As I write this post today, there are two things on my mind. The first is that Salt Lake is probably going to experience some historic flooding. This has made me a bit concerned as I'm not certain what all I can do about it. We topped out at 900 inches of snow in our mountains which are about 12 miles away, and that is more snow pack that anyone has ever seen as long as records have been kept. It's a weird place to be, because on the one hand, we really needed the water. But on the other hand, if temperatures warm up too quickly (which can happen with climate change and its extremes), then we could literally have rivers of water running down the street. So the city has set up sandbagging operations at a lot of places, offering free sandbags for residents to protect their homes (along with help to get them filled). But then there are the capitalists...the people who want to make money because...well...the mantra of today is "pull yourself up by your bootstraps or else." Some people are listening to this mantra, and they are doing what capitalism does to make money. They exploit cheap things and sell them for more.
So what do you have then in this kind of situation? I'll give you one guess, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. Here's the answer: all the sandbags are disappearing because people are putting hundreds if not thousands of them in their cars and then selling them for $10.00 a piece on Facebook marketplace. The city literally cannot keep up with the sandbags because they are getting stolen by thieves sold online by entrepreneurs to help make ends meet. Keep in mind that these sandbags are supposed to be free for residents to use. Far be it for me to call these people thieves entrepreneurs. I don't want to give the word thief "job creator" a bad name. Who needs sandbags anyway? Because we obviously elected Biden and as long as he is president, it's all his fault for everything. At least, that's what I'm told by unscrupulous people my everyday neighbors. I hold nothing but contempt and hatred love for my fellow human. Big smile :) I sure do love the capitalism that y'all vote for out there. Go Republicans!
The other thing that is on my mind is how my Facebook feed has filled up with people claiming that laziness is now considered a trauma response. Let me repeat that: "Laziness is a Trauma Response." And yes, you might be wondering why I follow a lot of lazy people. I just do, and I'm not sure why that happened. I think it's because being queer when I was a young person had me running around with certain people that existed on the outskirts of college life. They were weed smokers, white, and openly accepting to all sexualities. This was before polyamory was a thing and these people decided that having multiple partners was a sustainable and healthy lifestyle (it isn't) mostly due to capitalism's demand that money needs to come from somewhere and people generally don't like to "give" money to a relationship where sex is essentially freely given as often as one needs it--why buy the cow when the milk is free?) Anyway...it's just what I've observed. No judgement. I live my life in the logic circles that my mind dictates, but I do hate being right so much of the time.
Well...we all got old. I'm 51 (for example), but the thing is...I stepped away from these people decades ago, but we all play games, etc. so it was natural to accept friend requests. Only, all of these people I know who were some of the laziest people I'd ever met with unkempt dorm rooms and super laid back attitudes and getting by on the bare minimum are now super-stressed, living on disability checks, and just unable to adult at all. And now they post crap all day long on their Facebook feeds saying things like, "I'm not lazy, but laziness and the inability to be motivated, and the inability to clean and do other things is a trauma response. I've been abused by the patriarchy, by the workplace, by parents who wanted me to do chores, by this and by that, etc. And I now have C-PTSD from all of that and I'm not lazy. I'm just traumatized!" Mmmkay. It's not how I see it, but whatever. So what do you want? And they scream, "Reparations!" And these same people, some of whom are trans, think that if they are misgendered by a pronoun, that the only acceptable apology is a sincere, "I'm sorry to have misgendered you," and then a tip of at least $25.00. The "tip" is the reparations that the person believes that they are owed. Gimme a break. I'm never going to do that. I don't care if I ever hear from that person again. I'll keep my money, thank you. I can make friends and socialize with people who don't demand money if they become offended.
Folks, the world is getting really weird. I don't know if it is just generalized unchecked mental illness or what? But things are starting to resemble a circus funhouse that doesn't make any sense UNLESS you accept that 70% of everyone you meet in a day is yet another example of an awful person. Then things make sense, only it's not the kind of truth that makes your day. Anyone else care to share some truths that have been on your mind now that I've bared mine?
The reparations thing is getting out of control. Won't comment further about it.
ReplyDeleteWe see crap like that here after a hurricane. People selling bags of ice for ten-twenty bucks. Capitalism is one thing, inhumane price gouging is another.
That sandbag thing sounds worse than the jerks who bought up all the toilet paper at the start of the pandemic.
ReplyDelete@P.T.: It is just run of the mill exploitation. "Exploitation" is common and normal...should I even say systemic?...in America. For example, cheating others is the norm for America. Think about jobs. A lot of jobs are just people like you and me paying others to employ someone AFTER they get a cut of overcharging Americans for their operations. That's how capitalism works. In America, we offer a person as little compensation as you can to do work that you want them to do...for you? That question at the end of that statement is intentional. It shouldn't be normal (or logical) to offer someone as little as possible for work that you need done. By doing this, you are seeing how far you can push another person. You are seeing how much you can cheat them. We are all trying to have a modern, functioning society with failed Soviet-level economics. A society where exploitation is the norm cannot afford many things that matter, like democracy, truth, reason, goodness, and decency. And I'm seeing this in real time. You may not have noticed yet, but it's not just the people who hoard toilet paper. That was one symptom of our incredibly sick way of living, and it is ultimately unsustainable.
DeleteIf you don't want to "unfriend" these people, go and mute them. It's a simple operation whereby you don't have to see them whining into their feeds. I had to mute most of my "friends" as they were posting inane things that made my head hurt. I'm much happier that my feed is mostly media companies with links to articles I kind of want to see.
ReplyDeleteAt some point, you have to stop engaging with people who just set you off. I know, bubbles and all that. But you're spiraling. Spiraling and all in your own head. Sometimes it's good to focus on things you like and not drill down on the people you won't be able to help, even if they were to take your advice, which they weren't going to do anyway.
@Liz: You are probably right.
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