patrick.net

https://markoshinskie8de.substack.com/p/why-do-liberals-support-lockdowns

Unlike their opportunistic Democrat candidates, the liberal rank and file’s affinity for crisis is also rooted in their high personal baseline levels of fear, anxiety and depression. Liberals comprise the vast majority of psychotherapists’ clientele. The agoraphobic lockdown was sweet sorrow for many liberals. Those who didn’t get juiced up unemployment payments could “work remotely” on their laptops and, thus, avoid other humans. Many Liberals love “The People.” But not people.

Crisis-loving liberals’ perceptions of Coronavirus risk are very far removed from reality. As one of many examples, Bill Maher referred to a Gallup poll showing that 41 percent of Democrats believe that unvaccinated people have more than a 50 percent risk of hospitalization. The risk is actually “0.89%,” i.e., less than one percent. Democrats have wildly overstated risk throughout.

Third, liberals are ideologically monolithic. They don’t think independently or critically. They display rainbow lawn signs setting forth their simplistic, euphemistic rainbow bullet point creed. Their tribe tolerates no dissent. No matter how ridiculous a notion a liberal influencer presents, liberal individuals decline to disagree because they fear that others won’t like, and will negatively label, them. Hence, groupthinking liberals compliantly bought the Covid fear narrative.

Democrats get their skewed data, panic porn and worldviews from such plainly biased, liberal subscriber-funded sources as: NPR, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, the NYT and WaPo. Instead of objective journalism, these outlets give liberal consumers the narrative that these funders subsidize. Mainstream, Pharma ad-funded media outlets have also sown fear and promoted the vaxx scam. Panic builds ratings. And Pharma ads sell more drugs. These are vicious cycles of systemic misinformation.

Fourth, In the main, liberals go to college and major in subjects like Communications, Anthropology, Art History, English, Psychology or Gender Studies. Most took poquito hard science, and few read science books and/or spend time in, or consider, nature. Hence, they don’t know how ubiquitous and tiny microbes are. If they did, they might never have touched dirt, danced, hugged or kissed (ew!) anyone, ridden public transit, played sports, eaten in restaurants or cleaned their cats’ “litterboxes.” Public restrooms would traumatize them.

Most liberals don’t know what—or how wildly inaccurate—a PCR test is. They know nothing about the health effects of baseline systemic inflammation or C-reactive protein. Nor do they do know about how healthy gut microbiomes strengthen immunity. If they’ve heard of Ivermectin, liberals don’t know of its global human use or its efficacy; they dismiss it as “horse paste” because they heard Jimmy Kimmel smugly say so, while Colbert presented a dork-isimo dancing “vaccine” team.

Liberals have no clue about how irretrievably complex biological systems are or how one intervention inevitably causes multiple effects, many of which are neither predictable nor immediately apparent. Natural immunity and systems ecology are, to them, alien concepts. Instead, liberals naively, blindly trust bureaucrats, counterproductive lockdowns, political theater masks and magical injections. Somehow, medical reductionism connotes sophistication. Liberals think we all owe our survival to mega-hospitals, drugs, people in white coats and medical insurance.

Fifth, liberals de-emphasize personal responsibility, in general, and specifically its importance in maintaining health. Far more consequential than a Covid epidemic, America has had a decades-long obesity epidemic. 78% of those who died with Covid have been overweight. Liberals fail to acknowledge this elephant in the Covid room. Liberal Karens have repeatedly and naively blamed Trump and the unmasked and unvaxxed for the “pandemic.” But when, during the past twenty months, has any Democrat told any fat person—except Trump—that they should lose weight?

Sixth, liberals also love top/down, centralized federal control by media-anointed “experts.” But these experts have been wrong at every turn for the past 20 months. Liberals fell hook, line and sinker for “Two weeks to flatten the curve,” “We’re all in this together” and every other serial, bureaucrat-sponsored, propagandistic Coronavirus lie. Because they’ve been sloganeered into submission, they still think masks and vaccines “stop the spread” and “prevent infection.” It’s all very Soviet. That’s not a compliment.

Seventh, liberals are virtue signalers, but not virtuous. They vocally support school integration and want to control public school curricula, but send their kids to de facto segregated, often private, schools. They support higher taxes, but hire accountants to shelter their income. They support releasing criminals without bail, but live in places where street crime is unlikely. They fear climate change but drive a lot and fly frequently, often in private jets. They want you to stay home, mask up and take an experimental shot—no, an endless series of shots—because they naively think this will make a virus crawl into a corner and die.

Both Democrat politicians and their adherents should be deeply ashamed of the profound and lasting harm that their opportunistic and fearful tribal Coronavirus overreaction has caused. None of it has saved any lives.

Patrick says

Democrats get their skewed data, panic porn and worldviews from such plainly biased, liberal subscriber-funded sources as: NPR, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, the NYT and WaPo. Instead of objective journalism, these outlets give liberal consumers the narrative that these funders subsidize

I get annoyed with statements like these where it implies "the other side" has a problem. There is no objective journalism at all. Whenever you are listening to "news" you have to be hyper aware that they might be wrong (smaller news sources) or they may be actively lying to you (all mainstream news media).

Patrick says

Fourth, In the main, liberals go to college and major in subjects like Communications, Anthropology, Art History, English, Psychology or Gender Studies. Most took poquito hard science, and few read science books and/or spend time in, or consider, nature.

This is also a mistake. In Silicon Valley, besides people I've met through here, I know TWO PEOPLE that question this pandemic in this area. We're filled with science dorks.

richwicks says

This is also a mistake. In Silicon Valley, besides people I've met through here, I know TWO PEOPLE that question this pandemic in this area. We're filled with science dorks.

Culture.

Their culture requires adherence to "The Science" aka Scientism.

The best you can hope for is if somehow irrefutable proof (and in abundance) comes out linking the Vax to rare diseases on top of not working very well at all, they will grudgingly say the Death Comet or the Final Singularity will come later. But they will still insist the best evidence was to take the vax and learn nothing about open debate and questioning Expert Authority from the affair.

In their world, NPR and PBS and WaPo are holy beacons of fair minded, critical thought and enlightenment, and Fox News is the far right. Bannon is a fuckin' Nazi, and Alex Jones is a combination of Velikhovsky and Hitler combined.

CaptainHorsePaste says

In their world, NPR and PBS and WaPo are holy beacons of fair minded, critical thought and enlightenment, and Fox News is the far right. Bannon is a fuckin' Nazi, and Alex Jones is a combination of Velikhovsky and Hitler combined.

I still contend that PBS and NPR were pretty fair minded news sources, 30 years ago. Fox News showed their true colors when they promoted the weapons of mass destruction program hoax.

Here's some critical thinking - Alex Jones basically sells vitamins and water filters - how did he become a multimillionaire doing that? I think he's controlled opposition.

I don't know what the Washington Post USED to be like, but today, it's complete propaganda.

richwicks says

CaptainHorsePaste says

In their world, NPR and PBS and WaPo are holy beacons of fair minded, critical thought and enlightenment, and Fox News is the far right. Bannon is a fuckin' Nazi, and Alex Jones is a combination of Velikhovsky and Hitler combined.

I still contend that PBS and NPR were pretty fair minded news sources, 30 years ago. Fox News showed their true colors when they promoted the weapons of mass destruction program hoax.

Here's some critical thinking - Alex Jones basically sells vitamins and water filters - how did he become a multimillionaire doing that? I think he's controlled opposition.

I don't know what the Washington Post USED to be like, but today, it's complete propaganda.

Alex Jones doesn't force anybody to do anything, the guy is harmless. NPR, PBS et al (maybe once decent) actively support the mass inoclulation of people and worse children with dangerous experimental agents. They are the real nazis of today and should be shut down and procescuted if there is ever a strong backlash.

richwicks says

I still contend that PBS and NPR were pretty fair minded news sources, 30 years ago.

Sure. They had Milt Friedman on, their talk shows like Louis Rukyheiser and others had many differing voices on. NPR All Things Considered had fairly regular guests that would be considered much more right wing both then and especially now. I remember hearing it growing up.

richwicks says

Here's some critical thinking - Alex Jones basically sells vitamins and water filters - how did he become a multimillionaire doing that? I think he's controlled opposition.

Nobody will advertise on Jones anymore out of fear of cancellation, and losing his big regular audience via Youtube and Facebook a few years back.

Salon gets regular injections of top .1% cash. The Revolving Door provides money to "public servants". WaPo and NYT are required subscriptions for millions of the "Right People". The Stinkin Project are all ex-McCain/Schwatzenegger/Collins campaign managers heavily funded by Billionaires.

While it's always good to be on guard for Grifting, Patriots basically have the My Pillow Man and some book sales by Navarro or Stone. Jones has to do something to keep his thing going, particularly after total exile from all "Normie" Social Media.

The big shift was around 2008-2012 when the PTB pivoted from "Fund Endless Wars" to "Wokey". Dianfu (Subversion) and Destabilization and Bribery ARE the Chinese Art of War, winning without kinetic combat. They were able to handle countless Central Asian invaders with those tactics for centuries; it only failed against the Western Barbarians in the Victorian Era at the peak of their powers and the nadir of the Chinese Economic/Military/Diplomatic strength.

It would be amazing to have some verifiable clue as to the connection between the NWO Crew and the CCP; I suspect it's that China became such a force, they had to onboard them. I have no doubt that China will ditch and destroy the HRE Gang as soon as it fails to produce dividends for them.

CaptainHorsePaste says

Sure. They had Milt Friedman on, their talk shows like Louis Rukyheiser and others had many differing voices on. NPR All Things Considered had fairly regular guests that would be considered much more right wing both then and especially now. I remember hearing it growing up.

They had some good programs, freakonomics, car talk, and old forum with Michael Krasny who was very well balanced and must shudder at what left wing commie rag npr has become.

CaptainHorsePaste says

Nobody will advertise on Jones anymore out of fear of cancellation, and losing his big regular audience via Youtube and Facebook a few years back.

Don't misunderstand me - even if he's controlled opposition, he's BEEN useful. He'd have people on that were cancelled 12 years ago. Ron Paul for example. When he was allowed on TV all he got thrown at him was strawman after strawman argument. "So Mr. Paul - why are you an isolationist? Why do you hate our troops? Why are you such a bigot?".

I find Jones annoying, but he introduced a HUGE segment of the population to "alternative" media. He's part clown but he also has people on he KNOWS lies. Steve Pieczenik for example. David Knight got fired from Infowars BECAUSE he was calling out Pieczenik for what he was, a liar.

Oh that's good news - I think Knight landed on his feet.

https://realnewsdavidknight.com/

This is Pieczenik

https://stevepieczenik.com/2020/12/10/alex-jones-december-10/

You judge if you think he's FOS.

richwicks says

You judge if you think he's FOS.

Way long ago, I read some of Tom Clancy's post Patriot Games style books. Op Center, whatever, they sucked balls. In fact, Clancy without an editor slashing his content with a machete and re-writing it repeatedly sucks.

It was clear whoever wrote it didn't have a basic understanding of computers whatsoever. By basic, I mean the typical 20-year old in 1995.

He was a major RINO Deep State fanboy. Many schmucks think they're smart and adopt his attitude about things.

So if this Steve guy ghost wrote the books, he's lost status in my eye. I also give my trust very grudgingly to people who hint at long stints with secretive agencies and so forth, usually they're LARPing their asses off.

CaptainHorsePaste says

So if this Steve guy ghost wrote the books, he's lost status in my eye. I also give my trust very grudgingly to people who hint at long stints with secretive agencies and so forth, usually they're LARPing their asses off.

My opinion is that if they

1) Have EVER worked for the intelligence agencies
2) Are lauded by "mainstream" authorities, which are lauded by our "mainstream press"

Think twice about trusting their opinion, positions, or intelligence. Actually smart people and ethical people are not put into the spotlight.

https://zero-sum.org/mass-formation-psychosis-and-the-coronavirus-narrative/

Prof Desmet (00:03:20): Yes. Four things need to exist or need to be in place if you want a large scale mass phenomenon to emerge. The first thing is that there needs to be a lot of socially isolated people, people who experience a lack of social bonds. The second one is that there needs to be a lot of people who experience a lack of sense-making in life. And the third and the fourth conditions are that there needs to be a lot of free-floating anxiety and a lot of free-floating psychological discontent. So: meaning, anxiety, and discontent that is not connected to a specific representation. So it needs to be in the mind without the people being able to connect it to something. If you have these four things—lack of social bonds, lack of sense-making, free-floating anxiety, and free-floating psychological discontent—then society is highly at risk for the emergence of mass phenomenon.

(00:04:27): And these four conditions existed shortly before the Corona Crisis. There was an epidemic of burnout. Over 40 to 70% of the people experienced their jobs as completely senseless. This is described in the book Bullshit Jobs by this professor of Harvard [David Graeber] of whom I always forget his name. (He died last year, I think.) Then if you look at the use of psychopharmaceuticals, it was huge. This shows how much discontent there was in our society. For instance, in Belgium every year 11 million people use over 300 million doses of antidepressants alone. Over 300 million doses. That’s huge. So you see that these four conditions really existed: lack of sense-making, lack of social bonds, free-floating anxiety, and then a free-floating discontent.

Prof Desmet (00:05:36): Yes. You have to know that free-floating anxiety is the most painful psychological phenomenon someone can experience. It’s extremely painful. It leads up to panic attacks, to all kinds of extremely painful psychological experiences. What people want in this situation is something to connect their anxiety to. They’re looking for an explanation for the anxiety. And now, if this free-floating anxiety is highly present in a population, and the media provide a narrative, which indicates an object of anxiety, and at the same time, describe a strategy to deal with this object of anxiety, then all the anxiety connects to this object and people are willing to follow the strategy to deal with this object, no matter what the cost is. That is what happens in the beginning of mass formation.

https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/anatomy-of-a-a-dependency-culture

so when government says “you must do X” who is there to resist? 2/3 are dependent. even among those who are not, their abuelas probably are. how can you resist the hand the feeds you?

you can’t.

dependence = submission.
that’s a simple fact of life.

you cannot fight for rights when you are dependent upon another for your daily bread and medical care. you’ve been functionally enslaved and your mentality adjusts to match.

you live in mom’s basement, so you have to play by mom’s rules.

More about PR:

https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/homeward-bound/comments

flew back to peurto rico yesterday after 4 months away.

after a summer of living with no covidiocy, it’s incredibly jarring to deal with airports, and the puerto rico nonsense society where i am now a second class citizen and cannot go to ~90% of bars, restaurants etc because i am not vaccinated . even those who ARE vaxxed play the stupid covid dance of put on mask, walk into restaurant, sit down, take off mask as though this could possibly have any effect. they walk muzzled and bovine though stores and supermarkets.

it’s like watching sad little circus dogs desperately performing the act that was beaten into them as puppies hoping for approval and freedom that will never come precisely BECAUSE they keep desperately performing on demand.

https://eugyppius.substack.com/p/nudge-tyranny

Nudge Tyranny
An Erfurt Professor of Health Communications advises the German government on how best to manipulate the populace.

eugyppius
14 hr ago
139
161
Cornelia Betsch is a professor of health communication at the University of Erfurt.

We read that she “and her team work on understanding principles of health behaviour by applying a judgement and decision making and strategic interaction perspective to infectious disease control – especially with regard to the vaccination decision and prudent use of antibiotics.”

In other words: Prof. Dr. Betsch is a glorified pollster who studies the attitudes of ordinary people, so that government bureaucrats can figure out how to manipulate them more effectively. She is naturally also a truly odious vaccinator, author of a book called Fact Check: Vaccination (heavens preserve us), and leader of an Orwellian project called Corona Snapshot Monitoring, or COSMO. Under these auspices, she surveys the German population to inquire after “risk perception, protective behaviour and trust” in order to help policymakers devise more insidious policies.

https://markoshinskie8de.substack.com/p/john-prine-self-healthcare-and-vaxx

The media has barraged Americans with vaxx propaganda. Most Americans have bought the lie that the vaxxes are needed to, and will, save humanity. Do pro-Vaxxers know any science? Specifically, concerning Coronavirus, how do they not know that this infection does not seriously threaten healthy people under 70, and scarcely threatens people older than that? This has been obvious for 20 months. Yet somehow, most people have bought the fear narrative, believe that everyone is imperiled and that mass scale injections will make a virus crawl into a corner and die. Don’t they know the shots are failing?

Science-shmience. Do you know how I sit the smug cunts talking about how smart they are and how well-versed they are in "the science" right back on their sorry asses? I ask them to explain how a 4-cycle internal combustion engine works. Not a single cunt have been succesfull so far. Yes, I'm riot at parties.

Good quote from Thoreau in Walden on the psychology of vaxxers:

The old and infirm and the timid, of whatever age or sex, thought most of sickness, and sudden accident and death; to them life seemed full of danger—what danger is there if you don't think of any?—and they thought that a prudent man would carefully select the safest position, where Dr. B. might be on hand at a moment's warning. To them the village was literally a community, a league for mutual defence, and you would suppose that they would not go a–huckleberrying without a medicine chest. The amount of it is, if a man is alive, there is always danger that he may die, though the danger must be allowed to be less in proportion as he is dead–and–alive to begin with. A man sits as many risks as he runs.

FuckCCP89 says

Science-shmience. Do you know how I sit the smug cunts talking about how smart they are and how well-versed they are in "the science" right back on their sorry asses? I ask them to explain how a 4-cycle internal combustion engine works. Not a single cunt have been succesfull so far. Yes, I'm riot at parties.

Lol. Skip the ICE, most cannot even change a god damn tire. Most "educated" men don't even own tools or would know what to do with them.

FuckCCP89 says

Science-shmience. Do you know how I sit the smug cunts talking about how smart they are and how well-versed they are in "the science" right back on their sorry asses? I ask them to explain how a 4-cycle internal combustion engine works. Not a single cunt have been succesfull so far. Yes, I'm riot at parties.

Those smug cunts may think an ICE is workmen's tech and beneath them, and they have higher academic skills. Even so, they would have trouble explaining Archimedes' Principle, and Archimedes' Principle is clearly "science." They known it involves dunking a crown in water, but then no clue how that act establishes how much of the crown is gold vs silver.

Patnetters would remember the bit about a nekkid guy running down the street.

HeadSet says

Those smug cunts may think an ICE is workmen's tech and beneath them, and they have higher academic skills. Even so, they would have trouble explaining Archimedes' Principle, and Archimedes' Principle is clearly "science." They known it involves dunking a crown in water, but then no clue how that act establishes how much of the crown is gold vs silver.

If you think about it, unless that crown was extremely heavy not much gold could have been stolen from it, and a man was executed for it.

I always found that story messed up.

BTW - amount of water it displaces gives volume, volume/weight gives density. If there's only 2 metals in it, you can determine the ratio of those two metals.

WRT to an ICE - I'm pretty certain it goes like this:

1) upstroke - pulls in gasoline vapor and air mixture
2) downstroke - compress vapor mixture
3) upstroke - ignite fuel mixture just at it starts on the upstroke
4) downstroke - expel burnt air/fuel mixture

Go back to step 1

If I'm wrong, well, I've never worked on an ICE engine before, but I did once look them up. Transaxels are interesting. For a while, I was interested in the old vocational videos that used to be given to high school students in the 50's and 60's. Everybody should have a basic idea of how everything works. I find most people can't explain an incandescent light bulb, much less a CFL or LED.

richwicks says

For a while, I was interested in the old vocational videos that used to be given to high school students in the 50's and 60's.

Check this out, and see how well our ancestors explained mechanical devices:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYAw79386WI

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/kim-iversen-austria-lock-down-unvaccinated-uk-boosters/

11/17/21
•
COVID › VIEWS

Iversen: Locking Down Unvaccinated-Only ‘Not About Science, It’s About Punishing People’
On the latest episode of The Hill’s “Rising,” journalist and political commentator Kim Iversen discussed strict lockdowns for the unvaccinated only in Austria, and the UK’s new policy requiring three shots as proof of being “fully vaccinated.”

Indeed. It's about punishing "wrongthink".

richwicks says

1) upstroke - pulls in gasoline vapor and air mixture
2) downstroke - compress vapor mixture
3) upstroke - ignite fuel mixture just at it starts on the upstroke
4) downstroke - expel burnt air/fuel mixture

You got up and down backwards. Up is piston at the top of the cylinder by the valves, down is at the bottom away from the valves at maximum cylinder volume. Therefore on stroke one, the piston moves down and away from the valves, allowing air/fuel to flow into the intake valve.

The cycles are called intake, compression, power, exhaust. Or the mnemonic my edgy High School auto shop teacher gave it:

Suck
Squeeze
Bang
Blow

Automan Empire says

The cycles are called intake, compression, power, exhaust.

When I was in High School, this was taught in Driver's Ed, along with basics on how a transmission, steering, brakes, and differential work.

https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/how-to-clown-yourself/comments

Writes AlmostWrong’s Newsletter ·13 hr ago
It cannot be ruled out it might be human nature to coerce others to do what you have already done because you feel insecure and underconfident about the possibility that what you have done is right.

If this is true, then forcing others to do things that you've already done might be a way to cope with uncertainty and existential insecurity. This doesn't lower the risk that what one did was wrong, just that you now have everyone on board and cannot take blame singularly.

Automan Empire says

The cycles are called intake, compression, power, exhaust. Or the mnemonic my edgy High School auto shop teacher gave it:

Suck
Squeeze
Bang
Blow

I'm close enough, and that made me laugh.

I understand the basics of a 4 cylinder and can expand that to 6 and 8 and 12. I can certainly understand it, and if I was in a post nuclear world war, I could reproduce it although I'd defer to you in that case. I can make a crappy battery as well.

But wait my understanding is that:

1) on the upstroke the fuel air mixture is being drawn in
2) on the download the fuel air mixture is being compressed via momentum.
3) at maximum compression, the fuel air/mixture is ignited to push up the piston.
4) after the explosion the spent fuel is expelled and be go back to step 1 again.

How did I get that upside down and backwards?

richwicks says

How did I get that upside down and backwards?

Because the crankshaft is on bottom and the piston goes down when it sucks in the gas.

Onvacation says

richwicks says

How did I get that upside down and backwards?

Because the crankshaft is on bottom and the piston goes down when it sucks in the gas.

I still think I got it correct? Piston is at the bottom and when it draws up via momentum, it sucks in the gas/air mixture. At the bottom of a stroke, right after it expels the spent fuel, it starts drawing in a new explosive mixture, and when it hits the downstroke through momentum, it's ignited pushing it up and doing work, and that's spent fuel and it expels the spent fuel, and so on.

richwicks says

I still think I got it correct? Piston is at the bottom

See if this helps. This is the orientation usually used when describing reciprocating engine cycles.

Automan Empire says

Haha. That explains it. In my mind, I always see the piston being below the crankshaft. I see the picture upside down when I mentally visualize it.

richwicks says

I always see the piston being below the crankshaft.

Engines are almost never built like that because of the problems of oil on the underside of the piston. Even horizontally opposed "pancake" engines like VW and Subaru are an engineering challenge to control oil with horizontal cylinders. Old radial engine aircraft are the only ones coming to mind which routinely mount cylinders piston-down relative to the crankshaft. Some of these burned castor oil in a continuous loss system; they had an oil tank on board as large or larger than the fuel tank because of this, because it's more expedient than getting a traditional oil sump somehow working on this configuration. Castor plants still grow wild around the empty spaces of Los Angeles thanks to our aerospace history.

Automan Empire says

Engines are almost never built like that because of the problems of oil on the underside of the piston.

There's a big difference between understanding the principle and a practical design.

I'm dealing with that in a communication protocol. Excellent principles, horrific design.

Automan Empire says

richwicks says

I still think I got it correct? Piston is at the bottom

See if this helps. This is the orientation usually used when describing reciprocating engine cycles.

So it fires every other rotation?

WineHorror1 says

So it fires every other rotation?

Nope, every other.

This is actually why I have a general idea of how one works. I used to think it fired every rotation and one day I was like "wait a minute - how would that work??" so I looked it up but the drawings I saw were upside down, and now that's the way I have thought of it since until I was just recently corrected.

With a diesel engine there is no sparkplug either. The compression itself causes the air/fuel mixture to get hot enough to ignite (PV=nRT).

Everybody should have a general idea of how everything works. I went into engineering thinking everything was complicated - it's not. Everything is simple and ingenious. You'd be surprised how simple a computer really is. It's just fast. The only complexity are algorithms and once you understand those, they are simple too.

richwicks says

Nope, every other.

That's what I said...every other.

WineHorror1 says

richwicks says

Nope, every other.

That's what I said...every other.

Yeah, you did. I'm entirely sober today too.

richwicks says

I used to think it fired every rotation

That would be a two-stroke, like in some old dirt bike or outboard boat engines. For some of the older folks, you may remember the Cox .049 engine for the string controlled flying model planes. That little two stroke had a glow head, with the fuel squirting right on the glow head through a hole in the center of the piston, at every top dead center.

https://covidreason.substack.com/p/weve-lost-our-ever-luvin-minds-virtue

Nothing says I’m better than you than donning a mask for no particular reason at all and then posting a photo of it online to demonstrate that virtue!

https://markoshinskie8de.substack.com/p/mocking-coronamania

During Coronamania, many people have validated and internalized others’ Covid fear level, because doing so is seen as "empathetic" and "nice." Some have told me they’re deliberately accommodating others’ fear. Others may be doing so reflexively. I‘m reminded of the Woody Allen movie, Zelig, in which the title character pathologically takes on the personalities of those around him in order to fit in and gain acceptance.

In sports, coaches or commentators sometimes sometimes say a team is “playing down to another team’s level,” i.e., playing poorly and out of synch because that’s what their opponent is doing. But should everyday people dysfunctionally descend into the viral fear abyss of those around them? Empathy isn’t always good; it can be misplaced and damaging. Acting as if Covid fear is rational enables more fear among the fearful. It’s the adult version of affirming that maybe there is a monster under your bed. It’s like buying beer for an alcoholic friend.