Originally Posted by
TDinBristol
So you missed all the parts where I support the ideas that a) Wichita Falls TX should not be given a "one size fits all" order that equates it to NYC, b) the approach may be different for an older clientele than a younger clientele, and c) there's still so much to know on the virus. Funny how people I mostly agree with, and actually sympathize with, go batshit crazy when I don't agree 100%. Their egos can't handle anything else.
I ADMIT I object to Rippetoe's "I alone have the answers" tone, which long predates the "Wuhan Virus," and to the followers who "Rip" (get it?) anyone who's coming in from any different angle. One recent post described someone else's response as a "feminized argument" (Good Lord, is this the game now, all you manly men?) and one guy responding to my earlier post accused me of using "big words like they use in Reader's Digest" (a magazine that thrived on simplifying the work of others to a 6th-grade reading level). Seriously, you can't make this shit up.
I actually responded to "XX's" unity appeal by agreeing. The problem is when I say, in essence, to Rippetoe, that I agree his business has been unfairly shut down (although he now suggests he just ignored the directives), and that there needs to be a middle ground, and that all parts of the country shouldn't be treated the same, he still can't hear any of the agreement, only the slightest whiff of argument. That's the essence of division. My only argument in this entire thread has been that wearing little paper masks for a few months aren't a big deal, aren't a sign of being animals driven off a cliff, aren't "cowing to illegal orders" and aren't a major abdication of personal liberty.
I'll go a bit personal and mention my son. Former offensive lineman in the ACC, 6'5 and a playing weight of 310 in his day, could outlift at that time 98% of the Starting Strength folks, and also had a bout with cancer at age 28. He's on medication for the rest of his life. I am not going to tell him whether he should or should not wear a mask, as he is an adult. But if he does, I'd nearly dare you to say he's a pussy. He could easily stuff most of you (including the Almighty "Rip") in a trash can, but because he's a gentleman he'd just laugh you off, avoid the conflict, and walk on.
And I'll quote a good friend of mine - USMC, Vietnam, paratrooper, Purple Heart - "if you're worried about wearing a mask because it inhibits your 'freedom,' remember those of us who were forcibly drafted into the military, gave up years of our lives, saw their friends die, and suffered psychological damage to protect your right to bitch about not wearing a f***ing mask."
While I understand that this website is Rippetoe's ball, and he can run home with it any time he wants to, I do deeply appreciate the thoughts of about 90% of the people who come here, which is why I come here. But again, I gladly admit that I feel, and have felt for a long time, that Rippetoe is a weirdly angry man (maybe that's just some kind of Texas manly-man posturing) who (very understandably) is now angry his life's work has been damaged, but is using that anger to go all flat-earth on the factual realities of what's happening, because the facts don't happen to suit him. He just suggested in this thread that this is "the worst economic and social catastrophe in history." Only someone who is deeply, deeply ignorant of history, and deeply self-involved, and or for whom human history is inconvenient, can ever say such a patently ridiculous thing.
But, no point going on with this. I'll opt out and leave "Rip" with the last word, because I've come to understand that's most important to him (unless he decides to have the last work by not having the last word). Or you, if you want it.
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