I'm just going to repeat that:
It's not too much to ask you to wear a fucking mask and stay home.
The pandemic isn't "over," and life is not "going back to normal." What is "normal" is the craven irresponsibility of the privileged and even the not-so privileged. This is the high school that I graduated from back in the Stone Age. It was basically a one-room school-house then (hyperbole intentional since privilege was rarely recognized in the Stone Age) but is pretty much unrecognizable now. You can read the story here.
My take on this shit-show?
(Anonymous commenter -- you'll have to forgive me my anger as I know it offends you, makes you "exhausted") This pandemic is demonstrating with crystal clarity that the lives at risk are expendable. That if you are a person of color, a disabled person, an old person, a person who takes care of another, an "essential worker," you are EXPENDABLE.
WE are expendable.
The rest of you are "free" to do -- in what seems to be the most grotesque interpretation of freedom I've ever understood -- whatever the hell you want.
All is transactional.
So, go on with your best self, as they say.
Have a party.
Travel!
Get your hair cut.
Go bowling.
Go to the beach.
Go to church.
God will take care of you.
You've got to start somewhere.
Don't muzzle yourself. You're free.
Social distancing is a hoax.
Bill Gates is out to track all of us.
Get back to normal.
Make America great.
I'll say it again. America is terrible and exhausting.
Sometimes, it's not. Read this:
It Just Burns Me Up
Oo, that anon commenter boiled my piss too.
ReplyDeleteThis is a terrifying time and you are right millions of Americans don't give a fuck and are idiots. And yes, you are an angry person made angrier when someone mentions that you are an angry person. And yes, I find anger exhausting in others and most especially in myself.
ReplyDeleteSigh. I’m also reactionary, so instead of being angrier when called out by people in the ether, I feel calmer and amused in the darkest of ways. So, thanks for the sustenance. May you be lucky enough to find someone to relieve you of your exhaustion and anger. If you’re a man, that is. If you’re a woman, you’ve probably been told that you’re “too angry” or that anger is terrible. That’s internalized misogyny. Be angry if anger is due. Express yourself. Let it go. Use it to fuel change.
DeleteI have a little poking stick
DeleteI use it to enrage
Already-angry people when I comment on their page.
Having risen above feeling
I'm ready for ascension
My one remaining fleshy sin
Is petty condescension.
Cast away your rage, my dear
Admit it's ever-tiring
Join the ranks of those who find
Admonishment inspiring.
<3<3
DeleteI’m at risk. Sophie is at risk. My son, his wife, and one of my daughters are on the front lines every workday. Many of the less vulnerable have proven that they don’t give a damn.
ReplyDeleteI wrote about the same thing tonight although not from such a personal perspective. Yeah, I am over sixty and I have one daughter in health care and one who works in a grocery store so I guess I do have a dog in this hunt.
ReplyDeleteAs we all do.
It's ALL PERSONAL. How hard can it be to do the right thing for others? It's not like this is going to be permanent?
DeleteThose that imagine they aren't At Risk view the Expendables {us} as the real nuisance in all of this Pandemic stuff that they really can't wrap their Minds around, clearly. If the gravity of the situation really sunk in and they realized that anyone is At Risk to Die or suffer permanent damage from this invisible enemy that will use any of us as Host, they might get the reality check that they need. So long as they assume it won't be them... probably not... and the thinning of the Herd that voluntarily puts themselves in foolish positions when they don't have to, is bound to happen... it's inevitable... and Yes, it angers the shit out of me that the death and suffering will be prolonged and magnified because of it!
ReplyDeleteTake a look at the pictures from Lake of the Ozarks Missouri of the people partying in the swimming pool. It was so disgusting to see so many people, so close together, during a killer pandemic. It was as disgusting as a bucket full of eels to me. Even more so, because these slimy human eels will be spreading out all over Missouri when the weekend is over and bringing their covid 19 infestation with them. What a slimy world-wide representation of the state I live in. I don't know who these people are, and I'm damn glad, I sure never want to meet any of them. Makes it clear why Missouri is a place that people move away from.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just America. You probably heard about one of our top government officials who drove from London to Durham (more than 200 miles) WHILE SUFFERING SYMPTOMS OF CORONAVIRUS so he could be with his extended family and "seek childcare" for his young child. While there he went to a local hospital, thus potentially contaminating Durham facilities with virus he'd brought from London. The guy flagrantly broke the lockdown, and the clear message was that he felt it simply didn't apply to him -- that he was above it. (As Leona Helmsley famously said, "Only the little people pay taxes.")
ReplyDeleteYes, it is infuriating to feel 'expendable.' The thing is, EVERYONE is at risk, even though they think it's "those" people and not them. Since people are being arsholes, it is even more important for me to continue with all the precautions. I've managed to hang on with Type 1 diabetes for 30 years, and I'm sure as hell not going to give Covid 19 a chance to take me out! This virus has exposed the very best and the very worst of humanity.
ReplyDelete