Although I've long been a news addict, I've cut way back on watching the news and reading about politics. I haven't given it up entirely, but I've cleared a lot of it out of my life to allow for more productive uses of time and greater peace of mind.
I wouldn't dream of trying to listen to every single Mark Levin podcast (it would make me too angry), but a couple per week is okay. Actually, I much prefer listening to local sports talk radio or my Sirius/XM app. My satellite radio subscription, which I've had for several years, is one of the best values I can think of. It offers a wide gamut of musical genres, talk, and specialty channels dealing with sports, religion, finance, business, international news and a host of other topics.
There are a few people with whom I used to be friends or in regular contact that I rarely talk to these days, or haven't talked to in years. The political divide proved too toxic, and often it's best to just move on and not wallow in the mud.
As I've stated before, I shut down my Facebook page in 2013, and quit Twitter about a year ago after nine years. But even though I had an account for that long, I didn't tweet that often, and sometimes would go days without checking my Twitter feed. I've seen too many people waste too much time raging against perfect strangers at all hours of the night. I think of Roger Daltrey's exasperated scream in The Who song "Who Are You": "God, there's GOT to be a better way!"
Well, frankly, it's been a tough slog with the pandemic lockdown, the nasty racial politics spewed daily by the left, a never-ending hangover from the 2020 presidential election, and fears that Build Back Brandon -- that is, the bloated reconciliation bill -- may put the final nails into Coffin U.S.A. I need to post separately on this sop to Democrat special interest groups and its egregious provision to hire 80,000 more IRS agents, but I won't get into it today.
My purpose in this commentary is to observe that the China virus is doing heavy damage to human relationships and ripping apart the fabric of society -- on top of killing hundreds of thousands of Americans.
The other day I violated my own rule about not discussing politics with coworkers unless it's someone with whom I'm simpatico (and no one on the other side of the aisle is present). During a TEAMS meeting with my supervisor and two coworkers, we were discussing our employer's back-to-the-office policy, which is still being hashed out. Talk drifted toward how many people who've been in the office have tested positive of late, the supposed "deep cleaning" that has been done (or was it?), masks, vaccinations and the like.
For the record, my wife and I have been vaccinated. I let it slip that I was thinking of getting tested for natural antibodies because it's possible I've had COVID-19 with mild or no symptoms. Could have left it at that, but I went on to mention that I had read Johns Hopkins University Professor Dr. Marty Makary's claims that A) natural immunity is 27 times more effective than the vaccine; and B) it lasts much longer.
One woman whom I know to be a liberal and mask fanatic said, "That's not true," and we started into a mild argument. My supervisor said something to the effect of, let's move on. You can discuss that after hours." (Wise advice.) I told the mask fanatic I would send her a link to one of Dr. Makary's op/eds, and I did later on.
This morning she sent me a sharply worded email lambasting Dr. Makary as a Fox News hack who has been denounced by his colleagues at Johns Hopkins, is just trying to sell his book, blah blah. She cited CDC figures and other info that shows she has too much faith in government.
In responding, I kept my cool, noting that Dr. Makary cited an exhaustive Israeli study for the "27 times more effective" conclusion, and he stated 15 studies support natural immunity being long-lasting. I emphasized that he wasn't just talking off the top of his head.
I also said I differed with her in having trust in the CDC and Dr. Fauci; the former for being politicized, the latter for being all over the map so much my head is spinning. I wrapped it up by giving her my personal email address and said we would never agree on politics, but I'm willing to continue the dialogue. I just don't want to do it on my employer's email. Then I wished her a Happy Thanksgiving. Maybe that defused it, because I never heard back from her. (Memo to self: Let that sleeping dog lie... DON'T try to engage in political conversations with this woman, who seems to me to be the type to wear a mask while driving alone.)
Closer to home, on the family/relatives front, we're in an awkward situation with some underlying disappointment and anger. We were originally invited, along with my son and his wife, to my sister and brother-in-law's home for Thanksgiving dinner. They are hosting some other family members, too. My son and his wife did not want to get vaccinated because they had read that it may adversely affect fertility. They want children, and it so happens she's now about four months pregnant. My son was forced to get vaccinated to keep his job, but his wife still is unvaccinated.
So we were disinvited to my sister's house. My sister and her husband both had COVID-19 last winter, and both have had the double vaccination plus the booster shot. However, because he has asthma, both are paranoid about him getting COVID-19 again.
So, long story short, my son and his wife will go to her father's house for Thanksgiving, and possibly to her grandparents' home, too. My wife and I will stay home -- just the two of us. We'll be seeing my son and his wife, along with her mother and step-father, on Saturday. It's really a screwed up world we're living in! The head games can be stressful, to say the least.
But believe me, far worse things can and do happen. I'm not going to lose any sleep over the drama and dysfunction.
In case I don't post Thursday, Happy Thanksgiving to all Posse readers. Despite our current travails, we still have much for which to be thankful.
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