I wish I had a photo of Michelle. When she found out I did blade and leather care, she sent me home one weekend with a pair of sai she had kept IN HER OFFICE for me to try to get the rust out and re-wrap the grips. She was like a blaxpoitation movie heroine from the 70s except she was 100% real and never, ever looked silly being herself.
This article lit a fire in my belly. I'm now a paid subscriber. It's not that I didn't want to be a paid subscriber before, but moms of seven on one income can only support so many Substacks. But now yours is one.
I was kicked out of my Catholic homeschool co-op after thirteen years because I refused to mask or force my children to mask. And all the supposed Christians said the same thing, "We know the masks are bullshit, but just do it so the priests don't get in trouble." JUST DO IT SO THE PRIESTS DON'T GET IN TROUBLE. That was their justification for bowing to the diktats of a pro-abortion Planned Parenthood escort of a governor and a man in a dress public health official here in Pennsylvania. Both men completely opposed to every Catholic value we supposedly stand for, "mandating" us to cover our faces in order to spread fear and division...which the Bible warns us against more than 300 times: "Do not fear, for I am with you."
And who are these priests anyway, gay cowards? They're our spiritual fathers. They're supposed to be protecting *us.* The 5'1" mother of seven shouldn't be fighting their battles for them.
My only regret is that I can't afford to be a founding member so I can drink a beer with you and maybe shoot something.
Jul 17, 2022·edited Jul 17, 2022Liked by Guttermouth
I do think you are on to something here.
It seems to me the Power Elite were pretty surprised by the global population’s Covid compliance ease. Like me, they were expecting a more libertarian response particularly in the US. Seems like every government and every activist cause is now drunk on power and throwing it around based on their own crazy personal totalitarian mission. Having successfully stormed the gates, they are most definitely headed for the inner sanctum and we had better prepare. But before moving forward, hard honest self reflection is crucial - the stakes are too high. We have to admit who we were, who we are, and who we need to become in order to proceed and right the ship.
On the bright side, 1) these guys didn’t take any time to strategize their next moves and quick moves have a good chance of being stupid, 2) their bureaucratic army has gone rogue and worse it seems dis-inclined to take their direction, 3) the abused are starting to see “patterns” and, most importantly, adapting IE Canadian Truckers learn from J6 Senior Citizens, Dutch Farmers learn from Canadian Truckers, 4) Citizens from non-US countries quit waiting for the Land of the Free/Home of the Brave to get their crap together.
If we look to history for some help, big wars (Revolutionary, Civil War, WW2, etc.) always seem to start out with the enemy forces taking ground early mostly because peacetime governments/countries are full of peacetime generals. As the fight goes on, battle hardened leaders emerge and with them creative strategies to overcome battlefield deficiencies. Seems like we’re at this point.
The lack of self awareness can be a catalyst for many of the ills in today's societies. Many have fallen for the performative over the genuine. Many are so blind they can not even see their blindness.
We all have been defrauded of our lives over the past several years, especially since the china virus (or most likely the US-corporate-off-shore-made-in-china-virus, but thats another story). We have all done things we knew were against our values. We are at war, and survival often makes us do things we would and should not do. But we move forward.
"Understand that you are only truly defined by the things that you do." Less by the things you have done, more by what you are doing today. Tomorrow is a new day to prove it all over again.
This is something I've been thinking about as I'm fully unjabbed but live in a country that flirted with the passports and mandates but never actually implicated them. How far am I willing to go to maintain bodily autonomy? I don't know.
As Guttermouth mentioned, I was removed from consideration for a trucking job because I could not deadlift 110 lbs (50 kg). (BTW, this is a legit requirement for this particular job, so I'm not bitter.) This was not the only physical ability tested, and the testing took place at a physical therapy facility in Virginia, so of course masks were required.
I'm the waiting room, I formulated my questions to the tester. "May I take my mask off for this? No? Then you've modified the tests to compensate for my reduced capacity to get oxygen into my lungs, right? No, of course not." I didn't say it. I climbed ladders, bent, crouched, twisted, pushed, and pulled with a mask on and no word of complaint. Just wanted to confess that.
This sets aside the issue of complying with some random company's mask policy when I drop off a load at their warehouse. This will probably come up eventually no matter what trucking job I take. I should decide how I will approach that.
Jul 17, 2022·edited Jul 17, 2022Liked by Guttermouth
I wouldn't say mean. You hold up a harsh mirror, the cold hard truth.
I still wear a mask daily as a health care professional. I hate it. Mostly, its below my nose, but wearing it all the same.
I went to the ophthalmologist and was yelled at by the front desk person to put my mask on before entering. I was so annoyed that I said FY. Yet, I put it on, after entering.
I neither put up nor shut up, exactly.
I sold my practice last year so that I wouldn't lose it in the face of forced vaccinations, as they will only vaccinate my dead body.
There is a hierarchy Guttermouth. Do I value freedom more than I want my husband or myself to live? I think I choose my life and husband's life. For instance, I have a serious cancer I am dealing with. I don't think it will kill me immediately, but it would if I did not get it taken out and see to it that it is all gone. If they told me I had to wear a mask to get it removed or to go for treatment - I am doing it. I am writing to them to tell them (with evidence) what an unhealthful performative sham it is and when they tell me to put one on I will not put it ON, but will wear it. I don't make excuses,, I just don it on my chin. The very least and the most protesting way possible WHILE I can still get treatment.
I think a lot of mask wearers are fearful. Pursuit of liberty falls to second place for most people if they live in fear. I don't fear covid and don't give one shit about what others think of me except for hubs, but I do want to live. Not fearing death (which shocks me a little) but - the hierarchy.
This text is a flame thrower. It's the minigun in 'The Predator'. It's "Say hello to my little friend!". "Yippie-kay-yay Motherfucker!". Or my all-time favourite which had the entire cinema standing up cheering and applauding on the premiere in Sweden way back:
"Get away from her YOU BITCH!" (Aliens, Ellen Ripley telling the Xenomorph queen what's what.)
As for recliaming, heard that one long ago. Know how we killed it in academia and the schools here back then (this was 20 years ago)?
"Sure thing. Hey, about penicillin? Was a white man invented that, so you know, we're reclaiming that. You're not white, so you can't have any. Or a car. Or travel by air. Or train. Or use electricity. Or..."
Replace thing and race as required, it works a treat. Use the double-barreled version if needed: "So about that ancestral lands thing so-called aboriginals are always going on about? Yeah, about that, I have neanderthal-DNA. So you colonialist Cro-Magnon spawn, you just get out of Europe entirely, you hear?".
That usually gets the point across that the terms and usage of reclaiming, colonialism, cultural appropriation and so on are just power grabs and nothing but, since the cut-off points for the definitions are 100% arbitrary and always placed for maximum benefit and victimhood.
As you read the Sagas, I'm sure you'll delight as to how and why Hermod can leave Hel. Not going to spoil it.
And know yourself was written over the entrance to the Sybil, and was /the/ central tenet of ancient learning: Gnothi Seauton. Literally "Know thyself" as in be honest and upfront to yourself as to who and what and how you are.
Going to re-read this one, with "Ram it down" by Judas Priest for soundtrack.
In the history of totalitarian states, from Wild Swans to Between Shades of Grey to the Gulag Archipelago the pure die young. The survivors are all dirty.
I was up last night so I had some time to think about what I would and would not do.
I would not get the jab to get surgery. I will wear a mask.
Something I tangle with (mentally) re freedom and liberty and how much I am willing to do for it is my own liberty gifted to me in Christ (since I am a christian and saved by Christ). Christ tells believers to spread the gospel. To pick up my cross and carry it. The inner friction (part of, as you say, being honest with myself) is devotion. Am I more devoted to myself and the world than I am to my savior? I don't read my Bible, pray or get out there and evangelize as I know I should. My life is not utterly devoted to it. I have not sold my things and set off on a mission. Am I half ass believer? When does it go from loving act to works.
A tangential topic, but it is a liberty issue (for me) and a be truthful with yourself thing. I can be truthful with myself AND also unwilling. That weighs on me more than any other truth I tell myself.
OK one final thing because it is related and I think important. You better have an established line you will not cross in all things that matter. I think people get swept up and later find themselves in a place they would not be happy to be in or proud to recall when they don't.
I wish I had a photo of Michelle. When she found out I did blade and leather care, she sent me home one weekend with a pair of sai she had kept IN HER OFFICE for me to try to get the rust out and re-wrap the grips. She was like a blaxpoitation movie heroine from the 70s except she was 100% real and never, ever looked silly being herself.
This article lit a fire in my belly. I'm now a paid subscriber. It's not that I didn't want to be a paid subscriber before, but moms of seven on one income can only support so many Substacks. But now yours is one.
I was kicked out of my Catholic homeschool co-op after thirteen years because I refused to mask or force my children to mask. And all the supposed Christians said the same thing, "We know the masks are bullshit, but just do it so the priests don't get in trouble." JUST DO IT SO THE PRIESTS DON'T GET IN TROUBLE. That was their justification for bowing to the diktats of a pro-abortion Planned Parenthood escort of a governor and a man in a dress public health official here in Pennsylvania. Both men completely opposed to every Catholic value we supposedly stand for, "mandating" us to cover our faces in order to spread fear and division...which the Bible warns us against more than 300 times: "Do not fear, for I am with you."
And who are these priests anyway, gay cowards? They're our spiritual fathers. They're supposed to be protecting *us.* The 5'1" mother of seven shouldn't be fighting their battles for them.
My only regret is that I can't afford to be a founding member so I can drink a beer with you and maybe shoot something.
I do think you are on to something here.
It seems to me the Power Elite were pretty surprised by the global population’s Covid compliance ease. Like me, they were expecting a more libertarian response particularly in the US. Seems like every government and every activist cause is now drunk on power and throwing it around based on their own crazy personal totalitarian mission. Having successfully stormed the gates, they are most definitely headed for the inner sanctum and we had better prepare. But before moving forward, hard honest self reflection is crucial - the stakes are too high. We have to admit who we were, who we are, and who we need to become in order to proceed and right the ship.
On the bright side, 1) these guys didn’t take any time to strategize their next moves and quick moves have a good chance of being stupid, 2) their bureaucratic army has gone rogue and worse it seems dis-inclined to take their direction, 3) the abused are starting to see “patterns” and, most importantly, adapting IE Canadian Truckers learn from J6 Senior Citizens, Dutch Farmers learn from Canadian Truckers, 4) Citizens from non-US countries quit waiting for the Land of the Free/Home of the Brave to get their crap together.
If we look to history for some help, big wars (Revolutionary, Civil War, WW2, etc.) always seem to start out with the enemy forces taking ground early mostly because peacetime governments/countries are full of peacetime generals. As the fight goes on, battle hardened leaders emerge and with them creative strategies to overcome battlefield deficiencies. Seems like we’re at this point.
The lack of self awareness can be a catalyst for many of the ills in today's societies. Many have fallen for the performative over the genuine. Many are so blind they can not even see their blindness.
We all have been defrauded of our lives over the past several years, especially since the china virus (or most likely the US-corporate-off-shore-made-in-china-virus, but thats another story). We have all done things we knew were against our values. We are at war, and survival often makes us do things we would and should not do. But we move forward.
"Understand that you are only truly defined by the things that you do." Less by the things you have done, more by what you are doing today. Tomorrow is a new day to prove it all over again.
This is something I've been thinking about as I'm fully unjabbed but live in a country that flirted with the passports and mandates but never actually implicated them. How far am I willing to go to maintain bodily autonomy? I don't know.
As Guttermouth mentioned, I was removed from consideration for a trucking job because I could not deadlift 110 lbs (50 kg). (BTW, this is a legit requirement for this particular job, so I'm not bitter.) This was not the only physical ability tested, and the testing took place at a physical therapy facility in Virginia, so of course masks were required.
I'm the waiting room, I formulated my questions to the tester. "May I take my mask off for this? No? Then you've modified the tests to compensate for my reduced capacity to get oxygen into my lungs, right? No, of course not." I didn't say it. I climbed ladders, bent, crouched, twisted, pushed, and pulled with a mask on and no word of complaint. Just wanted to confess that.
This sets aside the issue of complying with some random company's mask policy when I drop off a load at their warehouse. This will probably come up eventually no matter what trucking job I take. I should decide how I will approach that.
I wouldn't say mean. You hold up a harsh mirror, the cold hard truth.
I still wear a mask daily as a health care professional. I hate it. Mostly, its below my nose, but wearing it all the same.
I went to the ophthalmologist and was yelled at by the front desk person to put my mask on before entering. I was so annoyed that I said FY. Yet, I put it on, after entering.
I neither put up nor shut up, exactly.
I sold my practice last year so that I wouldn't lose it in the face of forced vaccinations, as they will only vaccinate my dead body.
There is a hierarchy Guttermouth. Do I value freedom more than I want my husband or myself to live? I think I choose my life and husband's life. For instance, I have a serious cancer I am dealing with. I don't think it will kill me immediately, but it would if I did not get it taken out and see to it that it is all gone. If they told me I had to wear a mask to get it removed or to go for treatment - I am doing it. I am writing to them to tell them (with evidence) what an unhealthful performative sham it is and when they tell me to put one on I will not put it ON, but will wear it. I don't make excuses,, I just don it on my chin. The very least and the most protesting way possible WHILE I can still get treatment.
I think a lot of mask wearers are fearful. Pursuit of liberty falls to second place for most people if they live in fear. I don't fear covid and don't give one shit about what others think of me except for hubs, but I do want to live. Not fearing death (which shocks me a little) but - the hierarchy.
This text is a flame thrower. It's the minigun in 'The Predator'. It's "Say hello to my little friend!". "Yippie-kay-yay Motherfucker!". Or my all-time favourite which had the entire cinema standing up cheering and applauding on the premiere in Sweden way back:
"Get away from her YOU BITCH!" (Aliens, Ellen Ripley telling the Xenomorph queen what's what.)
As for recliaming, heard that one long ago. Know how we killed it in academia and the schools here back then (this was 20 years ago)?
"Sure thing. Hey, about penicillin? Was a white man invented that, so you know, we're reclaiming that. You're not white, so you can't have any. Or a car. Or travel by air. Or train. Or use electricity. Or..."
Replace thing and race as required, it works a treat. Use the double-barreled version if needed: "So about that ancestral lands thing so-called aboriginals are always going on about? Yeah, about that, I have neanderthal-DNA. So you colonialist Cro-Magnon spawn, you just get out of Europe entirely, you hear?".
That usually gets the point across that the terms and usage of reclaiming, colonialism, cultural appropriation and so on are just power grabs and nothing but, since the cut-off points for the definitions are 100% arbitrary and always placed for maximum benefit and victimhood.
As you read the Sagas, I'm sure you'll delight as to how and why Hermod can leave Hel. Not going to spoil it.
And know yourself was written over the entrance to the Sybil, and was /the/ central tenet of ancient learning: Gnothi Seauton. Literally "Know thyself" as in be honest and upfront to yourself as to who and what and how you are.
Going to re-read this one, with "Ram it down" by Judas Priest for soundtrack.
They invented it in barbershops or something hahaha
I think you have a false binary there. For my part the masking is ... complicated, and if I do not quit I shall probably be fired.
In re the jab, there is this: https://www.williamofockham.com/2022/04/07/coerced-consent/
RTWT and tell me what you think.
In the history of totalitarian states, from Wild Swans to Between Shades of Grey to the Gulag Archipelago the pure die young. The survivors are all dirty.
It is a question of ranking priorities, probably.
G,
I was up last night so I had some time to think about what I would and would not do.
I would not get the jab to get surgery. I will wear a mask.
Something I tangle with (mentally) re freedom and liberty and how much I am willing to do for it is my own liberty gifted to me in Christ (since I am a christian and saved by Christ). Christ tells believers to spread the gospel. To pick up my cross and carry it. The inner friction (part of, as you say, being honest with myself) is devotion. Am I more devoted to myself and the world than I am to my savior? I don't read my Bible, pray or get out there and evangelize as I know I should. My life is not utterly devoted to it. I have not sold my things and set off on a mission. Am I half ass believer? When does it go from loving act to works.
A tangential topic, but it is a liberty issue (for me) and a be truthful with yourself thing. I can be truthful with myself AND also unwilling. That weighs on me more than any other truth I tell myself.
OK one final thing because it is related and I think important. You better have an established line you will not cross in all things that matter. I think people get swept up and later find themselves in a place they would not be happy to be in or proud to recall when they don't.