This is how I feel:
I feel like I’m the fucked up one. I feel like I’ve gone cuckoo bananapants, because I look out into the world and I see people who think the pandemic isn’t real; I see them not wearing masks anymore; I see people who somehow think Trump is doing a good job, or that believe he’s accomplished anything at all; I see people who live in a reality where blue state cities are places Snake Plissken would have to escape from; where Democrat Pedophiles are shipping children in furniture; where scientists are traitors peddling climate change coronavirus fantasy but Jesus Christ was a white man with an AR-15 who fought to make sure corporations were people, the poor got fucked, and nobody raised his Dad-blamed taxes. I feel like I’m trapped in some Hellraiser puzzle cube, some mirror universe trap where on my side of the mirror there are still things like common decency and empathy and shared reality, and on the other side are people who think that wearing a mask in a store is the same thing as being a Black man summarily executed in front of his family for writing a bad check.
I feel like I’m sitting in a living room and in the middle of the room there’s a toilet on fire, and nobody else will claim to see the toilet, or the fire. And if I push, they tell me, “The fire toilet is antifa propaganda, just eat your fuckin’ Spaghetti-Os.”
It feels like my brain is misfiring.
And once in a while, this brute force attack on our collective psyche, it works. I think, maybe I’m the broken one? Maybe I’m the partisan asshole? Like, is it even remotely possible that Trump is no worse than any other president, that life under Obama was some kind of nightmare realm, that COVID-19 isn’t real? It’s just a moment. And then I remember the people I know who got sick or died from it, and I look at the facts, the actual (sing it with me) facts of life, and I yawp again into the void THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS even though they want me to admit that I see five.
Maybe you feel that way too.
But your brain isn’t misfiring.
I’m not okay. You’re not okay. And it’s okay we’re not okay.
Your response is that you’re not okay because things are very much not okay. It is perfectly acceptable, normal, and expected to feel fucked up in a fucked up situation. Broken politics, Zoom school, gender reveal forest fires, Patriotic Re-Education, Herman Cain tweeting about the hoax virus that he actually died from — in this endlessly scrolling set of brand new WE DIDN’T START THE FIRE* verses, it’s easy to feel like you’re the broken one. But you’re not. You’re just responding to a broken world. And not just broken in a normal way — but broken in a way that’s hard to parse, that doesn’t form clean fractures. The difference between a snapped femur and someone who stuck one hand in a blender. We’re tip-toeing across a tightrope, and on one side is a chasm of Absurdist Incompetence and on the other is a pit of Active Malevolence and we’re just trying not to fall.
I mean, I barely go anywhere, right? But last week, I went to an ice cream place to pick up a couple pints because in this Epoch of Fuckery ice cream is medicine, and in the place, everybody was masked, everybody was good. And then the next day I went to the doctor’s office to get a flu shot and two people who worked there were not masked. In a doctor’s office! A DOCTOR’S OFFICE. Aaaaa dooooooctooooor’s offffffiiiiiice. Where if anybody (!) should be cleaving to good mask protocol (!!) it should be in a god damn d o c t o r ‘ s o f f i c e. Sometimes I’ll drive through town and I’ll see a group of people where some of them are masked and some of them aren’t and I’m like, how’s that even work? What’s the fucking point? And then you see a parade of dicknoses who I guess believe that AIR does not come out of their NOSEHOLES only their MOUTHPITS and then you get on Facebook and you see some ding-dong relative sharing a screengrab of a spectacularly fake tweet where Joe Biden said something about how he’s gonna raise your taxes and turn your kids into dogfood and change the name of the country to the United Socialist States of Berniecratimerica, and you start to scream? You just scream. You scream into a pillow, into your clenched fists, into a box, into the hollow of an old tree where the Earth takes your scream and nurtures it into a flock of hungry winged things. I’m screaming right now! Just screaming.
Just fucking screaming.
And it’s okay.
It’s okay if you’re screaming, too.
It’s okay if you’re worried and sad and mad all the time and it’s okay if brushing your teeth feels like a heroic moment and if you can’t stop doomscrolling the Apocalyptic Stock Ticker that is social media.
It’s okay if you’re not okay.
I’ve no answers how to make it okay. (Except, obviously, vote, give money to charities and politicians, raise a ruckus, eat ice cream, try not to bite your phone.) Try to secure some peace and pleasure for yourself away from this Hell Realm. I try to put down my phone. I walk and listen to birds and high-five pine trees and it feels a little better. Not okay, but closer to it.
(And I note that even going outside is a privilege right now, with many places experiencing ash and smoke or bad weather. I only mean to suggest you put down the phone and try to steal some moments of peace away from the maw of the maelstrom.)
I don’t know that we’re going to be okay. Individually or collectively. We are under not one but… at least three existential threats I can count. But we can try despite everything to care about ourselves and each other through whatever comes — and that can be our true north, a star to chart the dark.
The things you see are real.
There is a toilet on fire in the living room.
I see it too.
It’s okay that you’re not okay.
And I hope we get to find moments where we are okay, and that we can take it, and hold it, and sustain it. And that we come out of this better than we were before. But it’s okay to be afraid that’s also not what’s going to happen, too. Whatever happens, we’re in this together. We can have a shared reality, a shared empathy. We can rage and scream and we can vote and we can do what we can and what we must to endure.
These are fucked up times.
It is normal to feel fucked up in response to them.
May you steal moments of peace from the jaws of chaos.
p.s. wear your fuckin’ masks for chrissakes
(This is based off a Twitter thread I did the other day that seemed to resonate, so I’m letting it live here, too, in a more blog-flavored format.)
* I used to think that our current reality is broken because of that weasel that fucked the Hadron Collider, but now I fear that Billy Joel pissed off a wizard somewhere and now he’s locked in a tower, forced to write increasingly horrible new verses to WE DIDN’T START THE FIRE that the wizard makes real with his shitty wizard magics. We need to find and free Billy Joel from the wizard trap! Before all of reality is doomed by his songsmithy! We’re coming, Billy Joel! Just hold on! Don’t write any more! For the love of god, Montressor, don’t try to rhyme anything to “gender-reveal forest-fire!” Wait no Billy Joel what are you writing oh god you’re writing SLENDERMAN WALRUS SPIRE what the fuck does that mean oh god oh shit oh fuck
Marsha Seas says:
Thank you, Chuck. I don’t know what sorcery you possess, but you always make me feel better. <3
September 18, 2020 — 10:39 AM
Lisa Woods says:
We’ve had several mosquitoes test positive for West Nile (yep, that’s still a thing) near my home in North TX this summer, so the city is doing extra spraying and recommending we wear long sleeved shirts/pants (in addition to masks, of course). So that’s an extra fun little challenge when trying to tap into the calming effects of nature.
On a more positive note, I just finished reading The Wanderers and REALLY enjoyed it. Looking forward to the next book in the series
September 18, 2020 — 10:50 AM
Geekfest says:
I have felt so crazy and broken lately. (I’m one of those in the Pacific NW living under smoke filled fog) This resonates so much.
Now I feel 110% justified in buying ALL THE ICE CREAM.
Also, damn, but Wanderers is a bit of a tough read right now. Good writing, but weirdly prescient?
September 18, 2020 — 10:51 AM
Tapeleg says:
Hey there, Geekfest. Keep your chin up as best you can. It’s freaking hard to do right now, but you are going to make it.
September 18, 2020 — 12:01 PM
RiverVox says:
I see it too. But I also see that social media amplifies the fire and ignores the flowers that are growing in the manure. I’m learning to step away and focus on nature and art, relationships and the smol sparks of joy I can find.
September 18, 2020 — 10:52 AM
Emily T Huntington says:
perfection. thank you!
September 18, 2020 — 10:53 AM
Jo Chern says:
Nail. Hit. On. Head. You always seem to articulate (well, I wouldn’t be articulate, so no comparison) my Munch screaming into the void thoughts. After my sister died last month after 2 years fighting off lung cancer, I thought: why am I not sobbing over this death as much as I expected. And then realized that I was sobbing over everything every day and this was so personal, it just needed to be carried in a different place, a more private space, so I could grieve for her while still bawling my heart or head out over the fucked up world every day. Thanks to you. As always.
September 18, 2020 — 10:53 AM
Clovis Fearing says:
Holding you in the light, Jo.
September 18, 2020 — 11:00 AM
Jo Chern says:
Thank you. And I’m afraid I’ll be sent off for re-education with you. All these books by Chuck AND Taoism? Can’t be good!
September 18, 2020 — 11:39 AM
Tapeleg says:
I’m so sorry that you lost her at this time. It’s awful at this time, but to just stack up the personal and the world’s tragedy is so hard. I’m glad you realized where to put that grief, or that it was there in that way. So many people stack guilt of how they feel or don’t feel on top of all that pain. Mostly, I’m trying to say sorry poorly.
September 18, 2020 — 12:05 PM
Jo Chern says:
Nah. You said sorry perfectly. And it is the stacking up that is getting so hard for us all, I think, as Chuck said.
September 18, 2020 — 1:08 PM
chornung88 says:
I hear this, too … my father in law died at the end of March and I miss him so much (no in-law jokes in my life. They were great people). In a way, I’m almost glad he’s not seeing this sh*t-show … much love to you.
September 18, 2020 — 1:29 PM
Jo Chern says:
It is so hard, isn’t it? Thank you and take care and much love.
September 18, 2020 — 3:17 PM
Clovis Fearing says:
The sea has retreated, but on the horizon I can see the groundswell of William Gibson’s Jackpot acquiring little whitecaps. Friends in California who lost their home a year ago are having to move again for the next round of fires. We’re waiting for the hurricanes to hit us again. Feedback loop pushing methane into the air. CO2 on steroids. Ice sheets and glaciers collapsing. The Klept is turning up everywhere.
And then there is my bookcase. Might get me sent to a re-education camp. (Yeah, you’re on the shelves several times, Chuck, along with Bill Gibson, Mr. Brunner, Mr. Ballard, Mr. Delany, Mr. Womack, Mr. Bradbury, Ms. Atwood, Ms. Jemisin, Mr. Marx, and Mr Zinn. Hey, I’ve even got Mr. Pynchon in there…)
I’ve seen this movie too many times. It doesn’t end well. Nah, I’m not screaming into the void every damn day. Nope. The Xanax helps, but not enough.
Stick with it, mon ami. If we aren’t screaming into the void at this point, we’re not paying attention. About all we can do is hunker down, then put on our Chemturion suits and GOTMFV.
September 18, 2020 — 10:57 AM
Clovis Fearing says:
And when THIS is the official report from the National Hurricane Center:
…WILFRED FORMS IN THE EASTERN TROPICAL ATLANTIC… …GET OUT THE GREEK ALPHABET FOR THE REST OF 2020…
You pretty much know they feel what we feel…
September 18, 2020 — 11:34 AM
Roger says:
Thank you, Chuck. Sage advice. I’m going to find me a pine tree to high-five!
September 18, 2020 — 10:59 AM
Nathan says:
How do I unsubscribe from this blubbering blather? Okay, yeah, I’ve got it.
September 18, 2020 — 11:00 AM
terribleminds says:
BYE
September 18, 2020 — 11:09 AM
Nathan says:
Thank you. I—and plenty others—have had enough of of this breechcloth etiquette shoved down our throats, or onto our faces. I respect you illimitably as a writer, and I respect your own personal belief system, but to decry all those who simply occupy a different frame of mind with the ill-bred contempt you hold for them is rather annoying. I’ll still continue to purchase your books, partisan as the viewpoints inherent in them are, but I won’t stand for your weekly updates clotting up my inbox.
September 18, 2020 — 11:26 AM
terribleminds says:
I mean, you don’t really want my response, I assume — or maybe you do, since you felt comfortable enough to leave a comment in the first place.
I’m not just talking about different belief systems. I’m speaking about what is ultimately a fundamental schism between reality and illusion, between empathy and narcissism, between common sense and total madness. All things are not equal simply by existing. Both sides are not magically correct. There is truth in the noise. Facts still matter. Climate change is real, Joe Biden isn’t a socialist, COVID exists, etc.etc.
Where I find your argument gives itself away though is “I–and plenty others,” which is one of those critical rhetorical fallacies where you attempt to bolster your point by citing an unnamed, unspecific group of people who ALSO agree with you. (It’s something the President* does on the regular.) Since I assume you’re specifically speaking about the blog, I’ll say that I haven’t seen some kind of massive flight from the subscription numbers here, and so I’m not sure your notion holds much water. I’m totally good with you not being a susbcriber, and I say that sincerely, without rancor — why would you continue to subscribe if the content isn’t pleasing to you? If you feel it’s “shoved down your throat,” yeah, no, go to greener pastures where no things are forced down your esophagus. I wouldn’t ask you to remain. Just be sure that if you’re using evidence of some grand egress to support your own escape, make sure that the evidence of that is supported. Because the way I’m writing here has the way I’ve been writing since this blog began — and honestly, with less frequency now than before. So, no idea what changed for you, but with all seriousness, have a great day unpolluted by whatever nonsense I’m slinging here, buddy.
September 18, 2020 — 11:42 AM
Marco (Minnesota) says:
Good grief, man. Thank you. #freebillyjoel
September 18, 2020 — 11:02 AM
Sandra Whitteker says:
There is much beauty out there as well and wonderful things happening all the time. Sorry to go all Pollyanna on you. ❤
September 18, 2020 — 11:11 AM
cmariebissett says:
Thank you. I needed this today. It’s good to not be alone. — Carina
September 18, 2020 — 11:11 AM
Lisa Davidson says:
Thank you for this.
I heard a Trump clip yesterday in which he bragged about promoting education that wouldn’t make (presumably) white children ashamed of their history, and NOWHERE ELSE was this covered because we live in an Age of Fuckery where blatant white nationalist propaganda doesn’t even register.
Hang in there, everyone. Enjoy your ice cream.
September 18, 2020 — 11:11 AM
BJ Rosen says:
Yeah, I saw that too and suddenly had flashbacks to the History Channel and not in a good way. I think it just got buried under the tsunami of crap that pours out of the White House like Trump’s got a portal to Cthulhu’s home dimension and is gleefully emptying it all on us. Trying to keep up with all the stuff he’s said or done in the last four years will keep historians busy for hundreds of years.
September 21, 2020 — 1:21 AM
Fenraven says:
You captured exactly how I feel, only throw in a lot more fear, because if Trump wins in November, we are SO fucked, there won’t even be words to describe it.
September 18, 2020 — 11:19 AM
Lucas Young says:
Thank you. Couldn’t have said it better myself. You turn one way and there’s Brexit, which Cambridge Analytica happily admit to manipulating fence-sitters into ignorantly voting for – and very shortly the UK is going to go “tits up” so it’ll goodbye to living and traveling across Europe, you turn the other way and see a crazed orange man who is now president and once stared directly into the sun claiming the climate will just “cool down” because science “doesn’t know” and testing more people means more people get sick but don’t worry the virus will just “go away”; you look to a country like New Zealand (where I lived most of my life) and think “why the fuck aren’t other countries, like the UK – which is also an island roughly the same size – just doing what New Zealand did to nail this on the head?” and you realise… you can’t do or say anything about it because now ANYTHING you say or think makes you the target of abuse, because hey, in 2020, if you’ve decided you see someone or something you don’t agree with it’s OK to be a dick to that person about it.
Ice cream is still good, though.
September 18, 2020 — 11:24 AM
Toni Kenyon says:
Currently living in New Zealand feels like living in Wonderland some days. But have no fear, the nit-pickers and the conspiracy theorists are here too, trying to undo all the good that has been done to keep us safe. I have a son in London and one in New York…daily I wish that they would come home. Maybe they will if the election goes the ‘wrong way’. Holding you all in the light x
September 18, 2020 — 7:14 PM
BJ Rosen says:
That’s assuming that they can actually travel anywhere. As an American, my passport is essentially a decorative object at the moment.
September 21, 2020 — 1:23 AM
firepio1979 says:
Damn. Thanks. Hopefully we see each other at a common PA indy bookstore soon and can have a scream together. My mask scream is all of the public safety people I know looking down at masks and the people that wear them.
And yes, Ice Cream.
September 18, 2020 — 11:27 AM
TR says:
Summed up perfectly what I’ve been thinking this past week. Looking around, I started to question what was wrong with ‘me’, then I reminded myself of that saying, ‘Science doesn’t care what you believe’ and I calmed down…a little. The screaming in my head is still happening. Somedays it’s louder than others. It would be so easy to let apathy take over and become the Joker, but the Joker is already in charge and he enjoys watching the world burn.
We’re those damn frogs sitting in that pot of water over the open flame. When one of us tries to jump out because it senses danger, the others pull it back in so we can all cook together. 🙁
September 18, 2020 — 11:29 AM
TR says:
That should be ‘Some days’. Sigh.
September 18, 2020 — 11:30 AM
Steven Womack says:
Thank you, Chuck. That’s all I can say…
September 18, 2020 — 11:37 AM
MaryAnn Lockard says:
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I had a moment the other day when I actually thought: maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the Moron-in-Chief is not so bad. It was a short, terrifying, sick moment. And it scared me. Literally frightened me. My mind zoomed (so to speak) to my studies of WWII and Hitler’s very effective propaganda machine. And I realized how tired I am (to paraphrase another Star Trek TNG) of remaining vigilant. (The Drumhead) I am a retired college instructor of Critical Reading and Writing and I always played the final scene of that episode for my students. Anyway, thank you for always encouraging us to acknowledge the fucked-up-ed-ness but not to ignore it. It’s nice to know there are others out there.
September 18, 2020 — 11:39 AM
Jeanne Felfe says:
Me too…then I slapped myself back to this shit-hole of a reality show.
September 18, 2020 — 11:52 AM
Jay says:
Amen
September 18, 2020 — 11:44 AM
Jeanne Felfe says:
Whew. Thanks for confirming that it’s not just me. And for letting me know that it’s okay that I’m not okay. Carry on. And please tell us how to rescue Billy Joel so this can all stop.
September 18, 2020 — 11:51 AM
Donna says:
Just…thank you!
September 18, 2020 — 11:53 AM
micaraerossi says:
Nailed. On the effing head.
September 18, 2020 — 11:56 AM
S.M. Carrière says:
When a blog post makes you cry… I’m not okay, and my country’s leader isn’t a bloviating bag of animated lies and bigotry. Gentle, deep digital hugs for everyone.
September 18, 2020 — 12:03 PM
ina says:
thank you— totally needed the reminder that we are not going mad…
September 18, 2020 — 12:08 PM
alyssabethancourt says:
I feel seen, and held, and personally spoken to by this. Thank you for acknowledging the toilet fire, Chuck.
September 18, 2020 — 12:19 PM
Tapeleg says:
I don’t know what to say, and for much of this messed-up time, that has been the case. I feel like everyone is in just as bad a place as I am, that they are more and more numb to the world around, that my place in the world is shrinking faster than I can keep up with. I don’t get how the world can fall so far, so fast. And I wonder where those outlets of sanity are, and how I can find them.
When lockdown started, I dusted off the tweeting machine. I thought it would help with the loneliness. I think I was around for a month before I shut it down again. It didn’t help at all, even though I follow so few people, curated enough to keep the crazy at bay, but the crazy is everywhere now, including me.
A friend got a new job, one that could set him up for years to come after a ton of hard work to get there. I should feel great for him, and I do – until I remember that I’ve been jobless for six months and am struggling to keep my chin up. Even though I’m better off than many people out there (I’m not bragging here), it still feels bleak. And I want to feel great for my friend, celebrate with him, all that. But I know what that would turn in to, because these are crazy making times.
Masks. If people don’t wear masks, I don’t get to go back to my old job. It’s that simple. I work (and increasingly, it looks like ‘worked’) in theater. I was the sound tech at an opera house. I had a good career doing it. And the longer this virus persists, the longer we can’t have live theater. And the industry wasn’t great at the time it shut down, but the craft was. So i see all these people not wearing masks and partying and I get angry. And I don’t want to be angry all the time. And I see all the people who are loving being angry all the time and think, there must be something wrong with me. Or maybe that anger is the only thing left for them to feel.
It’s nice to finally type this. It’s good to know it’s not just me.
September 18, 2020 — 12:25 PM
chornung88 says:
OMG – I sooooo miss theater … it was one of my coping mechanisms. And theater people are just looking at sports and going WTF – how is it okay for them to go play when you KNOW it’s not safe to go back to the theater – for either the actors on stage or the patrons. Anyway … long story short – one of the places I’m giving money is my beloved, world class nearby American Players Theatre – they have to get through this. I miss it so much. <3
September 18, 2020 — 1:33 PM
Tapeleg says:
And we keep waiting and waiting, and we don’t see an end in sight. We can’t do theater in a bubble, not like they are doing with sports. I’m amazed at how successful the NHL and NBA are with their models, and stunned that the NFL is allowing anyone in the stands at all. They will lose money as sports are a butts in seats economy, but unlike theater, they have deep pockets and few shareholders to satisfy.
Thanks for helping keep a theater group going. I know our ballet and opera are going to struggle hard, and all the stagehands who made their living from theater and live events are hurting as well. It’s a big industry to shut down so hard.
September 18, 2020 — 6:21 PM
Jason Ross says:
This is a salve for the soul right about now. For pretty much the past four years, I’ve been burning to find a tennis racket about the size of Mt. Everest and just spike some fuzzy, Wilson-made avatar of our current reality right over the net, straight down through the ground and into the Earth’s core, the power of my refutation resonating like an atomic thunder-clap, after which I fall to my knees with my head in my hands and just whimper-sigh for about 90 minutes. Your post took that urge away, at least for today, and helped me to remember that there are good people left, and that we still have cookies and cats and rainstorms and the hope for better tomorrows. Thanks for all you do.
September 18, 2020 — 12:29 PM
Geri says:
me too for all of this post. I have the relatives that think graffiti is worse than the police killing Black people. I practice mindfulness. and I breathe. and I eat lots of ice cream.
September 18, 2020 — 12:30 PM
Susie Lindau says:
I’ll share this, Chuck!
I was glued to the news but had to step away to preserve my mental health. I turn to writing, praying, and gasping for breath under smoke-filled skies in Colorado while hiking. In the meantime, my anti-masker friends face-off —literally and figuratively— with myself and other mask-wearers to meet up and pretend that Covid isn’t that contagious, or that dangerous. I’m keeping my head down, querying and writing another book — a book before Covid, when we only had to worry about two-legged killers.
September 18, 2020 — 12:46 PM
FMD says:
Thank you so much for writing this. I am so tired of all the anxiety I feel all the time. I’m tired of the firehose of bad news being sprayed on me constantly. I’m tired of hearing about one more corrupt trump appointee doing one more stupid thing to an important national agency, undermining our environment, or our mail, or our security, or our international relations, or other things we used to take for granted. I’m tired of hearing about more outrages by ICE and other departments supposed to “keep the peace” but that is only picking on the defenseless. I’m tired of being outraged all the time even though I suspect that was the plan from this feckless, incurious, selfish, unfit person who is supposedly our “leader.”
I’m not tired of ice cream but that can only go so far to mitigate the weariness. But I’m not giving up yet.
September 18, 2020 — 1:14 PM
chornung88 says:
Thank you, Chuck – you have no idea how much I needed this today. I’m not crazy. And I’m not okay. God. Such a friggin’ nightmare and the Great Orange was in my state last night and people love him and … the coffee table is going to have a permanent forehead shaped dent in it by the time this is all overwith …
September 18, 2020 — 1:26 PM
Ariadne says:
Thank you, Chuck. You have totally spoken to my condition. May we all survive these “interesting times.” I, for one, am really looking forward to seeing this year in my rear view mirror. On the meantime we need to protest in as many ways as possible. And vote blue.
September 18, 2020 — 1:40 PM
melorajohnson says:
Thanks for the laugh, Chuck. Yeah, it is a bit chaotic out there, and we can only do the best we can. I’m probably baking too much, but I’m feeding my family and mostly healthy. I’m grateful that the people I deal with are either on the same page, respectful of how we choose to handle things, or at least stay away from me. Just trying to stay kind and work for the best outcome possible. I pray that by this time next year, we’ll be on the upswing. Stay strong.
September 18, 2020 — 1:54 PM
Ryan Neely says:
I feel like I’m the one who is wrong everyday. I try to live my life by reason and fact but live in a deeply uneducated rural area. It’s tough to not think you’re wrong when you’re inundated by madness. Giving up social media several years ago has helped, but this has helped more. My only solace here is a single banner about a mile out of town which reads: “Facts don’t stop being true just because they are ignored.” Iy makes me smile every time I see it.
September 18, 2020 — 1:55 PM
Cheryl says:
Thank you. This helped me take a deep breath and feel a little okay.
September 18, 2020 — 2:04 PM
Nancy Bach says:
Thank you thank you thank you. So few people see the damn flaming toilet, I DO feel like I’m out of my mind and just hallucinating it all. Many in my social circle are going about like COVID-19 is gone and the other 2 issues you refer to are completely off the reasonable discussion table.Add to that the claustrophobic isolation, resulting in dangerous depressive episodes and skyrocketing anxiety, and I really DO have to consider if I’m rational. So thank you for seeing the toilet too. You are, as always, AWESOME. I wish you healing moments of joy yourself. Now I’m going to go out and high five my two maple trees, George and Gracie. PAX.
September 18, 2020 — 2:27 PM
Lita says:
Thank you so much, Chuck. I cry a lot. I’m not crying just now.
September 18, 2020 — 3:03 PM
Crazy Train says:
I don’t know if I can take much more of this. I’m really not okay and I’m terrified that he’ll get a second term
September 18, 2020 — 3:16 PM
Scooter McFly says:
Hi Chuck. From someone who doesn’t necessarily disagree with you; it makes me sad to see someone who appears intelligent and claims to have empathy making a greater divide in the name of reason. Do you not see that by picking the most egregious examples form recent news and presenting them as if they were core beliefs of the other side is doing no good to anyone? You provide ammunition for those who agree with you and alienate anyone who would like to engage in a reasoned debate. Trump is an ignorant bully and his agenda is different than yours. He’s willing to trade some deaths and long term damage to the environment for keeping the economy going and cheap power available to the American people. He considers that the more important goal and his supporters agree. His narrative is about how the economy shouldn’t be sacrificed because of a really really really bad seasonal flu and how meddling environmentalists have been abusing the laws to protect the environment, stretching the interpretation and never being satisfied no matter how expensive it is for the companies who actually employ American workers to continue to do business especially where foreign competition is not shackled by the same. Which is not an completely invalid viewpoint.
As to the Doctors office; I believe that testing and tracking are the most important means of battling the pandemic. Masks are an important part of the effort, I wear mine when I have to go out and also get upset if people around me do not. I would be upset if I found myself in the situation you describe and would probably have left if the reasoning was as you suspect, that they were ignorant or didn’t care. But the first thing I would have done is ask. Maybe they are tested daily and KNOW that they are not infected and therefore are comfortable knowing that they will not infect anyone. (Me wearing a mask protects you much more than me, agreed?) I would still wear a mask to avoid concerns and to be a good example, but there could be a reasonable explanation. What reasonable people do in that kind of situation though is again ASK! Not go and write a inflammatory tweet-storm and blog post. Or maybe they do, and that’s your point. Did I miss the irony?
Full disclosure, I did not vote for Trump, I could not vote for Clinton. I voted Libertarian knowing the vote was wasted but in the hope that it would help make a third party relevant at some future point.
September 18, 2020 — 5:48 PM
terribleminds says:
“From someone who doesn’t necessarily disagree with you.” [Insert comment full of disagreement.]
Listen, Scott — I don’t know what to say. You’re obviously good with the shitshow, and good with itemizing lives lost as being somehow worth it, and I can hear the denigration you use talking about this “really really really bad seasonal flu,” which isn’t what it is. So there’s little point engaging with you on this. You don’t give a shit. You can excuse it however you like, and you can hide behind whatever justification makes it okay. Shield yourself with whatever cold logic you feel is pertinent. I still see who you are, and how you excuse it all. “Meddling environmentalists.” C’mon. Go away.
September 21, 2020 — 8:58 AM
SNics says:
So true, Chuck. But consider us to be like the sea, storms on top, strong tides under, carrying us ever onwards. Life is rough and dark right now and will be for quite a while, but even Noah’s boat ride didn’t last for ever, so dawn will come, one day. Not soon, but eventually. What bothers me most, is people seem to think, “This will all be over by Christmas and we’ll be happy again” Um, like, NO!!! Even if the Orange One is gone completely there will arise a Hydra, and my sword is broken.
You are right, I’m not ok but that’s ok. And yes, there is ice cream. And coffee!!
September 18, 2020 — 6:31 PM
A. Elizabeth West says:
Thank you, Chuck. Much love. Hang in there, my dude.
September 18, 2020 — 7:32 PM
Robert Shaffer says:
I was sitting here tracing my genealogy on one of those family sites, doing the math to see if I could figure out the average age of my ancestors when they died. Shit, that 3 score and 10 stuff was turning out about right, and then I got depressed given my dotage so I shut it down and clicked on the latest of your stuff to see if I could find someone who understood how screwed up this time of our lives is. It was just what I needed. We are probably fucked but I will join the resistance when they march by.
September 18, 2020 — 8:40 PM
ClarkTCarlton says:
Thank you, thank you, thank you. We must face a new reality: if Trump wins again with the help of Russians, Roger Stone and the usual skullduggery, then we must divide as a nation. If Trump loses the popular vote but wins the Electoral College, we will once again be reminded that for the second time in this era that THE UNITED STATES IS NOT A DEMOCRACY, that we do not have one vote per person. Those of us who live in Blue States must hold referendums in which our populations decide on whether they want to remain a part of the United States of Trump or become different nations. We can live as nations that are truly democratic and implement a parliamentary system so that third parties can be something other than election spoilers. Just as the original 13 colonies left England, so can we leave the United States of America. This time, Secession will not be about maintaining the institution of slavery, it will be about restoring freedom to all, including control of over our own bodies and freedom from the archaic religious convictions of Evangelical so-called Christians.
September 18, 2020 — 8:44 PM
mckennadeanromance says:
This is exactly how I feel. Especially tonight, on discovering RBG has died. I’ve cried, I’ve had a beer. Everything seems pretty damn pointless, and then I think, you know what? RBG wouldn’t quit. Didn’t quit, even though her body simply gave out. So I’m not going to quit either. If it takes a pint of Graeter’s Black Raspberry with Chocolate Chunks ice cream (not that I’m being specific or anything) to keep going, so be it. #FightForRuth #FreeBillyJoel
September 18, 2020 — 9:07 PM
angieoakley1 says:
Just keep writing. I don’t know how all you wonderful clever decent folk keep up the word fight, but you do, and you even make us laugh for a glorious few moments. So keep going. It’s giving us hope amid the hopelessness. Believe me!
September 18, 2020 — 10:19 PM
mckennadeanromance says:
A friend of mine said we were the creators in a world of destroyers and that’s always stuck with me in the dark times. 🙂
September 19, 2020 — 7:46 AM
angieoakley1 says:
And Vale RBG – one person’s life can change the world.
September 18, 2020 — 10:23 PM
Deborah Makarios says:
“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs”… it’s quite possible you haven’t grasped the situation.
You scream, I scream, and let’s all have some icecream.
I live in NZ, and if there’s one thing that pisses me off, it’s seeing American elites essentially buying citizenship (hello, Peter Thiel) so they can use our country as basically a First Class Only lifeboat. I’m happy for our borders to be open to people like my friend who fled her country because of a life-threatening situation that she had no power over, but when those who have influence choose to screw over their own country and escape-pod to mine? Throw ’em back.
September 18, 2020 — 10:30 PM
Heather Ormsby says:
I read this week that dentists are seeing a huge spike in cracked teeth from people clenching and grinding their teeth. No one is ok.
September 18, 2020 — 10:33 PM
Maryann lockard says:
OMG so glad to hear this! Not for all those poor people, but once again to know I’m not alone! I’m one of them, except my teeth aren’t cracking. They’re literally loosening up at the ligaments from clenching so hard. Have to wear a mouth guard 24/7 so my teeth don’t fall out! Deep breaths.
September 20, 2020 — 11:03 AM
Scooter McFly says:
Wow, not sure what to do with my well written post that didn’t break any rules in your comments policy?
You sir are a hypocrite and should be ashamed of yourself.
I got here from BoatBits. I usually disagree with RLW but respect that his opinions are reasoned and I assume the same of his links, but it looks like you are just muckraking for attention. Doesn’t mean you are incorrect but you are wrong.
Be better.
September 19, 2020 — 1:30 AM
terribleminds says:
I don’t do comment moderation on weekends, “Scooter.”
September 21, 2020 — 8:52 AM