THIS & THAT XXV

 

          Dummheit is one of my new favorite German words.  It is usually translated simply as “stupidity,” and that is probably its most common meaning.  But it also can mean collective stupidity or stupidity that affects an entire society.  In this sense it is not a matter of intelligence.  I have seen it used this way to refer to the German people in the era of the Third Reich from 1933 to 1943, a time when a large number of people succumbed to fear and political pressure and propaganda, and abandoned any ability to think critically or make decisions for themselves.

          It can also be applied to the three years of COVID madness, from March 2020 to the present, when most sensible people were so terrified by their governments that they accepted the most absurd and lethal policies without objection.

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          I have never heard the word “abolishment” until a month or two ago.  Now, for some reason, wherever the word “abolition” would be used, “abolishment” is used instead.  I don’t get this one.  A lot of word changes these days are about wokeness or political correctness, but I don’t see that angle here.

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          When I see people wearing masks these days, I think of those Japanese soldiers they found on isolated Pacific islands in the 1960s, the ones who thought WWII was still on and who were waiting further instructions from the Emperor.

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          You’re not allowed to use the word “retard” anymore, because we are told it is offensive to those people with Down Syndrome.  It was a very useful word, though, and I miss it.  The ban doesn’t really make much sense because I never use “retard” to refer to people with Down Syndrome.  In fact, the people who used “retard” to refer to people with Down Syndrome all died about fifty years ago.  I use it exclusively to refer to people like Kamala (”Assigned Retard at Birth”) Harris.

          According to Stanford University, “retard” is a slur against those who have a cognitive disability.  The correct term, according to “The Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative,” is “neurodivergent,” but if you look up “neurodivergent,” it doesn’t mean the same thing.  Neurodivergent covers a wide range of brain variations, including OCD, autism, Asperger’s, Tourette’s, bi-polar disorder, dyslexia, ADHD, and Down Syndrome.  And that’s fine in the sense that we probably need a collective term for all the different types of brain weirdness out there, but neurodivergent is not what I mean when I say “retard.”

          There is, however, a possible loophole.  The document recognizes that some of the offensive words may actually be preferred by the people they refer to, and that’s OK.  Presumably, this is to exempt the phenomenon whereby black people routinely call each other nigger and it’s not offensive at all.  Stanford recognizes this exception as a general rule regarding offensive speech.

          In other words, if you are yourself a retard, you are allowed to call other people retards as well.  That will be my excuse from now on.

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          Name tag on a young lady cashier at the supermarket: Asma.

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          For a while now, my attitude about the 2024 presidential election has been that while I would prefer Ron DiSantis, I would reluctantly vote for Trump if he were to become the nominee.  As we roll on towards the primaries and the election, however, it is becoming more and more difficult to see anything in Trump I can support.

          If there were some sense in America that the COVID fascism of the past three years was a madness that must now be faced and condemned, and its architects jailed or shamed or at least sent packing from the public sphere, I might feel more sanguine about the prospects for “moving on” from COVID.  If that were to happen, I could perhaps forgive other aspects of Trump and vote for him.

           But there is little attempt, by anyone, to address what happened.  Trump himself not only won’t admit what happened, but in fact has doubled down on what he did during COVID.  He recently said the vaccinations “saved millions of lives,” though any research supporting such a statement is riddled with flawed assumptions and outright propaganda.

          And he is largely responsible for the nightmare we endured, with its mask mandates and forced mRNA vaccinations and shuttered churches and economic destruction and empty schools.  He was, after all, the president.  I guess I should not be surprised that he still has to support Operation Warp Speed and the Emergency Use Authorizations and the lockdowns and the pointless mandates.  Admitting one’s mistakes is not something any politician does well, but I don’t see how America can ever regain its footing as a free country and a representative republic unless ALL OF US face the truth, or are forced to.

          As for the question of how many people there are like me, I have no idea, but the 2024 election may turn on the answer to that question.  How many are there who would never vote for one of the totalitarians the Democrats will put forward, but can’t quite bring themselves to vote for Trump either?

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          It’s a common problem.  Older men pee more often than they used to, and often don’t zip up afterwards.  You don’t leave the house as often as you once did, and you’re probably going to pee again in a half hour or so, so what difference does it make if you walk around with your fly down?  It’s not even a conscious decision.  It just happens.

          The problem arises when you remember you have to stop at the bank, so you do leave the house, and it’s only as you are walking into the lobby at Wells Fargo that you realize the barn door is open.  Then you have to surreptitiously reach down and zip up, or try to.  It’s embarrassing.  It’s undignified. 

          And the solution?  “The Fly-Catcher!”

          There’s a sensor at waist level on the door you typically use to leave the house, and there’s a tiny chip you attach to your zipper.  As you walk out the door, there is a discreet “beep-beep” if you need to return your tray table to its upright and locked position.  If all is well, nothing happens and you proceed on your way with all your dignity intact.

 

Copyright2023MichaelKubacki