Everything you need to know about viruses

Everything you need to know about viruses in a quick visual explanation. You can get the infographic image here https://flic.kr/p/2j2LDWs

This mask muzzling my freedom!

There’s a raging political conspiracy and controversy in this nation. It’s not abortion. It’s not religious liberty. It’s not the environment or global warming. It’s not even LGBTQ rights.

It’s whether or whether not to … bum bum bah … wear a mask in public.

The above video is a funny take on two dudes giving out free masks at a beach in Orange County. The responses to the offer of free masks ranges from anger to proselytization. Only two guys take masks on camera.

I’ve written about this controversy before. And I think if people could manage to associate how they can smell cigarette smoke from large distances, they can reasonably assume that breath droplets are reaching their mouths and noses from further away than they might assume.

Back when smoking was aloud in bars and restaurants, imagine how that smoke hung in the air around a pool table from all those awful smokers. just hangs there. And when you wake up in the morning, unshowered, you are covered in other people’s breath.

It would be great if coronavirus patients would think about it in terms of a deformity, like a cold sore. Oddly enough cold sores are viral infections that flare up during certain times, like stress. People who have them go out of their way to cover them up.

Maybe if they thought of coronavirus as an ugly bloody stain on their lips that may infect them and pop up every so often, they’d consider doing their best to avoid this plague … like the plague.

Or gosh, what about that other viral infection called Chickenpox? It’s a viral infection that once you have, sits dormant in your little body until some people are inflamed with shingles, that painful issue that some adults experience and claim to hate so much.

It’s very curious to me that the same people who are disbelieving this “invisible” monster tend to believe in another invisible set of characters: God, Jesus, the Devil and demons. Oh, and Angels. Without so much of an ounce of proof, these same people claim, without irony or evidence, that they know — they KNOW — that what they believe is true.

It’s as if their tiny brains are already packed with belief in invisible monsters and no other invisible monster will occupy any of that cerebral real estate.

Or there’s the argument that we won’t let the government regulate our lives. Look at cars! There are speed limits, but I can defy them … and I do … unless I get caught, then I get a ticket. So wait, there are consequences to defying the regulations? I don’t get it.

And why does the government regulate safety standards on car makers? I mean, it’s my choice to do 120 mph while drunk? I’m not hurting anyone right?

Why are there drunk driving regulations? My body. My choice.

Why do I have to wear this restrictive fabric over my chest and waist?

My body. My choice!

This driving is deadly argument so why get in a car is getting exhausted by bleeding heart conservatives who think it’s clever. Breaking news: it’s dumb as rocks.

Why are there methods of safety like airbags, engine drops, bumpers in our metal cages surrounding my body and those I love while I hurl 70 mph down the highway?

On top of that, traffic fatalities dropped to almost zero during the initial lockdown. And have been on the rise exponentially since the re-opening. So let me get this straight? Few to little drivers on the roads resulted in less traffic fatalities? Who’d a thunk it? So to decrease the number of something, we do less of that thing? To avoid spreading disease, we do less of the things that spread that disease? God, if only science had an answer for how disease spreads and how to avoid it. Damn.

Government Fascists!

Don’t the damn government fascists not know that I’m going to heaven when I die?

Smoking causes cancer. I don’t need nobody telling me what to do.

Overeating causes weight gain, possibly heart disease, possibly stroke, death. God, please don’t tell me what to do.

Alcohol will shut your body down. Don’t tell me what to do.

Coronavirus is spread by droplets in our respiratory system and pretending to be a doctor in surgery for hours at a time with a face covering is proving to be a great hinderer of spreading the disease.

New Zealand hasn’t seen a new case in over 2 weeks. Anywhere in Asia that appears to have implemented facemasks appear to have diminished new cases.

But don’t be a sheep, right?

Sheep.

It’s not even a remote stretch to throw that moniker at Christians. They literally believe that they are part of a flock shepherded by Jesus Christ himself. If they stray from the flock, he leaves the flock and saves the missing sheep. He loves them that much.

But gullible sheep are the ones befuddled and convinced by science that the thing that works for doctors and nurses to protect themselves and their patients from disease spread, also cause carbon monoxide poisoning?

I might be a sheep, but what’s been proven by science to protect doctors, nurses and patients is either a gigantic hoax covering decades of safety implementation or … masks and de-sanitizing stuff FUCKING WORKS.

The fake news is claiming that ICUs in several southern states are overwhelmed. But that threat doesn’t bother a lot of folks. That’s not enough to encourage masks.

The political divide is much more of an enjoyable ride than the discomfort of wearing something over the face for 15 minutes while you load your grocery cart with shit food and underpriced Chinese products.

A couple of things regarding this virus in America are for sure:

• Asking out of respect or love doesn’t work.
• Spreading information about the facts do not work.
• Shaming does not work.
• Signs don’t work.

Not wearing a fucking mask is a rite of passage. It’s what separates the goodies from the baddies. Consequences be damned.

Seatbelts in planes and cars. That’s fine. The consequences of not wearing one? Well, you could be hurt or killed should an accident happen. Accidents are rare, but when they happen, they happen. And it seems that many people would rather live than die.

The consequences of being a diabetic and not taking that damn insulin discovered by science? pain? inconvenience? Nah, death.

The consequences of smoking cigarettes? Lung and throat cancer. Gee, I dunno. Science?

The consequences of sex? Pregnancy. Not every time. Only a percentage of the time But it’s pretty common. To decrease the possibility, we use condoms. To almost eliminate pregnancy, condoms + birth control. God, imagine that. Science that prevents pregnancy. Condoms are known to prevent disease, too. Huh. Wow. Weird.

The consequences of listening to loud noise over time: deafness. How to prevent said issue? Covering your ears. Well, damn, why should I be told to cover my ears? My body my choice.

The consequences of masturbation? Blindness. Oh wait. That’s bullshit spread by the church.

As stated, since it’s some so-called believers who seem to pioneer the divide between wearers and non-wearers of masks, they need to stop enjoying the conveniences of science. No seatbelts. No access to healthcare. No access to medicines. No access to research and discoveries from the past few centuries and beyond.

Or you can go on believing that this dude in his sleeveless shirt has more information to scientific knowledge than science. The video linked above will not age well. He’s claiming that New York and New Jersey are blue states and have no right to criticize red southern states because they aren’t seeing deaths like the blue states …

I hope his followers ask him what’s up in the next couple weeks when the deaths in the red states leap frog NY and NJ by horrendous bounds.

Also, please answer why God chose to send his son 2000 years ago in a place where no one had cameras or ability to prove any of the story that means so much? God: “I’m going to wait till the late 1800s to invent film and another 50 years to create motion picture cameras and another 100 years to fit everyone’s phones with cameras, almost everyone will have one, they will document every fucking thing they do, but this advancement would be impossible for the guy who created everything all at once from nothing, made it “perfect” but just not that perfect, because the battles against diabetes and cancer wouldn’t develop until YEARS upon YEARS after that so-called perfect creation.

Yours truly,

Sheepy McSheepysheep.

glutinous racism: it’s what’s for breakfast, second breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, evening snack, midnight snack, etc. etc. …

If you’re paying attention, you’ve watched as coronavirus migrated from hot topic to shrouded in camouflage as protests and race riots commandeered the ship.

Long forgotten are the days of cheering on essential workers. And it was basically last week. You still hear squeaks of reports on coronavirus. But they are overshadowed by George Floyd and BLM.

This country couldn’t be more divided on “opinions” about everything from confederate flags, to the efficacy and strength of our president and governors.

I keep my 11th finger on the pulse of Breitbart, especially the comments sections. The articles alone are insanity times a zillion. But the comments are mind blowing. The views expressed on that site should scare the world into complete reform of our overall fabric. I’m not sure that’s ever going to happen, but I read the site astonished that the words there are emitting from real Americans.

“Surely these are Russian bots,” I think to myself. I wish there were ways to identify who they are.

The number of people claiming “I’m not a racist” is through the roof. It’s usually followed by, “I grew up with black people. They are my friends. But let me say, ‘Fuck Black Lives Matter.'”

Pro Tip: if you claim you aren’t a racist, you are a racist.

I’m a racist. You’re a racist. We’re all racist. The key to the puzzle is self identifying as someone who needs to grow and learn about what is and what isn’t racism.

I do my best to not be racist, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have racist tendencies. I make snap judgements, based on my evolved brain, that immediately snaps judgements of people based on their appearances.

I make comments that I have to stop myself and ask, “Wait, was that racist?”

Racism comes in many forms. It could be assuming that someone you can’t see driving a car is a certain race. It could be crossing the street when you see a person of color walking toward you on your side of the street. It could be talking down to someone because you hear on the phone that they aren’t your color.

Hell, how many times do you hear a story and either identify someone as a “black person” but do not qualify another person as “white”?

Or during a story, someone doesn’t identify someone as a color and the first question you ask is, “Were they black?”

We need to heal. We need to understand each other. We need to listen hard to the stories about black people unnecessarily arrested, needlessly stopped, blatantly mistreated, egregiously abused because of the color of their skin.

I wish that the November 3 election were the impending cure to all that ales us. But I’m afraid we put too much pressure on dates as scapegoats. Or on people. Or on viruses. Or on memetics.

Let’s all heal, grow and learn. Take a second to focus on your racism like your breath. Agree that it exists and fix it … together.

Thank the universe I live in Chicago

Yesterday, I was shopping at at a grocery store. In the checkout line, I was struggling to find my six feet wondering when it was appropriate to place my three items on the conveyer belt. Suddenly a male voice behind me asked, “Hey man, do you mind if I cut in front of you? I only have two things and I’m trying to get up to the protest.”

I looked down at my three items again and thought, “Yeah, why not?”

“Sure, man. Go ahead.”

So he jumped in front of me with his two boxes of Capri-Suns.

“Where is the protest starting,” I asked him.

“Up at the Riv,” he responded.

“Okay, cool. Do you happen to know which way it’s going and how far?” I asked.

“Um,” he paused and checked his phone. “It’s going from the Riv to the Sheridan Redline stop and back up to the Riv area.”

“Okay, cool,” I said.”And thanks for doing what you’re doing. It’s important work.”

“I don’t know about that,” he said. “I’m one of many.”

“One of many doing an amazing service and necessary act for this country,” I said. “Stay safe and have a great day.”

Later in the day, I talked to my best friend in NC. He asked about the protests and riots. I told him that it felt more tame on Wednesday and Thursday, but it was still happening. “I’ve heard the flash bangs every night.”

“Get your ass back down here asap, brother,” he said.

“Nah, man. I kinda like it here.”

“Oooo-kay,” he eeked out.

I’m not sure I got a chance to really explain. But I somehow feel safer here than in NC at times. My parents don’t believe in masks. North Carolina has been back to “normal” for a few weeks. People are likely out spreading the disease more than they think.

Not to mention that here in Chicago, we have much more diversity and intrigue.

It’s summer-time temps. People are out in abundance and it makes me so happy. I love being in a place where expression is vast and frequent. I love living in a city where protests are massive. Where people are creatively writing signs and holding them high over their heads.

A city where I get texts saying, “Be careful out there. Traffic is a nightmare and exits on the highways are closed.”

I love life in North Carolina, but it just can’t compare to the adoration I have for Chicago … especially in warmer temperatures when the variety of our neighbors is in full view.

The riots and violence are part of our fabric. I’m not sure why I’m able to accept it. I don’t stare at it in complete horror.

Destructive protesting has a much louder voice than we imagine.

I have a temper. And that fucking temper gets the best of me. But you know what? My temper has forged longtime relationships of iron strength. It’s also removed relationships that, for fuck’s sake, I didn’t want in the first place.

People reminded me with broken record advice, “Do not cry in public. Do not lose your temper in public. Do not show a temper tantrum emotion. That’s bad. Expressing anger is negative. It’ll get you no friends. It’ll produce no good.”

But the truth is the opposite.

Anger is an expression of vulnerability. And when seen in a certain light, it breaks down barriers. It exposes raw, animal-like behavior. It humanizes us. And ultimately, it binds together groups.

I don’t believe that the cops who are committing atrocities toward black people and people of color are angry. I think they think they are intelligent and superior. Their group think is to control others anger. Their approach stems from ignorance and lack of self-awareness and self-control.

The result of their behavior is anger by onlookers. And anger must be expressed. It is natural. It is honest. It is requisite to a sound mind.

Sure, peaceful protests are preferred. But if destruction creates awareness. If it sparks conversation. If damage provokes an iota of thought. If it seeps into every conversation and overshadows all other discussion, then yes. Riots and looting is somehow a version of acceptable.

Our black neighbors need to be heard. Give them voice and lend your ears. And if they start shouting, banging drums or smashing windows, or drumming doors down … they are playing the music that you desperately need to hear, dear reader.

Please listen.

As cacophonic as explosive tempers seem … it is a song that seriously needs amplification.

Inhaling, exhaling, smokers, sneezers, bad breath, olfactory nerves, coronavirus and you

When I see runners up and down the streets of Chicago who are not wearing masks, I repeat the same line: “How fucking irresponsible.”

Perhaps runners think, “I must be healthy. I show no signs of disease. I obviously don’t have a respiratory illness; I’m running and my lungs feel fine!”

Or maybe a collective apathy toward self-protection is on the rise.

Or maybe runners are assholes.

I’m a runner. Runners push air from their lungs with much greater force than walkers. And from what we know of the spread of this respiratory disease (e.g. here, here, and here), inhaling droplets infected with the virus is one of the quickest ways that it spreads.

Not only am I breathing out harder, I’m inhaling deeper. This puts my risk level higher, I would imagine.

My runs have been between one and two hours, and I’ve worn a mask the entire time or most of the time. If I’ve pulled down my mask to help catch my breath, it’s because I don’t see anyone around and I feel I can do so. But at street corners or passing another biker, runner, or pedestrian, I pull my mask up. It’s a curtesy to them and a precaution for me.

Do I feel like some masked vigilante at times with my sweat-soaked bandana swinging around my neck like a turkey waddle? Yes. Does it make it difficult to breathe at times? Yes. But it’s not impossible.

During the run, I also try to sense which way the wind is traveling. If I’m running into the wind, I make sure my mask is pulled up. I wonder how far droplets surf on invisible wind waves and a neurosis take over my brain.

One of the thoughts that keeps coming to mind is the distance cigarette smoke travels from a smokers exhalation. This is an unscientific observation. But I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been outside somewhere, and I smell cigarette smoke long before I see a smoker. I look around and sometimes they are 30 to 50 feet away. Maybe more.

Or you exit a building where smokers are huddled 15 feet from a doorway and you suddenly remember the bar scene before January 1, 2008.

Again, not scientific, but the smoke I’m smelling is coming partly from exhalation. Does that mean I’m recognizing the possibility of droplets because one of my senses is recognizing it? I mean, minutes after someone smokes pot, you can smell it. Hell, sometimes a bathroom carries an odor of its previous occupant for up to how long.

Is olfactory sensation an indication of airborne droplets?

Just this week, I was cooking a garlic-y meal. I had to take my dog outside to go pee. Outside, I could smell garlic. When I walked back in the front door on the first floor, it became much stronger. Walking through the front door one flight up, garlic slapped me in the face.

We can’t smell halitosis from certain distances, but if we had dog noses, could we? And what would that mean for the length of time droplets can float before gravity pulls them to the ground?

Science has recognized that sneezes throw droplets farther than we can really measure. Runners exhale with great force. A cough also pushes out air with force.

We can all relinquish care and assume we are all going to get the virus. And maybe that is driving the drop in mask use around town. Or maybe I’m misinformed and need another lesson what is and what isn’t safe.

I guess one point I’m trying to make is: if you could smell coronavirus like you can smell cigarette or pot smoke, would more people wear a mask. Would it make it more real if one of our available senses could identify it?

Just a thought or two to start your Saturday.

Thanks for giving me a platform to express my neuroses and curiosities.

Oh, and wear a fucking mask.

Candle lighting ceremonies and Covid-19

image from here.

Every Christmas, our family attended Christmas church services. It was the highlight of my pyromaniac year.

Upon entry, the ushers handed out little white candles with round cardboard wax catchers to almost everyone taller than 4′. The entire service passed by: the carols, the scripture readings, the sketches, the children’s choir, the message usually from Matthew or Luke and then … the best part … the candle lighting ceremony.

The same message was repeated every time.

“When you spread the word of Jesus Christ, it starts with a single light in the darkness … but it spreads and consumes the darkness with light.”

By the end of the ceremony, the whole church was illuminated in the prettiest flickering light. As everyone sung “Silent Night,” candles were carefully lifted over head.

It was a one of the most beautiful symbols I remember of the church because felt slightly more literal than metaphor. You could see the action it represented. One could watch the spread of light. And as a future photographer, I fell in love with that quality of flickering beauty.

This contradicted the times when the pastor said, “Bow before God,” but in our church it was figurative. We never knelt on our knees like Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists or Wesleyans.

My mind keeps returning to this metaphor of spreading one bit of phenomenon to many and how it pertains to the spread of viruses.

Covid-19 seemingly starts in the darkness, and by George, you can watch it spread via scientific discovery, testing and by following symptoms.

Gosh, you could use the metaphor for systematic racism or any other memetic virus.

Back in late March and April, Tina and I escaped to our investment property in North Carolina. While there, we ended up painting the exterior of the home. We planned on hiring pros to do it, but after the pandemic hit, we wanted to save some money.

It was a welcome distraction.

The color we mainly used was white. Over time, I noticed I left clues of the places I’d been or frequented. There are stairs leading out of our back yard into the front. There were white smears at the place I ascended, grabbed the gate and pulled my way up.

There were white smears on the doorknobs and on the floors where I tracked it through.

It was like there was a permanently illuminated blacklight forensics team showing me my crimes against our property.

Thing was, I thought I was cleaning up after myself. I thought I was washing my hands. But the evidence proved me wrong.

I finally realized that I needed to clean my hands and shoes more often. Not only more often, but more effectively. I needed to remove shoes before entering the house. I needed to grab handles with a clean cloth.

To what end?

To quell the spread of white paint on our clean floors, knobs, faucets, gates and misc property.

It’s quite an interesting observation to literally see what I was touching.

My observation led to an eye-opening moment: if I can’t keep track of everything I’ve touched after I’ve got paint on me, how much does the average bear know exactly what they’ve touched and how much its affecting those around us.

That, in part, is why I decided that wearing a mask was an important part of my public persona. I couldn’t see my path of destruction, just like I couldn’t see anyone one else’s. Someone with Coronavirus cannot see how far their breath goes and I can’t see where it is either.

It’s not a candle held to another candle held to another. It’s not white paint on fixtures around a home.

It’s “invisible” to the naked eye and it could easily be everywhere.

This isn’t to say I’m a neurotic shit.

It’s to spread a light in the darkness.

Too many loved ones still do not wear a mask. They are too big for the monster that is spreading like a Christmas Candle-lighting Ceremony.

And that’s sad.

This “changed the world” MLK meme is making its rounds.

Here’s my response to the popular meme among conservatives and so-called libertarians making its rounds (MLK = Looted nothing. Burning Nothing. Attacked No one. Changed the world.”

Me:

I agree. Eye-for-an-eye violence should not be the answer. My brother in law sent me photos of his historical and internationally popular record store in Chicago boarded up and it broke my fucking heart. 

I hate it.

I live within ear shot of the violence every night and it makes me shake from fear. 

But how about a devil’s advocate stance? The story of redemption in the church cannot be told without the story of Mr. Christ’s ineffable torture and agonizingly violent death. First came violence, then came “peace”, for anyone who believes. Biblical history is chockfull, packed, filled to the hilt with violence before peace (e.g. Cain & Abel, the Flood Killing Umpteen number of population, Sodom & Gomorrah, Samson, Joshua & Jericho, Moses and the Plagues, David & Goliath, are just a slice of popular stories). Hell itself is a violent end to the thought crime of rejecting Jesus as Savior, but it is “necessary” for salvation for believers to choose peace over violence. 

Contemporary Americans are lucky Sons of Bitches. Our collective memories does not remember the riots, the revolution, the civil war, etc. World Wars I & II were fought overseas. We nuked Japan not once, but twice, for what? 

For violence? No, for “peace”. 

We can make our strongest arguments about non-violent protests. It’s a tough counter when violence is what ended Mr. King’s plight yet continued his message. They don’t say “fighting for peace” for nothing, perhaps. I don’t know. It’s a fucking minding numbing cyclical argument. Difficult. Nuanced and a damn travesty of challenge. Cheers, mate. I hope to see you on NC time soon.

The last line should read: “Murdered for his passive actions.”

casting a critical eye on all media as being part lie, part truth, part bias

Year after year, we get the benefit of a “free” social media site. I use Facebook to advertise my photography and filmmaking, but otherwise would be as far away from it as possible.

Facebook doesn’t have a constitution, nor promise first amendment rights. They have a TOS. A Terms of Service. They own the country and they set the rules.

They also burgle you of as much personal information and sell it to advertisers behind your back. So, yeah, you pay dearly for the site … with your LIFE!

The masses of misinformation on Facebook are clearly a cesspool of frightening ignorance.

During the pandemic, the crazies have filled the virtual streets with signs loaded with apocryphal taunts. Memes abound. Biases are confirmed en masse. People who never had a voice before, seemingly have one. Unlikely cults find and recruit members quickly and easily.

Today I saw a post from a friend on this meme :

The first response was from the guy who posted the meme’s father. It read:

Is he saying that the USA doesn’t help the poor or Christians don’t help the poor? I wonder what he bases that statement on?

My response – which seems to be getting legs – as my friends are screen capping it and sending it to others:

I think many of the faithful think they are benevolent based on their involvement in their churches. Or by proxy because their churches have outreach programs. 

Having spent many hours with my very conservative friends over the last year, I have seen first hand how much some believers LOATH the poor. They complain about them incessantly given the topic in conversation. Helping them means telling them they shouldn’t be in full view at their stop lights holding signs. They shouldn’t be visible, because it plagues their green pastures and blue skies. 

I agree with you and Mr. Colbert here. It appears that Jesus’ mission of helping and curing the poor and the sick is a willfully forgotten pastime. The only thing selfish people of faith care about is the “next life” where everything will be solved in harmonious cloud life. Here? That’s Satan’s land. There, that’s where all are healed. All are safe. All our happy. All are well fed in a magical economy of what would appear to be socialism to the max. 🙂

I don’t necessarily enjoy being critical of believers. I don’t think all believers are bad or evil, per se. Nor do I think that they — in their minds — are doing something wrong. I believe many people have enough self awareness to see their own hypocrisies. Including myself.

I have two best friends in the south who LOVE their faith and love Donald Trump. One is a guy I grew up with and the other is my dad. Given this info, and I still love them dearly, might indicate my level of consideration, I would hope.

I think the world is a huge landscape to navigate. In theory, we’re all doing and living exactly the way we are in our minds, not remembering that others perceptions of us are usually negative as well as positive. Each one of us is a hypocrite. Each one of us fails and succeeds.

Each one of us mistakenly views our perspective as truth. Some more than others.

Sometimes it’s our inability to identify personal weaknesses and be thoughtful about them.

Yesterday, a friend of mine, a very lovely person I met here on this blog and also in REAL LIFE tagged me on Facebook hoping hear my thoughts on Facebook censoring certain ideas. This person, Julie Ferwerda, author and nurse, entered my purview after I read a post ±10 years ago that she wrote about “dating Jesus.” She wrote that she must make time to spend with her personal savior because it helps cultivate their intimacy. Make him cards! Record His answers. Make time for one another! Read my post here.

I’m sure I was critical of it, because a relationship with Jesus is one-directional. I found it laughable that anyone would “date” the so-called creator of the universe.

While some believe we have His Word to communicate to us. There’s no way to have a “real” conversation with someone who has no tangible voice. So we talk all we want through prayer, to a voice in our heads that many attribute to that of God himself.

At the time, she laughed it off. And I thought that she showed showed enough personal awareness of her foibles and idiosyncratic approach to relationships with invisible friends.

Since then, she wrote a book called Raising Hell, Christianity’s Most Controversial Doctrine Put Under Fire. The book is a verbose meandering of her decision to leave the fold of hell believers. At the time, we had become friends, and I had written a few times here on this blog that hell is the easiest Christian doctrine to research and dispel as fiction. I’d like to think it was the foundation for her book, but I love to think highly of myself. 🤣

She’s recently displaced her views of fervent evangelicalism to replace it with proselytizing the religion of vaccination awareness.

She didn’t write the following. But I did. Her view, in my opinion, is this:

Mark Zuckerberg totally admitted — out loud! — that Facebook tries to prevent anti-vaccine information. This is CENSORSHIP! How can they censor helpful information about the EVILS of vaccination. It’s all a sham scam, perpetuated by Bill Gates and Big Pharma!!!

So here’s this LONG ass thread discussing vaccinations with all her likeminded darlings. It’s not being taken down. There are links in the thread to Bill Gates. To the evils of vaccines. And it hasn’t been censored.

But they’re complaining about censorship.

Does anyone with a pulse not see the irony?

So she tags me and says, “Thoughts?”

I looked at the thread and rolled my eyes. After pointing out the irony that her controversial post was yet to be censored, I responded a few times. Given the opportunity and “welcome” into their house to give my “opinion”:

 I believe that it’s inappropriate to discuss controversial issues on Facebook. For instance, I don’t discuss my lack of belief, my political stance, my thoughts against people like you with views like yours … I am now, because it’s on topic. 

Why? Because it’s dumb as dirt. I don’t think we would have these arguments if we were in person. We’d be much more delicate — at least in theory. There are better things to talk about than vaccines. And there are better uses of my brain space than to try and convince against something you’re already convinced of. 

Just like you changing your mind about hell … these changes happen organically. I could care less about your stance otherwise. I do come from the camp that you’re very misinformed. As do you toward me. Surprise!!!

I believe you have moved your beliefs of hell to that of vaccines. You believe that you’re loving your fellow humans with the gospel of “don’t vaccinate.” So you go on proselytizing rants and raves for a giant conspiracy of censorship. That you’re being marginalized like Christians. Oh the martyrdom of promoting your beliefs!!! 

It’s like your brains need so badly to get the world to see the unseen that you latch on to crappy arguments like these and scream, “LISTEN TO ME!!!! I — and I alone — am speaking the truth.” 

Only this time it’s not hell and heaven and Jesus … it’s a damn scientific doubt founded on a bunch of hooey capluey.

The Anti-vaccination crew blab about their absent rights and their censored truths. They throw around how they all eschew mainstream media. While claiming that their peripheral media sources are solid, and grounded — no steeped — in research and amazing information! Read them and you, too, will open your eyes to the pit of evils instituted by Bill Gates.

When did Bill Gates get demonized? I can’t really figure it out, but it seems like it’s gained popularity in the last couple years. Check these articles here, here and here.

Bill Gates. He’s the formidable enemy of the anti-vax cult. With his pointy ears, horns, red skin and trident held high with hundreds of dead babies on each spear.

This guy:

Who publishes a summer reading list so thoughtfully curated and reviewed.

While his blog is a diverse gathering of educational material, the anti-vaxxers are posting endless memes about how evil he is. They’ve taken his words out of context to render him a monster of vaccinations at the peril of you, your loved ones and your fellow neighbors.

Mainstream Media — and all you un-woke people — have fallen into Gate’s hypnotic gaze.

I asked myself recently, “Who do I not like in the world?”

And I answered, “Well, I don’t like Donald Trump.”

Then I asked, “Do I not like him so much that I have demonized him, reveled in his awfulness both on and off the social media court.”

And I responded, “I spend a fair share of time, energy and mental real estate thinking about this guy. Yes.”

And then I asked, “Do you do it ALL the time?”

My response, “Not really. There are good thoughts I have of him. I remember a roast between him and Hillary Clinton before the election in which I saw this one glimmer of kindness toward Hillary in which he tried to pull her seat out for her as she was sitting down. She, in that moment, was a cunt. She was the one who acted the asshole.”

I’ve asked myself a hundred times if I adored Barack Obama as much as Trump supporters adore him. I don’t believe I do. But Trump’s cult of personality is different. Obama was a boring president in comparison. We all got earfuls of how awful he was. How he wasn’t a Christian. Sympathetic toward Muslims. But besides wearing a tan suit and “um-ing” more than the average bear, he was largely flying under a radar. Fox News tended to air their grievances daily. But I never owned a poster. I never thought he was worth adoring. He was just another president doing his best to do the job he was voted in to do.

I look back at my disdain toward George W Bush. I changed my mind about him even though I thought he was a war-mongering prick. But once I heard him talk to his daughters getting interviewed on Ellen. He was on the phone and the girls were in the studio. Hearing his humanity and kindness toward his daughters softened my heart and I totally saw him as a man.

There are plenty of things I wish Donald Trump did differently. But I don’t believe deep down that he’s trying to ruin the world. His views of the world are living out in his day to day life. And while they aren’t my ideals, apparently there are many who adore him.

Because I get more chances lately to spend time with those Donald Trump fans — including my best friends — when I’m in the south at my second home, I get to see first hand that they comprehend his foibles and they overlook them. They think highly of him.

And while it’s like they want me to like their favorite band or love their favorite TV shows … you can’t convince me that I should completely love them or him, too.

It’s like demonizing the devil. Everyone paints him as evil, but he was responsible for opening Adam and Eve’s minds to the so-called truth. He didn’t condemn people to eternal torment, God did. He’s kinda just a bystander with a huge pool of incessantly burning embers. He’s apparently easily defeat-able, but God lets him stick around causing havoc, casting doubt, tempting you with sex, lies and drugs. But God sent the flood as punishment. God kills. Satan seems to just sport cool tattoos and wait for his kingdom to be filled with people who commit the thought crime of not accepting Jesus as the savior of the World.

Bill Gates. That Satan-loving, child murderer and vaccine profiteer. I don’t love him. I could care less. But I do see a tendency for groups to scapegoat someone without merit. And the more I read about him, the more I’m not convinced that he’s going out of his way to benefit off of the world by having it vaccinated.

Like you perhaps, I’m trying to make sense of this vaccination crowd. I ask myself, “Why don’t I make the same connections as they do? I’ve read the same material. I’ve watched the same videos. What am I missing?” Am I sold-out? Am I stuck in a loop of ignorance?

I recently read that in the DSM-5, there’s a term apophenia – the tendency to perceive connections where none exist.

And maybe this is where the issue lies. Humans are pattern seekers. One cannot look into a cloudy sky without identifying forms as representations to a living being or inanimate object. Patterns are everywhere. We tend to connect two points of interest automatically, and if this pattern repeats, we latch and do not let go. I got a cold after I walked outside in a cold rain. Every time I wear this shirt, my team wins. When I put my car in the shop, ten more issues crop up … the mechanic must be sabotaging me. When I test for the coronavirus, more people test positive … so let’s not test.

Almost every group claims their sources of media are the right ones and everyone else’s is the wrong ones. I call bullshit.

When people finally cast a critical eye on all media as being part lie, part truth, part bias, then, and only then, will I listen to anyone preaching a message of “truth.”

Wear a fucking mask

It’s like Pascal’s wager … it seems to be better if you wear one … so just wear one.

From Jeremy Howard, Distinguished Research Scientist, University of San Francisco:

There are numerous studies that suggest if 80% of people wear a mask in public, then COVID-19 transmission could be halted. Until a vaccine or a cure for COVID-19 is discovered, cloth face masks might be the most important tool we currently have to fight the pandemic.

Given all of the laboratory and epidemiological evidence, the low cost of wearing masks – which can be made at home with no tools – and the potential to slow COVID-19 transmission with widescale use, policymakers should ensure that everyone wears a mask in public.

Read the whole thing.

Real live old science: Experts Doubt the Sun Is Actually Burning Coal

Originally published in August of 1863: 

“If the sun were composed of coal, it would last at the present rate only 5,000 years. The sun, in all probability, is not a burning, but an incandescent, body. Its light is rather that of a glowing molten metal than that of a burning furnace. But it is impossible that the sun should constantly be giving out heat, without either losing heat or being supplied with new fuel. Assuming that the heat of the sun has been kept up by meteoric bodies falling into it, it is possible from the mass of the solar system to determine approximately the period during which the sun has shone. The limits lie between 100 millions and 400 millions of years.”

—Scientific American, August 1863