When I’m not on the road, Sunday is the day when I get my supplies and set things in order for the coming week. I like to get an early start as it means I don’t have to stand in line too long at the market. With the panic raging, lines are longer than normal, but I had some hope that people had exhausted themselves by now. Even so, I got an earlier than typical start. Apparently, I was not the only one thinking the same thing as the parking lot had many more cars than typical.
The shelves were mostly stocked, which was a relief, of sorts. I know more about the nation’s supply chain than most people, so I was not worried that we would run out of food, but it was still good to see it confirmed. Even the meat section was as full as normal and that’s the most fragile bit of the system. Items with a short shelf life tend to the least resistant to panic buying. Empty shelves are an exception in America, so seeing the stores full again will calm people’s nerves.
Having stocked up pretty well before the panic started, I just needed to top up a few things, but I took a look around the whole store just to see how people were handling things after a week playing pandemic. While picking up some skyr, I caught a bit of conversation between two women. I’d say both were in their 30’s, toward the older end, and they had the mom look. One of them was telling the other how great it was to have dinner together every night at the same time.
That will be one of the side effects of the great lock down. All of sudden, women are home and taking over their domain again. The kids are home, so they have reason to reassert their control over that part of their life. Many of these women will no doubt hate it and perform poorly, but most will be reminded that being home and running the household full-time was always their bets career option. Men will learn that having the wife home beats having a second income.
In line, I struck up a conversation with a women about this topic. The checkout has to be fumigated after each person goes through, so the lines are thirty people deep as we wait for our turn in the delousing station. The woman is in finance, so she can work from home. She has kids at home now, so she’s happy work has slowed up with the great shut down. Her kids get their school assignment over Skype, but she has taken over the normal instruction they would get in class.
She told me that she and the other moms are now talking about putting together their own community home schooling operation. I almost laughed out loud a few times as she explained how she and the other moms got a look at what their kids are being taught and how they can do much better. She was bit angry, for example, about the errors they found in the science books the school is using. There will be a lot of this type of stuff happening around the country because of the lock-down.
One of the unexpected consequences of this panic and the economic collapse that is now certain to follow, is people will discover the joys of want. We tend to think it is always terrible to do without, but there is an odd pleasure that comes from having to sacrifice and conserve. The mom I spoke with while waiting almost sounded giddy about the idea of simplifying the household diet in order to accommodate the shortages in the grocery stores. It will give her purpose again.
That will not just be about food. She said something about the lack of TV sports was a bit of downer, but I countered with the fact that everyone now gets to discover outside again and she lit up. No doubt she was thinking the same thing, but was happy for the confirmation. She and other moms are now taking over the fun time for their families, rather than delegating it to the entertainment business, sports leagues and the schools. Again, it will give these women purpose again.
On the other hand, we still live in a world of rule by exception. The right thing to do when someone says, “we need to normalize wearing masks in public like the Asians” is to punch them in the nose. That should have been the answer to people telling us their pronouns or their weird sexual fetishes. Instead, we committed ourselves to making one exception after another to accommodate a metastasizing number of weirdos, oddballs and trouble makers. The mask freaks will just be another.
That said, I doubt the mask thing lasts long. Americans are not going to live as if we hate everyone. Social trust has broken down, but it is not gone entirely. The reason Asians love masks is they have been practicing social distancing for 5,000 years, so the mask compliments a natural instinct. Conformity was their answer to the problem of social trust. To westerners, living such an existence will be a bridge too far, so the weirdos pushing it better enjoy their hazmat suits while they can.
Something I thought about as I was leaving is that suddenly the status hierarchy for women has changed. The mom I was chatting with was feeling really good about taking control of her household. Suddenly, the women taking care of their kids, taking over their schooling and being a stabilizing force are cool. Those career women sheltering in place with their box wine and social media account can no longer kid themselves about their real status in society.
There’s been a lot of wishful thinking about a baby boom coming from this lock-down, but what may follow is a marriage boom. Millions of single women now have no reason to exist, because they are stuck at home. They can’t cause drama at work and they can’t cruise the bars with their friends. Meanwhile, the women they made sport of at the office are having the time of her life at home with the family. There’s some chance this panic opens some pretty young eyes to the reality of their existence.
On the way out, I stopped at a light and noticed that the trees are all starting to turn green and the flowering trees are about to go into peak bloom. Persephone is making her way up from the underworld and all of creation celebrates.The cycle of life is immutable, which means that all things come to end, even plagues. It also means they are replaced by something new. A lot of bad things will come from the great lock-down, but on the other side will be some good things too.
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Some damned fine writing here, Z-Man!
Well done.
What a concept! Moms getting together to educate their children!
Why didn’t I think of that?
Well, Ohio Gov. DeWine has issued a shelter in place order. Assuming we’re still having elections in 2022, I’d vote for Hitler over him.
Not that I don’t appreciate the accelerationism, but this kind of actual madness needs to be put down once it has done its job.
Tell that man to go to hell. I’m sick of all this crap.
…
A few suggestions.
Get to you bank and get a pile of cash in your hands. As much as you can get in hand. While it might seem a “stretch” to think our betters will cut off access to our own funds – or limit them – think Cyprus – re-consider that notion not on a few months ago. But on a few days ago.
I have no plans to ‘start buying’ back into the Wall Street Casino. And while my holdings are almost 90% in cash as I had no trust of these charlatans and their logic-free cargo cult – I have halted our monthly contribution to our retirement funds – effectively converting same to cash.
Cancel every non essential membership/subscription. We will keep Netflix since we have an extended family using one account. All other shit – goodbye. Every automatic withdrawal – gym, Sirius, etc. – cancel.
My wife, while eating potato chips, said, “You know, a lot of women are going to get real fat if they have to self-isolate. The gyms are closed, people are scared to be outside, day-drinking is going to be more convenient and now they have a house full of food to get rid of…” Good god! She is right! The women in this part of town are already shockingly obese (not Mrs. Walt thank goodness) and this is something our leaders MUST address!
Diversity Heretic: “Here in France walking in the forest, or on the beach, or swimming alone in the ocean, will lead to a fine. And they’re using helicopters and drones to look for violators.” As I try and remain “reasonable and balanced” when weighing the current problem, it’s pretty noteworthy when a sophisticated country like France is so concerned about this virus that they’re putting surveillance choppers in the air.
This afternoon I ran into a guy I sorta know who’s a respected surgeon in the LA area. He used to be on contract with the Dodgers. We casually touched on the current situation. I said calmly, “I think the media is exaggerating it.” He said calmly, “I think they’re understating it.” It took me aback. I’ve not heard anyone say that. Not now.
Granted he’s an eccentric. Our short exchange was weird like a movie scene. The guy has almost zero affect (emotional expression). There’s often a character in a movie like him. Meant to be a seer. Character shows up for a brief moment, and says something unnerving. Recall that short, silent Marine early on in The Deer Hunter wedding bar. The “fuck it” guy.
The pandemic panic will not change young women’s views on marriage. Single women only know what gives them status and what they are indoctrinated to want. Unless there is an alpha male wanting to marry them, they will proceed as usual once things get back to normal or at least as normal as it will be. The culture will still be set on promoting the strong independent woman.
That said, if unemployment is high some women may marry a beta provider then dump him once the economy heats up
Great interview with Dr. Paul Offit, pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases, vaccines, immunology and virology.
https://www.physiciansweekly.com/covid-19-is-our-cure-worse-than-the-disease-with-dr-paul-offit/
Just watched Trumps’s press conference
In the time of such a crises to hear that totally incoherent drivel, jesus christ he is not even capable of formulating one clear logical sentence when completely clear a mind, an unprecedented courage and vision are so badly needed
These are people normies put trust in, these are people that normies are begging to bring curfew and armies on the streets
Trump has no clue what he is doing. In the time of the total disorder (that he created or helped create) he speaks for 5 minutes about alleged billions he lost to get the throne
Multitudes incensed by irrational fear of dying are ready to give give anything and beg for slavery, corrupt mediocre politicians are ready to do anything to cling to power
Perfect a storm is gathering
Those who survive will tell the story
I would not think that I will ever be in an agreement with this (((guy)))
but such are these times
Clear, concise and logical isn’t it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=103&v=uGl1YydafxY&feature=emb_logo
And this just further confirms it
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-19/a-coronavirus-explosion-was-expected-in-japan-where-is-it
And this is precisely what I meant by the the complete taking over of feminine hysterical principal over a society and culture
Just look that par excellence virtue signalling “I am more compassionate and better than you” face
Vomit Inducing
https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1241902093079805958
Well it’s nice the party has resumed in your neck of the woods Z, Not so in mine.
Thanks to the CDC and MSM people are still scared out of their wits.
Well the store shelves are still empty in my part of Los Angles county( includes Forest Law in OC). and several military bases as well. From batteries, dog food, paper and canned good to meat. The shelves are either empty or near empty.
Forget about cleaning supplies.
On the bright side you can find scumbags on Ebay selling single rolls of towels for $7.00
Mr. Clean floor clearner is selling for $35 a bottle.
These fucking scumbags won’t dare sell in person because people like me will put them in a ditch,
I have the same feeling. A sort of nervous excitement. Worried about instability but excited that a little reality is intruding in places we didnt expect to see it for a long time. Great column.
Marshal Cuomo this morning, “Forty to eighty percent of New Yorkers are going to contract this disease.” Now that’s the height of irresponsibility. That’s a quote that will need to be stored away and used to hound this creep out of public life forever. Name one disease, much less this one, that has had an infection rate so incredibly high. This is the man who should be standing athwart the stampede of irrationality. Instead, he’s blowing his bugle to lead the troops.
Also, forty to eighty? That’s a pretty large range. Let’s be charitable to Quasi Homo and say fifty, then, just for the sake of argument. With death rates in mind, that *still* doesn’t justify the cessation of nearly all economic activity.
They’ll come out with a computer model that shows the ‘real’ infection rate being whatever they want it to be. That’s how many infection rates are tracked today already. Easier than actually testing people. And a lot easier to juice the computer model.
One of the things they are worried about is the fact that our health care system will be overwhelmed because of this, hence the total lockdown they would like to impose. Apparently, the solution in China was to construct emergency hospitals. Seems to me that would be a more logical solution for here as well rather than shutting down whole economies and potentially causing a depression.
The emergency hospitals were nothing more than a Potemkin village. A hospital is more than a concrete pad and cots. Those don’t go up over night. If beds are needed, they can requisition hotels and such—as has been done. Medical personnel and equipment is another thing.
I think the people of the USA could do a better job at this sort of thing than the subjects of the Communist Chinese.
Shouldn’t there be specified quarantines?
It’s not as though our collective health rests on the same imperiled baseline. Younger men (especially) and women should be out working, with caution, while we protect the vulnerable using mandatory quarantines. Yes, social distancing is still a thing; regular sanitization is still a thing; gloves and masks are still a thing. But we *must* continue to produce.
And you can’t just cut a check as compensation for depriving us of the experience of work. Because if you include the benefits of personal fulfillment and regular group socialization, sorry, but 1k isn’t enough. Some of us like our jobs and the people we work with.
This nationwide shutdown is nonsense. Without an economy, we’ll have little to which we can return.
Equalitarianism forbids such rationality. As it stands now, there are 38,813 cases in the United States and 400 deaths per the CDC website. This is a mortality rate of .010 percent, which is an average flu. I am not optimistic the rate will hold, but to your point eighty percent and rising of the dead are 65 and up. The freak outs over younger adults going on spring break and gathering in Central Park are driven just as much by equalitarianism as concern they will spread the disease to parents or grandparents.
that is a little over 1% and deaths have a lag
Yes, I got sloppy with the decimal.
The more accurate calculation would be to look at the case number n days ago where n represents the average number of days from turning positive to being dead. And use total cases from that day divided by current deaths. See this website for current stats
https://coronavirus.1point3acres.com/en
Enjoy being able to go outside while you stil can; Here in France walking in the forest, or on the beach, or swimming alone in the ocean, will lead to a fine. And they’re using helicopters and drones to look for violators. I sneak along trails in the forest where near to where I live and avoid going into the open. And every time you leave your home you have to carry a paper stating the reason why you’re out. So far, I’ve avoided the Health Gestapo. People who have reason to know have told me German occupation was not this intrusive during World War II..
There is no reason you should have to accept such nonsense.
We care about you in the USA. White Brother.
I mentioned in an earlier post that my son has to carry an official document titled “Travel Authorization Letter–ATTN: Law Enforcement” when he drives home from work after midnight from his “essential business.” Otherwise, he will be cited and may be arrested.
This is in CA where we never had a Nazi occupation until now.
Thinking through this some more, urban living in densely populated areas will join unmarried professional women on the list of toxic things once popular and now abhorred. The otherwise healthy young adults who have migrated into the city cores are about to get their eyes full, and it won’t be from the mortality rate from coronavirus. Corporate headquarters may desert the cities where they are clustered; it’s a miracle the financial sector has remained this long in NYC. The downside is the suburban and rural areas will find these types among them in larger numbers.
I don’t like that you’re so dismissive of mask wearing. Part of the reason Chinese wear masks in public, and from my understanding this is a south China thing, Is that there are many terrible upper respiratory tract Infections such as unusually bad flu’s and sars etc. which brew in the primitive human and animal societies in Indonesia and spread upward into China. It’s like a viral Petri dish, very dense populations in close proximity to animal reservoirs. Their various flu viruses tend to be a lot more severe and potentially lethal than the ones we face year to year. This novel Coronavirus is a case of that. I just hope “globalism” has not established us a new cultural norm with the South Chinese.
Well, apparently, this virus is a droplet virus. Therefore, masks alone won’t protect you from it. You would also need a full face shield or goggles. However, if you have it, wearing a mask could potentially protect others from getting it.
Globalism in theory: Happy mixed couples eating tacos, racial and class lines erased, the best and brightest lifting the whole world out of poverty, bored wine moms can be fucked by exciting Middle Eastern and African vibrants instead of boring and sensible European men.
Globalism in practice: Worst of every culture spreads worldwide (ie. western homo/negro worship, Chinese diseases, mask wearing), low social trust, increased class divisions, racial hatred, best and brightest turn their talent towards short sighted profit making, white women raped by 3rd world savages.
Yeah, I disagree with him on that. He says we will not do it because we do not hate each other that much. Asia is not perfect but I can argue we already hate each other. Read online rascism toward white or non-white, read what is said about you women by men that say they are incels or part of the redpill community. Alit of young women hate to probably accept only their parents care about their well being etc If he lives in a more rural area good for him.
This essay may represent a watershed in the analysis of the Saga of WuFlu and the Orange Man. If we could mitigate the economic fallout on the Person On The Street, the Great Confinement could be a good thing, or at least precipitate a chain of events with some benefits. A lot of people have been expecting something dire to happen for a long time (since at least the days of the Cold War), and now that ‘something’ has finally happened and, dare I say it, people seem relieved that ‘it’ has finally come.
I’ve noticed a greater sense of purpose, maybe.
There will be a window of opportunity to build on this teachable event and move people along in their awareness, but once some semblance of normalcy resumes, most folks are going back to revert to default settings. Almost every aspect of the pandemic and response reinforces the case for ethno-nationalism and undermines the case for globalism. Low-density living, high-trust communities, an infrastructure and manufacturing economy vs. finance, service & “knowledge,” etc…
I’ve said it before, but it’s going to be a short window. Plans need to be made right now for how to take advantage of it. We need to figure out what buttons to push and how.
Well, what results do you want to achieve?
Putting the call out for anybody in Southern Ontario who wants to meet up (perhaps at a social distance, online, for now).
Okay, putting out a call to anyone in Northern or Central NJ who wants to meet up. Reply if you’re interested.
i’m in bay ridge bklyn…
meet in manh??
what’s your email?
I’ll meet with you online.
Given the nature of this disease, I was never concerned about shortages. I also don’t expect the power to go out for any length of time. This is not like the human transmission bird flu in that John Ringo novel. I did stock up (and am still doing such) on all my life extension supplements, like getting a 12-18 months supply. I bought a lot of contact lens solution (about 8 months supply) and some extra toilet paper. That’s about it. We have extra food around, but not a huge amount. I’m more concerned about the economic effects than I am about my personal well-being. This is not like the H5N1 in the John Ringo novel, nor does this scenario resemble that of the novel in any shape or form. This is why you can call me a coronavirus skeptic. Not that I think its fake (it is very real). But rather I think we are over reacting to it.
It pissed me off they closed the gyms in my area. I may join Snap fitness, which is an “unmanned” gym that is still open. Otherwise i will have ot buy some sort of home setup to get through this. I’m not about to loose my physique or portfolio over this coronavirus shit. My portfolio was 2/3s cash anyways. Now I’m looking for buy opportunities.
BTW, if your a fitness fanatic or bodybuilder (get bigger) like me. Consider buying AMPK Activator from lef.org (Life Extension Foundation). the “exercise in a pill” much ballyhooed by the biotechnology people is a protein called Sistrin. However, it turns out that both sistrin and exercise activate AMPK, which is what AMPK activator does. Thus, the exercise in a pill already exists. You’ll still need exercise, though.
BTW, I recommend everyone buy the John Ringo novel “The Last Centurion” because it is probably the most realistic description of what a REAL pandemic (60% death rate of total population) would be like.
I really need to try to get in a more optimistic frame of mind, but this thing has really got me spooked. If I can play devil’s advocate for a minute, I’d argue that we don’t want women to start enjoying being home with their families IN THIS PARTICULAR SITUATION. The more woman there are loving this whole lockdown thing because it gives them more time with their kids, the easier it is for those in charge to extend it for a month or three or twelve or eighteen. I don’t know for sure if this is the case, but I’d also guess that more women tend to hold the kind of jobs they can do from home so this lockdown is giving them time with family at the same time they’re still holding down a career making the whole thing even more enjoyable.
I don’t remember who made a point of this, but women are probably a whole lot more comfortable with totalitarian measures than men are. I already saw some Canadian spokes-ette on the TV the other day making a point that all these measures are voluntary for now but that’s going to change if you don’t do what we tell you to do! “All those handsome young men in their military outfits out in the streets with AK-47’s are just doing their part to protect the children.”
Like you I suspect many would be into these measures even if it was shown that the virus was a complete fabrication.
Springtime of impermanence. thanks again Zman for the Sunday blog. were going to get use to this. don’t forget to unplug too. and well written as usual. as far as mask go my route is pretty big in so cal. for longer than I can remember I’ve been wearing a mask and gloves in certain parts of town before this all started. when at Mr. Goldstein’s buildings I wear a mask. there are usually 25 grimey strollers in the parking lot ,no HOA to keep an eye on basic maintenance and cleaning . and a odor that I cant get out of my nose for a few hours. now at MR. kims building you have to watch out for the spiting in all the common areas. why you would spit in your own elevator is beyond me. now as far as the Asian lady’s wearing mask and giant bee keeper hats, that’s a direct effect of plastic surgery preservation. (cant let the Michael Jackson nose get too much sun). I have to admit though, an Asian girl in a mask seems to have an arousing quality if its done right.
As a board certified anesthesiologist I wear several different types of masks. One a standard surgical mask to protect the patient from my sneeze or cough. The other is a well sealed p100 mask for cases such as an open lung with tuberculosis or a laser ablation of human papilloma virus. To protect me from the patient. If we had enough of these types of masks for the entire population that were going to be around other people, the R0 value of the virus would immediately drop below 1 and the economy would not be in shambles. This is science and reason. If you think that is wrong z boy please refute with science and reason.
If we had magic wands and flying carpets, the R0 would be zero! But we don’t, that’s called reality.
Some other things we don’t have (besides masks): surge capacity at hospitals, staff to man them. This thing could get very, very bad later this year per many scenarios.
Are you saying that a p100 mask is magic. No one said P0 would reach zero. It would reach values less than one that is why Taiwan is where they are in cases because people still exposed to the air of other people are all wearing masks. And no I don’t want to punch them for being intelligent.
You seem to responding to things you imagined I wrote. Perhaps you should re-read the post. This is not a site for discussing medical equipment.
The problem here is that there are no masks to be had at the moment. Our local gov has reached out to the mold and asbestos abatement companies to give up their PPE for the medical community and first responders. I don’t know if that will even make a dent in the need.
Canadian media is lying and saying that masks are ineffective. The medical people are also terrified that they are going to run out of PPE, especially masks. Put 2 and 2 together on this one.
These people who outsourced all of our manufacturing base to alien countries should be seen as traitors, and summarily treated as such. Anybody in a position of authority who outsourced to China or an alien land. Yes, the large portion of these individuals will be “right wing” white males, but it is what it is.
The filter media, at least the correct kind is not outsourced.
The actual media manufacturers (there are only a few) are in the USA and Europe. Assemblers of course are from all over.
The incorrect masks come from people being cheap. You need a mask made of Nanofiber media with an electro spinning process, not melt blown.
Melt blown is easier to produce in larger quantities so that’s what people do.
I want a mask n95 , p100, or military type. I am wanting a good or descent one. I am not a culture follower. I personally wanted wanted to get married for a long time. Anyways, I would follow the mask crowd.
…Z boy?
Yes, and a tyrannical government could shoot any citizen not wearing a full enclosure Level D hazmat suit when out in public. That will get to the R0 to nil. Not all solutions are equal, feasible, or advisable. Once upon a time, recognizing reality was both common sense and ancient wisdom. Sadly, no more.
Yes, some bad things will follow from this global lock-down, mainly as a result of the economic impact. But good things too. For example, globohomo could take a real pantsing.
In my opinion, globohomo was only feasible while there was lots of money sloshing around and the good times were rolling. They may suddenly find that tolerance for their bullsh*t is inversely proportionate to the ready availability of “Stuff”. To my mind, wokeness is a psychosis borne of easy prosperity. When times get hard and people are really struggling from day to day, their willingness to put with drag queen story hour may just evaporate overnight.
Sure, why get too mad about that stuff when you can watch sportsball, chase poosy on Tinder, entice your palette at that fancy ethnic restaurant, or get drunk/high? Millenials lives summed up in 1 sentence.
When the money and prosperity is there it’s really much easier to just look the other way.
We could use a little bit more poverty. Join a sportsball league, chase your wife’s poosy while simultaneously popping out white babies, learn to cook your own meals, and (maybe?) get drunk once in a while. It’s time to start caring about real things, including blood and soil.
Pleasures are good but they need to be in balance, life is both struggle and pleasure.
The two most positive changes I see that could come out of this is the diminishing of sports ball and hopefully a sea change in education.
Re sports ball, the longer this lockdown continues the more of a chance that males will realize that a live that revolves around watching other men play is not really a life at all.
Re education, could be a major paradigm shift. As a recently retired teacher who taught first in the university system and then in the college system I know that the higher education scam is the biggest joke in the country. Administrators and FT tenured professors making obscene salaries and pensions while producing more and more worthless degrees and bankrupting both taxpayers and students.
Seeing how quickly most institutions transitioned into online delivery mode and seeing the poor resulting product many of the teachers are half assing should wake up more than a few parents and students to seeking alternatives. At the minimum I hope to see the shutdown of many expensive private institutions. The public institutions will have a much better ability to weather the crises since here in CA the teachers unions run the state to a large degree. However I see/hope to see seismic changes there as well.
From your keyboard to God’s ears, sir.
BTW, all of the professors who contribute at The Orthosphere would agree wholeheartedly with your assessment regarding “the biggest joke in the country.”
Thank you. I will check out the site you reference.
The curse of affluence in our modern nanny state is that most people never get to experience the joy and self-esteem they earn for themselves after running a gauntlet of hardship and emerging on the other side having vanished the threat and proven themselves worthy of their ancestral inheritance. We are descended from the survivors of hard-knocks and our DNA cries out to us to pass the baton based on deeds rather than virtue signaling.
Just a heads up to my bros. MGM stock at $9. Look for it to possibly edge toward $5 after this weekend’s dour news cycle. Down 72% in last month. P/E 2.3 PEG 0.08. Cheap as desert sand in other words. If you think Vegas and Macau, leisure & gambling, are forever broken, stay away. If you think Vegas will return, and you can handle some risk, this is an opportunity.
so it can either go up or down. great tip
Tired line, mindlessly applied.
Total gamma snark. The guy brings you data, prognosticates current to bottom – and possible opportunity. And that’s all you have?
Stay huddled in your mom’s basement, gamma. We’ll take it from here. There was a communique put out by the NYC ministry of truth and health today that the “safest sex is with yourself…” Enjoy.
Thank you, Robert Fripp, whomever you are.
Ah, HomerB? Don’t you think you owe gammas everywhere an apology? No way greyenlightenment qualifies as a gamma. More like an upsilon or even an omega.
My wife has become an organizing nut job during this at home stuff. We are older and don’t have kids at home but I can see this in a strange way undermining the nut job feminists agenda.
I agree.
Especially if the Great Depression comes from this.
Women are built to nurture and care.
Best if it’s done at home and in our communities not on a committee in Washington DC deciding how many foreigners with sad faces and children we let into our nation.
This pandemic is no worse than 2009 Chinese crap. But it is what it is.
Let the women take over their domain again!
Those ladies are coming to the same realization I did about a year ago.
With regard to homeshooling, my family is well enough off that we can afford the good private school in our area. The kids who go there come from good families, and are definitely at the higher level of the IQ curve.
Even so, it is absolutely shocking how little learning goes on in that school. I watched in at a class where they were teaching words (Kindergarten). They would have a sheet, be told the letters of a word then to writer it, and the teachers would walk around making sure it was done right. Total time actually working? 30 seconds a cycle. Total time dicking around waiting for a teacher to check your work? 2 minutes a cycle.
Their time in Math didn’t look much better. Tons of time spent learning numbers and they can only add with their fingers and count to 100 by the end of Kindergarten. What the hell are they doing to spend on hour a day on math?
On top of that, they have homework every night, in freaking Kindergarten.
Spend 20 minutes a day teaching your kids to read, give them a Kumon book to practice math for 20 minutes, and give a simple penmenship book to practice for 5 minutes a day, and by the end of the school year you will have a kid working at the second grade level, at least.
And you can pocket that extra 5k+.
That’s an old story. I had a department head in my early graduate days who fled from CA before coming there. He was famous for a peculiar concept in education in those days, “time on task”. Seems he was the first to gain access to k through 12 classes with monitors whose sole job was watch certain students and how long they spent paying attention and also how long teachers spent “teaching” during an instruction period.
In those days, it was fashionable for State legislatures to address declining reading and math scores with mandates to extend class time in those areas, say from a 50 minute period to a 75 minute period. His research basically showed that students were lucky to be spending 25 minutes of a class period actively engaged in the lesson, interruptions being what they were.
So the brunt of his recommendations were more like an efficiency expert in a factory production line. What came out of such I can’t recall. Probably not much since CA was turning Brown and that really was the basic problem—which is not even admitted to today.
My 4 kids went to privqate, then later public schools. Anything with the name “school” on it = full retard. They were all home schooled – after “school” – the basics like expository writing, usable math, home ec, shop, and more.
Now as successful adults they agree that their non home education was a waste of their time.
This was a very good post Z-man. It reminds us that God often uses what looks to us like a very bad thing to do good. Or, every cloud has a silver lining as grandma used to say.
This madness, if we live through it, will probably change our degenerate society. For the good? I do hope and pray so.
If somehow it could destroy TV, too, I’d build a god-damn statue to the virus.
A lot of Americans still watch a ton of TV, which is just pure subversive poison.
The longer the breaks in watching shitlib TV are, the more you can see just how ghastly it is.
Z Man said: ” On the way out, I stopped at a light and noticed that the trees are all starting to turn green and the flowering trees are about to go into peak bloom. ‘
Nature, eventually lets us all know who’s boss. Imagine being the guy that just paid off his mortgage two weeks before a tornado comes along and tears your house to pieces.
Here’s the trailer for a series called: “Life after People.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02LHzofl9ic
And here’s a sweet little clip from the Simpsons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5LeYDW2LsM
I think a lot of our guys have been hoping for a Reset Button Event for a while.
This could be it.
Be careful what you wish for. In a depression, snarky antisemitism quickly becomes a luxury good.
?
A lot of our guys just assume everything is going to magically go their way during the great reset. In reality, that TRS sub is going to look a lot less sensible in a world of 20% unemployment. Those super chats suddenly dry up. That was something I left out about my conversation at the market. The women said to me, “the good news is all of the social media influencers will be out of business.”
All of us, even the most sensible, are in for a lot of surprises.
If we were paleocons in the 1980s, Z would be demanding that we accommodate the neocons. History repeats and few learn.
And this is based on what?
There are quite a few of us that would take an economic hit to move the ball forward. Don’t sell snarky antisemites short just yet.
I get a sense a lot of people are so hungry for something to change that they’re going to continue wishing. As much as I hate to see things in binaries, the alternatives seem to be a status quo death spiral or social disruption (hopefully without a breakdown, of course). It’s the choice of chemotherapy or hospice care.
I’m in that camp, but another possible outcome is we take an economic hit and the ball moves backward. Never forget that things can always get worse.
Call it snark or a luxury good, but at some point the JQ will have to be frankly and fearlessly addressed by White men as the deadly serious issue it is.
Hope you are right about the women, Zman, but I am not so certain. You’d be amazed how many parents – not merely airhead women but fathers as well – have no clue what’s in their kids’ textbooks. First thing I asked when we were choosing between public/private for our older son was to look at the textbooks. Christian schools it was no problem; public school immediately wanted to know ‘why.’ And when/if the mass babysitting service/indoctrination centers start up again, most will again happily surrender their progeny, and the shaping of their minds and morals, to the state.
Our lives have changed minimally because of all this – I cannot go work out at the gym, but otherwise I still take care of our home, cook the meals, etc. just as I always have. Your shopping experience was interesting but very different from mine. I did some fact-finding stops yesterday and this morning, after taking my son to work. We want for nothing, but if you need milk, eggs, bread, cold cuts, or any paper goods you’re out of luck. Despite the notes about limits of “1 each” on the shelves, said shelves were still totally empty. (Perhaps if I hustled out at 7AM there’d be something, but I don’t plan on that right now). Maybe they’re ensuring Lagos stays calm and are not as concerned about the DFW suburbs?
Tip for fellow dissidents who have young kids – try to find Fairlife long life milk. I buy it at Krogers here in DFW (in the health bar aisle, top shelf – not always easy to notice). We’re not lactose intolerant, and it’s not cheap, but it’s higher protein/lower sugar than regular, and it lasts for months with no refrigeration. My younger son, who is as picky as they come, tastes zero difference between it and regular. It comes in a six pack of 8 oz bottles. Pricey, but no waste (I was constantly dumping milk that had soured when I used to buy half gallons of regular). Even if we were to use up everything else we have (and we’re months from that) we’d still have milk, peanut butter, and pancake mix. Yesterday I bought some more jars of unsalted peanuts and cashews at Aldi. No one need go hungry, but I will admit if I were a young mother the lack of toilet paper would have me worried.
Best of health and wealth to all other dissidents – truly wished we lived in a real community where we could help one another in real time.
Hi 3g….good to hear from you. Great milk tip and wish I could nest in your pantry and eat your tasty food, but not now. Since I’m carnivore solely to keep my immune system nicely calmed down, I go on meat forays. Hopefully, I don’t have to learn how to bring down a big elk at my age. Plus I am not staying cooped up. No sir.
As squishy as Gov. Herbert is, a minuscule remnant of the ancestors still rumbles through his veins. So far he has assured Utahans he will not resort to strong arm tactics to enforce our group visiting size and no lock down. One of the reasons I landed here. Best to you.
(*Mask enthusiast suddenly tries to remain very still.*)
In my defense, I did the teach-English-in-Asia thing for a while, and got used to it over there. Somehow it seems natural over there, but doesn’t seem quite right over here.
I have M95 masks. For myself, they are for a special case of a sick or believed sick person. They wear the mask and it helps them from spreading their disease. For a healthy individual to prevent acquiring a disease I have several full face chemical/biological face/gas masks. I would wear such when in direct contact with a diseased individual. I have enough for the immediate family in case we are forced to care for ourselves.
These masks are new, sealed, and relatively fresh as they come from our recent ME conflicts. They were cheaper then than an M95 mask is today in the black market. It pays to be prepared *before* the SHTF. For obvious reasons, M95 and full face masks are not worn in public. Not yet anyway. 😉
I’ve been thinking that gas masks might be the new style for lots of reasons. As America third worldizes not only will you need protection from the exotic jungle plague-of-the-week but also just the increasing stench of all the, um vibrancy running in the gutters. Why settle for a boring old doughboy mask like great-great granddad wore to the big party on the Somme, though? I want mine to look like HR Giger or Beksiński designed it! Also helps keep the face recognition AIs confused. Let’s throw in a gadget that adds a nice metallic tone to your voice while we’re at it.
The only real benefit of the ME gas masks are they are designed for combat use. You can shoulder a weapon and sight it—assumes right handed user. The masks I’ve see in use in hospital settings often seem to have dual filter on either side and would seem to block shouldering your weapon.
Glad I don’t live near any nigs.
Seems you had the joy of the day about you Zman. Good for you, Sir.
Would love to see our overlords ” frankenstein monster ” come back and be their undoing.
So would I but {sigh} that isn’t how the universe works. The only people who get clobbered is us peed-ons.
Damn good post, Sir! You wrote:
Bingo! Couldn’t have said it better myself if I tried. I’ve said elsewhere that this is one of several “silver linings” to all of this craziness, and I’m loving every minute of it. Where I come from people are not in a panic even still. Other than the usual suspects, they haven’t been in a panic from the gitgo. But moms, as you iterate, seem to be, on the whole, not only ‘taking it all in stride,’ but also they seem rather eager to get about the business of taking care of house and home, and educating their kids.
We drove by one of the Indian “gaming casinos” in Oklahoma the other day, and it did my heart good to see the parking lot empty. If I could bulldoze the place down and get away with it between now and when the scare is over and the economy rebounds, I would in the twinkling of an eye.
Z – I sincerely hope you are correct, but the conditioning is strong. Curiously, the pressure for women to remain in the workforce is not from other women currently in the workforce, but from the Boomer and Silent Generation cohort. The Poz runs strong with these old ladies.
My early boomer mom, who never wanted to work outside the home but whose consumerism and status striving assured that she would always have to, told me years back that she couldn’t vote for Romney because his wife never really worked outside the home or something along those lines.
She is also disappointed my little sister never went to college even though she is brilliant and a great mom to three kids and runs a tight ship at home and is happy and content.
While at the same time constantly lamenting that my other sister, a college grad who is a deeply unhappy and mentally imbalanced, bitter and angry single mom by choice, who works an unfulfilling dead end job for the state, “never found a man” and got married and thus “has to work because she doesn’t have a husband!”
Not just poz, but the kind of pretzel logic that maintains a mental quarantine from any rational thought that might disrupt their frenzy of feelz.
The millennial neurosis is completely understandable.
Well you and Z can easily solve by shooting dead every Boomer and elderly Si-Gen you find. Heaven forbid you look at Wall-Street and the rullng class for making it nearly impossible for 90% of Americans from getting by on a single income.
That said, Even as far back as the 1980’s lots of working class women did not want to be working if they had kids, they had to because hubby didn’t get paid enough to keep their heads above water.
Look even 40 years ago it was a bitch for most blue collars and lower middle-class to get by and it’s only gotten worse since then.
+10K on everything you wrote.
I’ve been living in a small Nevada town since 2013 and over the years I’ve seen the same middle aged Asian lady with her weird get-up. She wears a hat with a brim wide enough to please a bee keeper and always, an N-95
Aye, they don’t like the sun. My Taiwanese in-laws used to marvel at my pasty, Buffalo pallor.
On tours abroad six and eight years ago, I saw all the Asian (probably) Japanese women tourist wearing those fabric hats that have flaps longer in the back, covering their necks. Everywhere — even inside art museums! Sorry–I love individuals, but people in groups are hideous!
…”Millions of single women now have no reason to exist, because they are stuck at home. They can’t cause drama at work and they can’t cruise the bars with their friends….”
Soon as their cats get sick & tired of them and retreat to normal kitty aloofness – these single women are really going to suffer.
There are a million stories / outcomes in the naked city – on this Sunday reason for some postive ones.
Lol true. But to be fair, cat’s aren’t that aloof. Its just that most people have an inflated image of how interesting they are.
Cats are highly intuitive and social. Just not in the obvious, vulgar way that dogs maintain their food supply chain. (I love dogs, so no offense to them)
If a cat is aloof it is because the womyn is a selfish boor and the cat would rather spend the evening harvesting a furball it knows it will have to painfully eject under the couch later as opposed to enduring another awkward manic love-on-me session while the netflix rolls in the background. Plus cats dislike alcohol breath. Especially boxed wine.
If those cats had office jobs they would be “working late” every night and volunteering for that conference on compliance at the omaha airport ramada too.
LOL back at you. I have a whole new perspective on cat bahavior.
Aw, they won’t have it so bad. As some notable blogger said, think of all the blue-haired lesbians* with a face full of fishing tackle and an apartment full of cats, writing the next best-seller 🙂
*Also box wine aunties
I’m looking forward to the coming debate about how much more money they are going to dish out to Wall Street and to large corporations on top of the 1.5 trillion they’ve already injected… vs… how they are going to means test cash giveaways to the public, a lot of that still being in the form of loans and advances on tax refunds. Means testing = disqualify as many whites people as you can.
Exactly. Same appears here on a State level. Rep’s want to direct funds at unemployed, but especially at keeping businesses viable for future employment. Dem’s want to increase (permanently) welfare programs. They can’t help themselves when the piggy bank is broken open.
Always the same song and dance. Increase the needy, then increase the welfare to such. Wash, rinse, repeat. Even the teacher’s union is balking at plans to partake in remote instruction for students at home. Concern is that they might be working longer hours, albeit they now are receiving full salary for staying at home doing nothing. So they want some type of “overtime” pay provision—which does not even exist for normal working conditions as they are “exempt” employees.
As someone from the field, we teachers have it easy already.
I am getting a new tire for my wheel barrow so I can carry my life savings to the super market to buy my one roll of toilet paper….
Yep, it’s hard not to notice the everything in bloom amid the lock down. The cycle continues. Some cycles are longer than others, but the seasons do change. It may be spring outside but our society is in early fall.
Rest assured that the power that be are aware this is going on. They will relent for now but once the isolation is lifted, they will go pedal to the metal to force degeneracy back in and all will be well per their own goals.
Great post today, Z Man. I’ve had some similar thoughts and experiences. I went on a date yesterday in Columbia, South Carolina, and we just walked and talked amid the full flower of spring in the South (which lasts about two weeks, then it’s summer–ha!). It was invigorating (and free!).
We’ve transitioned to online teaching at school, which has dramatically cut down on the superfluous fluff and b.s. that gobbles up the bulk of the typical school day. I can get through in 20-30 minutes what would take an hour in class. Working from home is a God-send, as I can roam about my half-acre in my rural Southern town, or walk to the local Main Street for provisions, fresh air, etc., and be back in time to answer any student queries.
I hate that it took a global pandemic and a massive shutdown to do it, but I think we’re learning very quickly what matters, and what was just the accumulated dross and flotsam of our everyday lives. I hope the economy comes roaring back and people in affected sectors can get back to work, but I’m also hoping we reevaluate some of the superfluity in our work lives.
All said, I’m optimistic. I’m trying to make the most of a bad situation; so far, that’s worked well.
That is one of the things I discovered along with the existence of my Maker a few years ago. Our little country chapel was a community. Kids were boisterous but behaved. When they weren’t – you could nark at them and grump without some cunned stunt shrieking about you traumatizing her baby – chances are the offender would get a cuff upside the head from mom too. And the women – my goodness, they are such beautiful creatures in their Sunday finery! They’re warm and caring and a pleasure to be around. It was like slamming a gallon of cool water after a long run.
It used to be that the communal tradition extended beyond the church… but then the Exceptions took charge and they will have nobody but themselves to blame for their coming demise. Not only will girl politics dry up and blow away as if it never existed – a lot of the weirdos will too… and that will be a good thing. There is good in everything.
Yes, it’s a great discovery. The same thing happened to me several years ago.
All week I’m surrounded by non-white aliens, white trash, drug addicts, and cat ladies. On Sunday we see a huge community of whites, many white couples with large families. It’s beautiful to see so many white children. And being allowed to roam without their parents bitching non-stop – if they get out of hand the punishment will be more severe though, as you illustrated.
The left is gunning for evangelical Christians – we are the most hated group – white AND socially conservative (and also not really libertarian or fiscally conservative).
I’m on high alert for (((subversion))) though… and unfortunately it’s even making inroads in these communities. Be aware.
John;
And don’t forget the music. You can understand the words, and they mean something uplifting, not degrading. You even can follow the melody. Great new hymns and old classics too.
“there is an odd pleasure that comes from having to sacrifice and conserve.”
One of the things I love about my wife is she is the most frugal person I know. We make a game out of saving money. People always thought we were rich because our kids grew up wearing designer clothes, not knowing my wife got them at Goodwill or on Craigslist for a few dollars per item, or from trading with other moms. We are in our fifties and have saved enough to never need for anything, but we still time our restaurant visits for their half-off nights.
For Valentines Day, we go to the card isle while we are shopping, carefully select cards for each other, exchange and read them, and then put them back on the shelf. We then high-five each other for saving $15. We both have our indulgences, but we always have an enjoyment/$ ratio in mind.
“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” – 1 Timothy 6:6-10.
And long before those words were penned – there was the perspective of Job 1:21.
Job is my favorite book of the O.T. Ever read Chesterton’s Introduction to the Book of Job?
Beautiful, DLS. That’s what I’m looking for in a spouse.
Great example of how women naturally weave social fabric without having endless debates about Optics, Isms or the Usual Suspects.
Women should be encouraged to engage as political auxiliaries precisely because of this sort of thing.
Every time I think society has reached a bridge the public won’t cross, they dutifully get on the bridge and continue the mad march down the freeway of cultural destruction.
Funny enough though, so far, every person who I have seen in public myself with a mask has been a black woman. It’s only been a few, but they have all been black females.
I’m waiting for National Review to post the first articles about how conservative and right wing it is to wear masks in public.
Instead, we committed ourselves to making one exception after another to accommodate a metastasizing number of weirdos, oddballs and trouble makers.
Amusingly, after decades of trying to sell us one shit sandwich after another by stamping “Freedom and Equality!” on the label, libertarians and the like-minded are shocked to find out that people are starting to take a dim view of freedom and equality. Now, who could have seen that coming?
Freedom and equality would not go so quietly into that good night, if it wasn’t for the redefining of such. Freedom is now defined as allowing every sort of deviance into the public square. Such was never the case historically. Freedom was always understood as the “ability” to exercise your “liberties”—those liberties being defined/codified by an ordered society for the “general” good, not the individualistic good. Equality was always defined as “equal treatment/consideration under the law”—not equality of outcome in the sphere of societal interaction.
When these basic understandings are forgotten, freedom turns into little more than anarchy, and equality necessarily becomes despotism. Why would anyone want that?
I have not watched a news show on TV since last Sunday. That’s when I decided beside TDS the only thing the leftist media had to offer was pessimism, lies and a cover for the Red Chinese. Did you know that “Chinese” is a race? I thought Asians were a race and Chinese were an ethnicity but according to the TV and the other media I was wrong.
So yes, Virginia Chinese food is now raaaaacist!
Hoagie, get with the program, it’s “food-19” from now on… Practice your 2+2’s
Nothing has really changed at my house. We’ve been living like this for a while. My business partner and I have been preparing for a recession for some time now. We are in construction. Remodeling, to be specific. My wife has been living what these women at the store were talking about. I don’t worry about much at home. My wife was/ is a bit damaged, she has the tattoos, she has the degree in criminal justice that she can never use…she has some thought patterns that are bad…but we’re doing good under the traditional system. She’s happy. We have 3 kids to keep her busy. I won’t say she’s “fixed” but I will say that if she can find fulfillment, I hope to think some of the other “modern women” out there can too. So, fingers crossed that the virus scare puts that process in motion.
Well, you’ve saved her from something much, much worse.
Just make sure that you are always dominant and in control – women like her sense a weak man and will jump to control you the moment they sense weakness.
Amen. Good advice.
I’d always dreamed of dating a girl with long, slim legs, but I realized that I would only get one who had tattooed herself down to my level, LOL.
I found out that a lot of women do stuff like that because their lives seem empty and meaningless. And that having kids can fill that void. After two kids she turned into a basically normal person and caring mother, and her legs are still slim, praise the lord!
And it actually gives me a bit of street cred, LOL: “how did this mild-mannered nerd land that bad-ass-lookin babe?”
It’s been said that the greatest act of “conservatism” is to have a child. The second is to buy a house. Owning a home and producing children both anchors you into a community and gives you a stake in its continued health functioning.
Amen to that, Brother. I’m a chick and spent a few years testing Basic Husband. Discovered with time maybe his patterns might be beneficial for me. He’s been places and knows things. He has a big engineering brain and can make and do things that I cannot. Plus he doesn’t let me get away with disrespect! I finally realized to just treat him with respect and kindness. Did the trick! Harmony in the household. You men are delightfully simple and require few but fundamental qualities in marriage.
Going for a nice and beautiful drive today here in Southern Utah up the mountain before the rain/snow tomorrow. We enjoy being in a small car space together.
“There’s been a lot of wishful thinking about a baby boom coming from this lock-down, but what may follow is a marriage boom. Millions of single women now have no reason to exist, because they are stuck at home. They can’t cause drama at work and they can’t cruise the bars with their friends. Meanwhile, the women they made sport of at the office are having the time of her life at home with the family. There’s some chance this panic opens some pretty young eyes to the reality of their existence.”
There very likely will be a suicide spike among the past use-by date AWLF’s for this very reason, sort of the mirror image of white working class males killing themselves as they were rendered poor and impotent.
It’s quite tragic that millions of (mainly white) women have been brainwashed into believing this trope since the 1970s.
Also, childlessness affects women far worse than men. Men are also happier with a family but sometimes we just have to do what we have to do. Look at truckers, miners, pilots, etc. Even if they have a family they are away all the time.
Anyways, women are the #1 victim of the women’s rights movement. Just like blacks are the #1 victims of the “civil rights” movement. We white men just keep on living and suffering. It’s better with a wife and in a homogenous society. But you just have to live, regardless.
@UFO- great comments and observation; Many men such as I, were unable to find anyone or attract these career women at all- but life has to be lived- i miss a family at times like this and when you see people together- it just makes it worse but they are so fortunate, I wonder what will happen to all the older singles? At least i can give to those that promote nationalism and biblical marriage and relationships. Fantastic blog Z man- will be supporting you and the like minded.
“A lot of bad things will come from the great lock-down, but on the other side will be some good things too.” It’s by no means sure that bad things will outnumber the good things. If the China Virus puts an end to—or even a serious dent in—oligarchical globalism, the Deep State, and/or the endless wars of the military-industrial complex, the virus could turn out to be an enormous gift.
And ditto for the destruction or radical restructuring of government schools (as noted by Zman in talking to the lady in the store line), not to mention the indoctrination centers known as “universities.”
Anything that would make people realize how stupid it is to pay thousands of dollars to have a “professor” stand up and read from a book. There has to be structure and degree verification to learning, but it’s amazing how far we have stayed from what is necessary.
Next thing you’ll be claiming is that many college freshmen need remedial reading and writing classes, or that 22% of H.S. diploma holders are too stupid for the military 🙂
Now why on earth would DLS be tempted to claim such a thing?
If you truly believe that the Chinese Virus is going to put “an end to—or even a serious dent in—oligarchical globalism, the Deep State, and/or the endless wars of the military-industrial complex” then I have some land for you just 5 short miles from beautiful downtown South Padre Island. Cash only,please; in small, unmarked bills.
The rubber will meet the road when after the 15 day isolation, the government decides to announce an extension. Americans might accept (or at least semi go along) with one extension if a substantial case can be made, but beyond that I think the National Guard will be showing up on the streets of your home town.
I think we have to put our foot down then and there. The national guard doesn’t need to be here. What, are they going to hold the virus back while the snipers provide cover fire from the rooftops?
The evidence for a two-month shutdown of our economy just isn’t there. In no sane way is the potential curtailing of this virus worth the implosion of our economy.
And yet there will be those calling for – nay fekking DEMANDING – it. You know it and I know it. And the justification? “If it saves just ONE life . . . “
Thank you for this one Zman. It’s a welcome change from panic, cynicism, and the unending media blitzkreig to blame it all on Trump. This mess will end. When and how we cannot yet say, but it will end.
JWM
Here in Outer Slobovia life goes on quite normally. Some places like banks and franchise restaurants have altered their services, but things are running smoothly. And most are rolling their eyes at the media-induced panic. Now if we can just track down that weird toilet paper cult and retrieve a regular supply…
Outer Slobovia, LOL, may steal.
The other day I focus-grouped the term “plumpenproletariat” to describe our boys here in Wisconsin. Received with nervous chuckles. (Hey, is he talking about me?)
Things here about 99% normal, I’d say.
Yes the silver linings need to be illuminated!
A couple anecdotes to confirm mr. Z’s experience.
A friend on the east coast called last night. Which made me realize how much more people are communicating since most are finding they suddenly have more time. A lot of meme spamming but also reconnecting.
I had a beer over video conference with a few buddies. Lots of interruptions to show what the kids are up to, tour of backyard gardens, and a levity that belies the media’s constant death count obsession.
Everyone seems more concerned about the economy and their livelihoods than the virus. All are pissed at their leaders. Most live in CA. Time will tell if any of this erodes their goodwhite tendencies.
My friend on the east coast is working from home. His job is rather easy at the moment but he is now his two kids’ (K and 1st grade) favorite teacher.
He is exhausted and pretended to lament the toll of managing that much energy. But couldn’t last long before he admitted that he loves it.
His kids don’t really know why things have changed but they have already adapted and so a win for him is they are excited for “school” and the AM process is no longer one of friction and separation but waffles and words.
The end of constant sportsball is one of the best parts of this whole thing. My sports bro buddies, usually full of march madness and SportsCenter loops, are otherwise engaged.
I went to a sporting golds store to look for dumbells. Late to the party. Sold out.
Store was busy with young people looking for yard games, exercise equipment, and other toys to occupy their time. Small groups of friends together brainstorming over various items and the games they could invent.
The neighbors bought a backyard trampoline for their two pre-teens. More dangerous than the virus. I take that as a good sign too. Lotsa children’s squeals in the neighborhood.
I only wish spring came earlier. Here at elevation we have a protracted winter. The crocuses are up tho. And the air smells alive again.
The great lock down indeed, here is Lagos Portugal it’s in full swing. I’ve just arrived back from being stuck in the mentawai islands to be stuck in my house. We aren’t even allowed to go to the beaches, and forget surfing. I dunno if the compliance is an artifact from a previous dictatorship life, but they seem to love it.
The wife was yelled at by a random car the other day here to “go home!” She took the kids and the dog for a walk. Was crazy, is crazy…
Maybe I should I stayed in the mentawai islands, that is until the indigenous folks start to get interested in the white devil’s money supply.
Go to be home…
In some ways we were more free during the dictatorship than today. What is happening is fear and the fact that people dont need to go to work. So they are happy for what many feel is a extra vacation this year not understanding that if we keep this up we will obliterate the already fragile portuguese economy.
For years I’ve been saying that families not eating together is a symptom of our degraded culture. (Thanks Theodore Dalrymple) Maybe that will be something that will change. I’m definitely missing the NCAA hockey tournament, though.
Agreed. If there’s one thing families should do, it’s eat dinner together. If you do that, a host of other things fall into place.
Reminds me when Paul O’Neill became CEO of Alcoa. Instead introducing a host of new initiatives or talking p&l, he laser focused on one thing: Worker safety numbers. He called it a Keystone Habit. Getting that right causes so many other areas follow suit.
Amen Ganderson. The seemingly little things we have abandoned in the multitude of modernity-induced tradeoffs have had huge consequences.
Interesting how all of the tech and convenience has failed to preserve the simple rituals of normal family life. In fact many have worked to install a new opposing order of things.
I have been a supporter of the slow food movement for a long time – even though it is wrought with globohomo leftists, the premise is sound.
Growing a backyard bounty or even a few patio herbs and guarding meal prep and dining as a sacred family function goes a long way in grounding what is important and preserving space and time for communication and shared experiences.
Dinner together is likely almost as significant in positive social outcomes as having the biological father in the home. Which of course is hateful to say out loud these days.
I hope you’re right Z. I’ve been of like mind. But this thing is taking on a 9/11 feel. Might as well call it al qaeda virus. Al qaeda virus and flat curvers. And I don’t like saying that because being pessimistic isn’t good. Should probably take my own advice.
All the same, I was in college on 9/11. My roommates and I broke out the grill. It was calming, normal. Lots of talking instead of video games or tv. It was good. Somewhere W was ranting to a faceless enemy about our missile systems.
People know the game. Will they remember and snap out of it?
9/11 was different, very different. We were at war. We didn’t know exactly who, or how large such would be. Like Perl Harbor. But we were at war and it was simply a time of getting together and organizing the appropriate response. And we knew what that response should be as we’d done such time and again throughout our nation’s history.
That’s the key here; organization, togetherness, united response. Corona panic is different. It’s an unseen enemy, but a known enemy. The enemy is us; strangers in the street, neighbors, friends, even our children. Our leadership’s response is to promote “social distancing”—further reinforcing aloneness and its companion, despair.
A true leadership would be talking to the public everyday about the strengths of the country and the future, post pandemic, as Z-man has done today. But this is clown world and everyman is left to do “what seems right in his own eyes” sans such leadership. Are there enough of us left?
Can speak to that first hand. 9/11 for many of us was a combination of survivor guilt and an immediate to rush to “do what we could do”. My spouse had a new friend who just moved here from Hong Kong with a new baby, her husband was killed in WTC 1–and no family was within driving distance so she parked herself there to help out until the planes were flying. Everybody was doing something–there were 11 other families that lost people, so everyone rallied around. This is more like the Sitzkrieg of 1940, waiting in our respective bunkers for an enemy that might or might not attack. Don’t know when, don’t know where.
So true. It’s amazing how being alone for much of the time seems tolerable when it could be seen as a matter of preference or choice; but it morphs quickly into depressing loneliness when it becomes a matter of government diktat. And the social isolation is made more toxic when my telephone calls to distant friends aren’t answered, even in response to a heart felt voicemail hoping that they are well and coping with this grand social experiment. Today, Zman’s observations helped quell some of the bitterness I’ve been choking on this past week. Hope is not entirely crushed. Be well everyone.
So does posting to this group. Voices here are the only sense I get of sanity in this insane clown world of Corona-Chan. Listening to the MSM (I know—wrong thing to do) one begins to think of a world gone mad. Worse, perhaps I’m mad. At least here I know that if I don’t make it, there is a growing nucleus of sanity to carry on in my stead.
Media-driven fear. People submitting to authority responding out of proportion to a real threat. A period of coming together in the aftermath. Lots of talk that the world has changed.
It’s following the script so far. Remains to be seen if we lose rights and come apart when the dust settles.
Anyway I’m going for a hike.
It’s a safe assumption there will be a full court press to transition to a demand economy, which is what the Green New Deal is. We are watching governors and mayors grab power in unprecedented ways even now with little pushback and the demonization of anyone who doesn’t fall into line, hence the Most Evil People on Earth Are Springbreakers. The DOJ wants its police state tactics become explicit.
People realize this is over the top and comply for the most part. The odds favor these same people, when hungry, will obey harder.
Disclaimer: Trump supporter not worshipper here.
Trump gives me tremendous optimism about this in spite of what looks to be going on. It took a couple of years for questioning the 9/11 narrative to catch on. This one was born questioned. Intentionally or not, Trump is a coronavirus truther. If he’d gone along from day one it would be worse. Questioning 9/11 in 2001 was more dangerous than questioning this thing, on the ground level anyhow. People are much more receptive.
The chances of a 20 year War on Health are practically nil. A few years at most— and the boomerang will be spectacular. Certainly unnecessary, and possibly tragic— hopefully not tragic— but we’re in for the ride. The sooner things turn around, the better it will be for everybody. What will be will be.
“Trump supporter not worshiper here” — me too, and my former admiration of him has been running on fumes lately.
But credit where due: Trump has shown a needed confidence in his public response to the COVID-19 dragon. Concern, properly, but projecting strength.
Churchill made serious mistakes in handling WWII strategy, but his demeanor stiffened British backbones and helped prevent widespread panic. Trump is looking like he might do something similar. He hasn’t always made the best moves, but has been no more confused than anyone else and gives the impression of learning ability.
Setting a psychological tone as the crisis lengthens is important along with the medical punches.
JD, what do you bean by the phrase “demand economy”? I understand “supply and demand” but not the phrase “demand economy” in the sense you seem to be using it especially linking it to the “Green New Deal”. I tried looking the phrase up but got nowhere. Help an undereducated old man out, please?
Alas, if many alarmist projections are right, there are indeed going to be a lot of remains being seen 🙁
Its the government’s actions that make this 9/11 like, not the virus itself. This is not the slate wiper depicted in the John Ringo novel I want you all to read.
I love Ringo. Which of his books are you referring to? AL? Anybody?
The Last Centurion. I highly recommend it. It has a lot of good philosophy in it, some of it similar to what you guys have been saying all along.
i wish it were like 911. this is 5x worse
I wish I could believe the hype about how the coronavirus pandemic will “change everything” in terms of shocking our political, social, and economic elites out of their pattern of greedy, shortsighted, and ultimately self-destructive behavior, but I’m sorry, I simply don’t. I’m old enough to remember when 9/11 was going to “change everything” too, but it didn’t. I mean, it did for a couple of years, until the initial burst of emotion surrounding it faded, but in the long term, other than helping themselves to a few new tools of power, it didn’t change their behavior one bit. This won’t, either.
Ten years after 9/11, we had twice as many Muslim immigrants in this country as we had the day before it. I wouldn’t be surprised if ten years from now, we do twice as much manufacturing in China as we did before this pandemic hit.
That’s just the way it goes in corrupt, declining civilizations.
This is what I’m saying. They couldn’t get socialism the ballot box, so they’re getting it by not letting a good crisis go to waste. If we go this way, disrupting the economy and people’s lives every coronavirus season (as is being floated) eventually somebody will come along, correctly point out that we can’t go on this way, and propose death panels as a solution. Worst case scenario. Think Trump is Yang and Boomer Remover. Not just jokes if the opportunity came up. It already sounds like we’re getting the free money.
Best case people wake up fast. Realistically, it’ll be somewhere in between.
And btw Rush Limbaugh just won my respect. Hadn’t listened in a while. The guy with lung cancer has guts go figure 🙂
With you 100%.
2nd law of thermodynamics. Sooner or later everything turns to shit. As a High School physics teacher I knew used to put it,”Even protons – the most stable particles known to our science – decay. Hell, all We are is walking worm shit.
” Might as well call it al qaeda virus.”
No, Kung Fu Flu is a better monicker. This recent strain of influenza didn’t originate in Dar al Muzzum lands. It came from China.
Why are you covering for China?