These are just the ones that have caused me to pause, reflect, and adjust my thinking over the last week.
This has been a tough week for me, physically – nothing major, just the accumulation of a lot of little things:
- Stupid cold lingering for over 2 weeks – the first week, I felt sick. Now, I just have leftover coughing, a runny nose, and a need to take a nap every day.
- A swollen left eyelid, pain in it when touched, and no other symptoms (which means that it’s not pinkeye, which would have developed into an oozing mess by now). I wavered between going to Urgent Care and just waiting until my appointment with the opthalmologist on Tuesday morning. Finally made my decision when the UC center refused me service inside the facility after I admitted I had a cough (though they would allow me to be seen outside the facility). I declined, not wanting to be treated like a leper.
- That above attitude is GETTING to me. I have asthma, and, sometimes, I just have to cough. At times, when I need an inhaler, it becomes a series of dry coughs, that leave me breathless. None of that is contagious. But, since COVID, people treat me like I’m Typhoid Mary. There are approximately 19 million asthmatics in the United States – what the hell are we to do, stay home because you’re AFRAID you might catch our non-existent Wu-Flu?
- Look, it’s not the first time I’ve run up against this “imposed-upon” attitude. I was taking a graduate class in a dormitory, during a 3 week-teachers’ course, and had an attack. I eventually had to get up, unpack my breathing machine, and take several treatments in the common living room. I was informed that other people had their sleep disturbed, and asked if I could be quieter. As if! Lady, not if I wanted to keep breathing! Of course, I could have gone to a hospital (having to call an ambulance, as it was dangerous to try to drive myself in the middle of an attack). That would have caused me a lot of money, due to co-pays and deductibles. And, would have been the same treatment I was administering in the dorm. People with attitudes like that would have asked Stephen Hawkins to turn off his ventilator, as it “was too loud”. However inconvenient it might be for the complainers, at least at the end of it, they can walk away and live their normal life – unlike us.
- Finally, I’m just going to point out the hardships involved in masking for the hearing impaired (I wear hearing aids). It’s not JUST a little convenience, it’s a MAJOR imposition. Yes, I DO know that I could use a clear face shield. NO, that won’t help me, as the problem is all the other people who are masked up, and virtually unintelligible to those who are hearing impaired. For now, one tiny suggestion? When someone asks you to repeat yourself, over and over again, try to hide your frustration. It’s a lot worse for us, who truly cannot understand what you are saying. Every time someone says (always in an aggrieved, impatient tone), “NEVER mind!”, I have to restrain myself from bitch-slapping them. It’s like rolling your eyes when a cripple asks for you to slow down – completely unacceptable.
On to the links.
I really hate that use of the word “distraction” that the Left have weaponized when called out on their blatant hypocrisy. This essay explains it better than I could have.
Clarence Thomas documentary pulled from Amazon Prime – during Black History month. I’m linking to a DDG (Duck-Duck-Go) page. If you scroll down, you will note that there is no mention of this in any of the ‘major’ news media outlets.
Does CNN think this worthy of mention? Don’t be ridiculous!
MSNBC? No mention of the balanced look at Thomas’ life, but plenty of links to a Pro-Anita Hill film.
I’ll give ABC News props for even MENTIONING the film – but, curiously, no mention of the de-platforming of the highly rated documentary.
On Amazon? In a search with the words “Clarence Thomas documentary”, the Pro-Left Anita: Speaking Truth to Power is the second film to come up. But, no mention of the Clarence Thomas documentary, at all. A search using the phrase “Black History Movies” also fails to bring up any mention of the film.
During Black History Month!
Ornery Dragon asks, “Cui bono?”. If you read the whole thing, you’ll also come across links to a full explanation of what constitutes Freedom of Speech. I’d suggest checking out the link, and bookmarking it.
One very good suggestion that the OD makes is this:
So, read. Watch movies. Pass those books and movies around to your friends (but make sure you get them back!).
May I add that you should either buy a hard copy of those books that are foundational, or, if electronic, make sure they have Loan privileges, to encourage information transfer? Or just send the person a gift of the book (don’t just give an Amazon gift card, buy a Kindle version of the book, and send that link).
This ‘cancelling’ tactic is not a one-off. The very popular book on ‘transgendering’, When Harry Became Sally, has also been made unavailable on Amazon.
The thing about electronic books is that, if you buy them from Amazon, you can try to read them, only to find that Amazon has PULLED THAT BOOK FROM YOUR KINDLE. It’s happened before, when a particular edition of 1984 was, so Kindle claimed, in violation of copyright. They not only pulled the book from the Kindle store, but also deleted copies that had been downloaded.
The electronic nature of e-books, and their dependence on the popular app from Kindle, makes them vulnerable to this deletion. On other e-stores, this is not a problem, as long as you get those books in a non-Kindle format (a powerful argument for using other means to access those books).
