Covid-19 levels in wastewater—one of the best (only?) metrics of community spread these days—have reached the “high” category. This means that if you’re sick today, it’s likely Covid-19. This also means it’s time to get that indoor air moving and to wear a mask if you don’t want to get sick.
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The West is leading the way with infections, and levels are higher than last summer’s peak. It’s hard to tell if the West is peaking. While Hawaii has already peaked after its huge infection wave, California and Oregon continue to increase considerably.
Other regions are following suit. In fact, 26 states have “high” or “very high” levels of Covid-19.
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Severe disease is also increasing, but starting at low levels. Thanks to population immunity building, rates are not as high as last summer’s peak (or the summer before).
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We are seeing uncomfortable mortality rates among medically vulnerable people, like older adults in nursing homes, who are more than 6 months out from their last vaccine. For older adults who didn’t get their vaccine this spring, I suggest getting a vaccine now. But do it soon, as we want at least four months between this and the upcoming fall dose, so that it works best. Last year, the winter Covid-19 wave started in November.
I struggle with how to live with COVID still. During my last long haul flights, I was the only one wearing a mask. But when I'm shopping, I forget to put on a mask. It's like even I'm forgetting...
I struggle with how to live with COVID still. During my last long haul flights, I was the only one wearing a mask. But when I'm shopping, I forget to put on a mask. It's like even I'm forgetting to be careful and everyone else has totally put it out of their minds forever.
I had a followup appointment with my surgeon and my wife tagged along, and she was wearing a mask bc she had a cold, it was a hospital, and we had extra masks still lying around. My surgeon made a...
I had a followup appointment with my surgeon and my wife tagged along, and she was wearing a mask bc she had a cold, it was a hospital, and we had extra masks still lying around. My surgeon made a little comment to her like "Wow you're still wearing a mask?" Which felt extra weird coming from a doctor. I've stopped masking but I also work from home and don't leave the house a ton for my freetime activities, so I'm probably in a safer position than most.
That's weird coming from anyone in healthcare. Setting aside the global pandemic we all went through, it's still objectively weird that wearing a mask anytime anyone walks into a doctor's office...
That's weird coming from anyone in healthcare.
Setting aside the global pandemic we all went through, it's still objectively weird that wearing a mask anytime anyone walks into a doctor's office wasn't 100% normal already.
True, but it hasn't really stuck around here unfortunately. And tbf, we were in the plastic surgery division and it was v empty besides us, so not the riskiest environment.
True, but it hasn't really stuck around here unfortunately. And tbf, we were in the plastic surgery division and it was v empty besides us, so not the riskiest environment.
Unless it was spoken with a tone of congratulation, I'd be looking for a new doctor. Healthcare workers sneering at masks is the modern-day equivalent of the doctors Florence Nightingale had to...
Unless it was spoken with a tone of congratulation, I'd be looking for a new doctor. Healthcare workers sneering at masks is the modern-day equivalent of the doctors Florence Nightingale had to deal with, who thought washing their hands before surgery was beneath them. I guess if this is a post-surgical follow-up all that's left is a mention of that in a review on Yelp or some other surgeon recommendation site.
The surgery in question is a trans surgery, so my options are already quite limited, and he did a very good job on the actual surgery part, so I'm willing to overlook a few faux-pas in his bedside...
The surgery in question is a trans surgery, so my options are already quite limited, and he did a very good job on the actual surgery part, so I'm willing to overlook a few faux-pas in his bedside manner. Not least bc he's willing to "optimize my diagnosis" (his words) to get my insurance to cover some touch-ups.
It’s natural to feel a bit touchy about it since masks have been controversial, but I think it might be better to treat that question as casual but genuine curiosity, and an opening to talk about...
It’s natural to feel a bit touchy about it since masks have been controversial, but I think it might be better to treat that question as casual but genuine curiosity, and an opening to talk about why it is that you’re wearing a mask. After all, it is pretty unusual nowadays and there might be special circumstances behind it.
Also, it seems like doctors should be encouraging us to talk about health issues? Even if it’s not directly related, it could be relevant. Sadly, they are often pressed for time these days.
Eh, he's a German doctor so not super chatty afterwards, the conversation didn't go far from there. I wasn't super offended, just bemused, but my wife was annoyed. She's more principled about...
Eh, he's a German doctor so not super chatty afterwards, the conversation didn't go far from there. I wasn't super offended, just bemused, but my wife was annoyed. She's more principled about stuff like this than me though.
I still wear a mask for flights, but I’m more worried about airports than the airplanes. Based on what I’ve read, since the pandemic planes have had high grade filters installed in their air...
I still wear a mask for flights, but I’m more worried about airports than the airplanes.
Based on what I’ve read, since the pandemic planes have had high grade filters installed in their air circulation systems which dramatically reduce the chance of contracting any kind of airborne illness on them, and unless they’re one of the newer planes built with carbon fiber, humidity is also very low which studies have shown has a strong effect on how long the virus can survive in the air. I doubt any of this is true in airports.
So during air travel, I wear a 3M Aura N95 which is reasonably comfortable and easy to get a good seal with, but will remove it for short periods (~20-30m) on the flight to eat. This hasn’t failed me in the 12+ flights I’ve been on since 2021, though admittedly that’s a small enough sample size that it could just be dumb luck.
For shopping, I do a combination of a less cumbersome KN95 and going during the least busy days/times, when possible. The latter is not a flexibility that everybody has the privilege of, though.
Absolutely. Flo Mask Pro, anytime I'm near anyone, indoors or out. (Which is rare because of isolation.) Maybe it's easier to remember when you've lost family and friends to it. We are not through it.
Absolutely. Flo Mask Pro, anytime I'm near anyone, indoors or out. (Which is rare because of isolation.)
Maybe it's easier to remember when you've lost family and friends to it.
That's the sad reality. It's too widespread, there is no end. It's forever now. It's just one more thing to cope with like Hand/Foot/Mouth, the regular flu, and all the other communicable viruses...
That's the sad reality. It's too widespread, there is no end. It's forever now. It's just one more thing to cope with like Hand/Foot/Mouth, the regular flu, and all the other communicable viruses that the main cure for is "well wait it out and hope the symptoms don't kill you."
Nope, not unless I’m feeling sick and really need to go somewhere urgently (to get medicine or see a doctor, etc.). I’m also not immunocompromised, am fully vaccinated and boosted, and have had...
Nope, not unless I’m feeling sick and really need to go somewhere urgently (to get medicine or see a doctor, etc.).
I’m also not immunocompromised, am fully vaccinated and boosted, and have had covid (it was fine). At this point, there’s no need to wear a mask on a day to day basis for the vast majority of the public.
That said, if it makes you feel more secure, by all means go for it. I occasionally still see people wearing them and don’t give it a second thought - I just assume they’re under the weather, immunocompromised, or someone’s caretaker.
I haven’t really thought all that much about it. If I wear a mask, it’s mainly for odor issues, like on the subway if it smells particularly bad. I’ve gotten COVID a few times, symptoms are mild,...
I haven’t really thought all that much about it. If I wear a mask, it’s mainly for odor issues, like on the subway if it smells particularly bad. I’ve gotten COVID a few times, symptoms are mild, mostly from immune reactions anyway, it’s over in under a week typically - it is what it is.
I wear a mask when I'm in an enclosed public space. Bus? Mask. Outside dining? No mask. Hospital? You'd better believe I'm wearing a mask among all those sick people. Walking on a crowded street?...
I wear a mask when I'm in an enclosed public space. Bus? Mask. Outside dining? No mask. Hospital? You'd better believe I'm wearing a mask among all those sick people. Walking on a crowded street? No mask, but I feel a little uncertain about it.
I still wear masks in basically every enclosed public space (including public transport) during most months. During summer I wear it when the enclosed public space is significantly busy and/or...
I still wear masks in basically every enclosed public space (including public transport) during most months. During summer I wear it when the enclosed public space is significantly busy and/or doesn't have windows etc open. I'm wearing single-use FFP2 masks for the most part, but I get them in various colours and often pair them with my outfit.
While we still "were formally" in the pandemic I was also wearing an extra, fabric mask with cute designs on top of the FFP2, both to apply extra force on the FFP2 mask to help prevent any accidental "leakage" and also as a way to personalise my masks a little more. I've used some with flowers, animals, rainbows, and other cute designs.
That being said, I'm still the only one I know that is actually wearing masks. I may occasionally see someone at the supermarket wearing it, but that's really rare. And in the flights I took this year, only 1 other person in 1 of those several flights was wearing a mask.
Myself and partner still try to... it's a bit of a mixed bag. Right after a wave goes through that we inevitably catch, we'll have masks off and try to enjoy the weather the best we can since we...
Myself and partner still try to... it's a bit of a mixed bag. Right after a wave goes through that we inevitably catch, we'll have masks off and try to enjoy the weather the best we can since we can't catch it again right away. The ideal being that eventually start putting on masks for everything. The problem is that transfer period does not typically work out the way we intend. Much like yourself, we end up forgetting masks at home and shrug as we go in shopping. We try to do our best, but it's also hard when we're the only ones wearing masks and our concern isn't with self preservation but being courteous to others...
Even with the understanding that any protection helps with the spread, it's hard to feel any positive feedback reassurance. Similar to voting, it's important to note that as long as you're participating you're helping. Even if you're not perfect at it or can't feel the immediate effects.
I got burned out when my kids preschool just dropped any and all masking. No point when the main input vector for disease is gonna be coughing in my face. And NGL, I'm spiteful enough with an old...
I got burned out when my kids preschool just dropped any and all masking. No point when the main input vector for disease is gonna be coughing in my face.
And NGL, I'm spiteful enough with an old enough town that at this point if I kill a few Republicans due to a communicable disease (which they fought against all protection measures for) in the course of my daily life, I can live with that.
vord, I like your presence here on Tildes and appreciate your contributions, but, respectfully, I don’t love your fantasizing about killing people based on their party affiliation. It’s exactly...
Exemplary
vord, I like your presence here on Tildes and appreciate your contributions, but, respectfully, I don’t love your fantasizing about killing people based on their party affiliation.
It’s exactly that rhetoric that makes many far-right commenters both awful and terrifying, and I don’t think we should emulate that in ourselves.
You're not wrong, and it's honestly not something I exactly love about myself. But the reason I share it is that I don't think I'm in the wrong here. Some people turn the other cheek, some flee,...
Exemplary
You're not wrong, and it's honestly not something I exactly love about myself. But the reason I share it is that I don't think I'm in the wrong here. Some people turn the other cheek, some flee, and some turn to fight. I'm reconciling where exactly I'm going to be on that in the next 5 years. Some people have dark thoughts about suicide, mine are about killing the people who might come knocking on my door to give my family some tattoos on their arms. Given the types of flags that have been flying since Trump got clipped, the odds are the highest it's ever been in my lifetime.
And as I've stated elsewhere, there are no more moderate Republicans. They have been a dying breed since the 80s, and pretty sure the last one died in 2018 when they continued to tow the line for Trump. Look no further than how far Rudy Giuliani fell from national hero, person of the year, in the wake of 9/11 to shilling for a fascist in a back alley in 2020.
They are today, for all intents and purposes, at roughly the same phase as the Nazis in 1931. A very conservative party formerly courting the proletariat, which then purged those elements as they marched further towards extremism and consolidating their power over the course of 20ish years. On the verge of overthrowing democracy if the votes don't go their way, complete with a plan to purge the government of their ideological enemies and their country of inferior races (their term is illegal immigrants and, as always, Jews).
I will not stand idly and quietly while these assholes pretend otherwise... who in 2016 threw their hands in the air and said dumb things like "well, I know Trump is terrible but I can't vote for a Democrat," and by 2021 were parroting Trump's talking points and being upset that the Jan 6th coup failed (see my parents).
We are on the precipice of war, whether we like to admit this to ourselves or not. So in the meantime, I have abandoned all sympathy for those who wish me and mine harm because we're not WASPs, or at the very least, are still voting GOP because they remember what a great actor Reagan was.
My great hope is that the rest of the world manages to help the side that's probably going to get slaughtered before the big ball of hate spills out into annexing the rest of the world.
I don't feel we're on the precipice of war, but I do feel comments about killing the opposition do edge us closer to that point. Like @kfwyre, I've been feeling rather put off by some of the...
I don't feel we're on the precipice of war, but I do feel comments about killing the opposition do edge us closer to that point. Like @kfwyre, I've been feeling rather put off by some of the political comments I'm seeing on Tildes recently. Particularly some who condoned the attempt on Donald Trump's life last week, or try to justify such political violence.
I understand the frustration, and I agree that Republicans are often the prime contributors of this kind of rhetoric. However I also know that adding more fuel on the fire doesn't bring us closer to a peaceful resolution.
Society can adapt to change surprisingly quickly. Right now it feels like the world is deftly moving away from democracy, but history shows us that positive change can happen just as quickly. Interracial marriage used to be a scandal, but is now commonplace. Smoking in public is no longer cool but seen as dirty. Popular support for gay rights has shifted dramatically in just a couple decades.
People can change, even from deeply held beliefs. That change partly comes from generational shifts, but more than you'd think it comes from cultural pressures to improve. Adjusting the messaging on what's acceptable does work, even if its effects are not obvious at first. For that reason it's important that the messaging not be that the other side are devils or traitors, but that there are problems that affect all of us, and that we can work together to improve things.
In many ways, those who frustrate us the most - be they anti-maskers, anti-vaccine, or political extremists - are also victims. They are the ones being lied to, having their world views contorted, and have to deal with the destruction of it all. Because in the same way that positive messaging influences us, so does the negative narrative. If we're constantly being told that our country is falling apart, that all of science is a sham, and that the outgroup is to blame, it's going to have an effect.
From your comment it sounds like you're frustrated with your parents. I'm sure it hurts a lot to see them swept up in all this. As difficult as that is, I'd say it's worth remembering that they're likely feeling pain and frustration from all the doom and gloom they're being fed as well. And that they're also feeling the loss from any relationships ended over political fights.
I know that it's hard to empathize with a political enemy, but I believe it is the most effective way to make connections and change minds. Talking to people works. Canvassing works. One of the biggest reasons that gay rights moved so quickly is that it turns out, many people already knew someone who was gay, even if they didn't know it yet. It was the brave folks that came out first that helped make it acceptable for everyone else. It might start as "they're one of the good ones", but bit-by-bit minds are changed. Optimistically, I think we're starting to see the same happen with support for transgender folks right now. Project 2025 is horrifying, but I don't believe it's stronger than people's propensity for growth.
I'd like to suggest a few episodes from the podcast You Are Not So Smart which addresses this topic in greater detail.
I'd like to rebut this - politics is not divorced from life. Politics is not some separate issue that can be considered in isolation. By pretending that it is, you are participating in the...
I know that it's hard to empathize with a political enemy
"political" enemy
I'd like to rebut this - politics is not divorced from life. Politics is not some separate issue that can be considered in isolation. By pretending that it is, you are participating in the gaslight that politics is a team sport that can be ignored between the biennial votes.
The Republicans have chosen the path of existential threat.
They wave Nazi flags. They knowingly collaborate with Nazis. Jewish people have the right to feel existential threat, and the right to respond accordingly.
They wave Confederate flags. They openly advocate for race war. All non-white people have the right to feel existential threat, and the right to respond accordingly.
They are dismantling the Civil Rights Act. For a second time, all non-white people have the right to feel existential threat, and the right to respond accordingly.
They dissolved the right to abortion. This will directly lead to the death of thousands of women. In any other time- in any other place- this is called massacre. Women have the right to feel existential threat, and the right to respond accordingly.
At the RNC, they are blatantly calling for the death of liberals. Non-Republicans have the right to feel existential threat, and the right to respond accordingly.
If you think they will not act on these threats, then you are a fool:
in Bush v. Gore, they interfered with the vote and set the precedent that the courts can decide elections.
They have, in Citizen's United, disenfranchised the individual and empowered special interests.
On January 6, they made their first attempt to ignore the vote, and are now using those court cases to make the next attempt easier.
They have, just a few weeks ago, allowed government officials to take not-bribes from special interests.
They have, just a few weeks ago, set the stage for dictatorship by making the President unaccountable.
They are publicly acting on their threats. They are publicly advancing their agendas.
They are not trying to hide that they want to hurt people. They are not trying to hide that they want to abolish democracy. They are not trying to hide that they are fascist.
I'm sorry that you're hurting. Genuinely. I feel a lot of this too. I think for me, it's hard to square what's actually true and what's the product of the catastrophizing flowing out of my overly...
I'm sorry that you're hurting. Genuinely. I feel a lot of this too. I think for me, it's hard to square what's actually true and what's the product of the catastrophizing flowing out of my overly anxious brain.
I also try to draw a line between lacking sympathy for others versus actively wishing them harm or death. The former is something I have in place for a lot of the people you describe, but the latter is an urge I try to fight off. It makes me feel like I'm turning into them. The lack of humanity I see from many right-wing sources turns my stomach, but the idea that I would follow suit turns it even more.
In thinking about your words here, I think we're responding to the same stressor in different ways. You're taking an aggressive, protective stance against outside threats, while I'm folding inward and trying to hold on to the humanity in myself -- the outside be damned.
I don't want to take away your feelings from you, but I will say that when we adopt their worst elements, even with the best of intentions, I think we normalize them a way that's ultimately harmful. When we make party-affiliated celebrations of violence sound like regular discourse, we're taking their horrors and laundering them into something conventional. I think that ends up helping their cause and hurting us.
I really don't think it's fair to compare the two. Is killing in self defense the same as killing in malice? Is stealing bread because you're hungry the same as stealing bread just for fun? I...
I don't want to take away your feelings from you, but I will say that when we adopt their worst elements, even with the best of intentions, I think we normalize them a way that's ultimately harmful.
I really don't think it's fair to compare the two. Is killing in self defense the same as killing in malice? Is stealing bread because you're hungry the same as stealing bread just for fun?
I don't like how quickly the moral purity tests come out on the left whenever anyone holds a different viewpoint. If it's not a moral purity test, it's that someone else isn't interpreting the objective facts well enough, or that their opinion is actually harmful to others. We keep fighting amongst ourselves, when there's a clear much more hostile and problematic group that we're conveniently ignoring when we do this.
Attacking someone for wishing death on the people who are not just wishing, but actively attempting to eliminate people like me seems at best a trivial act, and at worse an act of sabotage. I know you well enough to know your intentions are aligned with mine and therefore not an act of sabotage, but I think we need to recognize that derailing a conversation to conduct a moral purity test on someone for wishing there to be less evil in the world seems really counterproductive.
You talk about violence being normalized, in a country where children can watch movies where people are torn apart. In a country where school shootings are so much the norm that children have to protest about them. In a country where we have, in recent history, had a president who has outright said extremely violent things on stage and was cheered for them. In a country where the president regularly participates in genocide of some group of people. We need to stop acting like someone advocating for violence against violent people is somehow going to normalize violence. Violence is absolutely normal in the US.
As a final note I'd like to point back at the paradox of intolerance. This paradox does not draw a distinction between violent and non-violent acts. We can do our best to avoid escalating the conflict, but I think it's unfair to act like the conflict hasn't already escalated to violent acts - minorities are regularly murdered in the United States for hateful reasons, and those hateful reasons are publicly aired and integrated into the strategic plan of one of the two major parties in the United States. Advocating for violence is already something that is a regular occurrence in US politics; there is no escalation here. More importantly, the voice being shared here is not advocating for violence out of hate, but out of self defense (and arguably it was just sharing a violent thought, not advocating for it). Out of a recognition for the lives that are currently being ended at the hands of hateful individuals. Violence born of hate and violence of self-defense are not the same thing and being defensive is not "taking their horrors and laundering them".
My mom accused me of living in a liberal bubble a few years ago, so as a good faith effort to her, I made it a point to incorporate more explicitly conservative sites into my news diet for a bit....
Exemplary
My mom accused me of living in a liberal bubble a few years ago, so as a good faith effort to her, I made it a point to incorporate more explicitly conservative sites into my news diet for a bit.
While on those sites, I would regularly see comments advocating for the indiscriminate death or harm of Democrats. I found those comments disgusting and alarming.
When I see a comment here advocating for the same for Republicans, I still think it's wrong.
This is not because I think the two sides are equivalent, or because I'm looking past the harms that they're doing, or because I'm secretly taking their side. I'm promise I'm not attempting to say this as some sort of purity test or pearl clutching.
I also fully understand that @vord was essentially blowing off steam more than advocating for any sort of action or policy, and I get that, but I also think there are far better ways to do it and that doing so in that way specifically is harmful.
I made my comment not to carry water for awful people; I made it because I think that indiscriminate vengeance-based violence is wrong. If someone came on here and said "I'm going to shoot up my town" we'd be horrified, but if they added "don't worry, they're all Republicans" I don't think that suddenly makes it okay. I also think that does nothing productive except to embolden the sort of people who might do exactly that. Instead of that type of proposed action being seen for the horror that it is, it gets reduced to just another expression of anger -- the dime-a-dozen of internet sentiments.
The Republican party is absolutely doing some heinous shit right now (and has been for a while). I know that you in particular suffer underneath that, and I wish I could do more to make things better for you. Believe me when I say that I know what it feels like. I grew up in the American south. My parents tried to make me go to conversion therapy and then disowned me. I've been threatened multiple times (in person, with weapons). I've literally been spit at and on. I've been vengefully outed. Someone made false allegations against me to try to get me fired. And even with all of this, I was lucky compared to what some of my peers went through. The embers for hatred still have heat within me, and it takes a lot sometimes to not let them grow into a blaze.
Even amidst all of that though, there were plenty of people who were kind and understanding and showed that humanity is far more complex than the red or blue boxes that America has sorted itself into. I literally owe my life to them, because they saved me after my suicide attempt. "They all deserve to die" was commonplace rhetoric about queer people at the time. AIDS had devastated our community and the longstanding sentiment about it was that we were getting the sweet righteous comeuppance of death for being so evil and so wicked.
Yet many of those people I know were able to look past that and see the humanity of people like us instead. Saying "well, they're Republicans so they deserve to die" is the same exact type of prejudicial overfitting that was applied against people like us, and I don't think it's right. I don't think it's more wrong than what their party is currently doing, but I also don't think we should live our lives by justifying our actions only relative to the worst wrongs out there. I simply don't want this place to be a place where we wish death on people.
Thanks for continuing to engage with and be respectful with your point. I've also been victimized with violence for simply existing. I also don't think we should be advocating for people to die...
Thanks for continuing to engage with and be respectful with your point. I've also been victimized with violence for simply existing. I also don't think we should be advocating for people to die because of who they are. I think it's completely reasonable, however, to make a distinction between violence born of hate and violence out of self defense. We make this distinction all the time and we make this distinction across different kinds of violence and other crimes. I think, however, we owe it to everyone to call out this distinction every time if we are to voice an opinion advocating for less or no violence. We must acknowledge that there is fundamentally something especially heinous about hateful violence and we should call it out anytime we are talking about violence and living in a world we want to see.
I'm not a violent person at all. I'm the kind of person who doesn't even kill bugs, I catch and release them. When faced with violence like I have in the past, I don't respond with physical violence. I absolutely abhor hate based violence and I just do not want to be the cause of violence so strongly that I would probably just die rather than violently resist, should the unfortunate occur. But I hate the collapsing of nuance that happens when we advocate against violence- not all violence is equal and we need to acknowledge that when we speak up against violence. There are certain kinds of violence which we are speaking more loudly against and we need to express that. I also worry about how much time gets wasted on discussions like this, when efforts could be better spent speaking out against the much more tangible and real violence being inflicted by the hateful in our daily lives.
I appreciate your courtesy as well. And I completely agree that the context surrounding violence and violent rhetoric is something that should be considered rather than ignored and flattened....
I appreciate your courtesy as well. And I completely agree that the context surrounding violence and violent rhetoric is something that should be considered rather than ignored and flattened. There is a material difference between self-defense and aggression.
I think when we have fraught conversations like this it can make us feel like we're in opposition, when really we've identified a small misalignment in an otherwise much larger overlap. You and I are more similar than different, and our values are vastly more concurrent than they are in conflict. I still see you as someone I stand beside rather than against!
I appreciate you for always speaking from your convictions and taking the time to walk people through your thought process. I've said before that I think you have a sharp, unwavering focus on justice, and that comes through here as it has so many times before. Thanks for doing what you do, Gaywallet. 💜
I can definitely empathize a bit more than other's responding to you. I definitely think it's a variation in psychological response to threat. The feeling I have about our country right now is...
I can definitely empathize a bit more than other's responding to you. I definitely think it's a variation in psychological response to threat. The feeling I have about our country right now is akin to having someone behind you on a dark empty street. It's a situation that I want to remain conflict-free, but my senses are attenuated for signals of danger. But I know myself enough to know that my psychological inclination is to reciprocate aggression when diffusing has failed.
And in that vein, I do not desire or encourage violence of conflict. But I can't have sympathy for voters of the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party when the leopards have begun eating their faces. Someone foments and riles up their base enough to attack the nation's capital and then we're supposed to take the blame/feel remorse when a crackpot takes a shot? That's a step too far for me. Likewise, I am very sorry for the families losing people to Covid. But if you're out there supporting groups that spread disinformation and covid denialism, that's called consequences and actions.
Leftist policies are regularly critcized for supporting bad lifestyle decisions: "UBI will only let people off the hook for being lazy/addicted to drugs." But when rightwing policy kills them or bites them in the ass they're given way more grace than a single mother trying to afford milk. I'm sick of it and I don't feel guilty for maintaining indifference when a group that advocates letting pregnant people die over avoidable complications reaps the seeds of ignorance that they sow.
So I cannot condone violence or celebrating death. But neither am I inclined to protect them from themselves outside of finding a nice padded room for them.
When my spouse and I started becoming mildly to moderately anxious about a looming threat to the area we lived in, we also felt like we were wearing crazy pants because no one else saw the same...
we are on the precipice of war
When my spouse and I started becoming mildly to moderately anxious about a looming threat to the area we lived in, we also felt like we were wearing crazy pants because no one else saw the same level of pending danger.
When we talked about potentially moving, all we got were blank stares if not open.... questioning. No one could understand why we would take such drastic measures as leaving an otherwise wonderful place to live in over a remote chance of something happening that is beyond anyone can prep for, and no one for sure can tell you when it might go bad.
So....I do sort of understand.
Eventually we decided that it was on our minds enough that it's probably not good for our mental health. When we think about the future for the kid and being somewhere where we can build our forever* home, the looming threat just made it clear that I can't picture a long term sense of safety there. We started applying for jobs elsewhere, and moved to first get out . Then we got our footing and some peace, and began to discuss our next move or if we'd like to stay. It was a great thing for us , but I also recognize that it's not easy, or even possible for everyone.
One of my problems is I don't know where I would move to. Canada has this problem. Europe has this problem. Where I am now, Pittsburgh and Philly are blue, but rural Pennsylvania is as red as East...
One of my problems is I don't know where I would move to. Canada has this problem. Europe has this problem.
Where I am now, Pittsburgh and Philly are blue, but rural Pennsylvania is as red as East Texas (where I grew up). Right now I live in a suburb that's just about where the yard signs start changing from Biden to Trump. So it's probably the best case scenario for staying in the US, and far enough north that warming is not going to cripple us locally.
Sometimes I think about buying some land and building a fortified compound, but 1) we don't really have the money to provision it in a way that would make us truly independent, 2) I'm not really interested in the violence that defending it would require and 3) the solitude would be terrible for my daughter.
All three of your points could be alleviated by working with others with a similar set of goals and breaking the goal down into smaller sections. You don't have to be 100% independent instantly,...
All three of your points could be alleviated by working with others with a similar set of goals and breaking the goal down into smaller sections. You don't have to be 100% independent instantly, just a little more resilient. You don't have to be ready to shoot someone, just build with an eye towards a low profile and a less inviting public face. Little improvements over time, and working with a group. No one is an island, and many hands make for light work. There's challenges to working with others, to be sure, but much resilience as well.
This is a good point, but unfortunately I don't have a group like that, and I think most of the survivalist types (at least in my area) will skew right wing. Maybe I can start a lefty survivalists...
This is a good point, but unfortunately I don't have a group like that, and I think most of the survivalist types (at least in my area) will skew right wing. Maybe I can start a lefty survivalists group on meetup and see what happens.
Yea pretty much. Any degree of proper independence is gonna require hefty degree of financial lift to stock enough tools and substantial labor to keep operational for any sustained period of time.
Yea pretty much. Any degree of proper independence is gonna require hefty degree of financial lift to stock enough tools and substantial labor to keep operational for any sustained period of time.
Americans in this thread may find this feed useful or interesting. Each Friday the total number of Americans killed by Covid 19 is updated. Each Friday the number of Americans killed in the last...
Americans in this thread may find this feed useful or interesting.
Each Friday the total number of Americans killed by Covid 19 is updated.
Each Friday the number of Americans killed in the last week by Covid 19 is posted.
Weekly numbers in the hundreds. I’d be interested to see the weekly counts of flu deaths, cancer deaths, heart disease deaths, and homicides for comparison. Covid was absolutely terrifying for a...
Weekly numbers in the hundreds. I’d be interested to see the weekly counts of flu deaths, cancer deaths, heart disease deaths, and homicides for comparison.
Covid was absolutely terrifying for a couple years. It’s still dangerous but has largely been defanged. Of course I speak from a place of privilege as someone not from a high-risk group so apologies for my insensitivity to those who still require vigilance. I spent longer than most isolating, masking, installing medical-grade air purifiers in my home, and zealously disinfecting every surface. It’s exhausting, and I sympathize. But it’s a huge victory (for all of us) that the majority of the population doesn’t need to keep that up today.
Not odd at all. I've been tracking the weekly deaths for 2-3 years. It has gone down to the hundreds in summer before, then like clockwork gone up over 1,000 a week in mid-late fall. I hope that...
Weekly numbers in the hundreds.
Not odd at all. I've been tracking the weekly deaths for 2-3 years. It has gone down to the hundreds in summer before, then like clockwork gone up over 1,000 a week in mid-late fall. I hope that doesn't happen again this year.
I think calling Covid de-fanged is a bit of an early celebration. There's still large waves of Covid going around and still plenty of deaths. The unfortunate thing is that the media has moved on...
I think calling Covid de-fanged is a bit of an early celebration. There's still large waves of Covid going around and still plenty of deaths. The unfortunate thing is that the media has moved on from discussing it all the time, so it feels like it isn't still present. While vaccines are definitely helping, there's enough people not taking them that wildfires are still crawling around.
To be transparent, some of this might be biased via anecdote: I have gotten sick from two COVID waves this year confirmed with tests, and both times I absolutely should have gone to the hospital. In defense of the anecdote, I think it's a lot easier to follow the news/waves when you're experiencing it yourself, and see how many people are being affected and in what ways.
They don't have a handle on Long Covid, last I heard/checked. They don't quite know why some have it and some just have "regular" Covid that can clear up and then you're back to totally normal....
largely been defanged
They don't have a handle on Long Covid, last I heard/checked. They don't quite know why some have it and some just have "regular" Covid that can clear up and then you're back to totally normal. They don't know how to cure it, or even really alleviate the worst of the symptoms. And Long Covid has some pretty alarming effects.
Anyone who thinks either Covid or Long Covid "is no big deal" probably has never had shortness of breath, persistently. Which isn't even the totality of the symptoms that'll affect a victim.
It's scary. When you try to breathe ... and can't. When you try to catch your breath, and struggle every time, and don't always catch it. When walking from one end of the hallway/house to the other leaves you fatigued and tired, when the thought of "I'll park, and walk across the parking lot, and go shopping" leaves you wondering just how the hell you'll pull that mammoth feat off.
So sure, Covid doesn't appear to be quite as dangerous as it once was, and a pretty high percentage of (vaccinated) people who catch it recover rather than die, but I have no interest in catching it and then finding out it's gonna stick around. For years/life. That sounds like something I very much don't want.
But that's just me. So I wear the mask. N95. Still. Every time. Don't touch my face, keep sanitizer with me and in my car and use it every time I leave a store or other uncontrolled environment.
Knock on wood, so far so good for me. Gonna keep listening to the cold hard logic of medical procedure. To facts. Real data. Hard proof. Not feelings, not opinions, and certainly not political bullshit.
From the article:
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I struggle with how to live with COVID still. During my last long haul flights, I was the only one wearing a mask. But when I'm shopping, I forget to put on a mask. It's like even I'm forgetting to be careful and everyone else has totally put it out of their minds forever.
Are y'all still wearing masks?
I had a followup appointment with my surgeon and my wife tagged along, and she was wearing a mask bc she had a cold, it was a hospital, and we had extra masks still lying around. My surgeon made a little comment to her like "Wow you're still wearing a mask?" Which felt extra weird coming from a doctor. I've stopped masking but I also work from home and don't leave the house a ton for my freetime activities, so I'm probably in a safer position than most.
That's weird coming from anyone in healthcare.
Setting aside the global pandemic we all went through, it's still objectively weird that wearing a mask anytime anyone walks into a doctor's office wasn't 100% normal already.
True, but it hasn't really stuck around here unfortunately. And tbf, we were in the plastic surgery division and it was v empty besides us, so not the riskiest environment.
Unless it was spoken with a tone of congratulation, I'd be looking for a new doctor. Healthcare workers sneering at masks is the modern-day equivalent of the doctors Florence Nightingale had to deal with, who thought washing their hands before surgery was beneath them. I guess if this is a post-surgical follow-up all that's left is a mention of that in a review on Yelp or some other surgeon recommendation site.
The surgery in question is a trans surgery, so my options are already quite limited, and he did a very good job on the actual surgery part, so I'm willing to overlook a few faux-pas in his bedside manner. Not least bc he's willing to "optimize my diagnosis" (his words) to get my insurance to cover some touch-ups.
It’s natural to feel a bit touchy about it since masks have been controversial, but I think it might be better to treat that question as casual but genuine curiosity, and an opening to talk about why it is that you’re wearing a mask. After all, it is pretty unusual nowadays and there might be special circumstances behind it.
Also, it seems like doctors should be encouraging us to talk about health issues? Even if it’s not directly related, it could be relevant. Sadly, they are often pressed for time these days.
Eh, he's a German doctor so not super chatty afterwards, the conversation didn't go far from there. I wasn't super offended, just bemused, but my wife was annoyed. She's more principled about stuff like this than me though.
I still wear a mask for flights, but I’m more worried about airports than the airplanes.
Based on what I’ve read, since the pandemic planes have had high grade filters installed in their air circulation systems which dramatically reduce the chance of contracting any kind of airborne illness on them, and unless they’re one of the newer planes built with carbon fiber, humidity is also very low which studies have shown has a strong effect on how long the virus can survive in the air. I doubt any of this is true in airports.
So during air travel, I wear a 3M Aura N95 which is reasonably comfortable and easy to get a good seal with, but will remove it for short periods (~20-30m) on the flight to eat. This hasn’t failed me in the 12+ flights I’ve been on since 2021, though admittedly that’s a small enough sample size that it could just be dumb luck.
For shopping, I do a combination of a less cumbersome KN95 and going during the least busy days/times, when possible. The latter is not a flexibility that everybody has the privilege of, though.
Absolutely. Flo Mask Pro, anytime I'm near anyone, indoors or out. (Which is rare because of isolation.)
Maybe it's easier to remember when you've lost family and friends to it.
We are not through it.
That's the sad reality. It's too widespread, there is no end. It's forever now. It's just one more thing to cope with like Hand/Foot/Mouth, the regular flu, and all the other communicable viruses that the main cure for is "well wait it out and hope the symptoms don't kill you."
Forever is a long time and I’m still optimistic that we eventually get improved vaccines - the ones that are supposed to cover multiple variants.
Nope, not unless I’m feeling sick and really need to go somewhere urgently (to get medicine or see a doctor, etc.).
I’m also not immunocompromised, am fully vaccinated and boosted, and have had covid (it was fine). At this point, there’s no need to wear a mask on a day to day basis for the vast majority of the public.
That said, if it makes you feel more secure, by all means go for it. I occasionally still see people wearing them and don’t give it a second thought - I just assume they’re under the weather, immunocompromised, or someone’s caretaker.
I haven’t really thought all that much about it. If I wear a mask, it’s mainly for odor issues, like on the subway if it smells particularly bad. I’ve gotten COVID a few times, symptoms are mild, mostly from immune reactions anyway, it’s over in under a week typically - it is what it is.
I wear a mask when I'm in an enclosed public space. Bus? Mask. Outside dining? No mask. Hospital? You'd better believe I'm wearing a mask among all those sick people. Walking on a crowded street? No mask, but I feel a little uncertain about it.
I still wear masks in basically every enclosed public space (including public transport) during most months. During summer I wear it when the enclosed public space is significantly busy and/or doesn't have windows etc open. I'm wearing single-use FFP2 masks for the most part, but I get them in various colours and often pair them with my outfit.
While we still "were formally" in the pandemic I was also wearing an extra, fabric mask with cute designs on top of the FFP2, both to apply extra force on the FFP2 mask to help prevent any accidental "leakage" and also as a way to personalise my masks a little more. I've used some with flowers, animals, rainbows, and other cute designs.
That being said, I'm still the only one I know that is actually wearing masks. I may occasionally see someone at the supermarket wearing it, but that's really rare. And in the flights I took this year, only 1 other person in 1 of those several flights was wearing a mask.
Myself and partner still try to... it's a bit of a mixed bag. Right after a wave goes through that we inevitably catch, we'll have masks off and try to enjoy the weather the best we can since we can't catch it again right away. The ideal being that eventually start putting on masks for everything. The problem is that transfer period does not typically work out the way we intend. Much like yourself, we end up forgetting masks at home and shrug as we go in shopping. We try to do our best, but it's also hard when we're the only ones wearing masks and our concern isn't with self preservation but being courteous to others...
Even with the understanding that any protection helps with the spread, it's hard to feel any positive feedback reassurance. Similar to voting, it's important to note that as long as you're participating you're helping. Even if you're not perfect at it or can't feel the immediate effects.
I got burned out when my kids preschool just dropped any and all masking. No point when the main input vector for disease is gonna be coughing in my face.
And NGL, I'm spiteful enough with an old enough town that at this point if I kill a few Republicans due to a communicable disease (which they fought against all protection measures for) in the course of my daily life, I can live with that.
vord, I like your presence here on Tildes and appreciate your contributions, but, respectfully, I don’t love your fantasizing about killing people based on their party affiliation.
It’s exactly that rhetoric that makes many far-right commenters both awful and terrifying, and I don’t think we should emulate that in ourselves.
You're not wrong, and it's honestly not something I exactly love about myself. But the reason I share it is that I don't think I'm in the wrong here. Some people turn the other cheek, some flee, and some turn to fight. I'm reconciling where exactly I'm going to be on that in the next 5 years. Some people have dark thoughts about suicide, mine are about killing the people who might come knocking on my door to give my family some tattoos on their arms. Given the types of flags that have been flying since Trump got clipped, the odds are the highest it's ever been in my lifetime.
And as I've stated elsewhere, there are no more moderate Republicans. They have been a dying breed since the 80s, and pretty sure the last one died in 2018 when they continued to tow the line for Trump. Look no further than how far Rudy Giuliani fell from national hero, person of the year, in the wake of 9/11 to shilling for a fascist in a back alley in 2020.
They are today, for all intents and purposes, at roughly the same phase as the Nazis in 1931. A very conservative party formerly courting the proletariat, which then purged those elements as they marched further towards extremism and consolidating their power over the course of 20ish years. On the verge of overthrowing democracy if the votes don't go their way, complete with a plan to purge the government of their ideological enemies and their country of inferior races (their term is illegal immigrants and, as always, Jews).
I will not stand idly and quietly while these assholes pretend otherwise... who in 2016 threw their hands in the air and said dumb things like "well, I know Trump is terrible but I can't vote for a Democrat," and by 2021 were parroting Trump's talking points and being upset that the Jan 6th coup failed (see my parents).
We are on the precipice of war, whether we like to admit this to ourselves or not. So in the meantime, I have abandoned all sympathy for those who wish me and mine harm because we're not WASPs, or at the very least, are still voting GOP because they remember what a great actor Reagan was.
My great hope is that the rest of the world manages to help the side that's probably going to get slaughtered before the big ball of hate spills out into annexing the rest of the world.
I don't feel we're on the precipice of war, but I do feel comments about killing the opposition do edge us closer to that point. Like @kfwyre, I've been feeling rather put off by some of the political comments I'm seeing on Tildes recently. Particularly some who condoned the attempt on Donald Trump's life last week, or try to justify such political violence.
I understand the frustration, and I agree that Republicans are often the prime contributors of this kind of rhetoric. However I also know that adding more fuel on the fire doesn't bring us closer to a peaceful resolution.
Society can adapt to change surprisingly quickly. Right now it feels like the world is deftly moving away from democracy, but history shows us that positive change can happen just as quickly. Interracial marriage used to be a scandal, but is now commonplace. Smoking in public is no longer cool but seen as dirty. Popular support for gay rights has shifted dramatically in just a couple decades.
People can change, even from deeply held beliefs. That change partly comes from generational shifts, but more than you'd think it comes from cultural pressures to improve. Adjusting the messaging on what's acceptable does work, even if its effects are not obvious at first. For that reason it's important that the messaging not be that the other side are devils or traitors, but that there are problems that affect all of us, and that we can work together to improve things.
In many ways, those who frustrate us the most - be they anti-maskers, anti-vaccine, or political extremists - are also victims. They are the ones being lied to, having their world views contorted, and have to deal with the destruction of it all. Because in the same way that positive messaging influences us, so does the negative narrative. If we're constantly being told that our country is falling apart, that all of science is a sham, and that the outgroup is to blame, it's going to have an effect.
From your comment it sounds like you're frustrated with your parents. I'm sure it hurts a lot to see them swept up in all this. As difficult as that is, I'd say it's worth remembering that they're likely feeling pain and frustration from all the doom and gloom they're being fed as well. And that they're also feeling the loss from any relationships ended over political fights.
I know that it's hard to empathize with a political enemy, but I believe it is the most effective way to make connections and change minds. Talking to people works. Canvassing works. One of the biggest reasons that gay rights moved so quickly is that it turns out, many people already knew someone who was gay, even if they didn't know it yet. It was the brave folks that came out first that helped make it acceptable for everyone else. It might start as "they're one of the good ones", but bit-by-bit minds are changed. Optimistically, I think we're starting to see the same happen with support for transgender folks right now. Project 2025 is horrifying, but I don't believe it's stronger than people's propensity for growth.
I'd like to suggest a few episodes from the podcast You Are Not So Smart which addresses this topic in greater detail.
I'd like to rebut this - politics is not divorced from life. Politics is not some separate issue that can be considered in isolation. By pretending that it is, you are participating in the gaslight that politics is a team sport that can be ignored between the biennial votes.
The Republicans have chosen the path of existential threat.
If you think they will not act on these threats, then you are a fool:
They are publicly acting on their threats. They are publicly advancing their agendas.
They are not trying to hide that they want to hurt people. They are not trying to hide that they want to abolish democracy. They are not trying to hide that they are fascist.
I'm sorry that you're hurting. Genuinely. I feel a lot of this too. I think for me, it's hard to square what's actually true and what's the product of the catastrophizing flowing out of my overly anxious brain.
I also try to draw a line between lacking sympathy for others versus actively wishing them harm or death. The former is something I have in place for a lot of the people you describe, but the latter is an urge I try to fight off. It makes me feel like I'm turning into them. The lack of humanity I see from many right-wing sources turns my stomach, but the idea that I would follow suit turns it even more.
In thinking about your words here, I think we're responding to the same stressor in different ways. You're taking an aggressive, protective stance against outside threats, while I'm folding inward and trying to hold on to the humanity in myself -- the outside be damned.
I don't want to take away your feelings from you, but I will say that when we adopt their worst elements, even with the best of intentions, I think we normalize them a way that's ultimately harmful. When we make party-affiliated celebrations of violence sound like regular discourse, we're taking their horrors and laundering them into something conventional. I think that ends up helping their cause and hurting us.
I really don't think it's fair to compare the two. Is killing in self defense the same as killing in malice? Is stealing bread because you're hungry the same as stealing bread just for fun?
I don't like how quickly the moral purity tests come out on the left whenever anyone holds a different viewpoint. If it's not a moral purity test, it's that someone else isn't interpreting the objective facts well enough, or that their opinion is actually harmful to others. We keep fighting amongst ourselves, when there's a clear much more hostile and problematic group that we're conveniently ignoring when we do this.
Attacking someone for wishing death on the people who are not just wishing, but actively attempting to eliminate people like me seems at best a trivial act, and at worse an act of sabotage. I know you well enough to know your intentions are aligned with mine and therefore not an act of sabotage, but I think we need to recognize that derailing a conversation to conduct a moral purity test on someone for wishing there to be less evil in the world seems really counterproductive.
You talk about violence being normalized, in a country where children can watch movies where people are torn apart. In a country where school shootings are so much the norm that children have to protest about them. In a country where we have, in recent history, had a president who has outright said extremely violent things on stage and was cheered for them. In a country where the president regularly participates in genocide of some group of people. We need to stop acting like someone advocating for violence against violent people is somehow going to normalize violence. Violence is absolutely normal in the US.
As a final note I'd like to point back at the paradox of intolerance. This paradox does not draw a distinction between violent and non-violent acts. We can do our best to avoid escalating the conflict, but I think it's unfair to act like the conflict hasn't already escalated to violent acts - minorities are regularly murdered in the United States for hateful reasons, and those hateful reasons are publicly aired and integrated into the strategic plan of one of the two major parties in the United States. Advocating for violence is already something that is a regular occurrence in US politics; there is no escalation here. More importantly, the voice being shared here is not advocating for violence out of hate, but out of self defense (and arguably it was just sharing a violent thought, not advocating for it). Out of a recognition for the lives that are currently being ended at the hands of hateful individuals. Violence born of hate and violence of self-defense are not the same thing and being defensive is not "taking their horrors and laundering them".
My mom accused me of living in a liberal bubble a few years ago, so as a good faith effort to her, I made it a point to incorporate more explicitly conservative sites into my news diet for a bit.
While on those sites, I would regularly see comments advocating for the indiscriminate death or harm of Democrats. I found those comments disgusting and alarming.
When I see a comment here advocating for the same for Republicans, I still think it's wrong.
This is not because I think the two sides are equivalent, or because I'm looking past the harms that they're doing, or because I'm secretly taking their side. I'm promise I'm not attempting to say this as some sort of purity test or pearl clutching.
I also fully understand that @vord was essentially blowing off steam more than advocating for any sort of action or policy, and I get that, but I also think there are far better ways to do it and that doing so in that way specifically is harmful.
I made my comment not to carry water for awful people; I made it because I think that indiscriminate vengeance-based violence is wrong. If someone came on here and said "I'm going to shoot up my town" we'd be horrified, but if they added "don't worry, they're all Republicans" I don't think that suddenly makes it okay. I also think that does nothing productive except to embolden the sort of people who might do exactly that. Instead of that type of proposed action being seen for the horror that it is, it gets reduced to just another expression of anger -- the dime-a-dozen of internet sentiments.
The Republican party is absolutely doing some heinous shit right now (and has been for a while). I know that you in particular suffer underneath that, and I wish I could do more to make things better for you. Believe me when I say that I know what it feels like. I grew up in the American south. My parents tried to make me go to conversion therapy and then disowned me. I've been threatened multiple times (in person, with weapons). I've literally been spit at and on. I've been vengefully outed. Someone made false allegations against me to try to get me fired. And even with all of this, I was lucky compared to what some of my peers went through. The embers for hatred still have heat within me, and it takes a lot sometimes to not let them grow into a blaze.
Even amidst all of that though, there were plenty of people who were kind and understanding and showed that humanity is far more complex than the red or blue boxes that America has sorted itself into. I literally owe my life to them, because they saved me after my suicide attempt. "They all deserve to die" was commonplace rhetoric about queer people at the time. AIDS had devastated our community and the longstanding sentiment about it was that we were getting the sweet righteous comeuppance of death for being so evil and so wicked.
Yet many of those people I know were able to look past that and see the humanity of people like us instead. Saying "well, they're Republicans so they deserve to die" is the same exact type of prejudicial overfitting that was applied against people like us, and I don't think it's right. I don't think it's more wrong than what their party is currently doing, but I also don't think we should live our lives by justifying our actions only relative to the worst wrongs out there. I simply don't want this place to be a place where we wish death on people.
Thanks for continuing to engage with and be respectful with your point. I've also been victimized with violence for simply existing. I also don't think we should be advocating for people to die because of who they are. I think it's completely reasonable, however, to make a distinction between violence born of hate and violence out of self defense. We make this distinction all the time and we make this distinction across different kinds of violence and other crimes. I think, however, we owe it to everyone to call out this distinction every time if we are to voice an opinion advocating for less or no violence. We must acknowledge that there is fundamentally something especially heinous about hateful violence and we should call it out anytime we are talking about violence and living in a world we want to see.
I'm not a violent person at all. I'm the kind of person who doesn't even kill bugs, I catch and release them. When faced with violence like I have in the past, I don't respond with physical violence. I absolutely abhor hate based violence and I just do not want to be the cause of violence so strongly that I would probably just die rather than violently resist, should the unfortunate occur. But I hate the collapsing of nuance that happens when we advocate against violence- not all violence is equal and we need to acknowledge that when we speak up against violence. There are certain kinds of violence which we are speaking more loudly against and we need to express that. I also worry about how much time gets wasted on discussions like this, when efforts could be better spent speaking out against the much more tangible and real violence being inflicted by the hateful in our daily lives.
I appreciate your courtesy as well. And I completely agree that the context surrounding violence and violent rhetoric is something that should be considered rather than ignored and flattened. There is a material difference between self-defense and aggression.
I think when we have fraught conversations like this it can make us feel like we're in opposition, when really we've identified a small misalignment in an otherwise much larger overlap. You and I are more similar than different, and our values are vastly more concurrent than they are in conflict. I still see you as someone I stand beside rather than against!
I appreciate you for always speaking from your convictions and taking the time to walk people through your thought process. I've said before that I think you have a sharp, unwavering focus on justice, and that comes through here as it has so many times before. Thanks for doing what you do, Gaywallet. 💜
I can definitely empathize a bit more than other's responding to you. I definitely think it's a variation in psychological response to threat. The feeling I have about our country right now is akin to having someone behind you on a dark empty street. It's a situation that I want to remain conflict-free, but my senses are attenuated for signals of danger. But I know myself enough to know that my psychological inclination is to reciprocate aggression when diffusing has failed.
And in that vein, I do not desire or encourage violence of conflict. But I can't have sympathy for voters of the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party when the leopards have begun eating their faces. Someone foments and riles up their base enough to attack the nation's capital and then we're supposed to take the blame/feel remorse when a crackpot takes a shot? That's a step too far for me. Likewise, I am very sorry for the families losing people to Covid. But if you're out there supporting groups that spread disinformation and covid denialism, that's called consequences and actions.
Leftist policies are regularly critcized for supporting bad lifestyle decisions: "UBI will only let people off the hook for being lazy/addicted to drugs." But when rightwing policy kills them or bites them in the ass they're given way more grace than a single mother trying to afford milk. I'm sick of it and I don't feel guilty for maintaining indifference when a group that advocates letting pregnant people die over avoidable complications reaps the seeds of ignorance that they sow.
So I cannot condone violence or celebrating death. But neither am I inclined to protect them from themselves outside of finding a nice padded room for them.
When my spouse and I started becoming mildly to moderately anxious about a looming threat to the area we lived in, we also felt like we were wearing crazy pants because no one else saw the same level of pending danger.
When we talked about potentially moving, all we got were blank stares if not open.... questioning. No one could understand why we would take such drastic measures as leaving an otherwise wonderful place to live in over a remote chance of something happening that is beyond anyone can prep for, and no one for sure can tell you when it might go bad.
So....I do sort of understand.
Eventually we decided that it was on our minds enough that it's probably not good for our mental health. When we think about the future for the kid and being somewhere where we can build our forever* home, the looming threat just made it clear that I can't picture a long term sense of safety there. We started applying for jobs elsewhere, and moved to first get out . Then we got our footing and some peace, and began to discuss our next move or if we'd like to stay. It was a great thing for us , but I also recognize that it's not easy, or even possible for everyone.
One of my problems is I don't know where I would move to. Canada has this problem. Europe has this problem.
Where I am now, Pittsburgh and Philly are blue, but rural Pennsylvania is as red as East Texas (where I grew up). Right now I live in a suburb that's just about where the yard signs start changing from Biden to Trump. So it's probably the best case scenario for staying in the US, and far enough north that warming is not going to cripple us locally.
Sometimes I think about buying some land and building a fortified compound, but 1) we don't really have the money to provision it in a way that would make us truly independent, 2) I'm not really interested in the violence that defending it would require and 3) the solitude would be terrible for my daughter.
All three of your points could be alleviated by working with others with a similar set of goals and breaking the goal down into smaller sections. You don't have to be 100% independent instantly, just a little more resilient. You don't have to be ready to shoot someone, just build with an eye towards a low profile and a less inviting public face. Little improvements over time, and working with a group. No one is an island, and many hands make for light work. There's challenges to working with others, to be sure, but much resilience as well.
This is a good point, but unfortunately I don't have a group like that, and I think most of the survivalist types (at least in my area) will skew right wing. Maybe I can start a lefty survivalists group on meetup and see what happens.
Yea pretty much. Any degree of proper independence is gonna require hefty degree of financial lift to stock enough tools and substantial labor to keep operational for any sustained period of time.
Americans in this thread may find this feed useful or interesting.
Each Friday the total number of Americans killed by Covid 19 is updated.
Each Friday the number of Americans killed in the last week by Covid 19 is posted.
https://mastodon.social/@WeeklyAmericanPandemicDeaths
Weekly numbers in the hundreds. I’d be interested to see the weekly counts of flu deaths, cancer deaths, heart disease deaths, and homicides for comparison.
Covid was absolutely terrifying for a couple years. It’s still dangerous but has largely been defanged. Of course I speak from a place of privilege as someone not from a high-risk group so apologies for my insensitivity to those who still require vigilance. I spent longer than most isolating, masking, installing medical-grade air purifiers in my home, and zealously disinfecting every surface. It’s exhausting, and I sympathize. But it’s a huge victory (for all of us) that the majority of the population doesn’t need to keep that up today.
Not odd at all. I've been tracking the weekly deaths for 2-3 years. It has gone down to the hundreds in summer before, then like clockwork gone up over 1,000 a week in mid-late fall. I hope that doesn't happen again this year.
I think calling Covid de-fanged is a bit of an early celebration. There's still large waves of Covid going around and still plenty of deaths. The unfortunate thing is that the media has moved on from discussing it all the time, so it feels like it isn't still present. While vaccines are definitely helping, there's enough people not taking them that wildfires are still crawling around.
To be transparent, some of this might be biased via anecdote: I have gotten sick from two COVID waves this year confirmed with tests, and both times I absolutely should have gone to the hospital. In defense of the anecdote, I think it's a lot easier to follow the news/waves when you're experiencing it yourself, and see how many people are being affected and in what ways.
They don't have a handle on Long Covid, last I heard/checked. They don't quite know why some have it and some just have "regular" Covid that can clear up and then you're back to totally normal. They don't know how to cure it, or even really alleviate the worst of the symptoms. And Long Covid has some pretty alarming effects.
Anyone who thinks either Covid or Long Covid "is no big deal" probably has never had shortness of breath, persistently. Which isn't even the totality of the symptoms that'll affect a victim.
It's scary. When you try to breathe ... and can't. When you try to catch your breath, and struggle every time, and don't always catch it. When walking from one end of the hallway/house to the other leaves you fatigued and tired, when the thought of "I'll park, and walk across the parking lot, and go shopping" leaves you wondering just how the hell you'll pull that mammoth feat off.
So sure, Covid doesn't appear to be quite as dangerous as it once was, and a pretty high percentage of (vaccinated) people who catch it recover rather than die, but I have no interest in catching it and then finding out it's gonna stick around. For years/life. That sounds like something I very much don't want.
But that's just me. So I wear the mask. N95. Still. Every time. Don't touch my face, keep sanitizer with me and in my car and use it every time I leave a store or other uncontrolled environment.
Knock on wood, so far so good for me. Gonna keep listening to the cold hard logic of medical procedure. To facts. Real data. Hard proof. Not feelings, not opinions, and certainly not political bullshit.
It's no big deal to wear it.