Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

Americans - the most selfish people on the planet.

 

Reopen goin' great!

 

Sometimes, its hard to believe that I've been subscribing for 57 yrs that we are "one nation under God" and that I haven't wanted to go the Switzerland route.

 

The one appeal to going out to watch something for me is the communal aspect of it. I met so many cool people during the Capitals' Stanley Cup run in '18 just by going to places I knew Caps fans would gather and the sound was going to be on. Not gonna lie, it was super sweet to be the only Watford supporter in a pub full of Liverpool supporters when Watford won that match in February.

But I definitely get the appeal of drinking at home, too. Love to have the option to mix it up, but c'est la vie.

 

Glad you're back!

Okay, I'm 56, diabetic, still too plush for my liking, and survived multiple cases of pneumonia and one dance with MRSA. If I get COVID19, it will kill me. Neutral Corner is a lot nicer than I am. Gonna say it flat out: Forget you and your need for cool points or being down with the aestheticians or your Trumpanzee-ish need to beat your chest over your beautiful economy or whatever. I am not going to die so you can get your nails done and fajitas sizzling at your table. (Mine are better than any restos anyway. Fajitas, I mean. If the restaurants are serving nails, it's time to bring in the local health department.) Death is permanent. People can rebound after a career hit.

Having said that, I am nowhere near middle class, much less rich. I do have an education and can work from home. It's a level of privilege many people in my SES do not have. It would make sense if those who are more assured of a safe working environment could go out and do so. That would only work if we knew more and had better testing and tracing. The reality is that we don't, and people are getting sick when they aren't ticking all the right boxes.

Whether some of you on here think so or not, lives matter. If you want to buy into the lies Washington is spewing and throw yourselves on your proverbial swords to keep Trump and his vile cadre of ghouls happy by sacrificing yourselves to the dark gods of Wall Street, be my guest. Don't offer it on someone else's behalf. You have no right. Too bad all you can think of is how your posturing must make you a good person in the eyes of the evil empire, who, by the way, cares nothing for you.

Happy to read about the negative test. Stay safe.

 

Made a target run. Needed a few things, turned into a damn I'm bored buy let's buy everythingteverything. People are being respectful of distances inside the store, but I'm going to estimate maybe half to 2/3 we're wearing masjs and the rest of the customers were barefaced. I don't get it. It's not about you. The risk is for the workers who are in there all day with people coming in and out. You wear the mask for them, not for you.

 

Thanks, my friend.

I'm probably still too angry to post, but I'm going to try not to post the angry at anyone.

 

Appreciate the response.

FWIW, I don't think love of country is some prerequisite for being a "good citizen." I do think a lot of Americans have contempt for where they live, for different reasons, divided into two camps.

And I'm not talking about political contempt, per se. I'm talking about contempt for the idea of America, plus the DNA of it. It has long been a big nation that will not do things neatly or uniformly. It has long been restless, long been extremely multicultural, long been a nation where 300 miles apart might as well be a different continent, much less a different part of a nation. And it is a very specific kind of democracy, annoyingly mindful of giving regions likes states quite a bit of wiggle room to make decisions while balancing power in one of the houses of Congress, along with different term-lengths in the Congress in a way that makes whipsawing agendas hard to execute. In the Internet age - especially in media circles that are curiously dominated by coastal thinking, despite us not needing to have media outlets on the coasts anymore - that regionalism is frustrating to a more streamlined national idea of...whatever it is we think the whole nation should be about, I guess. That differs from person to person.

I'm skeptical that a straight-political agenda - from either side - is love beyond self-interested love. In my experience love generally isn't the things you want people to know you're for.

 

I suspect in real life "as much as possible" really means "just as soon as I get this haircut" or some other exception. I believe MileHigh, for example, is on board with the consensus thought here, yet he still made a haircut appointment as soon as possible.

They're smart (and/or rich) enough to know you can always shelter your wealth/income to make it inconsequential what party is setting tax law at any given time.

Used to be just "one nation," until the Commies scared us into asking for God's protection.

 

Greta Thunberg will be on CNN tonight to discuss the coronavirus. I mean it: I'm rooting for her in that arena. I really am. She should not be on a coronavirus panel, but I hope she avails herself so she doesn't get slammed.

 

"As much as possible" is a conditional phrase. It's baked in the cake it doesn't mean "I'll never leave."