Looking at these reactions I am very much tempted to turn my own experiences into an article. The reason I haven't done that is because it would make the people I (still) love look like very bad people, which they aren't.
Looking at these reactions I am very much tempted to turn my own experiences into an article. The reason I haven't done that is because it would make the people I (still) love look like very bad people, which they aren't.
Dude, that's the most condescending, presumptious statement I've been confronted with in a long time. Congratulations. Hope you were drunk when you wrote that.
For me...the reason I have held off is I want to be honest. There were things that I did pre pandemic that were not good. If you were to read mine it would go like "Well no wonder they alienated you, you did some bad things." I've apologized for those things, but an apology does not mean there should not be consequences, and I am living those consequences.
They might not be bad people, but experience has shown you they are unreliable people, being so readily affected by media-conveyed disinformation to your detriment.
Who killed millions in the concentration camps? It wasn't Hitler, Himmler or any of the leadership. It was millions of "good Germans" "doing their job".
So go ahead and forget and forgive, move on, no big deal.
You don't want to do that Fabian. Especially since you love them and care for them. You want to show them out in public? I'd rethink that temptation. It is why I write with a strange name nobody would think is me. But anyone I am writing about here who would read the comment I made (on the totally off chance) would know it is me. Or the five or so other IRL people I have told this to. They'd know. Plus I write like I talk. I bet you do too.
No. But if I were a man I would totally love to be named Jake. Of course I would have to live up to the general badass feel of the name. Huh. That sounded like I could be Jake, but not admitting it, but instead gave myself a half compliment. And if that is so, I probably AM a badass.
When I was reading your comment about your wife and your friend the pain was palpable. I'm not sure touching would be the right description, but something struck me while reading it. Maybe a recognition. A sad recognition.
Don't let anyone talk you out of something you need to do for yourself. I allowed my older sister to talk me out of confronting my father about abuse issues because he was ill with M.S. and I've always regretted it because at the time I was strong enough to do it. She was afraid for her own emotional safety - she didn't care about what it was doing to me. They're all dead now but I'm left with the pain of letting myself down. So please, try to ignore the Raptor who doesn't care about you. Do what's right for you. You know what that is - no one else in the entire world does. Speaking your truth has an ENORMOUS amount of power (gentle, loving self power) that probably frightens people like Raptor. Breaking the fear that holds you back from doing what you know to be right is just beyond liberating! A lot of people fear honesty because they are holding something back and want to feel ok about it. Honesty has its own rewards.
If you can Zoe, imagine the world primarily operating on satisfying and obeying their feelings with no regard for others. Imagine what an utter hellscape this would be. Discretion is the better part of...
It is compassionate and selfless. Two things this world (and Igor was suggesting) could use more of. It takes more effort to keep your mouth closed and not self satisfy Zoe. I have a feeling Fabien is a man that can sort out what is best for himself and is not in search for his power.
If you can, Raptor, imagine you know more than me and are more compassionate than me. Imagine, if you can, Raptor, that I need your guidance and need to be put in my place. I agree that Fabian (which you spelled wrong) knows what is best for himself which is why I wasn't telling him what to do like you were.
Almost got triggered to react to your rudness but thankfully read some of the wiser comments here first and could fight it. I think I have an idea were you are coming from - I can be very confrontational myself if I feel I am not heard or judged or put down or injured by someone. It is very difficult for me at times to then not take it personal and lash out. I am sorry you had to suffer abuse by your own father - a terrible thing - and I can relate to it. I am not sure if telling him and confronting him about it would have made things better though. It all depends on his reaction. Most of the time, people double down when confronted and the conflict and abuse gets reenforced. You might want to google research on how victims of abuse fared after deciding to seek justice in court, even if they won their cases. Many don't get the healing they hoped for from that. The healing happens within us by going within in mindfulness. We don't get healed by fighting or revenge. We heal through understanding the bigger picture thoroughly - that it is an endless cycle of abuse passed on through the generations and everyone is a victim. If is see that, my heart softens and I can forgive. Only forgivness heals us. Anyway, I wish you all the best.
I agree with you Zoe. I write under my real identity and don't gaf because I think and feel what I think and feel and it won't matter what anyone else says or thinks about me. In the end it really only matters what I think and feel about me. Covid has revealed so much about so many. Most of it disheartening. Perhaps the lesson is to do more of what brings peace and happiness to your own life. It seems to be the only way to make any kind of a difference in this world. You are only in control of one person......YOU.
I think that is great advice and I thank you for that - but I've been contemplating it for a long time and kept myself from doing it. Igor and Raptor just confirmed that this was a bad idea. Doesn't mean I won't write about it, but probably not under my real name.
What you're talking about here is a writing challenge. You want to convey a complicated, nuanced story, and you're aware that if you don't do it carefully, it might give a misleading impression of the people you're writing about. Perhaps, as a writer, you might view this as an interesting challenge? To see if you can find a way to convey the full complexity of the story in a way that's closer to the way you really feel about it? If you can succeed, you'll be happy to write it under your own name.
Good advice, but it's going to be very personal either way. There's just no way to talk about my wife's experience without mentioning her vaccination-facilitated nervous breakdown.
I hear you, but I think doing it anonymously would the only respectful way to handle this.
As long as you are listening to your inner voice and going ahead and doing what you fear, you'll be on the right track. Personally, I say using your own name and speaking up in your own voice and for yourself is a next level super power. But that's MY opinion - doesn't mean that's right for you right now. Peace to you and wishing you all the best. Courage - that's what it's all about! ♥️
Yeah, I have written down my saga a couple times, and have avoided this part of it for the reasons you mentioned. Two thoughts.
First, I think it is important to let others know the struggle we all have had to deal with in 2020. Maybe others already have done a better job of this already, and that is up to you to decide.
Second, maybe you were meant to write this and send this to them, aand not have any of us read it. Do they know how you feel and to what degree you feel it?
I think a lot of us do it here on Substack. Vent. Express sadness. Record new sickness or death and if they are friends, mourn.
A number of years ago I wrote a note to a family member, but never sent it. I just think I needed to get hurt out or sort my feelings and thoughts. I never sent it - never even meant to send it. I kept the letter for a number of years then burned it. I was afraid the person would snoop when visiting and stumble onto it. I know not all people can deal with things this way and sometimes things require some form of confrontation. But we are all, no exceptions, best served thinking things through, consider the fallout and also consider what the reaction you might get. My dear mom once told me to never ask a question you do not want the answer to. She was a mentally tough lady. Nothing is ever lost by careful consideration before action.
Your mom sounds wise. I did finally get the answer to the question I did not want to ask. Note to those with similar issues, you already have your answer, but it is up to you to decide if the person should be required to say it. There are times when they need to say the things they need to say.
Someone related a story to me a while back about how parents left their child at the grandparents. Grandma took child to get jabbed knowing parents did not want child jabbed, but obv grandma thought child needed it. Child has serious health problems now requiring home health assistance. They never confronted the grandma. This convo here got me thinking about the circumstances I would require someone to admit something and require remorse to continue having a relationship. If I got those things, does it change the relationship (v no confession and mea culpa)? Does it make me feel better? I'd say no. Individual results (as they say) may vary. I feel it is within the person to find forgiveness. Sorry is nice (maybe). It doesn't change the outcome (in this case) of the child's life one iota.
If you make your happiness dependent on other people's actions... it is a shallow happiness. Or fleeting.
You may be wondering how the parents have decided. They have decided not to require the grandma admit anything. Here they have this child who is permanently damaged. Every day the grandma sees it. The mom does not want to inflict any more sorrow on the part of her husband. How blessed that husband is to have that wife. Often people do not look for blessings in terrible circumstances. That is a huge one. Husband's well being trumps her desire to hear sorry and for grandma to fully say out loud what she has done. We should all be so blessed.
I once kicked a soccer ball that hit my nephew in the chest. I accidentally burned my niece's little finger with a match during Fourth of July festivities. I wailed for about twenty minutes when another of my nieces was missing under my watch (her mom had come home and took the niece shopping but neglected to tell me.) I still feel self recrimination for the one time I forgot to pick my niece up from daycare until her mom called to remind me. These are things that I did on accident, or did not mean to do.
The grandma does not need to be told, she lives with that reality every day.
Many parents will face accountability for masking/vaccinating their kids and participating in the medical theater.
Could not agree more, happiness is not dependent upon other people's actions. That is codependency.
The thing I had my sister admit to me was not an apology...but rather the truth. And it was not for happiness, but more so as a truth.
I had a situation decades ago, where I started an online romance with a girl which culminated in her coming to visit me on Valentines day. We had talked about all these grand things we were going to do together. She talked of marriage...and I did nothing to discourage it. We'd talked on the phone, she'd sent me pictures. And then when she came to town there was the reality of who she was vs. the fantasy I had built up in my head.
That weekend could not have ended faster. I realized my mistake of falling for the idea of someone versus their reality in quick fashion. First, she had not sent me a recent picture of her, but instead had a picture of her from years before. I tried to rationalize, lie to myself about it, but here was the truth: I wasn't attracted to the person who got off the plane. She kept trying to drag her feet, hesitate before getting on the plane at the end of the weekend, she obviously still maintained feelings about me.
When she finally got on the plane and left, I felt unresolved. I should have manned up and told her there at the gate that it was over. But instead I wussed out. And I could have avoided talking to her ever again. But when she called that night, I realized I couldn't half ass it and say something like "it's not you, it's me" because there would be more and more questions. So after a few stabs at those "nice way of letting her down easy" I had to speak brutal truths that were not pejorative to her, but clear. I told her I did not find her attractive. I explained how I had fallen in love with the idea of her, and apologized to her for my part in it.
What I required the person in my life to say was something similar. They had to give me the truth, and in so doing, had to also see (to whatever extent they are aware of things) in what ways they were complicit in it. I gave them easy outs for their behavior, but it wasn't fair to me or them because we left things unresolved. They are now resolved and she can live the life she has wanted to live without me as a liability or encumbrance.
Jimmy, I truly hope you find someone worthy of you. A tall task I would imagine.
I am so glad your sister told the truth. Truth is an underrated thing. It is an invaluable lesson to learn that you can hear and accept the truth and feel however you want about it and their feelings need no assuaging. Very insightful comment that I enjoyed reading very much.
An unsent and burned letter is a powerful therapuetic ritual. I am hot-headed at times and confrontational - It very often doesn't end welll and never resolves much, but when I get emotional I can't help myself and get self-rightous. I wish I had more of your self-discipline, honestly.
I don't know MaMu, I think sorting out who you are and being flat honest with yourself the way you have leads me to believe you may have it in you to get control of yourself. Even if it is bit by bit. It took me a long time to learn to zip it and revisit things when I was calmer.
A question for you and for all the people out there that have loved ones who have acted "badly." If they acted that way, are they genuinely good people? Or are you simply giving them a pass because you love them?
We give people passes all the time because we love them and we think they're "good people." But honestly... if they are pushing us to do things that we believe aren't good for us, are they good? Or are they just acting in their own self interest because they're scared? And does their "fear" justify their behavior? If yes, when does it stop?
People need to be accountable for their actions in some way, shape or form. I'm not saying "don't ever forgive," I'm just saying that people need to know what they did was wrong and that they were very much acting like "good Germans."
“People need to be accountable for their actions in some way, shape or form. I'm not saying "don't ever forgive," I'm just saying that people need to know what they did was wrong and that they were very much acting like "good Germans."
When I say I have been obsessed with the Holocaust , I never really understood why, until COVId . Now I understand. I could never believe that so many people would allow such a horrible atrocity to happen to innocent people, children, mothers, families? So when I saw what was happening in so many countries around the world, people being locked in their homes, being arrested, losing their jobs, being forced to take a shot to see their family or keep their jobs, churches being shut down, children being forced to mask when they were still trying to learn how to communicate and instead of the masses saying wait, why are liquor stores open but churches closed? Why are politicians seen out with no masks partying with friends but others being locked up or vilified? This all made it clear to me why I have been obsessed, because it was possible for the Holocaust to happen and happen again due to so many humans turning their backs, going along, and afraid to speak up. In terms of that idea, this has been just as bad. The obvious visuals may have not been as bad and the people creating this “Holocaust like” humanity crushing moment in time were tied to perhaps even bigger more evil and stupid motives like greed, governmental and large pharmaceutical corporate power instead of just a mega maniac tyrannical political leader, isn’t this just as or more devastating to the world? And the really frightening part is, it isn’t over yet! So to me, until “heads roll”, until the bs stops being allowed, until the vaccines are pulled from the market place and those behind all of this are made to pay a big price, the truth has not been told and this this war against humanity is still going on!
I suggest checking out the 10 part doco series called "Europa the last battle" on bitchute. It'll tell you things you never knew about the holocaust and the 20th century.
I heard a recent Adam & Dr. Drew Podcast and they were talking about a recent apology on Bill Mahr by a Public Health person who said they believing in both accountability and forgiveness. Drew thought that both were not possible, but they are. You can forgive someone and yet no longer put up with their s. Or at the very least, a new agreement or negotiation can be written.
Forgiveness is very important...for the forgiver. It means no longer holding onto things. And that is completely different than holding people accountable. I also think there is a different impulse when holding people to account vs. wanting to see them punished.
that was my question, too. The fact that neither even called me for months prove me they were not really the close friends I thought I had. One waited 8 months.
I struggle with this every day. Almost every one of my friends succumbed to the media psyop- and I have to admit that it happened to me as well. But it took a bad reaction to the second shot to open my mind up to the possibility that the shots were not as safe as we were told. I NEVER thought it was a good idea to inject children, all healthcare or military and said so. As the intensity for jabbing got higher, I was distressed at what I heard coming out of my friends’ mouths. We have agreed to disagree, but how quickly they jumped on the bandwagon for the vaccine passports (my conscience would not allow me to use one-even though technically I was qualified) and mandating these shots for EVERYONE. We remain “friends”, but in my mind the relationship has been damaged-I don’t think I will ever fully trust them again and it just doesn’t feel genuine anymore. It’s like going through the motions. I’m not sure this will change or really how it could? I’m not sure they are remotely aware of any of this. They still are getting ALL the shots and I have no trust that they wouldn’t go to the same position should they be told there was another “deadly” pandemic and that those antivaxxers were preventing them from going to restaurants, singing in their choirs and getting on planes to travel the world.
"People are often unaware of how their problematic behavior affects others." ~ Sr. Annamarie of Christ Crucified, Discalced order of Carmelites (and my old piano teacher!). In this case, many DO know that their assumptions and wholesale embrace of "The Science" wasn't the right call, but they just cannot bring themselves even to think that they could possibly be WRONG. They are missing major pieces of themselves. All it takes is not having grown up in with a guiding philosophy of morality and ethics. Or choosing not to live by any former training that teaches they have to answer to a higher power and that consciousness of their behavior (examination of conscience such as taught in the Roman Catholic church, as one example) and living by these wisdom teachings would go far to prevent the banality of evil.
In reading those many Reddit posts, I was struck (as in, whapped upside the head) by the lack of character depth expressed by those females. As if pregnancy is 'all about me'; a sort of women-only power trip. Bet they were also Bridezillas (if married at all). Speaking from the perspective of a mother of 3. You make a cogent point, Shibumi.
When you aren’t sure you will make it through this illness, but are told go home and do your best to get through it - you have a hard time trusting doctors. When you are told that your decision not to get vaccinated makes you a thoughtless self centered person, you have a hard time trusting those family members. When you see friends and family members go into the hospital to be helped, left alone where no one can visit, to never return while the hospital gets wealthier off of their COVId deaths, you have a hard time trusting hospitals. When you are told lies about the safety of something you are required to take to keep your job or see a show or eat in a restaurant , you have a hard time trusting your government. The distrust I now have goes far across many areas of life. I am not hateful to any of those who wronged and continue to wrong others. I try to treat them the way I expected to be treated. But distrust is a way of protecting oneself and I cannot let go of that. What upsets me is how it all just keeps on going like all the unnecessary deaths and mistreatment and injustices didn’t even happen. It bothers me when my close relative speaks proudly about how they got their latest COVId shot I don’t feel comfortable explaining why that might not be safe or a good idea. But I say nothing, they are an adult so it isn’t my place to tell them what to do. But I worry about them anyway. Of course, the other outcome of having so many people die an earlier death than expected , and people contracting crazy cancers like never before, and family members dealing with multiple deaths in one year, all of this makes me feel like life just got much shorter! I try to control my thoughts because it isn’t fair to my young adult children. But inside I always feel life is fleeting for all of us. When madmen run the world it hard for anyone to feel safe!
I have an example of a situation most every person in the world has faced where the loved person tries to force another person to do something that might kill them. That is a loving mama who shows the people she loves that she loves them with food. Do you push leftovers, second helpings and desserts on a person that is fat? Yet most people (at least in America) are fat. Too fat for too long could mean heart attack, diabetes and a string of other terrible things that insulin resistance brings. Mama sould be held accountable?
Of course mama may just get her feelings hurt. She won't cut you off and not let you see babies.
NewScott. I think, lost in the typing or something, was a light-hearted example. Mamas who do things in love (like who make us food and give hugs when we are mad) are a balm even when their gifts might not be awesome for the waistline or force us into good moods we were desperately trying not to be in.
Not every reply should be taken hard core. I should have added a wink and more smiles and maybe a dancing dog emoji. You cannot hear my tone. Sorry for the misunderstanding I created.
I appreciate your position. In theory at least (LOL) you can tell Mama or whoever is making your meals that you love her food but you're trying to stop second helpings or eliminating deserts during the week, and my *guess* is that she would respect that.
I have known a few Iraqi and Italian mamas that I might not be too sure about the outcome. How does one react when love is rebuffed?
I think we all know the difference between things encouraged in love (thank you Italian and Iraqi grandmas everywhere!) and things done in selfishness. Jab "encouragement" was rarely (because it would not work out well and is counterintuitive) anything to do with love and care for the people they demanded get jabbed. It was ugly, nasty, brutish, selfishness on steroids.
I was in a doctor's office some three years ago (wouldn't be caught dead in such a setting today) waiting on a friend. Thumbed through a Real Simple magazine in the waiting room when an article caught my attention. It suggested that instead of taking your unvaccinated friend to the restaurant for lunch as planned, you drive to the local Covid19 jab clinic, turn on the waterworks, profess your undying love for the friend, and see what happens.
Ha. I would have enjoyed someone pulling that on me. Then we would see how undying their love was. Also, you could now, three years later, swing by the various friends homes that have had heart attacks, cancer, myocarditis, death of their spouse or child (it might take all day to do the run) and then finally back to the jab clinic where it all began (wistful sigh)... you know, to see what happens and all. Real simple indeed.
They aren't stand-up kind of people, that's for sure. They were weak.
But so am I. I've been weak so many times throughout my life. I wouldn't want to be judged by my worst moments.
I just try to remember all the good they did. For me, for others. But they failed this test. Does that make them all bad? No, I don't think so.
I just remember my wife crying for days on end - right in front of my daughter - after that first shot, two weeks before she did a 180. For her it was just impossible to accept that she's been physically abused like that. We could never talk about it. Never. I literally begged her to talk to me about it, but never would she give me that. She couldn't.
My friend who shut me out of his restaurant while I was standing in front of him fucking crying said he doesn't remember that. We were alone, before the place opened. He just shut the memory out somehow.
It's tough on these people, too. Yes they were weak, but people can't always be strong. Not that strong. It's not in everyone's nature. That doesn't make them bad through and through.
I think maybe you should write about it. Anonymously. People have no idea what people went through and I read your short comment here and I hear what a lot of people here have probably lived but couldn't give voice to as well as you did.
Things happened. People have no idea how to put them into context.
I'm not implying that people are bad through and through and I have certainly made mistakes like everyone else and don't want to be judged by my worst moments.
But... it's one thing to do a bad thing that hurt you and you alone, and it's another thing to engage in "blanket cruelty." To a certain extent, the argument is "I'm scared of X, so I don't want X in my life." In this case, X is the unvaxxed. What if X was something like "young black men?" Would that statement be OK? The unvaxxed may or may not hurt you, and many people perceive young men as being a threat that may or may not hurt you. Why is it OK to discriminate against the vaxxed and not young black men? "Blanket cruelty."
I don't think any of them are aware of what they let happen to us. They see things from a different angle. I have so many flaws, but my strongest trait throughout my adult life has always been my moral compass and my ability to feel compassion and act on it when I feel I should. But I never did any work to acquire that trait.
Just like other people didn't choose not to feel compassion in certain situations. They're just different than us.
I still blame them. Trust me when I say I am mad at them. But more profound than the anger itself is the realization of how futile it is to be angry, because blaming all these people isn't gonna change a thing. It's just gonna do the opposite. It's gonna widen the divide.
We need to focus on preventing this from ever happening again, as other have attempted before us. To some success I think. God knows what could've happened, had this really spun out of control. Those camps in Australia look like this story was intended to have a different ending.
Btw, take note how this happened just when the last Third Reich witnesses were dying off. Those who had the power to warn us.
It’s so true that those convinced by the panic porn media in 2020 think differently than I do & there’s no point in being angry.
I work with teenage girls at a treatment center, and many are from blue states which locked down HARD. It’s interesting that these students see firsthand how damaging the isolation was to themselves, but they aren’t angry about it because they think it was warranted! I am often stunned by this but realize that their parents and everyone around them told them it had to happen for their safety. The isolation often led to problems which landed them in treatment for mental health issues. It is not my place to correct their thinking, and I would get fired if I tried. But I do often ask them questions, hoping to get them to think about the experience in new ways.
I also noticed that they were convinced that red states had higher death rates. But when I show them data, they are surprised that it’s not the case, even even though we didn’t shut down & had very few restrictions in my area. ...Hard to change minds in this kind of scenario.
There are some that are quite aware of what they let happen to us, we, the ones who questioned. There are some that are aware of what role they played to ensure we were punished - I know because I have been quite dogged in following-up on this f**kfest. And they will not apologize. They don't care. They show no empathy, no compassion, nothing. I would say they show no brains either but whatever. These are the ones who revealed themselves for the content of the character, for the quality of their heart. There's no further explanation, nor justification. And they'll do it again. Can't prevent this all happening again - not without some kind of intense therapy for those who became nasty vicious sheeple, the kind of therapy that is used with sociopaths. I'm serious.
I agree with your sentiment to a degree. But when people started expressing desire to segregate society and cast out the “unclean”, that’s when it crossed the line for me. Or when people tried to pressure others into making an irrational decision.
I had friends and family who fell for all the propaganda and really believed all the lies but they didn’t want to punish those who didn’t come to the same conclusion. Those, in my mind, are the innocent victims, or the good people who were simply lied to. (Not very critical thinkers, but not necessarily bad)
Those who believed the lies and wanted to force everyone else to go along with it, that’s a whole new kind of dangerous narcissism. If a person is going to guilt, shame, and force someone else to do what they think is best, they better be damn sure they’ve done their research.
This situation flushed out the different types of people for sure.
I would add one last thing. If they did try to guilt, shame, or force other people into doing something - and they aren’t apologizing NOW that it’s obvious that it was all lies, that’s another clear sign that they have bad character and aren’t interested in self reflection or restitution. That’s my two cents.
No, it's not a good idea - don't let all these guys bully you Fabian. It takes guts to speak your truth - there are rewards for doing so. Fear is something that holds everyone back from doing what they know is right and these guys are trying to hold you back. Please use your moral compass and believe in yourself and that NO ONE has the right to tell you what to do and NO ONE has the right to abuse you and gaslight you. Standing up for yourself is the height of morality. It's exceedingly important for your character and your Soul.
Just a small correction. There's no such thing as your truth or my truth. There is only THE truth. Please do not use Wokester language. It makes them stronger.
I've actually talked to my wife about this and she has no issues with me writing about it.
It all goes so much deeper. I was completely destroyed by all these losses. Everything I had left I destroyed myself. Sorta like a late onset Borderline personality disorder or something, I don't know. I'm so traumatized, just no good anymore to anyone.
Fabian, I’m so sorry for your losses and I would encourage you to consider turning to the Bible for renewed hope and peace. Read “the gospel of John”, in the New Testament, if you read nothing else.
I pray what you find in those pages gives you hope like nothing before. With love, Rosie.
Just like the "good Germans in WWII." Not bad people... just **countenanced** evil and pushed hell onto the innocent in their "gee, I wasn't bad" hypocrisy.
In ONE picture. Here is where cowardice leads: Just one picture of Dresden, 1946 or so. https://static.dw.com/image/17238262_605.jpg. THIS is what the "good Germans" - and by extension, the "good vaxxxer" did, and are doing, to the world. Look at the pix... then understand these intellectually dishonest vaxaholics are doing even worse, only it isn't quite such obvious kinetic damage.
Life does not take kindly to cowards, the lazy, etc. Wish it did - we could all be on our derrieres sipping margaritas permanently in Cancun - but it doesn't.
Igor, for several years I have been citing and linking you and some others (Alex, Eugyppius, Bad Cat etc) to try to get through to people during the Vaxx Coercion that taking the vaxx was at very best a very poor bet. Like all risk and zero proven benefit.
Anyway, when I linked one of your very well researched pieces in mid 2021 one response I got was basically: "Why would I even read something from someone with a name like that?"
In the summer of 2022 a neighborhood association scheduled an outdoor picnic bbq in July but required all attendees to be vaxxed. Srsly. When I told them how idiotic that was I was informed it was two Stanford PhDs (in stem, btw) who made the call, for the safety of all. Masks were recommended in addition but would not be enough by themselves.
And so it went for 36 months with the OIPs (otherwise intelligent people).
When I linked from Bad Cat or Igor etc, I was weirdly accused of making their medical decisions for them. Because now offering information one is free to take or leave is tantamount to controlling the medical choices of others.
Same folks who warned me of the incredible dangers of taking vitamin supplements like vitamin D. Rank poison,that. Unlike the experimental gene therapy injections they so eagerly raced to get.
Why does he frame it like that though? Ask yourself. I don't read you as thinking you're better than anyone else, just that you have things you NEED to say. I'm getting very upset at all these people trying to bully you into not trusting your own instincts. It's NEVER a mistake Fabian, to trust YOURSELF. And you'll always find people trying to instill fear in you - ALWAYS - they're always there, ready to moralize and guilt you out of doing what's right for you. God Bless.
No Zoë, that's not quite correct. My gut tells me I shouldn't do that under my real name, but there is still an urge to talk about it. Using another account is not a bad solution to the problem.
I've actually wanted to create another substack and share stories of other people as well, but I was too focussed on the data analysis process and few people seem to feel the urge to share their stories. I think they are afraid it makes them look weak.
Relax, it's all good advice. Respecting the privacy of others and listening to my gut. There is no contradiction.
cf Hannah Arendt's The Banality of Evil T he “banality of evil” is the idea that evil does not have the Satan-like, villainous appearance we might typically associate it with. Rather, evil is perpetuated when immoral principles become normalized over time by people who do not think about things from the standpoint of others. Evil becomes commonplace; it becomes the everyday ... (see full quote at https://philosophybreak.com/articles/hannah-arendt-on-standing-up-to-the-banality-of-evil/.
Christians were truly pathetic during Covid. The worst were the ones who spent all their time before hand bleating on about the Mark of the Beast. When the MotB really came along, they queued up to get it like everyone else. Honorable exceptions were John McArthur and the Canadian pastor.
Yes, indeed I am a Christian. I am in the medical field now, but did grad work in linguistics, then another grad degree in theology at Regent College, Univ. of British Columbia. Studied under JI Packer, Bruce Waltke who translated the NIV, etc.
As a matter of fact, as Dostoyevski wrote "if there is no God... everything is permissible" (i.e, there is no reference point). I have read Karamozov twice, and he did say that, if you add the elipsis.
Or, if you prefer your metaphors in music, remember the jazz song by Gene McDaniels, Compared to What?
Yeah... the whole "without God, everything is permissible" is a problem in our society as a whole now.
Personally, I'm struggling with that as well. I'm Catholic, and went to a parochial school. My husband's first wife was also Catholic, and their two sons are baptized, but that's all. They had no religious education. The younger one is married with two young kids; they didn't even think of getting them baptized or going to church. The older one (almost 30) will attend church with us on occasion, but is currently flirting with Hinduism, Indian mysticism and gnosticism. My husband admits they failed their sons in terms of religious upbringing.
The problem of pain (see the eponymous book by CS Lewis, or Where is God When it Hurts, by Philp Yancy, or When God Doesn't Make Sense by James Dobson are helpful reads, but I really appreciate your forthrightness. Indeed, this IS the major problem for many. Fact is, the greatest argument against God is the existence of evil; but parodoxically, it is one of the greatest arguments FOR God. Fact is, if all we are is the result of a random collision of atoms, there is no good, there is no evil. It is all just nature, end of story. As Swiss American philosopher Francis Schaeffer put that position, for them, "whatever is, is right." Period. End of story. Hamas brutally murdering people? Or Hitler, Or Ghengis Khan? The atheist has ZERO ability to say that is wrong, period, end of story.
And that Hinduism issue? Sorry, but I have read ALL the major religious literature in the world, the Qu'ran twice. Monism, in HInduism, says that all is one in Brahma. All. If you read more, in Hinudism, there is no distinction between good and evil, it is all "maya," or illusion. Watching a baby being murdered is, ultimately, neither good nor evil. And in fact, India almost became Christian until Mohan Roy made major reforms to make Hinduism more Christian in ethics. The caste system was only reformed due to Christian influence. And please don't let them do the Buddhist thing. MOst of them don't even know the difference between , Big Wheel, Little Wheel (mahayana, hinayana - sp?) and Zen, nor do they know the fourfold noble path and 8fold noble truths. Fact is, Buddha might have just been a mystic, and we don't know if he believed in God or not. Rather, it really is a psychology more than anything. I have a friend whose son fancies himself a Buddhist, because its groovy. Sadly, it is all just posturing. He would know ZERO of what it is about and indeed would be in Buddhist hell given how materialistic he is.
I am not concerned about church going or baptism; nor do I expect Christian behaviour from non-Christians. I am not concerned about religion, or religious practices. The law does nothing; rather, the good news of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus changes everything. Does the person have a personal relationship with a Christ who literally raised from the dead. Cf. Dr. Jeremiah J. Johnson Body of Proof: 7 Reasons to Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus, or former atheist, former legal editor for the Chicago Tribune and Yale graduate Lee Strobel and his books on it.
I just ask people, do you have an open mind? If God does exist, wouldn't that be the most incredible thing is so? Most say yes. So, I just tell, them, do a grand experiment: if you really honestly mean this, and willing to respond honestly, I just tell people to, in their privacy, alone in their room, ask God, if He exists, to show HImself. It's the grand experiment - if He isn't there, nothing will happen. But if He is, be prepared for the adventure of your life.
As replied to Fabian below, precisely why the very first step to become a Christian is to know and accept that there is no righteousness within us. All our works are as dirty rags, the prophet Isaiah would also add. I, myself, do not have good within me; rather, any goodness, which is progressive sanctification, is a result of God putting HIs Holy Spirit within me . As famed journalist Malcolm Muggeridge wrote, "The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.”
The Grand Inquisitor chapter of Dostoyevski's Brothers Karamozov is instructive here.
Yup. Frankly, I am very very glad that as a Christian I AM able to see myself as depraved and needing forgiveness (which only follows repentance). It's liberating.
precisely why the very first step to become a Christian is to know and accept that there is no righteousness within us. All our works are as dirty rags, the prophet Isaiah would also add. I, myself, do not have good within me; rather, any goodness, which is progressive sanctification, is a result of God putting HIs Holy Spirit within me . As famed journalist Malcolm Muggeridge wrote, "The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.”
The Grand Inquisitor chapter of Dostoyevski's Brothers Karamozov is instructive here.
They were just being human beings, yes, as ugly as that may be.
My family was guilty as hell. Beutehändler and SS members. I grew up with this knowledge, with a strong rejection of these 3 generations of my family, dozens of whom I knew when they were still alive.
I have been drilled not to trust the government and not to shun minorities by both teachers and parents alike all my life, which made all of this so much harder to accept.
You are not responsible for their sins. All of us have murderers, war criminals and slavers in our family tree. All of us. That is why we are alive today.
During Covid Mania I kept searching for the historical template where people lost their minds. Bolshevik Russia, Mao's China, Pol Pot's Cambodia, and even the French Revolution (aka French Lives Matter!). But 1930s Germany always stood out as the template for Horse Lady in NZ, whoever it was in Oz and Justin Le Douche in Canada. And Tony da Fauch at home and whoever it was in Jolly Olde . . .
Instill Fear with The Big Lie and keep pounding it home, suppress any countervailing points of view with ad hominem attacks and generalized calumny, gaslight everyone morning noon & night. One of the greatest cultures of the 20th Century was flipped overnight into a mindless, soulless killing machine, and most Germans (and many others) were swept along. At the point German cities were leveled and their brothers and sons didn't come home, they were still "all in," and now had to ride the storm out to the very end.
Even in 1952, 7 years after the shitshow, small town Germans still believed in the Fuhrer and Nazism (see "They Thought They Were Free"). Apparently the Nuremberg Trials were mostly just theatre, while the smart Nazis went into science programs overseas.
The most interesting outtake from Rona and the coordinated collapse of the Anglophone democracies was how the preening class delighted in contemplating the suffering and even deaths of the Disagreeniks (us). Let them starve, let their cancers grow, deny them even hospice care, because you know our patience was running thin with the Unvaccinated, the Unclean.
As the great American philosopher Arnold said, "Screw your Freedoms."
Here is the 1932 definitive The Doctrine of Fascism, for free https://sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda/2B-HUM/Readings/The-Doctrine-of-Fascism.pdf about a dozen pages. Fascism is the merger of the socialist state with co-opted, crony big biz (communism is a cousin where the state directly owns the means of production;otherwise both are socialist; fascism also is nationalist, Marxism internationalist hence the liebensraum push by Hitler into Russian
Right now, we live in a fascist state, only not IG Farben, Krupp etc but Meta, Google, Amazon etc.
I shudder when my 13-yr old English granddaughter casually mentions "during lockdown'. BTW, her parents early took AZ, wondered why we on this side of Atlantic would not do also.
And yeah that Arnold quote was among the most despicable statements throughout those 3 years.
But hey, what do you expect from a guy whose success is built on giving fellatio to two twins on a regular basis in order to finance his steroid habit in the 80s?
If only I could remember their names... A patient of mine told me this very long ago. He was in the bodybuilding scene in California at the time.
A little known fact (rumor really), but totally in character. :D
Try to dig and find out what job he had that financed him all the roids, because they sure as shit weren't cheap. If there's no anecdote on how he made his money, then the rumor is probably true.
Bodybuilders who excel tend to need a loooot of leisure time for eating and regenerating. Generally speaking, these individuals try to avoid work that drains their physical energy.
It wasn’t The Barbarian Brothers? They are twins. If he meant them he is lying, I know the twins personally, no way , they had bad ADHD they would have said so.
Must be another set of twins, likely that were in the illuminati? I know the BB got blacklisted by the cult.
Yeah, maybe some body builders, but I was part of this scene as a young woman, I trained w the guys, and most do work very hard, and workout hard, only those in competitions and industry do less, I knew jron and glass workers, the barnarians twins built their homes from scratch, yet had world records for power lifting, they were so talented and like spitfire, always creating smthg.
No I don't recall "Barbarian". I probably would if he had said that. But if you know them, you could always ask.
Actual physical work? That's Interesting.
I don't know much about that time, but here in Germany in the 2000s, I've known very few bodybuilders who worked hard. The vast majority worked in security, standing in front of clubs. Different time, different place. It was wrong to extrapolate that.
But Arnold only worked out hard, afaik, right? :D So where did he get that money...
When people are taken by this type of mass hysteria, I think it's impossible to feel regret. It felt right then and they are not ever gonna betray that feeling. They will say they're sorry when the tide turns, but it's all make-believe.
They won't betray that feeling of togetherness, of doing what's right, fighting the good fight.
Very very few will ever feel actual regret for what happened these past years. Most will only ever pretend.
As the even greater Canadian/American philosopher Blaise (me) say back to Arnold: You want to screw my freedoms? You will do that when you come pry those freedoms out of my cold, dead, clammy hands. Molon labe, fasco-Marxist Arnold
I understand that, thanks. This is why the "good Germans" trope is so critical.
I had one guy come up to me in church - not me to him - and demand to know if I got the shot. "No," I said, and I have a 700 page, 2k footnote paper on the topic (now it is 2,500 pp, 10k footnotes) "and I'm not getting it." Rather than say, as I would have out of intellectual honesty, "Gee what did you learn?" rather, he turned on his heel and stomped off. Talk about intellectual dishonesty. Similarly, my rich little brother, whom I might gently email once every 4 months about the dangers of the shot, just tersely replled "Stop emailing me." So I did. Last report his wife was on her second round of serious Covid.
Truth is, Bourla, et al trade on fear and normalcy bias. And the truth is, as Tolkein wrote in Lord of the Rings
Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
The world does not countenance cowardice. The US became a nation only through courage and bravery, These vaxaholics betray this nation and all humanity. And that's a fact
Hunkering home in terror over catching the sniffles (even according to the unreliable CDC you had less than a 1 in 500 chance of dying) is about as cowardly as it gets.
As noted, the links don't copy ( I can get if you need) but
Dr. Martin Makary at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Medicine with other scientists teamed up with the non-profit FAIR Health group to look at the insurance data of 48,000 children diagnosed with Covid between April 2020 and Aug. 2020. Not ONE of the children who died were free of pre-existing medical conditions such as cancer (see also here). And this is true in Germany, too, where a massive study late fall showed ZERO – there’s that word again – deaths from Covid among healthy German kids, as reported by Alex Berenson here, Dec. 2, 2021, or here at LifeSite News. Or see a the details in a late 2021 German study (collating evidence from three sources 1) a national seroprevalence study (the SARSCoV-2 KIDS study), 2) the German statutory notification system and 3) a nationwide registry on children and adolescents hospitalized with either SARS-CoV-2 or Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome (PIMS-TS)) reported that there were zero (0) deaths in children 5 to 18 years old across the period of study. Ditto in Sweden - Swedish data by Ludvigsson reported on the 1,951,905 children in Sweden (as of December 31, 2020) who were 1 to 16 years of age who attended school with largely no lockdowns or masks. They found zero (0) deaths. “Despite Sweden’s having kept schools and preschools open, we found a low incidence of severe Covid-19 among schoolchildren and children of preschool age during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.” If you include kids with serious morbidities, there were six deaths. In Germany, out of a total population of 80 million, around 10 million school age kids. Even serious illness was extremely rare, 1 in 50,000. See Dr. Paul Elias Alexander’s SWEDEN AND GERMANY: NO DEATHS IN CHILDREN DUE TO COVID for more reading, or this article which notes that German scientists found that no healthy child 5-17 years of age died of COVID in Germany.
It's gotten so obvious that by 2023, one of the key players in the Icelandic government’s response to Covid-19, CEO of deCODE Genetics, neurologist Dr. Kári Stefánsson, who was a massive vax pusher at the outset, and even went as far as proposing those who refused the vaccine should be put in lifelong quarantine, now says, as reported by Thorsteinn Siglaugsson Aug. 3, 2023 here, “Based on the information we have today, I would not recommend vaccination to people under 40 or under 50” Dr. Stefánsson said in a podcast in late July, reported by Icelandic media on August 3rd. “Now, many scientists have stepped forward saying it was wrong to vaccinate everyone, pointing to the high prevalence of myocarditis, and how even those who contracted the virus are less likely to develop it than those who got vaccinated.”
Looking at these reactions I am very much tempted to turn my own experiences into an article. The reason I haven't done that is because it would make the people I (still) love look like very bad people, which they aren't.
So you self-censor and pretend that "good Germans" in your life are not bad people. It's a story as old as civilization.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing.".
Edmund Burke
Dude, that's the most condescending, presumptious statement I've been confronted with in a long time. Congratulations. Hope you were drunk when you wrote that.
For me...the reason I have held off is I want to be honest. There were things that I did pre pandemic that were not good. If you were to read mine it would go like "Well no wonder they alienated you, you did some bad things." I've apologized for those things, but an apology does not mean there should not be consequences, and I am living those consequences.
They might not be bad people, but experience has shown you they are unreliable people, being so readily affected by media-conveyed disinformation to your detriment.
They are not bad people, they are "good Germans".
Who killed millions in the concentration camps? It wasn't Hitler, Himmler or any of the leadership. It was millions of "good Germans" "doing their job".
So go ahead and forget and forgive, move on, no big deal.
Did you mean that reply to the main post?
I'm not likely to forget and forgive without acknowledgement of wrong, and I wouldn't push it for anyone else.
This is called "the banality of evil." Hannah Arendt wrote a book titled thusly.
You don't want to do that Fabian. Especially since you love them and care for them. You want to show them out in public? I'd rethink that temptation. It is why I write with a strange name nobody would think is me. But anyone I am writing about here who would read the comment I made (on the totally off chance) would know it is me. Or the five or so other IRL people I have told this to. They'd know. Plus I write like I talk. I bet you do too.
Is that you, Jake?
No. But if I were a man I would totally love to be named Jake. Of course I would have to live up to the general badass feel of the name. Huh. That sounded like I could be Jake, but not admitting it, but instead gave myself a half compliment. And if that is so, I probably AM a badass.
😂😂
Or a weird douchy sort of guy who was misnamed. I'm torn.
You're absolutely right. Otherwise I'd have done it long ago, because I have a strong urge to talk about those feelings.
When I was reading your comment about your wife and your friend the pain was palpable. I'm not sure touching would be the right description, but something struck me while reading it. Maybe a recognition. A sad recognition.
Don't let anyone talk you out of something you need to do for yourself. I allowed my older sister to talk me out of confronting my father about abuse issues because he was ill with M.S. and I've always regretted it because at the time I was strong enough to do it. She was afraid for her own emotional safety - she didn't care about what it was doing to me. They're all dead now but I'm left with the pain of letting myself down. So please, try to ignore the Raptor who doesn't care about you. Do what's right for you. You know what that is - no one else in the entire world does. Speaking your truth has an ENORMOUS amount of power (gentle, loving self power) that probably frightens people like Raptor. Breaking the fear that holds you back from doing what you know to be right is just beyond liberating! A lot of people fear honesty because they are holding something back and want to feel ok about it. Honesty has its own rewards.
If you can Zoe, imagine the world primarily operating on satisfying and obeying their feelings with no regard for others. Imagine what an utter hellscape this would be. Discretion is the better part of...
It is compassionate and selfless. Two things this world (and Igor was suggesting) could use more of. It takes more effort to keep your mouth closed and not self satisfy Zoe. I have a feeling Fabien is a man that can sort out what is best for himself and is not in search for his power.
If you can, Raptor, imagine you know more than me and are more compassionate than me. Imagine, if you can, Raptor, that I need your guidance and need to be put in my place. I agree that Fabian (which you spelled wrong) knows what is best for himself which is why I wasn't telling him what to do like you were.
It seems you transfer your own struggle onto Fabian. Why don't you read his reply to Raptor right above yours? You have regrets - he hasn't.
You have no idea what you're talking about. Butt out!
Almost got triggered to react to your rudness but thankfully read some of the wiser comments here first and could fight it. I think I have an idea were you are coming from - I can be very confrontational myself if I feel I am not heard or judged or put down or injured by someone. It is very difficult for me at times to then not take it personal and lash out. I am sorry you had to suffer abuse by your own father - a terrible thing - and I can relate to it. I am not sure if telling him and confronting him about it would have made things better though. It all depends on his reaction. Most of the time, people double down when confronted and the conflict and abuse gets reenforced. You might want to google research on how victims of abuse fared after deciding to seek justice in court, even if they won their cases. Many don't get the healing they hoped for from that. The healing happens within us by going within in mindfulness. We don't get healed by fighting or revenge. We heal through understanding the bigger picture thoroughly - that it is an endless cycle of abuse passed on through the generations and everyone is a victim. If is see that, my heart softens and I can forgive. Only forgivness heals us. Anyway, I wish you all the best.
I agree with you Zoe. I write under my real identity and don't gaf because I think and feel what I think and feel and it won't matter what anyone else says or thinks about me. In the end it really only matters what I think and feel about me. Covid has revealed so much about so many. Most of it disheartening. Perhaps the lesson is to do more of what brings peace and happiness to your own life. It seems to be the only way to make any kind of a difference in this world. You are only in control of one person......YOU.
Wonderful Patti!
I think that is great advice and I thank you for that - but I've been contemplating it for a long time and kept myself from doing it. Igor and Raptor just confirmed that this was a bad idea. Doesn't mean I won't write about it, but probably not under my real name.
What you're talking about here is a writing challenge. You want to convey a complicated, nuanced story, and you're aware that if you don't do it carefully, it might give a misleading impression of the people you're writing about. Perhaps, as a writer, you might view this as an interesting challenge? To see if you can find a way to convey the full complexity of the story in a way that's closer to the way you really feel about it? If you can succeed, you'll be happy to write it under your own name.
Good advice, but it's going to be very personal either way. There's just no way to talk about my wife's experience without mentioning her vaccination-facilitated nervous breakdown.
I hear you, but I think doing it anonymously would the only respectful way to handle this.
As long as you are listening to your inner voice and going ahead and doing what you fear, you'll be on the right track. Personally, I say using your own name and speaking up in your own voice and for yourself is a next level super power. But that's MY opinion - doesn't mean that's right for you right now. Peace to you and wishing you all the best. Courage - that's what it's all about! ♥️
Yeah, I have written down my saga a couple times, and have avoided this part of it for the reasons you mentioned. Two thoughts.
First, I think it is important to let others know the struggle we all have had to deal with in 2020. Maybe others already have done a better job of this already, and that is up to you to decide.
Second, maybe you were meant to write this and send this to them, aand not have any of us read it. Do they know how you feel and to what degree you feel it?
That is very thoughtful.
I think a lot of us do it here on Substack. Vent. Express sadness. Record new sickness or death and if they are friends, mourn.
A number of years ago I wrote a note to a family member, but never sent it. I just think I needed to get hurt out or sort my feelings and thoughts. I never sent it - never even meant to send it. I kept the letter for a number of years then burned it. I was afraid the person would snoop when visiting and stumble onto it. I know not all people can deal with things this way and sometimes things require some form of confrontation. But we are all, no exceptions, best served thinking things through, consider the fallout and also consider what the reaction you might get. My dear mom once told me to never ask a question you do not want the answer to. She was a mentally tough lady. Nothing is ever lost by careful consideration before action.
Your mom sounds wise. I did finally get the answer to the question I did not want to ask. Note to those with similar issues, you already have your answer, but it is up to you to decide if the person should be required to say it. There are times when they need to say the things they need to say.
My sister has not spoken to me once since June.
Someone related a story to me a while back about how parents left their child at the grandparents. Grandma took child to get jabbed knowing parents did not want child jabbed, but obv grandma thought child needed it. Child has serious health problems now requiring home health assistance. They never confronted the grandma. This convo here got me thinking about the circumstances I would require someone to admit something and require remorse to continue having a relationship. If I got those things, does it change the relationship (v no confession and mea culpa)? Does it make me feel better? I'd say no. Individual results (as they say) may vary. I feel it is within the person to find forgiveness. Sorry is nice (maybe). It doesn't change the outcome (in this case) of the child's life one iota.
If you make your happiness dependent on other people's actions... it is a shallow happiness. Or fleeting.
You may be wondering how the parents have decided. They have decided not to require the grandma admit anything. Here they have this child who is permanently damaged. Every day the grandma sees it. The mom does not want to inflict any more sorrow on the part of her husband. How blessed that husband is to have that wife. Often people do not look for blessings in terrible circumstances. That is a huge one. Husband's well being trumps her desire to hear sorry and for grandma to fully say out loud what she has done. We should all be so blessed.
Thinking about you Jimmy and hoping for the best.
I once kicked a soccer ball that hit my nephew in the chest. I accidentally burned my niece's little finger with a match during Fourth of July festivities. I wailed for about twenty minutes when another of my nieces was missing under my watch (her mom had come home and took the niece shopping but neglected to tell me.) I still feel self recrimination for the one time I forgot to pick my niece up from daycare until her mom called to remind me. These are things that I did on accident, or did not mean to do.
The grandma does not need to be told, she lives with that reality every day.
Many parents will face accountability for masking/vaccinating their kids and participating in the medical theater.
Could not agree more, happiness is not dependent upon other people's actions. That is codependency.
The thing I had my sister admit to me was not an apology...but rather the truth. And it was not for happiness, but more so as a truth.
I had a situation decades ago, where I started an online romance with a girl which culminated in her coming to visit me on Valentines day. We had talked about all these grand things we were going to do together. She talked of marriage...and I did nothing to discourage it. We'd talked on the phone, she'd sent me pictures. And then when she came to town there was the reality of who she was vs. the fantasy I had built up in my head.
That weekend could not have ended faster. I realized my mistake of falling for the idea of someone versus their reality in quick fashion. First, she had not sent me a recent picture of her, but instead had a picture of her from years before. I tried to rationalize, lie to myself about it, but here was the truth: I wasn't attracted to the person who got off the plane. She kept trying to drag her feet, hesitate before getting on the plane at the end of the weekend, she obviously still maintained feelings about me.
When she finally got on the plane and left, I felt unresolved. I should have manned up and told her there at the gate that it was over. But instead I wussed out. And I could have avoided talking to her ever again. But when she called that night, I realized I couldn't half ass it and say something like "it's not you, it's me" because there would be more and more questions. So after a few stabs at those "nice way of letting her down easy" I had to speak brutal truths that were not pejorative to her, but clear. I told her I did not find her attractive. I explained how I had fallen in love with the idea of her, and apologized to her for my part in it.
What I required the person in my life to say was something similar. They had to give me the truth, and in so doing, had to also see (to whatever extent they are aware of things) in what ways they were complicit in it. I gave them easy outs for their behavior, but it wasn't fair to me or them because we left things unresolved. They are now resolved and she can live the life she has wanted to live without me as a liability or encumbrance.
Jimmy, I truly hope you find someone worthy of you. A tall task I would imagine.
I am so glad your sister told the truth. Truth is an underrated thing. It is an invaluable lesson to learn that you can hear and accept the truth and feel however you want about it and their feelings need no assuaging. Very insightful comment that I enjoyed reading very much.
Thank you for the gift.
An unsent and burned letter is a powerful therapuetic ritual. I am hot-headed at times and confrontational - It very often doesn't end welll and never resolves much, but when I get emotional I can't help myself and get self-rightous. I wish I had more of your self-discipline, honestly.
I don't know MaMu, I think sorting out who you are and being flat honest with yourself the way you have leads me to believe you may have it in you to get control of yourself. Even if it is bit by bit. It took me a long time to learn to zip it and revisit things when I was calmer.
Working on it - of course it is possible. I am comitted now.
And I am working on being my own doctor. Good advice.
: ))
A question for you and for all the people out there that have loved ones who have acted "badly." If they acted that way, are they genuinely good people? Or are you simply giving them a pass because you love them?
We give people passes all the time because we love them and we think they're "good people." But honestly... if they are pushing us to do things that we believe aren't good for us, are they good? Or are they just acting in their own self interest because they're scared? And does their "fear" justify their behavior? If yes, when does it stop?
People need to be accountable for their actions in some way, shape or form. I'm not saying "don't ever forgive," I'm just saying that people need to know what they did was wrong and that they were very much acting like "good Germans."
Exactly.
“People need to be accountable for their actions in some way, shape or form. I'm not saying "don't ever forgive," I'm just saying that people need to know what they did was wrong and that they were very much acting like "good Germans."
Speak the truth.
https://youtu.be/_so2g0sH3vY?feature=shared
When I say I have been obsessed with the Holocaust , I never really understood why, until COVId . Now I understand. I could never believe that so many people would allow such a horrible atrocity to happen to innocent people, children, mothers, families? So when I saw what was happening in so many countries around the world, people being locked in their homes, being arrested, losing their jobs, being forced to take a shot to see their family or keep their jobs, churches being shut down, children being forced to mask when they were still trying to learn how to communicate and instead of the masses saying wait, why are liquor stores open but churches closed? Why are politicians seen out with no masks partying with friends but others being locked up or vilified? This all made it clear to me why I have been obsessed, because it was possible for the Holocaust to happen and happen again due to so many humans turning their backs, going along, and afraid to speak up. In terms of that idea, this has been just as bad. The obvious visuals may have not been as bad and the people creating this “Holocaust like” humanity crushing moment in time were tied to perhaps even bigger more evil and stupid motives like greed, governmental and large pharmaceutical corporate power instead of just a mega maniac tyrannical political leader, isn’t this just as or more devastating to the world? And the really frightening part is, it isn’t over yet! So to me, until “heads roll”, until the bs stops being allowed, until the vaccines are pulled from the market place and those behind all of this are made to pay a big price, the truth has not been told and this this war against humanity is still going on!
but the "holocaust " was weaponized so the jews could use the lie as a GET OUT OF JAIL FREE card..:don't believe the lies
I suggest checking out the 10 part doco series called "Europa the last battle" on bitchute. It'll tell you things you never knew about the holocaust and the 20th century.
All of the above. I am afraid too of a re-run. I am not sure if the level of compliance will be as high. We shall see.
I heard a recent Adam & Dr. Drew Podcast and they were talking about a recent apology on Bill Mahr by a Public Health person who said they believing in both accountability and forgiveness. Drew thought that both were not possible, but they are. You can forgive someone and yet no longer put up with their s. Or at the very least, a new agreement or negotiation can be written.
Forgiveness is very important...for the forgiver. It means no longer holding onto things. And that is completely different than holding people accountable. I also think there is a different impulse when holding people to account vs. wanting to see them punished.
Taking accountability is how one earns forgiveness from others.
I agree.
that was my question, too. The fact that neither even called me for months prove me they were not really the close friends I thought I had. One waited 8 months.
I have noticed in life that you can let some friendships go and just be your authentic self, and then... voila! ...new & beautiful friendships arise❤️
I struggle with this every day. Almost every one of my friends succumbed to the media psyop- and I have to admit that it happened to me as well. But it took a bad reaction to the second shot to open my mind up to the possibility that the shots were not as safe as we were told. I NEVER thought it was a good idea to inject children, all healthcare or military and said so. As the intensity for jabbing got higher, I was distressed at what I heard coming out of my friends’ mouths. We have agreed to disagree, but how quickly they jumped on the bandwagon for the vaccine passports (my conscience would not allow me to use one-even though technically I was qualified) and mandating these shots for EVERYONE. We remain “friends”, but in my mind the relationship has been damaged-I don’t think I will ever fully trust them again and it just doesn’t feel genuine anymore. It’s like going through the motions. I’m not sure this will change or really how it could? I’m not sure they are remotely aware of any of this. They still are getting ALL the shots and I have no trust that they wouldn’t go to the same position should they be told there was another “deadly” pandemic and that those antivaxxers were preventing them from going to restaurants, singing in their choirs and getting on planes to travel the world.
"People are often unaware of how their problematic behavior affects others." ~ Sr. Annamarie of Christ Crucified, Discalced order of Carmelites (and my old piano teacher!). In this case, many DO know that their assumptions and wholesale embrace of "The Science" wasn't the right call, but they just cannot bring themselves even to think that they could possibly be WRONG. They are missing major pieces of themselves. All it takes is not having grown up in with a guiding philosophy of morality and ethics. Or choosing not to live by any former training that teaches they have to answer to a higher power and that consciousness of their behavior (examination of conscience such as taught in the Roman Catholic church, as one example) and living by these wisdom teachings would go far to prevent the banality of evil.
"All it takes is not having grown up in with a guiding philosophy of morality and ethics."
This sums it up in a nutshell.
They are no necessarily bad - but they definitely are MORONS
Yes and that’s scary!!!
In reading those many Reddit posts, I was struck (as in, whapped upside the head) by the lack of character depth expressed by those females. As if pregnancy is 'all about me'; a sort of women-only power trip. Bet they were also Bridezillas (if married at all). Speaking from the perspective of a mother of 3. You make a cogent point, Shibumi.
When you aren’t sure you will make it through this illness, but are told go home and do your best to get through it - you have a hard time trusting doctors. When you are told that your decision not to get vaccinated makes you a thoughtless self centered person, you have a hard time trusting those family members. When you see friends and family members go into the hospital to be helped, left alone where no one can visit, to never return while the hospital gets wealthier off of their COVId deaths, you have a hard time trusting hospitals. When you are told lies about the safety of something you are required to take to keep your job or see a show or eat in a restaurant , you have a hard time trusting your government. The distrust I now have goes far across many areas of life. I am not hateful to any of those who wronged and continue to wrong others. I try to treat them the way I expected to be treated. But distrust is a way of protecting oneself and I cannot let go of that. What upsets me is how it all just keeps on going like all the unnecessary deaths and mistreatment and injustices didn’t even happen. It bothers me when my close relative speaks proudly about how they got their latest COVId shot I don’t feel comfortable explaining why that might not be safe or a good idea. But I say nothing, they are an adult so it isn’t my place to tell them what to do. But I worry about them anyway. Of course, the other outcome of having so many people die an earlier death than expected , and people contracting crazy cancers like never before, and family members dealing with multiple deaths in one year, all of this makes me feel like life just got much shorter! I try to control my thoughts because it isn’t fair to my young adult children. But inside I always feel life is fleeting for all of us. When madmen run the world it hard for anyone to feel safe!
Amen. Wish I could have put to words as well as you did!
Well said
On the other hand Shibumi... : ))
I have an example of a situation most every person in the world has faced where the loved person tries to force another person to do something that might kill them. That is a loving mama who shows the people she loves that she loves them with food. Do you push leftovers, second helpings and desserts on a person that is fat? Yet most people (at least in America) are fat. Too fat for too long could mean heart attack, diabetes and a string of other terrible things that insulin resistance brings. Mama sould be held accountable?
Of course mama may just get her feelings hurt. She won't cut you off and not let you see babies.
Same as an enabler, of drugs or alcohol etc
NewScott. I think, lost in the typing or something, was a light-hearted example. Mamas who do things in love (like who make us food and give hugs when we are mad) are a balm even when their gifts might not be awesome for the waistline or force us into good moods we were desperately trying not to be in.
Not every reply should be taken hard core. I should have added a wink and more smiles and maybe a dancing dog emoji. You cannot hear my tone. Sorry for the misunderstanding I created.
I appreciate your position. In theory at least (LOL) you can tell Mama or whoever is making your meals that you love her food but you're trying to stop second helpings or eliminating deserts during the week, and my *guess* is that she would respect that.
I have known a few Iraqi and Italian mamas that I might not be too sure about the outcome. How does one react when love is rebuffed?
I think we all know the difference between things encouraged in love (thank you Italian and Iraqi grandmas everywhere!) and things done in selfishness. Jab "encouragement" was rarely (because it would not work out well and is counterintuitive) anything to do with love and care for the people they demanded get jabbed. It was ugly, nasty, brutish, selfishness on steroids.
I was in a doctor's office some three years ago (wouldn't be caught dead in such a setting today) waiting on a friend. Thumbed through a Real Simple magazine in the waiting room when an article caught my attention. It suggested that instead of taking your unvaccinated friend to the restaurant for lunch as planned, you drive to the local Covid19 jab clinic, turn on the waterworks, profess your undying love for the friend, and see what happens.
It was a most revolting read...
Ha. I would have enjoyed someone pulling that on me. Then we would see how undying their love was. Also, you could now, three years later, swing by the various friends homes that have had heart attacks, cancer, myocarditis, death of their spouse or child (it might take all day to do the run) and then finally back to the jab clinic where it all began (wistful sigh)... you know, to see what happens and all. Real simple indeed.
Yes, absolutely.
That's a very difficult question.
They aren't stand-up kind of people, that's for sure. They were weak.
But so am I. I've been weak so many times throughout my life. I wouldn't want to be judged by my worst moments.
I just try to remember all the good they did. For me, for others. But they failed this test. Does that make them all bad? No, I don't think so.
I just remember my wife crying for days on end - right in front of my daughter - after that first shot, two weeks before she did a 180. For her it was just impossible to accept that she's been physically abused like that. We could never talk about it. Never. I literally begged her to talk to me about it, but never would she give me that. She couldn't.
My friend who shut me out of his restaurant while I was standing in front of him fucking crying said he doesn't remember that. We were alone, before the place opened. He just shut the memory out somehow.
It's tough on these people, too. Yes they were weak, but people can't always be strong. Not that strong. It's not in everyone's nature. That doesn't make them bad through and through.
I think maybe you should write about it. Anonymously. People have no idea what people went through and I read your short comment here and I hear what a lot of people here have probably lived but couldn't give voice to as well as you did.
Things happened. People have no idea how to put them into context.
I'm not implying that people are bad through and through and I have certainly made mistakes like everyone else and don't want to be judged by my worst moments.
But... it's one thing to do a bad thing that hurt you and you alone, and it's another thing to engage in "blanket cruelty." To a certain extent, the argument is "I'm scared of X, so I don't want X in my life." In this case, X is the unvaxxed. What if X was something like "young black men?" Would that statement be OK? The unvaxxed may or may not hurt you, and many people perceive young men as being a threat that may or may not hurt you. Why is it OK to discriminate against the vaxxed and not young black men? "Blanket cruelty."
I don't think any of them are aware of what they let happen to us. They see things from a different angle. I have so many flaws, but my strongest trait throughout my adult life has always been my moral compass and my ability to feel compassion and act on it when I feel I should. But I never did any work to acquire that trait.
Just like other people didn't choose not to feel compassion in certain situations. They're just different than us.
I still blame them. Trust me when I say I am mad at them. But more profound than the anger itself is the realization of how futile it is to be angry, because blaming all these people isn't gonna change a thing. It's just gonna do the opposite. It's gonna widen the divide.
We need to focus on preventing this from ever happening again, as other have attempted before us. To some success I think. God knows what could've happened, had this really spun out of control. Those camps in Australia look like this story was intended to have a different ending.
Btw, take note how this happened just when the last Third Reich witnesses were dying off. Those who had the power to warn us.
That's what I am feeling reading this Substack - we are really lucky that we are being vindicated.
I thought that we were going to be scapegoated all the way to having men in white coats take us away in white vans.
Yeah me, too. I don't feel ridiculous for it either. It really looks like that was the plan. To be honest, it probably still is.
According to Agamben, it always was and always will be. He sure has a point.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Agamben#Homo_Sacer:_Sovereign_Power_and_Bare_Life_(1998)
Maybe that's what's doing your head in.
Everyone acting like it's over, when it's just one bullet dodged with more to come.
You might like Stegiel's Substack.
"A Journal of Lingering Sanity".
He reads widely including philosophy and history and manages to say he is amused at current antics.
Edit: he is an acquired taste.
He has referenced Agamben.
Nah it's just there losses and disappointment I can't cope with pretty sure.
But thanks for the recommendation!
It’s so true that those convinced by the panic porn media in 2020 think differently than I do & there’s no point in being angry.
I work with teenage girls at a treatment center, and many are from blue states which locked down HARD. It’s interesting that these students see firsthand how damaging the isolation was to themselves, but they aren’t angry about it because they think it was warranted! I am often stunned by this but realize that their parents and everyone around them told them it had to happen for their safety. The isolation often led to problems which landed them in treatment for mental health issues. It is not my place to correct their thinking, and I would get fired if I tried. But I do often ask them questions, hoping to get them to think about the experience in new ways.
I also noticed that they were convinced that red states had higher death rates. But when I show them data, they are surprised that it’s not the case, even even though we didn’t shut down & had very few restrictions in my area. ...Hard to change minds in this kind of scenario.
Well red states experienced a catastrophe in summer of 2021, but this was due to vaccinating late (in summer), not due to vaccinations too little.
There are some that are quite aware of what they let happen to us, we, the ones who questioned. There are some that are aware of what role they played to ensure we were punished - I know because I have been quite dogged in following-up on this f**kfest. And they will not apologize. They don't care. They show no empathy, no compassion, nothing. I would say they show no brains either but whatever. These are the ones who revealed themselves for the content of the character, for the quality of their heart. There's no further explanation, nor justification. And they'll do it again. Can't prevent this all happening again - not without some kind of intense therapy for those who became nasty vicious sheeple, the kind of therapy that is used with sociopaths. I'm serious.
the slow kill shots effect the brain like a LOBOTOMY
If there’s no consequences, there’s no reason they won’t again drape on the “blanket of cruelty”..
It's not blaming people to ask them to be accountable for their actions.
I agree with your sentiment to a degree. But when people started expressing desire to segregate society and cast out the “unclean”, that’s when it crossed the line for me. Or when people tried to pressure others into making an irrational decision.
I had friends and family who fell for all the propaganda and really believed all the lies but they didn’t want to punish those who didn’t come to the same conclusion. Those, in my mind, are the innocent victims, or the good people who were simply lied to. (Not very critical thinkers, but not necessarily bad)
Those who believed the lies and wanted to force everyone else to go along with it, that’s a whole new kind of dangerous narcissism. If a person is going to guilt, shame, and force someone else to do what they think is best, they better be damn sure they’ve done their research.
This situation flushed out the different types of people for sure.
I would add one last thing. If they did try to guilt, shame, or force other people into doing something - and they aren’t apologizing NOW that it’s obvious that it was all lies, that’s another clear sign that they have bad character and aren’t interested in self reflection or restitution. That’s my two cents.
The moral wrong was speaking and acting authoritatively in an area on which they knew little or nothing about.
Their offense wasn't ignorance as nearly as much as it was arrogance.
Some ignorance is willful. Especially the kind linked to arrogance. Doug Wilson gave a good speech about that on Blog and Mablog.
I recommend not doing that if you are posting under your real name
Yes, you are right. I can't do that to them, which is why I haven't.
If it's well-written it should reach enough people even if published through a fresh account.
Great idea, thank you.
No, it's not a good idea - don't let all these guys bully you Fabian. It takes guts to speak your truth - there are rewards for doing so. Fear is something that holds everyone back from doing what they know is right and these guys are trying to hold you back. Please use your moral compass and believe in yourself and that NO ONE has the right to tell you what to do and NO ONE has the right to abuse you and gaslight you. Standing up for yourself is the height of morality. It's exceedingly important for your character and your Soul.
Just a small correction. There's no such thing as your truth or my truth. There is only THE truth. Please do not use Wokester language. It makes them stronger.
You clearly have the very best of intentions.
But I detect a touch of influence going down. And I don't dig it.
Fabian is going to do what he decides to do....
I've actually talked to my wife about this and she has no issues with me writing about it.
It all goes so much deeper. I was completely destroyed by all these losses. Everything I had left I destroyed myself. Sorta like a late onset Borderline personality disorder or something, I don't know. I'm so traumatized, just no good anymore to anyone.
Fabian, I’m so sorry for your losses and I would encourage you to consider turning to the Bible for renewed hope and peace. Read “the gospel of John”, in the New Testament, if you read nothing else.
I pray what you find in those pages gives you hope like nothing before. With love, Rosie.
Yeah maybe that's another thing that I could try.
AH I didn't see this. I think that is a terrific idea.
I'd like to hear your experiences under a different name. :)
Just like the "good Germans in WWII." Not bad people... just **countenanced** evil and pushed hell onto the innocent in their "gee, I wasn't bad" hypocrisy.
In ONE picture. Here is where cowardice leads: Just one picture of Dresden, 1946 or so. https://static.dw.com/image/17238262_605.jpg. THIS is what the "good Germans" - and by extension, the "good vaxxxer" did, and are doing, to the world. Look at the pix... then understand these intellectually dishonest vaxaholics are doing even worse, only it isn't quite such obvious kinetic damage.
Life does not take kindly to cowards, the lazy, etc. Wish it did - we could all be on our derrieres sipping margaritas permanently in Cancun - but it doesn't.
Looks like Gaza city today. This is what happens when you incentivize evil.
Not even close.
Yes and true. But the IDF cannot similarly wipe out women and kids, or the elderly.
Yes, this does tie one arm behind the back. But we mustn't become equally evil
If you're a good person, do you go along with evil?
it happens a lot and is normal. It takes special people to see evil in progress.
Igor, for several years I have been citing and linking you and some others (Alex, Eugyppius, Bad Cat etc) to try to get through to people during the Vaxx Coercion that taking the vaxx was at very best a very poor bet. Like all risk and zero proven benefit.
Anyway, when I linked one of your very well researched pieces in mid 2021 one response I got was basically: "Why would I even read something from someone with a name like that?"
In the summer of 2022 a neighborhood association scheduled an outdoor picnic bbq in July but required all attendees to be vaxxed. Srsly. When I told them how idiotic that was I was informed it was two Stanford PhDs (in stem, btw) who made the call, for the safety of all. Masks were recommended in addition but would not be enough by themselves.
And so it went for 36 months with the OIPs (otherwise intelligent people).
wow - you can educate a dumb person - but he or she will remain a dumb person
When I linked from Bad Cat or Igor etc, I was weirdly accused of making their medical decisions for them. Because now offering information one is free to take or leave is tantamount to controlling the medical choices of others.
Same folks who warned me of the incredible dangers of taking vitamin supplements like vitamin D. Rank poison,that. Unlike the experimental gene therapy injections they so eagerly raced to get.
we must reflexively learn to refer to those two stanford phds types as NOIP = not otherwise intelligent people.
Very well said, Igor.
To see it doesn't make us any better than others. Just better in one aspect.
Fear. It makes people behave like madmen. They take leave of their senses. Evil is able to take hold.
100%
Why does he frame it like that though? Ask yourself. I don't read you as thinking you're better than anyone else, just that you have things you NEED to say. I'm getting very upset at all these people trying to bully you into not trusting your own instincts. It's NEVER a mistake Fabian, to trust YOURSELF. And you'll always find people trying to instill fear in you - ALWAYS - they're always there, ready to moralize and guilt you out of doing what's right for you. God Bless.
No Zoë, that's not quite correct. My gut tells me I shouldn't do that under my real name, but there is still an urge to talk about it. Using another account is not a bad solution to the problem.
I've actually wanted to create another substack and share stories of other people as well, but I was too focussed on the data analysis process and few people seem to feel the urge to share their stories. I think they are afraid it makes them look weak.
Relax, it's all good advice. Respecting the privacy of others and listening to my gut. There is no contradiction.
Ok, I understand. You obviously got a handle on this - I was just replying to posts where it seemed like you didn't.
cf Hannah Arendt's The Banality of Evil T he “banality of evil” is the idea that evil does not have the Satan-like, villainous appearance we might typically associate it with. Rather, evil is perpetuated when immoral principles become normalized over time by people who do not think about things from the standpoint of others. Evil becomes commonplace; it becomes the everyday ... (see full quote at https://philosophybreak.com/articles/hannah-arendt-on-standing-up-to-the-banality-of-evil/.
Jack Maden concludes "Jack Maden writes For 20th-century German philosopher Hannah Arendt, *****most evil is committed by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil. **** "https://philosophybreak.com/articles/hannah-arendt-on-standing-up-to-the-banality-of-evil/
For those that are Christian, perhaps some of the answer can be found in the gift of discernment:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/understanding-the-spiritual-gift-of-discernment.html
Christians were truly pathetic during Covid. The worst were the ones who spent all their time before hand bleating on about the Mark of the Beast. When the MotB really came along, they queued up to get it like everyone else. Honorable exceptions were John McArthur and the Canadian pastor.
Not a lot of discernment going on. Especially at the megachurches.
Yes, indeed I am a Christian. I am in the medical field now, but did grad work in linguistics, then another grad degree in theology at Regent College, Univ. of British Columbia. Studied under JI Packer, Bruce Waltke who translated the NIV, etc.
I expected that you were. My guess is that non-Christians generally don't reference sources that deal with evil.
As a matter of fact, as Dostoyevski wrote "if there is no God... everything is permissible" (i.e, there is no reference point). I have read Karamozov twice, and he did say that, if you add the elipsis.
Or, if you prefer your metaphors in music, remember the jazz song by Gene McDaniels, Compared to What?
Yeah... the whole "without God, everything is permissible" is a problem in our society as a whole now.
Personally, I'm struggling with that as well. I'm Catholic, and went to a parochial school. My husband's first wife was also Catholic, and their two sons are baptized, but that's all. They had no religious education. The younger one is married with two young kids; they didn't even think of getting them baptized or going to church. The older one (almost 30) will attend church with us on occasion, but is currently flirting with Hinduism, Indian mysticism and gnosticism. My husband admits they failed their sons in terms of religious upbringing.
The problem of pain (see the eponymous book by CS Lewis, or Where is God When it Hurts, by Philp Yancy, or When God Doesn't Make Sense by James Dobson are helpful reads, but I really appreciate your forthrightness. Indeed, this IS the major problem for many. Fact is, the greatest argument against God is the existence of evil; but parodoxically, it is one of the greatest arguments FOR God. Fact is, if all we are is the result of a random collision of atoms, there is no good, there is no evil. It is all just nature, end of story. As Swiss American philosopher Francis Schaeffer put that position, for them, "whatever is, is right." Period. End of story. Hamas brutally murdering people? Or Hitler, Or Ghengis Khan? The atheist has ZERO ability to say that is wrong, period, end of story.
And that Hinduism issue? Sorry, but I have read ALL the major religious literature in the world, the Qu'ran twice. Monism, in HInduism, says that all is one in Brahma. All. If you read more, in Hinudism, there is no distinction between good and evil, it is all "maya," or illusion. Watching a baby being murdered is, ultimately, neither good nor evil. And in fact, India almost became Christian until Mohan Roy made major reforms to make Hinduism more Christian in ethics. The caste system was only reformed due to Christian influence. And please don't let them do the Buddhist thing. MOst of them don't even know the difference between , Big Wheel, Little Wheel (mahayana, hinayana - sp?) and Zen, nor do they know the fourfold noble path and 8fold noble truths. Fact is, Buddha might have just been a mystic, and we don't know if he believed in God or not. Rather, it really is a psychology more than anything. I have a friend whose son fancies himself a Buddhist, because its groovy. Sadly, it is all just posturing. He would know ZERO of what it is about and indeed would be in Buddhist hell given how materialistic he is.
I am not concerned about church going or baptism; nor do I expect Christian behaviour from non-Christians. I am not concerned about religion, or religious practices. The law does nothing; rather, the good news of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus changes everything. Does the person have a personal relationship with a Christ who literally raised from the dead. Cf. Dr. Jeremiah J. Johnson Body of Proof: 7 Reasons to Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus, or former atheist, former legal editor for the Chicago Tribune and Yale graduate Lee Strobel and his books on it.
I just ask people, do you have an open mind? If God does exist, wouldn't that be the most incredible thing is so? Most say yes. So, I just tell, them, do a grand experiment: if you really honestly mean this, and willing to respond honestly, I just tell people to, in their privacy, alone in their room, ask God, if He exists, to show HImself. It's the grand experiment - if He isn't there, nothing will happen. But if He is, be prepared for the adventure of your life.
" My husband's first wife " is not biblically sound.
From first hand knowledge and experience, I agree with shibumi that being raised as a catholic means not getting much religious education.
Noticing that in these comments--a thread of 'are you/aren't you a good person'
As replied to Fabian below, precisely why the very first step to become a Christian is to know and accept that there is no righteousness within us. All our works are as dirty rags, the prophet Isaiah would also add. I, myself, do not have good within me; rather, any goodness, which is progressive sanctification, is a result of God putting HIs Holy Spirit within me . As famed journalist Malcolm Muggeridge wrote, "The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.”
The Grand Inquisitor chapter of Dostoyevski's Brothers Karamozov is instructive here.
That contradicts Jesus, Blaise, who often distinguished between evil and righteous people.
Yup. Frankly, I am very very glad that as a Christian I AM able to see myself as depraved and needing forgiveness (which only follows repentance). It's liberating.
Doesn't everyone look at things in a way that makes themselves appear good and righteous?
precisely why the very first step to become a Christian is to know and accept that there is no righteousness within us. All our works are as dirty rags, the prophet Isaiah would also add. I, myself, do not have good within me; rather, any goodness, which is progressive sanctification, is a result of God putting HIs Holy Spirit within me . As famed journalist Malcolm Muggeridge wrote, "The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.”
The Grand Inquisitor chapter of Dostoyevski's Brothers Karamozov is instructive here.
They were just being human beings, yes, as ugly as that may be.
My family was guilty as hell. Beutehändler and SS members. I grew up with this knowledge, with a strong rejection of these 3 generations of my family, dozens of whom I knew when they were still alive.
I have been drilled not to trust the government and not to shun minorities by both teachers and parents alike all my life, which made all of this so much harder to accept.
You are not responsible for their sins. All of us have murderers, war criminals and slavers in our family tree. All of us. That is why we are alive today.
And I think most of us are related to Charlemagne, too. Not kidding. That's the math.
We are all of us seven degrees from Kevin Bacon, too!!! :-)
During Covid Mania I kept searching for the historical template where people lost their minds. Bolshevik Russia, Mao's China, Pol Pot's Cambodia, and even the French Revolution (aka French Lives Matter!). But 1930s Germany always stood out as the template for Horse Lady in NZ, whoever it was in Oz and Justin Le Douche in Canada. And Tony da Fauch at home and whoever it was in Jolly Olde . . .
Instill Fear with The Big Lie and keep pounding it home, suppress any countervailing points of view with ad hominem attacks and generalized calumny, gaslight everyone morning noon & night. One of the greatest cultures of the 20th Century was flipped overnight into a mindless, soulless killing machine, and most Germans (and many others) were swept along. At the point German cities were leveled and their brothers and sons didn't come home, they were still "all in," and now had to ride the storm out to the very end.
Even in 1952, 7 years after the shitshow, small town Germans still believed in the Fuhrer and Nazism (see "They Thought They Were Free"). Apparently the Nuremberg Trials were mostly just theatre, while the smart Nazis went into science programs overseas.
The most interesting outtake from Rona and the coordinated collapse of the Anglophone democracies was how the preening class delighted in contemplating the suffering and even deaths of the Disagreeniks (us). Let them starve, let their cancers grow, deny them even hospice care, because you know our patience was running thin with the Unvaccinated, the Unclean.
As the great American philosopher Arnold said, "Screw your Freedoms."
the narrative of ww 2 was written by the victors, who are now the new nazis.
Here is the 1932 definitive The Doctrine of Fascism, for free https://sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda/2B-HUM/Readings/The-Doctrine-of-Fascism.pdf about a dozen pages. Fascism is the merger of the socialist state with co-opted, crony big biz (communism is a cousin where the state directly owns the means of production;otherwise both are socialist; fascism also is nationalist, Marxism internationalist hence the liebensraum push by Hitler into Russian
Right now, we live in a fascist state, only not IG Farben, Krupp etc but Meta, Google, Amazon etc.
Son of a nazi!
Great opening paragraph.
I shudder when my 13-yr old English granddaughter casually mentions "during lockdown'. BTW, her parents early took AZ, wondered why we on this side of Atlantic would not do also.
And yeah that Arnold quote was among the most despicable statements throughout those 3 years.
But hey, what do you expect from a guy whose success is built on giving fellatio to two twins on a regular basis in order to finance his steroid habit in the 80s?
what twins?
If only I could remember their names... A patient of mine told me this very long ago. He was in the bodybuilding scene in California at the time.
A little known fact (rumor really), but totally in character. :D
Try to dig and find out what job he had that financed him all the roids, because they sure as shit weren't cheap. If there's no anecdote on how he made his money, then the rumor is probably true.
Bodybuilders who excel tend to need a loooot of leisure time for eating and regenerating. Generally speaking, these individuals try to avoid work that drains their physical energy.
It wasn’t The Barbarian Brothers? They are twins. If he meant them he is lying, I know the twins personally, no way , they had bad ADHD they would have said so.
Must be another set of twins, likely that were in the illuminati? I know the BB got blacklisted by the cult.
Yeah, maybe some body builders, but I was part of this scene as a young woman, I trained w the guys, and most do work very hard, and workout hard, only those in competitions and industry do less, I knew jron and glass workers, the barnarians twins built their homes from scratch, yet had world records for power lifting, they were so talented and like spitfire, always creating smthg.
No I don't recall "Barbarian". I probably would if he had said that. But if you know them, you could always ask.
Actual physical work? That's Interesting.
I don't know much about that time, but here in Germany in the 2000s, I've known very few bodybuilders who worked hard. The vast majority worked in security, standing in front of clubs. Different time, different place. It was wrong to extrapolate that.
But Arnold only worked out hard, afaik, right? :D So where did he get that money...
Well said.
When people are taken by this type of mass hysteria, I think it's impossible to feel regret. It felt right then and they are not ever gonna betray that feeling. They will say they're sorry when the tide turns, but it's all make-believe.
They won't betray that feeling of togetherness, of doing what's right, fighting the good fight.
Very very few will ever feel actual regret for what happened these past years. Most will only ever pretend.
As the even greater Canadian/American philosopher Blaise (me) say back to Arnold: You want to screw my freedoms? You will do that when you come pry those freedoms out of my cold, dead, clammy hands. Molon labe, fasco-Marxist Arnold
I understand that, thanks. This is why the "good Germans" trope is so critical.
I had one guy come up to me in church - not me to him - and demand to know if I got the shot. "No," I said, and I have a 700 page, 2k footnote paper on the topic (now it is 2,500 pp, 10k footnotes) "and I'm not getting it." Rather than say, as I would have out of intellectual honesty, "Gee what did you learn?" rather, he turned on his heel and stomped off. Talk about intellectual dishonesty. Similarly, my rich little brother, whom I might gently email once every 4 months about the dangers of the shot, just tersely replled "Stop emailing me." So I did. Last report his wife was on her second round of serious Covid.
Truth is, Bourla, et al trade on fear and normalcy bias. And the truth is, as Tolkein wrote in Lord of the Rings
Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
The world does not countenance cowardice. The US became a nation only through courage and bravery, These vaxaholics betray this nation and all humanity. And that's a fact
Hunkering home in terror over catching the sniffles (even according to the unreliable CDC you had less than a 1 in 500 chance of dying) is about as cowardly as it gets.
As noted, the links don't copy ( I can get if you need) but
Dr. Martin Makary at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Medicine with other scientists teamed up with the non-profit FAIR Health group to look at the insurance data of 48,000 children diagnosed with Covid between April 2020 and Aug. 2020. Not ONE of the children who died were free of pre-existing medical conditions such as cancer (see also here). And this is true in Germany, too, where a massive study late fall showed ZERO – there’s that word again – deaths from Covid among healthy German kids, as reported by Alex Berenson here, Dec. 2, 2021, or here at LifeSite News. Or see a the details in a late 2021 German study (collating evidence from three sources 1) a national seroprevalence study (the SARSCoV-2 KIDS study), 2) the German statutory notification system and 3) a nationwide registry on children and adolescents hospitalized with either SARS-CoV-2 or Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome (PIMS-TS)) reported that there were zero (0) deaths in children 5 to 18 years old across the period of study. Ditto in Sweden - Swedish data by Ludvigsson reported on the 1,951,905 children in Sweden (as of December 31, 2020) who were 1 to 16 years of age who attended school with largely no lockdowns or masks. They found zero (0) deaths. “Despite Sweden’s having kept schools and preschools open, we found a low incidence of severe Covid-19 among schoolchildren and children of preschool age during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.” If you include kids with serious morbidities, there were six deaths. In Germany, out of a total population of 80 million, around 10 million school age kids. Even serious illness was extremely rare, 1 in 50,000. See Dr. Paul Elias Alexander’s SWEDEN AND GERMANY: NO DEATHS IN CHILDREN DUE TO COVID for more reading, or this article which notes that German scientists found that no healthy child 5-17 years of age died of COVID in Germany.
It's gotten so obvious that by 2023, one of the key players in the Icelandic government’s response to Covid-19, CEO of deCODE Genetics, neurologist Dr. Kári Stefánsson, who was a massive vax pusher at the outset, and even went as far as proposing those who refused the vaccine should be put in lifelong quarantine, now says, as reported by Thorsteinn Siglaugsson Aug. 3, 2023 here, “Based on the information we have today, I would not recommend vaccination to people under 40 or under 50” Dr. Stefánsson said in a podcast in late July, reported by Icelandic media on August 3rd. “Now, many scientists have stepped forward saying it was wrong to vaccinate everyone, pointing to the high prevalence of myocarditis, and how even those who contracted the virus are less likely to develop it than those who got vaccinated.”
So what is to be done with those scientists who ruined people's lives? Do we just say forgive them for they know not what they do? NOPE!
For once I agree with Paul Alexander and the 60 foot noose.