I feel like the world has gone upside down, and shit sideways as of late. And it's not been just since the sudden onset of COVID-19/Coronavirus, either. If it wasn't this deal with maskers vs. anti-maskers during a pandemic, it would've probably been something else that'd be equally stupid. Maybe something like "Wear a hat! Don't let your head burn in the sun!" And some asshole would be like "Being told to wear a hat is OPPRESSION, man! It violates my rights!"
Or, just think if the mandates were something REALLY silly like "Wear a long sleeve shirt in public, and reduce the amount of body hair being shed from your arms. The less body hair being dumped around, the less chance of someone inhaling YOUR body hair and being infected with [XYZ virus]!" And some idiot would be like "I can't wear a long sleeve shirt in public. What if it's hot outside? What if I want to show off my arms? I'm telling you, this is fascist crap! I know my rights!"
I still hold hope that information in the digital age can help save us, but only if minds, hearts, and eyes are open. Unfortunately, it seems like even when faced with evidence that challenges dumb assumptions, there are those folks who simply feel they're being oppressed, controlled, their rights violated, whatever. It's like if it's something that would hopefully protect both themselves against others, or protect others from themselves, or both, suddenly it becomes a fucking political belief issue. Suddenly, everything becomes political right down to how toast is made, or which way is the proper way to have your toilet paper roll hanging. It's over, not under!
And I'm sure someone, dare I say some asshole will say something to contradict that, because "Goddamn it, I'm right. You're wrong. And that's all there is to it!"
Whatever happened to saying, "You know, I never thought of it that way. Maybe I should take another look at that idea."
Or, "I haven't considered that before. Where can I find more information?" Those who would challenge even basic scientific concepts, research, empirical data, and logical reasoning are simply making it difficult for the rest of us who understand the science, the medical terms, etc to get through this pandemic as quickly as possible with the fewest possible deaths as humanly possible. Those same people who challenge simple scientific data are the same ones who will defy a mandate, but are quick to yell "LAW & ORDER" like a certain Orange Shitstain-in-chief, because they're the model textbook example of the word "hypocrite"!
There, I said it!
It's like the lot of them yelling "pro-life" because they are anti-abortion, and want ALL fetuses to be born, regardless of the risk to the health of the birth mother or for the child being born. It just matters to the Pro-Life'ers that babies are born. After that, though, the child as well as the mother (if she lives beyond childbirth in the risky birth of said child) are "on their own", as it were. Why? Pro-Life'ers tend to vote for politicians that want to take away basic human services that were developed to help either unwed or low-incomd newbie-mothers pay for or take care of their new child. Gawd-forbid that mother and child get any help from the gov't, right? But are told by "pro-life'ers" to "get a job" or "ask God for help." because that makes it all better right? I don't think many of them realize just how hard it is for mothers anywhere to get a job while taking care of a newborn child or toddler.
But back to the idea that Pro-Life'ers simply want ALL fetuses born, after they're born, the Pro-Life'ers cease to care, because many of the social programs designed to give a hand up are almost always on the chopping block of any budget proposal.
So, they're not really Pro-Life, are they? They're "Pro-Birth". And many Republicans/Trumpublicans only are Pro-Life'ers for two reasons. One, they want to cut those social programs from the budget proposals, because that means more gov't money to raid for future wars. Wars that get fought eventually by ... you guessed it, those forced births of children that have become a politician's "cannon fodder" of a "Trumped up" war.
BUT, I digress.
Wearing masks should be a simple, easy thing to do. Hell, I have exercise-induced asthma, but I wear a mask when I'm out in public, and I do just fine with it. But some assclown claims that doing so will lower oxygen intake. I'm not going to get into the specifics on why that is a dumbass claim to make, but if that were true, then doctors who routinely have to wear a mask when performing hours-long surgery would be frequently complaining about it, and would experience oxygen deprivation on a frequent basis. They don't.
I could go on and on, but the fact is this. Say you read an article about some guy who, out of nowhere and for no reason shoots and kills a peaceful protester, and your first instinct is to defend that man by saying "Well, the protester wasn't peaceful. They're just a violent thug, and they got what they deserved!", I got news for you. You made an assumption without verifying ANYTHING, and worse you've taken to defending a murderer. I honestly don't know which is worse, someone having murdered another human being for no reason, or someone else defending that murder by claiming it was justified "because the protester was a thug". I think both are equally bad.
This is the bullshit, upside down world that has me wondering, "Will we survive this long enough to see a cure? Or are we going to end up killing each other over really dumb fucking shit like wearing a fucking Gawddamn mask!?"
Perhaps it's best not to dwell on such things. But I fear the day is coming when we may have to find out just how committed any of us are to defending ourselves against one another. The United States, as far as this blind man is concerned, is apparently going to doom itself because we have an idiot-in-charge who thinks he's God's greatest gift to [name a noun, country, anything], and thinks he's smarter than any scientist who does research that is, literally, beyond his Orangeness's understanding. And it shows clearly.
The worst part is his narcissism, and that he's clearly projecting his own crimes. Even worse yet is that he's empowered his supporters to be openly racist, openly anti-science, and openly anti-medicine. This is clearly a dangerous situation, having a misinformed population that wouldn't know to open a nonfiction, peer-reviewed article of a scientific study even if one flew into their face and stuck to it.
I fear we may be all doomed because some few idiots in our society, especially in the United States, feel theyre being oppressed for having to wear a mask, but have absolutely ZERO FUCKING CLUE what it means to be mistreated on a massive scale such as the Jews in the Holocaust before, and during, WWII. OR, how literally every native American tribe has been almost extinguished by European colonizers in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries and beyond.
And I have not even yet touched on legalized slavery in Colonial America through half of the 19th century. Then came the awful mistreatment of non-caucasians prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but we STILL haven't quite figured out how to get rid of systemic racism.
I have some thoughts on that. Quit teaching your little fucking bratlets, your fuck trophies, to hate others. I think it ought to be a crime to do such a thing to a child. It should be labeled as child abuse.
Anyway, I don't think we'll get through this COVID-19/Coronavirus crap until we're ALL prepared to suffer a little inconvenience here and there for the health and well-being of our fellow Americans, our fellow human beings. But it has to start by us not giving in to hate or preconceived prejudices.
That's just how I feel about it!
