police loop and a goodbye to baishizhou

[amw]

Following on from my last post, this afternoon i took a trip to Luohu District to pick up my passport from the police. It takes a little over an hour on the subway outside of rush hour

Comments

[jenndolari]

"However. I also respect the people around me enough to wear a mask anyway when i am on public transport, inside shops or outside in crowded pedestrian areas, and i think it is a dick move not to do that."

And that's likely because you're not an American. ;)

(As you've probably read) I'm a big believer in masks. I always wear them when I'm going somewhere with people no matter how they're distancing. But you are right - if there's room to social distance, the masks aren't 100% necessary. That said, the problem America has is the people who won't mask up are also people who refuse to social distance, and then make a big childish show of it when you ask them to stand back or mask up and go into full on persecution mode. (I had that happen today, in fact, minus the big childish show (he just rolled his eyes and stood back)). In general, a lot of Americans just don't respect other people they don't see everyday. And I say that as a Texan (the worst of the bunch ;) ).

The good thing today, though, was I went into some more conservative areas of Washington State today, and besides the one guy who crowded me and didn't wear a mask, most everyone was wearing them. Washington State got hit hard with Covid right off the bat, and I think that while we didn't handle it the best way, we handled it fairly well, so the population knows it works, and it's why I find our opening up much safer than say Texas. I genuinely worry for my family out there.

[amw]

I was talking with my Canadian friend R about this the other day and i came to the conclusion that there are some Americans - specifically the "basket of deplorables" - who seem to get their kicks from deliberately being assholes to other people.

I find it hard to understand the motivation. It seems so juvenile and pathetic. You're not "winning" anything by harassing people or trying to make them uncomfortable. Acting contrarian for its own sake isn't smart or clever, it's just you being a dick. It definitely doesn't do anything to advance the conservative movement. So what do these individuals get out of it?

I wish society would recognize these individuals as the dickheads they are and not even bother engaging. Don't give them any press. Don't waste any time with them. It's really not worth it.

Some of my more cynical friends think it's a deliberate attempt by the global elites to keep ordinary folks distracted from the boots on their neck. For the ultra rich, it's convenient that people bicker over minor shit like masks. It's useful for social media to be drowned in mask narrative and for the traditional media to lead with it. It keeps the attention away from other stories that are potentially more harmful to them - tax evasion, corruption, sponsoring of genocide, participation in a pedophile ring and so on.