Bitch-slapped by the Invisible Hand

[bellatrys]

If you follow dKos as your first newsfeed aggregator of choice, you've already been aware of these cases, and the syncretic whole they are parts of. If not, you might have missed the story that Chico Dave RN and Robin NWLC posted about yesterday, in which it is revealed that having been raped and sought medical care afterwards is grounds for denial

Comments

[fledgist]

That hand is about as invisible as the noonday sun.

And yet--

[bellatrys]

how many people ever *notice* the sun at any given hour of any given day? I was considered exceptionally eccentric, above and beyond all my other eccentricities, at college because I was given to pointing out the state of the sky to whomever happened to be handy - we had a notable skyline at my alma m, with particularly dramatic sunsets thanks to (alas) the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo when I was there - and yet nobody ever lifted their gaze to the atmosphere, except to complain if it were raining or snowing.

"It's the SKY, [P@L], what am I supposed to be LOOKING at?" as if our atmosphere and a great deal of what made life possible weren't more interesting than the dining hall doors or what the people in front of them were wearing ... so metaphorically, one might say, that our society's atmosphere and fiery engines of destruction and construction are invisible to those whose gaze remains firmly earthbound.

--No, I'm not drunk, just ranting. I have to go to work tomorrow still...

Re: And yet--

[fledgist]

Lots of obvious things are invisible, it turns out. Until they hit you between the eyes.

What's that saying,

[bellatrys]

about "staring into the sun, if the sun were made of stupid"--? Seems fitting, somehow >8D

Re: What's that saying,

[fledgist]

That one I don't recall.

I've seen it attributed to Pharyngula

[bellatrys]

but ISTR hearing it first among Buffyfen.

Re: And yet--

[parmalokwen]

Some people can't tell basic directions from the sun, either.

Amazing, isn't it?

[bellatrys]

When I was a courier I relied on the sun as much as on maps to save me often enough in MA, where a north-south road might be *labeled* "east-west" for no obvious reason.

Of course this only works a) in daylight, b) in clear weather, which makes it less helpful than could be, in the northern regions...

Re: And yet--

[fledgist]

A lot of people can't, to my surprise.