Hey Jason, great stuff and so well written. I posted the following comment on my FB page and a friend of mine posted your article on the comment thread. Thank you for your work. Here is that post:
No, it's not you. And it's not me.
It really isn't. We are being abused - at least, on a psychological level - and it is NOT your fault. You - and I - are victims. We are not perpetrators.
Yes, it is very hard to hold on to this understanding when things are so bizarre and so wrong. We figure, "Maybe I am somehow at fault here, because...why else could this be happening?"
But - as strange and upsetting as it seems - the problem is that there are people who are very broken in heart and mind who are in power. They are not moral and they are not rational and they are broken people.
Here is an example: This person is Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services. He is obviously much more powerful that you or me, especially when it comes to matters related to Covid policy.
And look what he does here. Classic abuser tactics. First he says something so bizarre that it kind of freezes your brain. Then he employs the classic "Blame the victim" card.
Bizarre: "Things are very different from two months ago... So it is a very different situation, but this is a very, very serious situation and the window is closing for us to take action and get this under control," Azar told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union."
Well. Yes. Yes it is. And it is because you and the man that you work for have done what you have done and, more importantly, NOT DONE what you should have done. So...why are you announcing this to us?
WE didn't do it. YOU did. We know these things. And you caused them. And now you are telling US about it?
Classic abuser behavior.
Blaming the Victim: Azar denied that reopening too quickly was tied to the rise in cases, but instead "inappropriate individual behavior" that has enabled the spread of the virus.
"That's not so much about what the law says on the reopening as what our behaviors are within that," he told Tapper.
So. Wow. You - and especially the man that you work for (and the Governors who follow his lead) declined to create - or even, model - policy that would have contained this pandemic as so many other countries have so much more effectively.
Most especially, the apparently HIGHLY EFFECTIVE behavior of wearing masks at all times in indoor venues. You left it "to the masses" to decide, when any 6-year-old knows that there will ALWAYS be many, many people who decide NOT TO behave in rational ways, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU ARE ALSO BEHAVING IN THE SAME IRRATIONAL MANNER thereby encouraging others to do the same.
This is obvious. Beyond obvious. But you knew this. Or maybe you didn't know this. Maybe you are so broken as a human being that you actually didn't know this. So broken that you actually ordered (the Trump campaign organization did) stickers that were placed on every-other-seat at the Tulsa rally to encourage social-distancing to be removed before the rally began.
So, no it is not your fault. It is not my fault. These men (almost all men) are broken human beings, as are all abusers, and they are inflicting their brokenness up you. And they are encouraging other broken people to act out in broken ways. And on and on it goes.
So, perhaps we should touch base on the morning of November 3rd and do something about it.
Hey Jason, great stuff and so well written. I posted the following comment on my FB page and a friend of mine posted your article on the comment thread. Thank you for your work. Here is that post:
No, it's not you. And it's not me.
It really isn't. We are being abused - at least, on a psychological level - and it is NOT your fault. You - and I - are victims. We are not perpetrators.
Yes, it is very hard to hold on to this understanding when things are so bizarre and so wrong. We figure, "Maybe I am somehow at fault here, because...why else could this be happening?"
But - as strange and upsetting as it seems - the problem is that there are people who are very broken in heart and mind who are in power. They are not moral and they are not rational and they are broken people.
Here is an example: This person is Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services. He is obviously much more powerful that you or me, especially when it comes to matters related to Covid policy.
And look what he does here. Classic abuser tactics. First he says something so bizarre that it kind of freezes your brain. Then he employs the classic "Blame the victim" card.
Bizarre: "Things are very different from two months ago... So it is a very different situation, but this is a very, very serious situation and the window is closing for us to take action and get this under control," Azar told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union."
Well. Yes. Yes it is. And it is because you and the man that you work for have done what you have done and, more importantly, NOT DONE what you should have done. So...why are you announcing this to us?
WE didn't do it. YOU did. We know these things. And you caused them. And now you are telling US about it?
Classic abuser behavior.
Blaming the Victim: Azar denied that reopening too quickly was tied to the rise in cases, but instead "inappropriate individual behavior" that has enabled the spread of the virus.
"That's not so much about what the law says on the reopening as what our behaviors are within that," he told Tapper.
So. Wow. You - and especially the man that you work for (and the Governors who follow his lead) declined to create - or even, model - policy that would have contained this pandemic as so many other countries have so much more effectively.
Most especially, the apparently HIGHLY EFFECTIVE behavior of wearing masks at all times in indoor venues. You left it "to the masses" to decide, when any 6-year-old knows that there will ALWAYS be many, many people who decide NOT TO behave in rational ways, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU ARE ALSO BEHAVING IN THE SAME IRRATIONAL MANNER thereby encouraging others to do the same.
This is obvious. Beyond obvious. But you knew this. Or maybe you didn't know this. Maybe you are so broken as a human being that you actually didn't know this. So broken that you actually ordered (the Trump campaign organization did) stickers that were placed on every-other-seat at the Tulsa rally to encourage social-distancing to be removed before the rally began.
So, no it is not your fault. It is not my fault. These men (almost all men) are broken human beings, as are all abusers, and they are inflicting their brokenness up you. And they are encouraging other broken people to act out in broken ways. And on and on it goes.
So, perhaps we should touch base on the morning of November 3rd and do something about it.
I wasn't paying attention early enough, I'll admit.
But I was aware some things were starting to go way wrong during Obama's second term.
And during the 2016 election, it became painfully clear to me things were much worse than I'd thought.
And I knew Trump represented an existential threat to the country as soon as he started getting coverage. I knew he could win right away.
I was hoping he would not.
But now here we are.
--
Furry cows moo and decompress.