Trump getting COVID-19 is not a big deal. Let’s not treat it as such. After all, I believe his odds for survival are in the vicinity of 99% and probably actually much better considering his access to every treatment imaginable.
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Trump getting COVID-19 is not a big deal. Let’s not treat it as such. After all, I believe his odds for survival are in the vicinity of 99% and probably actually much better considering his access to every treatment imaginable.
Those are all admirable traits and common amongst Americans by and large, but they are insufficient to motivate someone to make really hard decisions. Like speaking out when everyone disagrees with you and it costing you your job. Or going to jail because you refuse to follow a governor's order. Or telling the mob as they scream in your face to fuck off - you kneel to no one and won't lie to save yourself.
Americans aren't widely used to the necessity of courage that is an almost everyday occurrence in less privileged parts of the world, and we are quickly becoming less free as a consequence.
Jordon Peterson does a good deal of explanation on the 5 major traits: agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience. I encourage anyone who's not familiar to watch some of his talks, it's educational. Some things like "support" fall under being agreeable and some things like "work ethic" are conscientiousness. What we really need are a bunch of fuckers like me who score really low on "agreeableness". We don't give a shit enough about what people think to go along and bend the knee. It's not exactly courage, it's personality. We can't fake being ass-kissers and pearl-clutchers. At least not for long. People who score high on conscientiousness would help some, too. In this search, we're narrow-casting, the same as when Coach is trying to teach his program. The majority of people simply are not going to fit the group we need to reach. Think about it in lifting terms..... out of any given decent sized city what percentage of gym goers (never mind the population at large) are willing to do a Starting Strength type program with all the shunning of standard Globogym methods that entails? A majority? Nope. We already know that. We face the same problem with needing people to be courageous (and disagreeable) enough to stand up to this shit. We're not gonna be the majority. We're going against too many norms.
Where does that get us? If we keep sliding into this weird Orwellian wad of shit why do we care that we avoided conflict? Will what we have when it's over be worth it? I'm watching people bend over backwards to accommodate things that offend me as a free citizen. And it's nothing to them. I am well aware of the distance between them and me and it makes me sad. If this whole thing teaches us anything it's that it's going to be increasingly important in the future to teach logic, avoidance of herd conformity, historical perspective, and independence of thought to future generations.
Excellent post, Jenni. We need to get a beer.
I just went on my TV and the options to search for programs had changed so the first three options were “black history” “diversity in tv” and “exploring race”. I might CHOOSE to watch something like this but this subtle brainwashing really made me shudder. I might have to follow those people that have quit (or never had) cable tv and go DVD only......
Trump getting Covid is very much a big deal, it will win him the election. I like his style.