THINNING THE HERD?

 It's a bit unkind and not very generous to make fun of people from other cultures. A dust up last night on Facebook.. (Imagine that!??) ... and today a trail of complaints about a Glendale, California ordinance that requires folks in public to protect themselves and others by wearing a face mask. The FB post by the City included a list of fines for offenders!  Pretty steep!  As though they can ever collect..but it's to scare the scoff laws.. and speaking of scoff laws, a guy with a very long foreign name complained about this 'rule' and wrote this in his ire:

"It’s not enough arresting people of Glendale for speeding and labeling them reckless driving and destroying their lives." 

Not withstanding the incomplete sentence.. it may be that Engilsh is a second language for him..but it made me laugh so hard..  Glad I wasn't drinking milk at the time.

I posted a short retort to the guy and then published his remark in public, sans his name as I did not remember it..  It really doesn't matter if wearing a mask helps. the "powers that be" think that it's a good idea and it seems to me that just to not make waves..and just in case.. it's a good idea. I still favor stocks and pillory for offenders. The fines? Where does the money go? Maybe to build stocks and pillories?

 I have volunteered to the City of Glendale to be responsible for building one or two nice stocks and a couple of pillories to be placed in what is essentially the town square.. though Central Park or The Americana would be okay.. City offices have a big open space with a raised area where the miscreants could be shackled.  I'd even assemble a crew of volunteers who would make sure the bad boys were given water..lots of water, but not allowed time outs. Lots of water.

 

We live in a city being slowly dominated by a culture that seems to think that having a lot of money and a fancy car entitles you to endanger the lives of others and get away with it.  This transfers to the mask business in a way.. The "Entitled" get to have their own rules.. 

 On FB..I did a terrible thing.. I called those who were openly critical of the ordinance and the fines 'republicans'.. (sic).  Maybe they all aren't but the political lines that seem to be drawn and the pissing and moaning seems to be coming from the right side of the country.  

I titled this post "Thinning The Herd" for a reason.  Well, it's not nice, actually..but it seems that in the areas where the scoff laws reside, that the opportunity to prove that masks might work..but folks opt out.. if they die? They die.  

 

I got in  hot water last night with a woman whom I have met only a couple of times.. but we have been in touch for more than twenty years.  This was because of a misunderstanding and the fact is that a typo can change the meaning of lots of things. I've been asking former school mates if they voted for 45 and if they planned to do it again.  These are nice senior citizens who grew up in a conservative little town with a church on virtually every street corner and even a synagogue!  The responses that I got were a bit alarming.  Not only did my old school chums vote Red, they cranked out complaint after complaint about how former administrations have practically ruined our USA.. They cling to God and Jesus and one woman admitted that 45 may have a questionable record morally, but that Jesus would forgive him.  We can only hope and pray.

The missed understanding turned on my insistence that responses to the stuff I post on FB be free from rants and name calling.   I don't want to piss off "The Others" and hope to bring some of them to Blue.. but..this angry woman declared that my Christian friends were NOT Christian and gave reasons. She called the prez a "scicopath"... and I thought she had coined a new word that was an amalgam of 'sick' and pathetic or something..To me: a pejorative.

I asked her to edit the comment per my 'rule' and that set her off.  Sorta hurt my feelings.. but I'll get over it.  There's more, but the end result ..I tried to explain in an email to her what I'd meant.. and she declared that I was supposed to field anything that anyone wanted to say on my FB feed.  She suggested videos of kitties or something might be less controversial..  Of course, she's right.

Eventually, she unfriended me thinking that I'd ruined her reputation or something.  I'd given her my phone number and asked her to call me..  She never did..

E communication is a bitch!  

 I may try again to discuss the 45 issue on FB, but the few classmates who responded were really amazingly upset that I'd even ask! One did declar that they had voted Red in 2019, but not this time! A victory, not for me. but maybe for the USA?  The vitriol on both sides of our country right now is exacerbated by  limited critical thinking and guys like the fellow with the long name equating this mask thing with kids' lives ruined for speeding and being caught.. doesn't exactly give a lot of hope.  

I remain hopeful, though.. and the exercise of getting some of my own frightened angst out by telling  you my story is healing to a degree.

I hope the unhappy FB friend comes back. In my memory, she is a very lovely person. She may have been so unhappy that I didn't know that scicopath was supposed to be sociopath.. that it's unlikely she'll want anything to do with mean old me.  If I was to coin a word and be into name calling? Scicopath is a pretty good one. 

Ask questions. Question authority.  Take a deep breath.. and be well.