aware of. Welcome to the machine. By the way, which one's Pink? (And I mean that most sincerely.)
Candis, I almost know what you mean about them being easy to manipulate, one can feel their hollowness. Not that I would know how to do it, but the opening does present itself; as you say, they have restricted their dimension. They have a big wound and we can see the scab on top.
It's from the Pink Floyd album "Wish You Were Here." Deals with different dimensions of our current reality and the people that inhabit them. That line just encapsulates talking to someone that thinks they have you pegged, but they no idea who you really are. I used to respect those people too.
Same here. You shuld see in the EUSSR (Europe) how the hordes of moronic braindead zombies (vaxxed+face diapered) just wish NORMAL human beings death just because they are slaves and can't bear to see us free.
So zero empathy for these goons. We tried to convince them, they are too stupid.
One must get in touch with one's inner psychopath :)
I know the feeling. Just "Good luck folks. You're going to need it" type attitude from me for a while now. I'm done with those who won't question authority. If you don't question authority you become its victim.
I found faith in the pandemic. It reminds me the search for objective truth matters, that nature is still more powerful than mere humans, and has humbled me to the reality many things are beyond human control, and mass phobia that has never been justified by actual outcomes for anyone under 65 that isn’t morbidly obese is beyond my individual control. It also reminds me that changing the world isn’t the goal, changing one mind, or helping one person, at a time not only helps that person, but it also keeps the world from changing me.
While we chose our children’s private Christian school for the top academics, I have found the school’s rejection of wokeness (CRT and gender ideology), as well as their commitment to keep kids at the center of the policy and learning in person, to be of an even greater value than the top academics and STEM labs where kids as young as 5 get to experiment hands on and learn to love actual science. The school lives it’s values in a way far too many churches and other religious schools have quickly abandoned over the last couple of years.
In their weekly Bible versus I have begun to rediscover my faith. The first one my daughter had this year was Ephesians 4:25 “Therefor each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body." Both kids have had numerous versus on the importance of truth, and the dangers of falsehoods. I find them comforting.
Humans have done crazy things throughout history, and stories thousands of years old, from a book written over thousands of years, acknowledging the capability of human mass hysteria while reminding people to seek and speak actual truth, and to stay grounded in actual truth, brings me a great deal of peace. It eases my shock at how phobic, hysterical, cruel, and ridiculous so many I know have become.
It’s not to say SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t exist - it does. There are outliers and I have full recognition I am as likely, or unlikely, as any other healthy 39 year old woman to be one. My husband is as likely, or unlikely, as any healthy 42 year old man to be one. Still, we are far more likely to die in a car accident. Our kids are more likely to die hitting their head in the bathtub or shower (and I actually know several people, including a child, who died that way).
As far as empathy, I have never found lying about health to be a super empathetic thing to do. It’s not that I don’t “care” what others think, it’s that actual outcomes matter more than hurt feelings (mine or anyone else’s). Seeing children terrified of a cold is heartbreaking. Watching parents “vaccinate” their already immune young children shocking. These things are shocking because they are actually harmful in reality yet the justification for causing the harm is based entirely in falsehoods.
I have found the strength to stay firm in truth and reality by having some faith - faith this too shall pass, faith the truth will eventually set us free, faith that standing firm in truth will help us navigate this crazy world. Faith that there is still objective truth and it still matters. 🤷♀️
How interesting! I left my faith this year! It would seem that covid was a catalyst for many faith transitions. Still, I identify with having a strong spiritual foundation to help me through this crisis. Glad it is working so well for you.
Doesn’t sound like you left your faith, it sounds like you left your specific religious place of worship, but I could be reading too much into your comment. Likewise I hope it works for you.
As a note - we left our Catholic Church at the beginning of the pandemic (I am not Catholic but my husband and kids are). We are still searching for a new church (or Catholic parish). Our kids’ school is affiliated with a particular Protestant denomination, but not a parish of that denomination.
We haven’t found a new Church, but for the first time since I was a child, I find myself reading the Bible, discussing faith with my friends, and truly finding my faith. Perhaps I needed to be away from our very deeply flawed parish to actually find my faith. 🤷♀️
This happened to me as well. The archdiocese of Miami went in kick step with the misguided mandates. After the 2nd time the priest mask shamed a parishioner in the middle of his homily I never went back. It was so anti-Christ it could possibly be considered heresy in my opinion. I however did not lose my faith in god. It just reaffirmed my lack of faith in man.
We attend the traditional Latin Mass celebrated by a Society of Saint Pius V priest. No masks in sight, none on the children at the parish school, no caving to nonsense. We had Mass on Easter 2020 with no restrictions. The parish is peopled with loving Christians. Divorce is almost unheard of, women wear dresses and head coverings, children are happy and respectful. You might do well to see if they have a parish near you. We drive an hour to get there but I'd drive 3 if I had to. Merry Christmas and God bless!
There's two levels to that message of 'overturning the tables of the money changers'. The first one is a straight up read of it. The second is understanding that in the Ancient Greek the term was understood as a change in overlord as a result of war. The 'money changers' were the successful warring tribe/nation/empire. So overturning that was a successful psychological intervention to stop it happening again.....
I suppose you could put it that way. In any case it has enlarged my understanding of spirituality to step away from a specific church, but nothing can really replace what that church provided me with as far as character building goes. I suspect the same is true for you. Sometimes it's good to shake things up a bit. In any case, I have been able to step out of shame and judgement and feel more Christian than ever before. It's merely a vehicle for us to make sense of this crazy universe. In any case I am grateful for the experience!
I wonder if the current test of faith will head on onto Viktor Frankl territory at some point. Now, that would be a real test of faith. It's not too far out to imagine. Look at Austria and Australia. Army there carting people away now. I mean, will we all get to stay so comfy with the ginned up, vax zombie mob growing ever nastier and more scapegoat oriented every day now? (Wait untill their vaxxed kids start dropping. It won't be their fault...) Pelosi is only third in line and that level of power is right up her alley. She'd be giggling away just like Jacinda.
It is truly amazing to see how many people have sacrificed their dignity almost immediately. I live in a sparsely populated county in central Florida that was never able to generate any interest in lockdowns, mask mandates, etc. A few churches shut their doors, and there were a few people wearing masks, but other than that I can't relate to much of anything that's going on in the rest of the world. I did take one short trip up to Maryland about a year ago, and ran into some Nazi like weirdos mumbling incoherent gibberish at me while I was fueling up. It was all I could do just to accomplish each task while doing my best to ignore them. They reminded me of annoyingly persistent traveling evangelists.
Jabcinda lovers includes the upper middle class wannabes, public servants, ex hippies, and academics.
A professor, big on Japanese philosophy, at the book club I used to belong to, until the wokeism became unbearable, and the Cindy worship, has a screensaver (if that's the right term for it), of Jabcinda her highness.
The book club members were into wearing hijabs to relate to Muslims.
To clapping at the gate at a set time to honour essential workers, and putting a teddy bear in the window (as Cindy suggested) - this was during the "two weeks to flatten the curve" preliminary hoax.
Many medical / healthcare workers have been more than happy to push the jab and justify the lockdowns. Worth reminding these people that Pfizer made record profits while their reward was a clap.
Bless you, NCmom. My entire life I had rejected the word of God because I blindly believed what schools, governments, TV preachers, and Hollywood were telling me about it. It's just silly religious nonsense, right? I was in my late forties when I finally dared to read it for myself. I admit I had no notion whatsoever that it was ALL about truth versus lies. Lies and hypocrisy = man's world. Truth and righteous judgement = God and His Christ. The truth will unblind us and make us free. But to receive it we need to be willing to turn around, to humble ourselves, to admit a lifetime of gullibility to errors and vanity.
All of the seemingly nonsensical things in our world -- the lies, the contradictions, the outrageous hypocrisy, the 24/7 emphasis on self-centered fear, and the relentless effort to impose an unwavering belief in invisible terrors and random cruel fate -- it's all 100% predictable once you understand what this life boils down to. For example, when the world blabbers insincerely about "truth and reconciliation" they're audaciously mocking Christ. The words they've chosen for that agenda are INCREDIBLY blatant. But if we don't know the word then we would be completely unaware of it.
I too have turned back to the Big Questions during this madness. A religious or spiritual outlook is the only anchor in times like this. When you accept that there is something out there bigger than us and that Bill Gates and Fauci, no matter what harm they do, are just pathetic little worms, then things are much easier to take. It doesn't mean we forego fighting for justice while we are here, but it does put things in perspective.
I love the comment from the person who said they’ve run out of empathy. That’s me. I just can’t cater to people who are being irrational any longer. I have a family member who is trying to make suggestions to get the family (vaxxed and unvaxxed) together. God bless her for trying but she proposed masks for Christmas. I told her it was a hard no. I’m not wearing a mask and not forcing my kids to wear a mask to “protect” vaccinated people who should already feel protected. She suggested Covid testing but seemed surprised when I said the vaxxed would have to get tested too. Why should I have to pay for our tests and no one else has to when they can spread it tone another as easily as we can??!! I’m just not playing this game any longer. Thankful for my friends this Thanksgiving. We have great people in our lives who can care less if someone is vaxxed or not!
A few months ago I opted out of a family wedding in a blue state. Nobody asked if I was vaxxed (probably assumed I was due to my age) but I knew there would be relatives masked up, having seen recent photos with adults and kids masked outdoors with no one near them. I wanted nothing to do with that, and knew I wouldn't be able to keep my mouth shut.
Fauci needs to be tried for crimes for war crimes, crimes against humanity and treason. Not sure he would get prison for any of those but he should also be charged with racketeering and corporate manslaughter. Knowing that weasel, he would get off on the lesser of all charges.
There are cults on both sides. I hope everyone realizes that. And there are less than honest actors on our side too, using this crisis for their own ends. Hating them as much as a rabid pro-vaxxers hates us is a net negative for humanity.
So I can get lambasted and called a 5th columnar or something similar? Nah. Every pro-vaxxer is evil. Everyone on our side is pure as the driven snow. Happy? It's us vs them. Divide and conquer. Jesus H Christ.
You made an assertion that there are “cults” on both sides. If you are really trying to get people to see that, why are you too cowardly to simply back your assertion with more than generalities? Moreover, how can I “realize” something you are incapable of articulating?
Cults, clubs, cliques. Places where if you detour out the narrative you are shouted down and called a traitor etc. I do more than most to try and change minds and yet my integrity is called into question. This place isn't for me so I'm out.
OK….. I’m sorry for you that you feel that way. I’m simply saying your comments might be better received of they are a more specific and defined.
“Masks don’t really work” doesn’t change minds. To change minds the statement must be backed with specifics like “there are a ton of studies, but some that are easy to find and read include the meta analysis of different types of viral mitigation to stop or slow the spread of respiratory viruses conducted by the NIH, and released by the CDC, in May of 2020. That meta analysis found that masks don’t reduce the spread despite their theoretical effectiveness. There was also recently a Harvard meta analysis released in October of 2021 looking specifically at masking during the Covid pandemic which found the there was no strong, or even decent, evidence that mask mandates had any impact on viral spread. Also, Waterloo released the results of experiments comparing masking to ventilation and air filtration this year. It found that after 15 minutes in a poorly ventilated space even an N95 wasn’t effective at preventing spread, but mediocre air filtration was pretty good. The Brownstone Institute was recently started by some of the top epidemiologist on the planet. It’s a great place to find data backed analysis of Covid and Covid mitigation by some of the actual top experts on the planet.”
Laurence, you are frustrated that people are pushing back. I think the reason they are pushing back is that many of your comments are basically platitudes and assertions that you aren’t backing with specifics. The lack of specifics and constant unfounded “assertions” are how we got into this mess. I think you’ll find your observations are more well recieved if your point is a bit better articulated and backed with actual examples or data. Many of us are allergic to unsupported assertions at this point, but we are still open to well articulated discussions that includes specifics.
When I was much younger I ended up on an Apple orchard in England. And saw some guys I knew from the other side of the world on another orchard (was doing that and snow for a few years). They told me that they thought at the one in NZ (me having that accent) that they thought that I was either an undercover police officer looking for illegals or put there by the orchardist to find the 'troublemakers'.
I agree there's bound to some on our side. You just have to pretend it's not the case.
Im reading the Kennedy book. Profit isn't the motive. Its only $3 on Amazon Prime Kindle. Other than that, this man has the best opportunity to REVEAL what he has seen and witnessed for many years from our SO CALLED GOVT AGENCIES THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HELPING the CITIZENRY. The bravery to EXPOSE this in this day and time is nothing but heroic! Im not a democrat but this book clearly is non-partisan. It tells the absolute TRUTH!
Really? I'm sorry for injecting a little compassion into the conversation. And now I'm batting for the other team? Holy shit, we really are in a whole heap of shit.
You are using logical fallacies aplenty and assigning to other commenters intent and even statements that simply are not there. You have squandered the good faith that has been shown you here (so far). You can of course repent!
I suppose the normies are slowly waking up. But it's painfully slow. Maybe by next March after the upcoming winter wave is over and we are 24 months (TWO YEARS!) into this thing, people will finally figure it out.
Even where I am in the free state of Florida, 80 - 90% of people *STILL* wear masks in the grocery store when 1) the government doesn't require it, 2) the store itself doesn't require it, and 3) our cases are at super low levels. I guess they think the masks protect them or they're just afraid to be the first person to take it off. Well, I go into the store maskless and try to set a good example but I have no idea why these people would voluntarily wear the face diaper.
An excellent piece. Thanks for posting it. It has been surreal. My favorite Corona Kabuki is the well known scientific fact that Corona at a restaurant only attacks when patrons are standing up. However, sitting at the table with masks off prompts the Corona bug to respect your sovereignty and not attack. Glad they figured that one out quickly.
I never bought in to the hysteria. Made sure my teenage kids didn’t get sucked into the fear porn either. Luckily for me my extended family is like minded for the most part. I never quarantined and would not volunteer to wear a mask. Would force the shopkeepers to confront me to wear one, most didnt. Walked around grocery stores getting dirty looks but didn’t care. Luckily we live in Florida with the worlds most sane leader in charge. My oldest son and nieces are in state college, no jab requirements, or mask mandates involved. No testing to go on campus, so for them life’s been basically normal. I see these people still walking masked, there kids masked, and I just don’t understand it. The mental damage this scam has done is very real for a lot of people. Im of the opinion most will never recover from it.
I spent Thanksgiving with my DIL's family, 4 generations from toddler to 80+, vaxxed and unvaxxed, not a single mask or "social distancing," zero mention of covid. We hugged, drank, ate, and talked like covid never happened. I'm so glad to be living in Florida!
I was going to ask if you were in Texas - but Florida is pretty much the same. Much easier for us to live that way. I'm sad for those stuck somewhere idiotic like Seattle or NY. It is hard to get our kids excited about fighting any of this when life remains pretty much the same for them. I hope it only gets better from here. I have the same bafflement looking at the kids on campus walking around masked, surely vaccinated too.
I sneaked into the Rutgers gym on Wed. I was the only one there and shot some baskets. I noticed they had large signs posted that said, in bold print: "ALL PLYERS MUST WEAR MASKS. IN THE EVENT OF NONCOMPLIANCE, ALL ACTIVITIES WILL BE SHUT DOWN."
Ten minutes later, two students entered and shot around for twenty minutes. When they were leaving, I walked over to them and said, "Hey, they don't really mean that thing about the masks, right?"
They responded "They definitely do. They come in and check and if everyone isn't masked, they shout through a bullhorn and then turn out the lights."
Wow, are students passive. My generation would not have tolerated this nonsense.
How sad. My fondest memory of Rutgers (mid-70s) was going with a group of friends for a showing of Reefer Madness, while defying the laws of The Man. Good times.
I agree with you on every point. I have resisted but have not spoken out loudly. I have not attended protests. I'm guilty of trying to keep my head down until it blows over. My son is an inspiration and bullied his way to vote maskless in NY, fall 2020. Poll workers insisted they would not allow him to cast his vote and physically tried to prevent him as he fed his ballot into the scanner. Vote was cast. A vaxxed coworker last week risked his career to speak up against mandates; I feel like a coward because I saved my job by filing the exemption form. But forcing this vax on my kids for school, that will not stand. Enough mass psychosis! I will not humor this insanity any longer. This never ends until we fight.
Rebecca, it's very difficult to speak out when you're surrounded by zealots. And sometimes it backfires! You are probably a very intuitive person, and know when speaking up will make a difference and when it will make things worse. You will find your voice soon, I bet!
I've been in a similar position and this week I feel a lot more empowered to speak up. My breaking point was getting disinvited to Thanksgiving for being unvaccinated. Now I know I have nothing to lose, in my friend group anyway.
The Colorado Denver metro area counties, all their heath boards went around the governor and issues statewide indoor mask mandates yesterday. I'm not complying. It's not enough for these freaks to live in fear, they have terrorize the rest of us. NO MORE.
I lost faith in my fellow Americans watching those idiots get thrills up the back of their legs listening to an anti American traitor talk about destroying every single thing about my country… “… fundamentally transform the united states of America we need a new history we need a new economy we need a new culture we need a new language we need a new religion we need a new justice system we need a new educational system…”
I hope the wet dreams were worth it but more than that I sincerely hope every single person who has contributed to the destruction of the individual freedoms in the world gets to watch their own children suffer under the tyranny they brought u.s. & our Allies
The only people that are more idiomatic than the wet dream thrillers are the idiots that think we can vote our way back to freedom from here🙄🤦♀️
We have one son, he is 27, a CPA finishing law school, he is so on to this shit, tells me about woke professors, CRT in law school! So there you go! I’m glad I just have one, it’s a scary world.
I understand… it is horrific how some are just so easily corrupted and cannot seem to “wake-up”
I think it is a perversion of that stubbornness the bull headedness that have traditionally been applied by humans in other ways that can contribute to the normalcy bias as well as all of those other ‘herd’ GO ALONG TO GET ALONG… tendencies…
While you’re finally visiting those pesky complicit vaxxed up relatives after not seeing them for over 20 months be sure to assuage their fears by letting them know that:
*You’ve only ordered all of your groceries online.
*You only bath or shower with a mask on.
*As an extra protective measure you’ve started putting toilet paper all around the rim before sitting.....even at your own house.
*All food is now washed off by soaking it in an alcohol solution (60% minimum) including bread.
*Remote controls, door knobs, cell phone, vehicle steering wheels and every chair or seat are steri-wiped hourly, including your pillow before you lay down.
*You’ve stopped talking to people on the phone that aren’t fully vaxxed (now with at least 3rd booster) because you’ve heard that one can “digitally” spread the “Cov”.
* If you’re forced outside, even to pick up your mail or take out the trash, all clothing is immediately removed and washed with bleach.
*Of course all incoming mail is steri-wiped and then microwaved for at least 30 seconds since you’ve been unable to verify if the mail carrier is fully jabbed and also up to date with their last 3 years of flu vaxx’s.
Should be a great holiday.
Don’t forget the belt loop alcohol dispenser to keep everyone safe.
"The Scamdemic has been the kind of experience during which you learn about peoples’ character, mental health and critical thinking ability. You weed your garden."
Without getting flowery, sometimes the road of our life's journey turns and friendships end. Like that Dylan lyric, "We drove that car as far as we could, abandoned it out west. Split up on a dark sad night, both agreeing it was best."
Or The Roches "Hammond Song."
And others.
My wife and I have been a couple for 39 years and I love her as much as ever. And I had dinner with two grade school friends last week. So I'm still anchored in the past.
But I'm making new friends--spent all day with one today--to replace some who have shown very poor judgment over the past 20 months. In retrospect, I see that this poor judgment has shown itself before. But it's never been as consequential as during Coronamania.
Another great piece Mark. Your well expressed firsthand observations help a lot of us reinforce our tether to reality. Your experiences undoubtedly mirror our own with the friends and family we thought we knew.
I hope you take this the right way. Your contempt for the majority of people that have fallen for this scam does not help anybody and only adds width to the divide that is separating humanity. They are victims of the most sophisticated psychological warfare campaign ever constructed. We can not blame them. They are victims, as we all are. Their price might even be steeper than ours in the end. The damage done is not irreversible. And by that I mean the human race might still survive in its current form. They might start seeing the light after booster 3 or 4 and when that penny drops they will need friends. It's for this reason I haven't cut anyone off. I can still go out and enjoy drinks with friends that have downed the Kool-Aid. Sometimes we can even have a cogent conversation about it and they'll lay out their reasons for believing and I'll lay my reasons out for not believing. If you cut people off because they post about how happy they are to get jabbed then I guess it wasn't much of a friendship. For me, friendship is one of the most sacred things in life. The friendships I build are deep and long-lasting and this issue, although immensely frustrating, won't break them. And if a friend cuts me off for an "anti-vax" post that friendship wouldn't have been real. But it has never happened. Even though many friends will dunk on me they are still up for a beer and a poker night as am I. I understand the psychology behind this campaign and the numbers have borne out. Out of 10 close friends only 3 haven't bought the narrative. That's 30%. The same 30% that can't be hypnotized. If I extrapolate out to a further 10 more casual but decent friendships, it's the same percentage. I hold out hope that the spell will be broken and like I said, when it does, they are going to need someone to explain it all to them and to give them some comfort. They are not yet beyond the pale.
Of course, if this mass psychosis deepens and I feel like they are starting to discriminate, things may change. Until that happens, I love them all. If we retreat into our own cliques during this time we only do harm to the societal psyche. We need more love at this juncture, not less.
The people your lengthy diatribe advocates for forgiving as hapless victims will gladly imprison the author, strip him permanently of his rights, advocate for him to bleed out on the street rather than receive healthcare, be placed in camps by the military, and shot for his disobedience.
I'm sorry you're so worried about losing too many friends that you feel this dance is worth having after two years of being a prisoner of the weak, mad, and stupid.
I'm not angry at a hungry wolf, aggressive bear, or rabid dog. But I'll still shoot them if they try to kill and eat me.
I hope you take this the right way. Your contempt for the author does not help mitigate your sanctimony and only adds width to the divide of reason that is separating the sane from the insane.
To be fair, Laurence does say things might change if discrimination starts setting in. I think it's hard not to feel rage, Guttermouth. I get it. I feel it, too. Especially when you see everyone blithely carrying on with their existences, happy and normal and not feeling so threatened and trapped as we are. It's especially enraging when you see people approving the discriminatory measures and wishing ill on others. I admire that Laurence is trying to allow for some redemption for those who have fallen into the trap and can't see their way out (or aren't even looking). I don't know if I could do it, and all I can say is his friends are really lucky to have him. I hope that they don't cross the line, because then redemption becomes very, very difficult.
He's admitted in his judgmental admonition of the author that losing his friends is his rubicon- a pretty shallow one when others have lost their jobs, credibility, social standing, marriages, and more for speaking out.
If they do cross the line, he'll simply cross it with them. Laurence's screed is simply "go along to get along" dressed in "I'm a good friend" clothes.
I'm happy to forgive and ignore people who don't personally want to hurt or threaten me. That isn't what we're talking about here.
I agree somewhat on the friends thing. For me, I find it way too disturbing when a friend outside jumped away from me bc I didn't have a mask on. These are typically the types who even after vaxing are still afraid, and even believe the unvaxed are the problem! They’re typically too gullible and lack reasoning to the point of pointing the finger AT THE WRONG PEOPLE. Thats why it becomes a fight most often it seems. I don’t like being SCAPEGOATED nor BEING FORCED to take a vaccine. If other people can’t understand that, how can I have much mercy for THEM? If they can respect my choice, we can get along as I respect their choice. But treating me like a leper or selfish person is insulting and I wont tolerate it in this matter! My opinion & choice deserves respect. I dont need ppl who see it otherwise in my life.
It all depends on the friend. This isn't black and white.
I've got a friend who has gone over the deep end. He actually believes that natural immunity is a conspiracy theory. Goodbye!
Another friend refused to hang out with me outdoors, masked, because I am unvaccinated. Goodbye!
But I've got a few vaccinated , boostered friends who haven't even asked my status. We hang out and talk about normal things. I'm reaching out to this week regarding mandates. We'll see where it lands! But I'm not writing them off yet.
All I can say is that I understand the pain and rage, GM. I am living it right now, too. With a good dollop of terror on the side. I can also see where Laurence is at. We are all on the same side and yet at different points on the forgiveness and condemnation spectrum. And we're all trying to save something here or are at a crossroads. Or have lost something, or someone, valuable. Some of us have lost too much, and cannot forgive. It is all just crushingly sad. In these times I'm just happy to have allies, and really value all of you.
Thank you Ann. I feel rage sometimes and a lot of frustration. And some anxiety when I go out with friends I know are true believers. But like I said if people aren't discriminating they are not yet lost. If friends do start vocalizing things like lockdowns for the unjabbed, mandatory vaccinations or support for mandates and passports I will speak out and friendships will be irrecoverable if I can't reason with them.
Well that clarifies things. I think this issue depends a lot on where you live and what measures are in place. Those of us who live in lands with vax passes/mandates have already been confronted with horrific betrayal by friends. The damage is not to be underestimated. I have also been unfriended for my stance, so that colors my feelings too. All that being said, you are lucky if you are in a position to maintain friendships with normies and I agree that a good relationship is the best way to help them out of their media inflicted psychosis.
I've never said that betrayal by friends should be accepted. Like I said, friendship is one the most sacred things in the world to me. If a friend betrays that there will be repercussions. My whole post was about how we treat friends that have NOT betrayed us. I didn't mention dealing with betrayal once. That's a totally different conversation.
I'm just trying to point out that your argument to be there for people who are not beyond the pale is a worthy one, but at the same time there are many of us who inhabit a world where nearly everyone we know is beyond the pale. I can see both side here and I hope most other readers can as well.
I agree, Ann. And I think that you can simultaneously love your (perhaps mindlessly) vaxxed friends and family and hate the architects and enforcers of this debacle. Some aspects of this are not black & white.
GM, that's not what I said at all. I'm sorry you missed the whole point of the post (that you didn't read). I have "contempt" for the author? I have no idea how you got that from my post. Either you can't read or you lack a certain amount of empathy, I do hope it's the former. It should have added some paragraph breaks, I didn't mean it to be a wall of text. Please read it again as it came from heart and there was no reason to attack me. We're all in this together my brother (or sister).
If there was no reason to attack you, there was no reason to accuse the author of "contempt for the majority of people" and accuse him of "adding width to the divide that is separating humanity."
You clearly position yourself as occupying the moral high ground, and feel qualified to judge the motives and words of others.
I'm sure the author's words "came from the heart" as well. I wasn't aware that quality insulates one's statements from criticism.
Really, the only possible alternatives are either I "can't read" or I "lack empathy?" I'm dumb or I'm a sociopath? Really, that's the only two possible explanations for me disagreeing with you?
I'm enjoying watching you reveal yourself to the audience here. Please, tell me more about myself.
He clearly has contempt for the pro-vaxxers. That's totally fine and in no way am I judging him or feel qualified to even do so. Many people deserve it and I feel it too sometimes. I just wanted to explain my view on the situation. I'm happy to reveal myself to the audience. I'm sure they can read my post and understand where I'm coming from.
I don't want to fight with you and I meant Mark no disrespect. I like his writing, that is why I'm subbed. I'm sure he's chuckling at our little back and forth. So there is no accusation, no judging, nothing. It's strange that Ann and Rosemary were able to understand the context and you weren't. But that's my fault, I'm sure I could have worded it differently. Still, I welcome criticism but let's not exchange barbs.
Contempt is a coping mechanism, too! I have it, in chunks. I opened up a Twitter account just to post a picture of our "Constitutional Expert" at my university, replete with a crown on his head and saying "L'etat c'est moi!" - like the little King Louis that he thinks he is, justifying a forced mandate on our 20-odd thousand students. Many of whom will be petrified at the idea of myocarditis and other adverse effects, but nevertheless desperate to complete their education.
There is nothing wrong with having contempt for pro-vaxxers. I don't know why some commenters like GM think it's bad. Pro-vaxxers deserve it. When I take heat under a facebook post it sometimes drives me up the bloody wall. And I feel it too. I just then stow it away. For instance, I had an exchange with a friend who used to live here in Japan who went back to California. He mocked me for my beliefs and I wanted to reach through the monitor and smash his teeth in. A few weeks ago he came back to visit and I went up to meet him and have some beers. For the first time in our long friendship I had this horrible anxiety in the days leading up it. There was no reason though. He didn't look at me any different for being a "lunatic anti-vaxxer" just as I didn't look at him any different.
I'm just saying that friendships can override this difference at this stage in the war.
You are right, but there are others that are not pushing for mandates etc but are just going along believing what they are told, and still more that are "go along to get along". What I take away most from what is happening is a DEEP reflection on every time I have seen something wrong happen to some other group and said nothing. I feel it so strongly - that this is Karma for me and everyone who took their freedom for granted. I KNEW this could happen in America, but I just didn't think they would come after ME. They kicked neighbors out of school because they could not tolerate MMR vax - I said nothing. I saw INDIVIDUALS treated like crap over politics (single mothers on assistance, immigrants that didn't speak English, inner city black youth angry at a system that gives them no path out) - and say nothing. Political difference should never drive you to stop seeing the other as human. Those lost in the covid hysteria are human - they just forgot that WE are too. We need to fight, and speak up for truth, and demand consequences, but keep our humanity too.
I wish you the best of luck with that. On this issue, I think I'm honestly lost. It just doesn't make any tactical sense- if someone has dehumanized YOU, prepare for the worst.
I guess it's different if you have not yet experienced the discrimination and sanctimonious judgement. In Ontario, we are not allowed in bars, restaurants, gyms, theatres, and sports venues, including local arenas. Parents must drop off their small children at the door if not vaxxed. I've not been allowed on my campus where I work since September. I have been treated like garbage by people who once respected me, when I say I am not jabbed.
I do agree that we shouldn't add fuel to the fire. But at the same time, for some of us, the struggle is real. I have no job as of January and my husband is on edge, waiting to see if his exemption is accepted. We will be going from a professional, middle-class family, to zero income. We have one daughter in university. Good times.
You are quite correct. I live in Japan and we have had no real lockdowns, no mandates etc. I'm from the UK so on social media I obviously have a lot of friends on there from the UK. As yet I've seen no signs of discrimination or support for anything discriminatory. If I was to see of course I would speak out. I often post my thoughts on the current situation on social media, and like I said, I get dunked on, but it's always respectful.
I know I'm lucky and I've been insulated and I can't imagine what you must be going through. My whole point was solely that we maybe shouldn't cut off pro-vax friends that are not yet beyond the pale. Yes, their compliance is the reason many people are struggling. But their minds have been hijacked, they are literally hypnotized. Just because they aren't aware of it doesn't make it any less so. I'm just saying we can still have compassion for them at this stage. Obviously if they start discriminating it's a completely different situation. And by exposing them to our truths we stand a chance of changing minds.
I’ve had this same debate with my mom. She thinks I should show more grace to those being lead astray by media, politicians, and sheepish unthinking doctors. While I acknowledge the importance of grace, I personally am beyond the sympathy part. There have been so many lies, proven lies, and so many pushes to erode freedoms and segregate society. The “ anti-racist” want desegregation. The “feminist” place the feelings of mentally disturbed biological men above the physical safety and bodily integrity of my 10 year old daughter. The “follow the science” crowd hasn’t bothered to look at a single data table on a single dashboard.
I respect your position and wish you luck in changing minds. I have become a believer in natural consequences. I’m not unkind, and I don’t want bad things for the sheep, but I can no longer feel bad for them. At this point they are making a choice to knowingly harm others - particularly children and the poorest among us - because they treat the lying media and incompetent politicians as if they are infallible gods. I can’t save them……. If they are going to be saved, they are going to have to wake up and save themselves.
thank you, Mark, for those encouraging words. I am so fortunate to have a very rational level headed husband. My daughters are also helpful reminders to "just do not step into it." and it is not worth arguing with a chunk of "stone"
Again, thank you for your kind words. They do give me comfort
I ran out of empathy a year ago. I want nothing to do with masked-up zombies.
I find myself not seeing them. They don't want to be seen, is my take, I guess. I just don't see them anymore.
Actually, they have been there my entire life! I've always just reflexively ignored them. I spent some time feeling bad about writing so many people off. The Covid hysteria revealed that I had been doing the right thing all along! The masks just make them more conspicuous now.
Thank you, Candis !
Deep assessment of the current world situation!
I still get a punch in the gut when someone I respected wears a mask in the park. How can I still have a meaningful conversation with them about anything?
You can only communicate within the dimension that they have confined themselves to. When you really think about it, it would be easy to manipulate them, as they have already voluntarily imprisoned themselves. A fact that our "intelligence" agencies are quite aware of. Welcome to the machine. By the way, which one's Pink? (And I mean that most sincerely.)
Candis, I almost know what you mean about them being easy to manipulate, one can feel their hollowness. Not that I would know how to do it, but the opening does present itself; as you say, they have restricted their dimension. They have a big wound and we can see the scab on top.
I find your reply very helpful, thankyou.
What do you mean about "Pink"?
It's from the Pink Floyd album "Wish You Were Here." Deals with different dimensions of our current reality and the people that inhabit them. That line just encapsulates talking to someone that thinks they have you pegged, but they no idea who you really are. I used to respect those people too.
"Have a cigar". Classic
🎯
Is this good news (or an illusion)? Missouri just dropped all CONVid-19 mandates: https://markusallen.substack.com/p/whoa-did-the-state-of-missouri-just
It's huge! ✊🏼
Same here. You shuld see in the EUSSR (Europe) how the hordes of moronic braindead zombies (vaxxed+face diapered) just wish NORMAL human beings death just because they are slaves and can't bear to see us free.
So zero empathy for these goons. We tried to convince them, they are too stupid.
One must get in touch with one's inner psychopath :)
I know the feeling. Just "Good luck folks. You're going to need it" type attitude from me for a while now. I'm done with those who won't question authority. If you don't question authority you become its victim.
You can lead a horse to water…
But holding its head under will get you in trouble with PETA :)
I found faith in the pandemic. It reminds me the search for objective truth matters, that nature is still more powerful than mere humans, and has humbled me to the reality many things are beyond human control, and mass phobia that has never been justified by actual outcomes for anyone under 65 that isn’t morbidly obese is beyond my individual control. It also reminds me that changing the world isn’t the goal, changing one mind, or helping one person, at a time not only helps that person, but it also keeps the world from changing me.
While we chose our children’s private Christian school for the top academics, I have found the school’s rejection of wokeness (CRT and gender ideology), as well as their commitment to keep kids at the center of the policy and learning in person, to be of an even greater value than the top academics and STEM labs where kids as young as 5 get to experiment hands on and learn to love actual science. The school lives it’s values in a way far too many churches and other religious schools have quickly abandoned over the last couple of years.
In their weekly Bible versus I have begun to rediscover my faith. The first one my daughter had this year was Ephesians 4:25 “Therefor each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body." Both kids have had numerous versus on the importance of truth, and the dangers of falsehoods. I find them comforting.
Humans have done crazy things throughout history, and stories thousands of years old, from a book written over thousands of years, acknowledging the capability of human mass hysteria while reminding people to seek and speak actual truth, and to stay grounded in actual truth, brings me a great deal of peace. It eases my shock at how phobic, hysterical, cruel, and ridiculous so many I know have become.
It’s not to say SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t exist - it does. There are outliers and I have full recognition I am as likely, or unlikely, as any other healthy 39 year old woman to be one. My husband is as likely, or unlikely, as any healthy 42 year old man to be one. Still, we are far more likely to die in a car accident. Our kids are more likely to die hitting their head in the bathtub or shower (and I actually know several people, including a child, who died that way).
As far as empathy, I have never found lying about health to be a super empathetic thing to do. It’s not that I don’t “care” what others think, it’s that actual outcomes matter more than hurt feelings (mine or anyone else’s). Seeing children terrified of a cold is heartbreaking. Watching parents “vaccinate” their already immune young children shocking. These things are shocking because they are actually harmful in reality yet the justification for causing the harm is based entirely in falsehoods.
I have found the strength to stay firm in truth and reality by having some faith - faith this too shall pass, faith the truth will eventually set us free, faith that standing firm in truth will help us navigate this crazy world. Faith that there is still objective truth and it still matters. 🤷♀️
How interesting! I left my faith this year! It would seem that covid was a catalyst for many faith transitions. Still, I identify with having a strong spiritual foundation to help me through this crisis. Glad it is working so well for you.
Doesn’t sound like you left your faith, it sounds like you left your specific religious place of worship, but I could be reading too much into your comment. Likewise I hope it works for you.
As a note - we left our Catholic Church at the beginning of the pandemic (I am not Catholic but my husband and kids are). We are still searching for a new church (or Catholic parish). Our kids’ school is affiliated with a particular Protestant denomination, but not a parish of that denomination.
We haven’t found a new Church, but for the first time since I was a child, I find myself reading the Bible, discussing faith with my friends, and truly finding my faith. Perhaps I needed to be away from our very deeply flawed parish to actually find my faith. 🤷♀️
This happened to me as well. The archdiocese of Miami went in kick step with the misguided mandates. After the 2nd time the priest mask shamed a parishioner in the middle of his homily I never went back. It was so anti-Christ it could possibly be considered heresy in my opinion. I however did not lose my faith in god. It just reaffirmed my lack of faith in man.
We attend the traditional Latin Mass celebrated by a Society of Saint Pius V priest. No masks in sight, none on the children at the parish school, no caving to nonsense. We had Mass on Easter 2020 with no restrictions. The parish is peopled with loving Christians. Divorce is almost unheard of, women wear dresses and head coverings, children are happy and respectful. You might do well to see if they have a parish near you. We drive an hour to get there but I'd drive 3 if I had to. Merry Christmas and God bless!
In a way this has purified your faith
If Jesus walked into the sanctuary would the priest make Him mask up??
He would try, but Jesus would overturn the tables of the mask vendors.
There's two levels to that message of 'overturning the tables of the money changers'. The first one is a straight up read of it. The second is understanding that in the Ancient Greek the term was understood as a change in overlord as a result of war. The 'money changers' were the successful warring tribe/nation/empire. So overturning that was a successful psychological intervention to stop it happening again.....
The Archdiocese of Miami went woke.
I suppose you could put it that way. In any case it has enlarged my understanding of spirituality to step away from a specific church, but nothing can really replace what that church provided me with as far as character building goes. I suspect the same is true for you. Sometimes it's good to shake things up a bit. In any case, I have been able to step out of shame and judgement and feel more Christian than ever before. It's merely a vehicle for us to make sense of this crazy universe. In any case I am grateful for the experience!
I haven’t seen that Substack. Thank you for sharing.
I wonder if the current test of faith will head on onto Viktor Frankl territory at some point. Now, that would be a real test of faith. It's not too far out to imagine. Look at Austria and Australia. Army there carting people away now. I mean, will we all get to stay so comfy with the ginned up, vax zombie mob growing ever nastier and more scapegoat oriented every day now? (Wait untill their vaxxed kids start dropping. It won't be their fault...) Pelosi is only third in line and that level of power is right up her alley. She'd be giggling away just like Jacinda.
It is truly amazing to see how many people have sacrificed their dignity almost immediately. I live in a sparsely populated county in central Florida that was never able to generate any interest in lockdowns, mask mandates, etc. A few churches shut their doors, and there were a few people wearing masks, but other than that I can't relate to much of anything that's going on in the rest of the world. I did take one short trip up to Maryland about a year ago, and ran into some Nazi like weirdos mumbling incoherent gibberish at me while I was fueling up. It was all I could do just to accomplish each task while doing my best to ignore them. They reminded me of annoyingly persistent traveling evangelists.
Jacinda is hated here by everybody except the upper middle class who are all Tories to a man and woman.
Jabcinda lovers includes the upper middle class wannabes, public servants, ex hippies, and academics.
A professor, big on Japanese philosophy, at the book club I used to belong to, until the wokeism became unbearable, and the Cindy worship, has a screensaver (if that's the right term for it), of Jabcinda her highness.
The book club members were into wearing hijabs to relate to Muslims.
To clapping at the gate at a set time to honour essential workers, and putting a teddy bear in the window (as Cindy suggested) - this was during the "two weeks to flatten the curve" preliminary hoax.
Okay, now I am short of friends.
Essential workers would have appreciated a little more money in their paypacket (I was one at the time).
They got a clap what more do they want?
Many medical / healthcare workers have been more than happy to push the jab and justify the lockdowns. Worth reminding these people that Pfizer made record profits while their reward was a clap.
The 'clap' used to be a euphemism for VD.
Ha ha.
Supermarket workers never got clapped.
Clapping had potential to become a compulsory totalitarian ritual, as did the teddy bears.
Bless you, NCmom. My entire life I had rejected the word of God because I blindly believed what schools, governments, TV preachers, and Hollywood were telling me about it. It's just silly religious nonsense, right? I was in my late forties when I finally dared to read it for myself. I admit I had no notion whatsoever that it was ALL about truth versus lies. Lies and hypocrisy = man's world. Truth and righteous judgement = God and His Christ. The truth will unblind us and make us free. But to receive it we need to be willing to turn around, to humble ourselves, to admit a lifetime of gullibility to errors and vanity.
All of the seemingly nonsensical things in our world -- the lies, the contradictions, the outrageous hypocrisy, the 24/7 emphasis on self-centered fear, and the relentless effort to impose an unwavering belief in invisible terrors and random cruel fate -- it's all 100% predictable once you understand what this life boils down to. For example, when the world blabbers insincerely about "truth and reconciliation" they're audaciously mocking Christ. The words they've chosen for that agenda are INCREDIBLY blatant. But if we don't know the word then we would be completely unaware of it.
All of the 7 deadly sins have become virtues, so the world is is upside down.
I too have turned back to the Big Questions during this madness. A religious or spiritual outlook is the only anchor in times like this. When you accept that there is something out there bigger than us and that Bill Gates and Fauci, no matter what harm they do, are just pathetic little worms, then things are much easier to take. It doesn't mean we forego fighting for justice while we are here, but it does put things in perspective.
Same. I have become much more religious and read the Bible regularly post-COVID
Love that ^^
The Earth is Flat.
I love the comment from the person who said they’ve run out of empathy. That’s me. I just can’t cater to people who are being irrational any longer. I have a family member who is trying to make suggestions to get the family (vaxxed and unvaxxed) together. God bless her for trying but she proposed masks for Christmas. I told her it was a hard no. I’m not wearing a mask and not forcing my kids to wear a mask to “protect” vaccinated people who should already feel protected. She suggested Covid testing but seemed surprised when I said the vaxxed would have to get tested too. Why should I have to pay for our tests and no one else has to when they can spread it tone another as easily as we can??!! I’m just not playing this game any longer. Thankful for my friends this Thanksgiving. We have great people in our lives who can care less if someone is vaxxed or not!
A few months ago I opted out of a family wedding in a blue state. Nobody asked if I was vaxxed (probably assumed I was due to my age) but I knew there would be relatives masked up, having seen recent photos with adults and kids masked outdoors with no one near them. I wanted nothing to do with that, and knew I wouldn't be able to keep my mouth shut.
I’m just not playing this game any longer.
💥 BAM !
Don't get tested! You know that the "test" is to read your DNA?
Maybe the test is as injurious to society as the injections, and certainly more so than the virus.
Sad to say, if you've ever been to a doctor and/or had a lab work-up, they already have your DNA.
Speaking personally I have not seen a doctor since my son was born 26 years ago. So maybe they don't have mine? No lab or blood tests either.
Always been skeptical.
I'm glad for you! Wish I could say the same for myself!
Fauci needs to be tried for crimes for war crimes, crimes against humanity and treason. Not sure he would get prison for any of those but he should also be charged with racketeering and corporate manslaughter. Knowing that weasel, he would get off on the lesser of all charges.
Depends who wins.
It's a cult. Branch Covidians. Cults are difficult to leave, like the Hotel California. We can only hope to lead them out of the darkness by example.
There are cults on both sides. I hope everyone realizes that. And there are less than honest actors on our side too, using this crisis for their own ends. Hating them as much as a rabid pro-vaxxers hates us is a net negative for humanity.
Name the ones on our side.
So I can get lambasted and called a 5th columnar or something similar? Nah. Every pro-vaxxer is evil. Everyone on our side is pure as the driven snow. Happy? It's us vs them. Divide and conquer. Jesus H Christ.
You made an assertion that there are “cults” on both sides. If you are really trying to get people to see that, why are you too cowardly to simply back your assertion with more than generalities? Moreover, how can I “realize” something you are incapable of articulating?
It's a rhetorical device. Pre-emptively claiming offense. Among the many others at work here.
I count at least three! fun stuff
Cults, clubs, cliques. Places where if you detour out the narrative you are shouted down and called a traitor etc. I do more than most to try and change minds and yet my integrity is called into question. This place isn't for me so I'm out.
OK….. I’m sorry for you that you feel that way. I’m simply saying your comments might be better received of they are a more specific and defined.
“Masks don’t really work” doesn’t change minds. To change minds the statement must be backed with specifics like “there are a ton of studies, but some that are easy to find and read include the meta analysis of different types of viral mitigation to stop or slow the spread of respiratory viruses conducted by the NIH, and released by the CDC, in May of 2020. That meta analysis found that masks don’t reduce the spread despite their theoretical effectiveness. There was also recently a Harvard meta analysis released in October of 2021 looking specifically at masking during the Covid pandemic which found the there was no strong, or even decent, evidence that mask mandates had any impact on viral spread. Also, Waterloo released the results of experiments comparing masking to ventilation and air filtration this year. It found that after 15 minutes in a poorly ventilated space even an N95 wasn’t effective at preventing spread, but mediocre air filtration was pretty good. The Brownstone Institute was recently started by some of the top epidemiologist on the planet. It’s a great place to find data backed analysis of Covid and Covid mitigation by some of the actual top experts on the planet.”
Laurence, you are frustrated that people are pushing back. I think the reason they are pushing back is that many of your comments are basically platitudes and assertions that you aren’t backing with specifics. The lack of specifics and constant unfounded “assertions” are how we got into this mess. I think you’ll find your observations are more well recieved if your point is a bit better articulated and backed with actual examples or data. Many of us are allergic to unsupported assertions at this point, but we are still open to well articulated discussions that includes specifics.
Lol. They always bolt when flat out confronted.
When I was much younger I ended up on an Apple orchard in England. And saw some guys I knew from the other side of the world on another orchard (was doing that and snow for a few years). They told me that they thought at the one in NZ (me having that accent) that they thought that I was either an undercover police officer looking for illegals or put there by the orchardist to find the 'troublemakers'.
I agree there's bound to some on our side. You just have to pretend it's not the case.
keep burning that straw man
Im reading the Kennedy book. Profit isn't the motive. Its only $3 on Amazon Prime Kindle. Other than that, this man has the best opportunity to REVEAL what he has seen and witnessed for many years from our SO CALLED GOVT AGENCIES THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HELPING the CITIZENRY. The bravery to EXPOSE this in this day and time is nothing but heroic! Im not a democrat but this book clearly is non-partisan. It tells the absolute TRUTH!
We are the cult of truth. We can never be deprogrammed.
Your check is in the mail. Now get the shot.
LOL
Thanks, Gate.
Thanks for getting the joke. :)
Really? I'm sorry for injecting a little compassion into the conversation. And now I'm batting for the other team? Holy shit, we really are in a whole heap of shit.
You are using logical fallacies aplenty and assigning to other commenters intent and even statements that simply are not there. You have squandered the good faith that has been shown you here (so far). You can of course repent!
Laurence, Japan, from what I have read, is not having the mandates so things have maybe not gotten so vindictive towards the uninjected.
Maybe it is the best country in the world to be in right now.
You really are a hateful human being. It's been eye-opening though.
"Let's not exchange barbs" -Laurence Flynn
"You really are a hateful human being." -Also Laurence Flynn
I wrote that before you accused me of being a traitor. So yea, fuck right off. I'm done with trying to be nice to you.
I.... think he's messing with you ;)
I suppose the normies are slowly waking up. But it's painfully slow. Maybe by next March after the upcoming winter wave is over and we are 24 months (TWO YEARS!) into this thing, people will finally figure it out.
Even where I am in the free state of Florida, 80 - 90% of people *STILL* wear masks in the grocery store when 1) the government doesn't require it, 2) the store itself doesn't require it, and 3) our cases are at super low levels. I guess they think the masks protect them or they're just afraid to be the first person to take it off. Well, I go into the store maskless and try to set a good example but I have no idea why these people would voluntarily wear the face diaper.
In my corner of NE Florida, only about 1 out of 10 people are now masked up in stores. I pretend they're invisible.
Same here in SW Florida, I just write the mask holes off as mentally ill and ignore them! It’s peaceful here.
Everyone is still wearing masks in Miami.
To quote President Puddin' Head, "I've lost my patience!"
An excellent piece. Thanks for posting it. It has been surreal. My favorite Corona Kabuki is the well known scientific fact that Corona at a restaurant only attacks when patrons are standing up. However, sitting at the table with masks off prompts the Corona bug to respect your sovereignty and not attack. Glad they figured that one out quickly.
Thanks, Steve.
Yes, painfully surreal.
🤣🤣
Hahahaha! Yep…that’s a good one! 😂
I never bought in to the hysteria. Made sure my teenage kids didn’t get sucked into the fear porn either. Luckily for me my extended family is like minded for the most part. I never quarantined and would not volunteer to wear a mask. Would force the shopkeepers to confront me to wear one, most didnt. Walked around grocery stores getting dirty looks but didn’t care. Luckily we live in Florida with the worlds most sane leader in charge. My oldest son and nieces are in state college, no jab requirements, or mask mandates involved. No testing to go on campus, so for them life’s been basically normal. I see these people still walking masked, there kids masked, and I just don’t understand it. The mental damage this scam has done is very real for a lot of people. Im of the opinion most will never recover from it.
I spent Thanksgiving with my DIL's family, 4 generations from toddler to 80+, vaxxed and unvaxxed, not a single mask or "social distancing," zero mention of covid. We hugged, drank, ate, and talked like covid never happened. I'm so glad to be living in Florida!
I did this, too, and threw a football with my son, brother and nephew. I even licked my fingers a few times to grip the ball better.
Ewww!
Maybe I created the next spike! It's all my fault. Let's all quarantine for two weeks!
same here in Texas! :)
I was going to ask if you were in Texas - but Florida is pretty much the same. Much easier for us to live that way. I'm sad for those stuck somewhere idiotic like Seattle or NY. It is hard to get our kids excited about fighting any of this when life remains pretty much the same for them. I hope it only gets better from here. I have the same bafflement looking at the kids on campus walking around masked, surely vaccinated too.
I sneaked into the Rutgers gym on Wed. I was the only one there and shot some baskets. I noticed they had large signs posted that said, in bold print: "ALL PLYERS MUST WEAR MASKS. IN THE EVENT OF NONCOMPLIANCE, ALL ACTIVITIES WILL BE SHUT DOWN."
Ten minutes later, two students entered and shot around for twenty minutes. When they were leaving, I walked over to them and said, "Hey, they don't really mean that thing about the masks, right?"
They responded "They definitely do. They come in and check and if everyone isn't masked, they shout through a bullhorn and then turn out the lights."
Wow, are students passive. My generation would not have tolerated this nonsense.
How sad. My fondest memory of Rutgers (mid-70s) was going with a group of friends for a showing of Reefer Madness, while defying the laws of The Man. Good times.
I agree with you on every point. I have resisted but have not spoken out loudly. I have not attended protests. I'm guilty of trying to keep my head down until it blows over. My son is an inspiration and bullied his way to vote maskless in NY, fall 2020. Poll workers insisted they would not allow him to cast his vote and physically tried to prevent him as he fed his ballot into the scanner. Vote was cast. A vaxxed coworker last week risked his career to speak up against mandates; I feel like a coward because I saved my job by filing the exemption form. But forcing this vax on my kids for school, that will not stand. Enough mass psychosis! I will not humor this insanity any longer. This never ends until we fight.
Rebecca, it's very difficult to speak out when you're surrounded by zealots. And sometimes it backfires! You are probably a very intuitive person, and know when speaking up will make a difference and when it will make things worse. You will find your voice soon, I bet!
I've been in a similar position and this week I feel a lot more empowered to speak up. My breaking point was getting disinvited to Thanksgiving for being unvaccinated. Now I know I have nothing to lose, in my friend group anyway.
The mama bears will come out of hibernation
Hahahaha…yep! That’s a good one!
Oops…I misplaced this reply.
I apologize.
A fabulous read - you captured my every thought on the Scamdemic and your prose is spot on. Thank you.
Thanks, Michelle. I wish I never had a reason to write it.
Me too!
The Colorado Denver metro area counties, all their heath boards went around the governor and issues statewide indoor mask mandates yesterday. I'm not complying. It's not enough for these freaks to live in fear, they have terrorize the rest of us. NO MORE.
With you, Jack!
💥 BAM !
I gave them 15 days… that was it. Watched the Stockholm Syndrome set in, I’ve completely lost faith in humanity 😂
I lost faith in my fellow Americans watching those idiots get thrills up the back of their legs listening to an anti American traitor talk about destroying every single thing about my country… “… fundamentally transform the united states of America we need a new history we need a new economy we need a new culture we need a new language we need a new religion we need a new justice system we need a new educational system…”
I hope the wet dreams were worth it but more than that I sincerely hope every single person who has contributed to the destruction of the individual freedoms in the world gets to watch their own children suffer under the tyranny they brought u.s. & our Allies
The only people that are more idiomatic than the wet dream thrillers are the idiots that think we can vote our way back to freedom from here🙄🤦♀️
I thank God every day that I never had any kids.
We have one son, he is 27, a CPA finishing law school, he is so on to this shit, tells me about woke professors, CRT in law school! So there you go! I’m glad I just have one, it’s a scary world.
Lucky you he sees the light. I have two who bought stock in coronamania.
I think he knows I’ll disinherit him! 😂
That wouldn’t stop the truly possessed I’m afraid or I’d threaten it. It would have zero effect on them.
I understand… it is horrific how some are just so easily corrupted and cannot seem to “wake-up”
I think it is a perversion of that stubbornness the bull headedness that have traditionally been applied by humans in other ways that can contribute to the normalcy bias as well as all of those other ‘herd’ GO ALONG TO GET ALONG… tendencies…
While you’re finally visiting those pesky complicit vaxxed up relatives after not seeing them for over 20 months be sure to assuage their fears by letting them know that:
*You’ve only ordered all of your groceries online.
*You only bath or shower with a mask on.
*As an extra protective measure you’ve started putting toilet paper all around the rim before sitting.....even at your own house.
*All food is now washed off by soaking it in an alcohol solution (60% minimum) including bread.
*Remote controls, door knobs, cell phone, vehicle steering wheels and every chair or seat are steri-wiped hourly, including your pillow before you lay down.
*You’ve stopped talking to people on the phone that aren’t fully vaxxed (now with at least 3rd booster) because you’ve heard that one can “digitally” spread the “Cov”.
* If you’re forced outside, even to pick up your mail or take out the trash, all clothing is immediately removed and washed with bleach.
*Of course all incoming mail is steri-wiped and then microwaved for at least 30 seconds since you’ve been unable to verify if the mail carrier is fully jabbed and also up to date with their last 3 years of flu vaxx’s.
Should be a great holiday.
Don’t forget the belt loop alcohol dispenser to keep everyone safe.
Painfully close to true.
I prefer the brandy hip-flask to the belt-loop alcohol.
🤣
🤣🤣🤣
"The Scamdemic has been the kind of experience during which you learn about peoples’ character, mental health and critical thinking ability. You weed your garden."
That really resonated with me.
Thanks, Nina.
Without getting flowery, sometimes the road of our life's journey turns and friendships end. Like that Dylan lyric, "We drove that car as far as we could, abandoned it out west. Split up on a dark sad night, both agreeing it was best."
Or The Roches "Hammond Song."
And others.
My wife and I have been a couple for 39 years and I love her as much as ever. And I had dinner with two grade school friends last week. So I'm still anchored in the past.
But I'm making new friends--spent all day with one today--to replace some who have shown very poor judgment over the past 20 months. In retrospect, I see that this poor judgment has shown itself before. But it's never been as consequential as during Coronamania.
If you're around NJ, I'd hang with you.
I just discovered "Hammond Song" and the Roches! LOVE them.
This right here….really hits home. Thank you!
Another great piece Mark. Your well expressed firsthand observations help a lot of us reinforce our tether to reality. Your experiences undoubtedly mirror our own with the friends and family we thought we knew.
Thanks, Howard. Happy Thanksgiving.
I hope you take this the right way. Your contempt for the majority of people that have fallen for this scam does not help anybody and only adds width to the divide that is separating humanity. They are victims of the most sophisticated psychological warfare campaign ever constructed. We can not blame them. They are victims, as we all are. Their price might even be steeper than ours in the end. The damage done is not irreversible. And by that I mean the human race might still survive in its current form. They might start seeing the light after booster 3 or 4 and when that penny drops they will need friends. It's for this reason I haven't cut anyone off. I can still go out and enjoy drinks with friends that have downed the Kool-Aid. Sometimes we can even have a cogent conversation about it and they'll lay out their reasons for believing and I'll lay my reasons out for not believing. If you cut people off because they post about how happy they are to get jabbed then I guess it wasn't much of a friendship. For me, friendship is one of the most sacred things in life. The friendships I build are deep and long-lasting and this issue, although immensely frustrating, won't break them. And if a friend cuts me off for an "anti-vax" post that friendship wouldn't have been real. But it has never happened. Even though many friends will dunk on me they are still up for a beer and a poker night as am I. I understand the psychology behind this campaign and the numbers have borne out. Out of 10 close friends only 3 haven't bought the narrative. That's 30%. The same 30% that can't be hypnotized. If I extrapolate out to a further 10 more casual but decent friendships, it's the same percentage. I hold out hope that the spell will be broken and like I said, when it does, they are going to need someone to explain it all to them and to give them some comfort. They are not yet beyond the pale.
Of course, if this mass psychosis deepens and I feel like they are starting to discriminate, things may change. Until that happens, I love them all. If we retreat into our own cliques during this time we only do harm to the societal psyche. We need more love at this juncture, not less.
The people your lengthy diatribe advocates for forgiving as hapless victims will gladly imprison the author, strip him permanently of his rights, advocate for him to bleed out on the street rather than receive healthcare, be placed in camps by the military, and shot for his disobedience.
I'm sorry you're so worried about losing too many friends that you feel this dance is worth having after two years of being a prisoner of the weak, mad, and stupid.
I'm not angry at a hungry wolf, aggressive bear, or rabid dog. But I'll still shoot them if they try to kill and eat me.
I hope you take this the right way. Your contempt for the author does not help mitigate your sanctimony and only adds width to the divide of reason that is separating the sane from the insane.
To be fair, Laurence does say things might change if discrimination starts setting in. I think it's hard not to feel rage, Guttermouth. I get it. I feel it, too. Especially when you see everyone blithely carrying on with their existences, happy and normal and not feeling so threatened and trapped as we are. It's especially enraging when you see people approving the discriminatory measures and wishing ill on others. I admire that Laurence is trying to allow for some redemption for those who have fallen into the trap and can't see their way out (or aren't even looking). I don't know if I could do it, and all I can say is his friends are really lucky to have him. I hope that they don't cross the line, because then redemption becomes very, very difficult.
He's admitted in his judgmental admonition of the author that losing his friends is his rubicon- a pretty shallow one when others have lost their jobs, credibility, social standing, marriages, and more for speaking out.
If they do cross the line, he'll simply cross it with them. Laurence's screed is simply "go along to get along" dressed in "I'm a good friend" clothes.
I'm happy to forgive and ignore people who don't personally want to hurt or threaten me. That isn't what we're talking about here.
Well reasoned and stated. Thanks, Gutter.
You're putting words in my mouth and haven't understood a word I said. Ann actually did understand it.
I agree somewhat on the friends thing. For me, I find it way too disturbing when a friend outside jumped away from me bc I didn't have a mask on. These are typically the types who even after vaxing are still afraid, and even believe the unvaxed are the problem! They’re typically too gullible and lack reasoning to the point of pointing the finger AT THE WRONG PEOPLE. Thats why it becomes a fight most often it seems. I don’t like being SCAPEGOATED nor BEING FORCED to take a vaccine. If other people can’t understand that, how can I have much mercy for THEM? If they can respect my choice, we can get along as I respect their choice. But treating me like a leper or selfish person is insulting and I wont tolerate it in this matter! My opinion & choice deserves respect. I dont need ppl who see it otherwise in my life.
It all depends on the friend. This isn't black and white.
I've got a friend who has gone over the deep end. He actually believes that natural immunity is a conspiracy theory. Goodbye!
Another friend refused to hang out with me outdoors, masked, because I am unvaccinated. Goodbye!
But I've got a few vaccinated , boostered friends who haven't even asked my status. We hang out and talk about normal things. I'm reaching out to this week regarding mandates. We'll see where it lands! But I'm not writing them off yet.
It really depends, doesn't it?
agree with you = understands what you're saying
disagrees with you = doesn't understand what you're saying
The only people who don't realize you're right are the ones that don't clearly grasp what you're saying.
Am I getting that right?
All I can say is that I understand the pain and rage, GM. I am living it right now, too. With a good dollop of terror on the side. I can also see where Laurence is at. We are all on the same side and yet at different points on the forgiveness and condemnation spectrum. And we're all trying to save something here or are at a crossroads. Or have lost something, or someone, valuable. Some of us have lost too much, and cannot forgive. It is all just crushingly sad. In these times I'm just happy to have allies, and really value all of you.
I don't think you got one thing right yet.
Laurence, you sound like you have really good friends. You are lucky. Most of us commenters have found that our friends have let us down.
Thank you Ann. I feel rage sometimes and a lot of frustration. And some anxiety when I go out with friends I know are true believers. But like I said if people aren't discriminating they are not yet lost. If friends do start vocalizing things like lockdowns for the unjabbed, mandatory vaccinations or support for mandates and passports I will speak out and friendships will be irrecoverable if I can't reason with them.
Well that clarifies things. I think this issue depends a lot on where you live and what measures are in place. Those of us who live in lands with vax passes/mandates have already been confronted with horrific betrayal by friends. The damage is not to be underestimated. I have also been unfriended for my stance, so that colors my feelings too. All that being said, you are lucky if you are in a position to maintain friendships with normies and I agree that a good relationship is the best way to help them out of their media inflicted psychosis.
I've never said that betrayal by friends should be accepted. Like I said, friendship is one the most sacred things in the world to me. If a friend betrays that there will be repercussions. My whole post was about how we treat friends that have NOT betrayed us. I didn't mention dealing with betrayal once. That's a totally different conversation.
I'm just trying to point out that your argument to be there for people who are not beyond the pale is a worthy one, but at the same time there are many of us who inhabit a world where nearly everyone we know is beyond the pale. I can see both side here and I hope most other readers can as well.
I agree, Ann. And I think that you can simultaneously love your (perhaps mindlessly) vaxxed friends and family and hate the architects and enforcers of this debacle. Some aspects of this are not black & white.
GM, that's not what I said at all. I'm sorry you missed the whole point of the post (that you didn't read). I have "contempt" for the author? I have no idea how you got that from my post. Either you can't read or you lack a certain amount of empathy, I do hope it's the former. It should have added some paragraph breaks, I didn't mean it to be a wall of text. Please read it again as it came from heart and there was no reason to attack me. We're all in this together my brother (or sister).
If there was no reason to attack you, there was no reason to accuse the author of "contempt for the majority of people" and accuse him of "adding width to the divide that is separating humanity."
You clearly position yourself as occupying the moral high ground, and feel qualified to judge the motives and words of others.
I'm sure the author's words "came from the heart" as well. I wasn't aware that quality insulates one's statements from criticism.
Really, the only possible alternatives are either I "can't read" or I "lack empathy?" I'm dumb or I'm a sociopath? Really, that's the only two possible explanations for me disagreeing with you?
I'm enjoying watching you reveal yourself to the audience here. Please, tell me more about myself.
He clearly has contempt for the pro-vaxxers. That's totally fine and in no way am I judging him or feel qualified to even do so. Many people deserve it and I feel it too sometimes. I just wanted to explain my view on the situation. I'm happy to reveal myself to the audience. I'm sure they can read my post and understand where I'm coming from.
I don't want to fight with you and I meant Mark no disrespect. I like his writing, that is why I'm subbed. I'm sure he's chuckling at our little back and forth. So there is no accusation, no judging, nothing. It's strange that Ann and Rosemary were able to understand the context and you weren't. But that's my fault, I'm sure I could have worded it differently. Still, I welcome criticism but let's not exchange barbs.
Contempt is a coping mechanism, too! I have it, in chunks. I opened up a Twitter account just to post a picture of our "Constitutional Expert" at my university, replete with a crown on his head and saying "L'etat c'est moi!" - like the little King Louis that he thinks he is, justifying a forced mandate on our 20-odd thousand students. Many of whom will be petrified at the idea of myocarditis and other adverse effects, but nevertheless desperate to complete their education.
There is nothing wrong with having contempt for pro-vaxxers. I don't know why some commenters like GM think it's bad. Pro-vaxxers deserve it. When I take heat under a facebook post it sometimes drives me up the bloody wall. And I feel it too. I just then stow it away. For instance, I had an exchange with a friend who used to live here in Japan who went back to California. He mocked me for my beliefs and I wanted to reach through the monitor and smash his teeth in. A few weeks ago he came back to visit and I went up to meet him and have some beers. For the first time in our long friendship I had this horrible anxiety in the days leading up it. There was no reason though. He didn't look at me any different for being a "lunatic anti-vaxxer" just as I didn't look at him any different.
I'm just saying that friendships can override this difference at this stage in the war.
I didn't think that your post Laurence showed contempt for the author.
You are right, but there are others that are not pushing for mandates etc but are just going along believing what they are told, and still more that are "go along to get along". What I take away most from what is happening is a DEEP reflection on every time I have seen something wrong happen to some other group and said nothing. I feel it so strongly - that this is Karma for me and everyone who took their freedom for granted. I KNEW this could happen in America, but I just didn't think they would come after ME. They kicked neighbors out of school because they could not tolerate MMR vax - I said nothing. I saw INDIVIDUALS treated like crap over politics (single mothers on assistance, immigrants that didn't speak English, inner city black youth angry at a system that gives them no path out) - and say nothing. Political difference should never drive you to stop seeing the other as human. Those lost in the covid hysteria are human - they just forgot that WE are too. We need to fight, and speak up for truth, and demand consequences, but keep our humanity too.
I wish you the best of luck with that. On this issue, I think I'm honestly lost. It just doesn't make any tactical sense- if someone has dehumanized YOU, prepare for the worst.
Whew. Great response!!
Funny thing about Fox: except for Tucker Carlson they are pretty pro-vax.
I guess it's different if you have not yet experienced the discrimination and sanctimonious judgement. In Ontario, we are not allowed in bars, restaurants, gyms, theatres, and sports venues, including local arenas. Parents must drop off their small children at the door if not vaxxed. I've not been allowed on my campus where I work since September. I have been treated like garbage by people who once respected me, when I say I am not jabbed.
I do agree that we shouldn't add fuel to the fire. But at the same time, for some of us, the struggle is real. I have no job as of January and my husband is on edge, waiting to see if his exemption is accepted. We will be going from a professional, middle-class family, to zero income. We have one daughter in university. Good times.
You are quite correct. I live in Japan and we have had no real lockdowns, no mandates etc. I'm from the UK so on social media I obviously have a lot of friends on there from the UK. As yet I've seen no signs of discrimination or support for anything discriminatory. If I was to see of course I would speak out. I often post my thoughts on the current situation on social media, and like I said, I get dunked on, but it's always respectful.
I know I'm lucky and I've been insulated and I can't imagine what you must be going through. My whole point was solely that we maybe shouldn't cut off pro-vax friends that are not yet beyond the pale. Yes, their compliance is the reason many people are struggling. But their minds have been hijacked, they are literally hypnotized. Just because they aren't aware of it doesn't make it any less so. I'm just saying we can still have compassion for them at this stage. Obviously if they start discriminating it's a completely different situation. And by exposing them to our truths we stand a chance of changing minds.
I’ve had this same debate with my mom. She thinks I should show more grace to those being lead astray by media, politicians, and sheepish unthinking doctors. While I acknowledge the importance of grace, I personally am beyond the sympathy part. There have been so many lies, proven lies, and so many pushes to erode freedoms and segregate society. The “ anti-racist” want desegregation. The “feminist” place the feelings of mentally disturbed biological men above the physical safety and bodily integrity of my 10 year old daughter. The “follow the science” crowd hasn’t bothered to look at a single data table on a single dashboard.
I respect your position and wish you luck in changing minds. I have become a believer in natural consequences. I’m not unkind, and I don’t want bad things for the sheep, but I can no longer feel bad for them. At this point they are making a choice to knowingly harm others - particularly children and the poorest among us - because they treat the lying media and incompetent politicians as if they are infallible gods. I can’t save them……. If they are going to be saved, they are going to have to wake up and save themselves.
Amen, NC. Thanks for that message.
I think you meant to say: "The 'anti-racist[s]' want segregation."
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/opinion/when-the-left-turns-on-its-own.html
I did - I hope people caught that. :)
We have to hold on to our own sanity right now.
Yes, continue to love those that we regard as friends or family.
We cannot control others lives, thoughts or beliefs, so this is certainly a challenge on those of us that are being personally judged and slandered.
Oh, all of this mind control started long before covid.... I think we all know that.
I have many family members that disparage me..... one, my sister in law, calls me a stupid f--ing bitch, regularly. She also threatens harm to me.
I admit, it has been very hard on my heart.
I know a lot of people dealing with such division, Rose.
I hope you are prioritizing time with positive, well-adjusted people..
You're the one who understands what's going on. It's the world around you that's crazy.
thank you, Mark, for those encouraging words. I am so fortunate to have a very rational level headed husband. My daughters are also helpful reminders to "just do not step into it." and it is not worth arguing with a chunk of "stone"
Again, thank you for your kind words. They do give me comfort
Nah, sometimes conflict is necessary. Now is such a time.