Honor and shame are becoming as rare as an honest man in Parliment.
Devo was right.
Devo was right.
Pandemic Mental Health - How YOU doin'?
- Thread starter Greta
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Fear-a-God not commonplace these days. Uptick in
Albuquerque regarding bank robberies, armed shoplifting and shooting at Law Enforcement.
Everybody's got a light under the sun:
Sadly apathy and abdication aren't far behind.
First world problems seem like such a huge deal while plucking off the siding to burn in order to keep the house warm.
Dogs are meowing, cats are barking and many do not recognize that aint normal. How's my pandemic mental health? At one point I'd say "fine" but these days I even question if I spell my name correctly sometimes. I aint in pain, my roof don't leak and there's food in the pantry so I guess I'm doing ok.
First world problems seem like such a huge deal while plucking off the siding to burn in order to keep the house warm.
Dogs are meowing, cats are barking and many do not recognize that aint normal. How's my pandemic mental health? At one point I'd say "fine" but these days I even question if I spell my name correctly sometimes. I aint in pain, my roof don't leak and there's food in the pantry so I guess I'm doing ok.
We each have a choice, whatever circumstances get in our way. Gratitude, peace and acceptance for what we are given. Refusing to let the darkness swallow us whole, or fire consuming our soul. Under adversity do we learn our strength. The support we receive from love, with the power beyond all, that is so much more than us.
knucklegary
Flashlight Enthusiast
Man you guys are deep.. I'm opening up a can of ranch beans, add hot dogs,, call it a blessing.. Amen
Turn on the news and hear "war", "pervs at Disney", "buy gold now", "tornadoes in Kansas", "new strain of covid", "food prices sky rocket" fuel prices sky rocket", inflation sky rockets", and the list goes on. Kinda makes me miss 2020 just a little.
Meanwhile my new inkpen writes at first contact every time, the sunshine warms my face, my water proof boots are……water proof, gas prices dropped 15 cents a gallon, the grocery store had a bogo on my favorite snack food, the recent tornadoe warning was a dud, the lint trap in the shower was hair-free lately (ie hair loss has waned), and the french fries were hot at the local fast food joint so putting things into perspective keeps this old engine running nice and smooth.
Meanwhile my new inkpen writes at first contact every time, the sunshine warms my face, my water proof boots are……water proof, gas prices dropped 15 cents a gallon, the grocery store had a bogo on my favorite snack food, the recent tornadoe warning was a dud, the lint trap in the shower was hair-free lately (ie hair loss has waned), and the french fries were hot at the local fast food joint so putting things into perspective keeps this old engine running nice and smooth.
jtr1962
Flashaholic
I honestly wish I could just turn off my mind to what's going on in the larger world but I just can't. Sooner or later many of these bad things are going to affect me, one way or another. The reason they bother so much is they vividly illustrate what Dr. Zaius observed in Planet of The Apes (1968): "You are right, I have always known about man. From the evidence, I believe his wisdom must walk hand and hand with his idiocy. His emotions must rule his brain."
I totally understand when acts of nature mess with us. But to me it seems 99% of our problems are created by ourselves (including covid, which if it didn't come from a lab then it came from us destroying natural habitat, and releasing pathogens which otherwise would have remained only among animals). Some variation on greed, sociopathy, indifference, ego, hatred, ignorance, etc. seems to cause most of our problems. I've long thought we could make this planet a paradise if only we could check some of our worst impulses.
I totally understand when acts of nature mess with us. But to me it seems 99% of our problems are created by ourselves (including covid, which if it didn't come from a lab then it came from us destroying natural habitat, and releasing pathogens which otherwise would have remained only among animals). Some variation on greed, sociopathy, indifference, ego, hatred, ignorance, etc. seems to cause most of our problems. I've long thought we could make this planet a paradise if only we could check some of our worst impulses.
aznsx
Flashlight Enthusiast
aznsx
Flashlight Enthusiast
I can explain one facet of the changes you've rightly noted, JTR. This is on-topic of 'mental health' (albeit not my own, which it must be said is also suspect). Near-coincidentally on the timeline, not far from the arrival of the virus (which many were justifiably fixated on), something else was changing; whether exacerbated by the virus or not, and perhaps under-appreciated by many because of the predominant virus issues.
A lot of the 'bad' people you likely refer to began doing a lot more 'bad' things; possibly believing the virus provided some cover, perhaps not. Bad people have always done bad things, but there was a difference this time. Many / most of the 'bad' people who started doing more 'bad' things paid relatively little price for the 'bad' things they were doing (which continues), so of course they did more. Unfortunately this also spread (not unlike a virus itself) to other 'bad' people, who then felt they too could do 'bad' things with impunity - and did so - and continue to do so. Of course the flames of the problem are fanned by things such as a practical lack of law enforcement where you live, the practical lack of a border where I live, and a long list of other accompanying changes.
I'm quite confident that you can extrapolate from this point forward as well as I can, JTR - so I'll refrain from doing so. Suffice it to say: it ain't pretty.
The "pandemic mental health" of many of us (including me) has been challenged and stretched, but that has been compounded by other problems to which you allude, which may or not be related directly or tangentially to the virus, but which add to our distress at times.
jtr1962
Flashaholic
I agree here. Simple lack of consequences accounts for a lot of this bad behavior. I think it goes a little beyond that. We've had poor role models. People live up or down to the role models set for them. Look at all the egotistical celebrities and sports figures. Look at people getting their 15 minutes of fame doing things I would be embarrassed to be caught doing. General crudeness and lack of empathy has been on the rise for quite some time. The pandemic made it all boil over.
Just to correct a common misperception, there's hardly a lack of practical law enforcement where I live. The issue is the police are focusing on the wrong things. I want them to go after violent criminals, not ticket cyclists harmlessly slow-rolling red lights. I want them to go after bad drivers who kill people, not ticket someone who takes up two seats on a nearly empty subway train. But anyway, crime is actually fairly low on my list of concerns. This country is literally falling apart physically. Why aren't those in charge getting infrastructure fixed and upgraded? I heard the grid is one step away from massive failure which will keep us without power for months, when the fixes cost only a few billions of dollars. Literally pennies on the dollar to fix the problem before it blows up in our faces, but instead we have talking heads focused on culture wars. On both sides. It's bread and circuses to distract us, while Rome is burning and I'm sick and tired of it. Don't we have any real leaders these days, the kind who don't tell people just what they want to hear? Sure as heck doesn't seem like it.
aznsx
Flashlight Enthusiast
JTR: Not to carry this much further (as there's little to be gained), but I do want to clarify something I said which could be (and perhaps was) misinterpreted. My remark regarding 'law enforcement' in your part of the country is in NO way an indictment of the law enforcement officers who work the streets tirelessly every day, most of whom are likely first rate people doing their very best to do a first rate job, and I greatly admire and respect what I know of them and what they do.
The root causes of the problems I see on TV every day (literally) are not from the bottom up, but rather from the top down. The LEOs can do nothing without the support of the structure above them. I'll leave it there because I don't discuss politics....but I don't believe the problem lies in the Police Dept. at all, and wanted to make that clear.
If the problems I'm seeing and refer to aren't affecting your specific locality yet, I'm very glad to hear that, and glad that you can go for walks or ride your bike in the wee hours there. I can too, and we're fortunate. People not far from you, however, clearly cannot do such safely. Crime such as I see is like a disease that spreads through the body though, and I fear it will likely reach both of us soon, as it is not far away.
I would just add that I have had great so-called 'role models' my entire life, and I excuse no one or their bad behavior for adopting poor role models instead of good ones. That's a personal choice, and one we're individually responsible for.
Our misplaced priorities in dealing with other issues you raise are very real, very serious, and while they scare me even more, are beyond the scope of my post - but I think we're in agreement there. The state of our power supply, and most other infrastructure is appalling, and there's no excuse for its failure to be addressed adequately. More than enough money has existed to address those things. Misplaced priorities.
jtr1962
Flashaholic
I generally agree there. Just to clarify a bit further, the problems I mentioned with the police existed long before the pandemic started. Yes, most of them are top down. A small but vocal minority who are connected complains about a minority of reckless cyclists, so the police start pointless bike dragnets, none of which catch any of the problem cyclists. Most cops even admit they didn't become police to do stuff like this, but they have their orders. Same thing for motor vehicle enforcement. They're literally told to just ignore a lot of unsafe driving to keep traffic moving, and for other reasons.
Even when things got really bad in the early 1990s, crime largely didn't reach my area. But it needs to be dealt with. If it's any consolation, NYC elected an ex-cop as its Mayor, so things WILL get better. It just might take a few years.
Of course it is. Just saying with all the poor role models far too many people start to normalize that sort of behavior. People generally choose the path of least resistance. If they do something boorish, they'll try to justify it by saying some famous celebrity does it, so why can't I? We just had a great example of that at the Oscars, which I'm sure lots of people will use to justify punching someone for a minor insult.
I don't know why people can't aspire to be better. I know it's much harder. But it has its own set of rewards.
They call the television "the one eyed devil" for a reason.
Sociatal decay did not begin with television, yet television accelarated the process. Books and magazines have always had their influence, then the radio added sound to the mental "picture" as it were. Later as television and movies pushed the envelope more and more. Little by little the subject matter became more and more socially unacceptable as society tuned in for more.
Eventually it disguised bad as good and good as bad while politicians and news outfit use it to pit American against American. The radio as well. By the time the pandemic was upon the US society had a nice wide chasm down the center with half neatly divided on one side, the rest on the other side. Just the way "they" wanted it.
"They" are the folks with 10-15% approval rating and 90% re-election rate. Every 2 to 4 years they carpet bomb the television sound bites designed to show that other person can't be trusted but the encumbant really cares about……the children
Enter a virus that at first spread like a Nebraska wildfire throughout a society kept alive pills and nothing better to do than watch the one eyed devil hour after hour, month after month and a recipe for mental hysteria was baked to near perfection.
For decade after decade we have watched the breakdown of the family, the morals, the rules of conduct on our television from a nice comfy sofa and now we wonder howthehell did we get here.
The pandemic was a lesson in just how screwed up we are as a species and yet by and large we haven't learned a dawg gone thing.
Sociatal decay did not begin with television, yet television accelarated the process. Books and magazines have always had their influence, then the radio added sound to the mental "picture" as it were. Later as television and movies pushed the envelope more and more. Little by little the subject matter became more and more socially unacceptable as society tuned in for more.
Eventually it disguised bad as good and good as bad while politicians and news outfit use it to pit American against American. The radio as well. By the time the pandemic was upon the US society had a nice wide chasm down the center with half neatly divided on one side, the rest on the other side. Just the way "they" wanted it.
"They" are the folks with 10-15% approval rating and 90% re-election rate. Every 2 to 4 years they carpet bomb the television sound bites designed to show that other person can't be trusted but the encumbant really cares about……the children
Enter a virus that at first spread like a Nebraska wildfire throughout a society kept alive pills and nothing better to do than watch the one eyed devil hour after hour, month after month and a recipe for mental hysteria was baked to near perfection.
For decade after decade we have watched the breakdown of the family, the morals, the rules of conduct on our television from a nice comfy sofa and now we wonder howthehell did we get here.
The pandemic was a lesson in just how screwed up we are as a species and yet by and large we haven't learned a dawg gone thing.
jtr1962
Flashaholic
I'll chalk up the vast majority of our problems to the horrid level of education in the US relative to most other developed countries. It's easy to sell a bill of goods when most of the people you're talking to were never taught critical reasoning skills. Don't let the high numbers of college graduates fool you, either. Lots of colleges have to offer remedial reading. Basically, the average college graduate these days is probably less well educated than high school graduates were 50 years ago. My maternal grandfather (born 1901) only had a sixth grade education, but he was well versed on a variety of subjects. Apparently he learned enough by sixth grade to keep learning the rest of his life.
Remember the Romans had bread and circuses. Distracting the masses is nothing new. We've just honed it to a fine art with search engines, tracking cookies, etc.
Remember the Romans had bread and circuses. Distracting the masses is nothing new. We've just honed it to a fine art with search engines, tracking cookies, etc.
They call the television "the one eyed devil" for a reason.
Sociatal decay did not begin with television, yet television accelarated the process. Books and magazines have always had their influence, then the radio added sound to the mental "picture" as it were. Later as television and movies pushed the envelope more and more. Little by little the subject matter became more and more socially unacceptable as society tuned in for more.
Eventually it disguised bad as good and good as bad while politicians and news outfit use it to pit American against American. The radio as well. By the time the pandemic was upon the US society had a nice wide chasm down the center with half neatly divided on one side, the rest on the other side. Just the way "they" wanted it.
"They" are the folks with 10-15% approval rating and 90% re-election rate. Every 2 to 4 years they carpet bomb the television sound bites designed to show that other person can't be trusted but the encumbant really cares about……the children
Enter a virus that at first spread like a Nebraska wildfire throughout a society kept alive pills and nothing better to do than watch the one eyed devil hour after hour, month after month and a recipe for mental hysteria was baked to near perfection.
For decade after decade we have watched the breakdown of the family, the morals, the rules of conduct on our television from a nice comfy sofa and now we wonder howthehell did we get here.
The pandemic was a lesson in just how screwed up we are as a species and yet by and large we haven't learned a dawg gone thing.
raggie33
*the raggedier*
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2003
- Messages
- 13,592
for real im so crazy i even shock my self .
We are getting many people with COVID these days, kids much so. It is heartening that deaths and hospitalizations are relatively low. I took my son and two of his friends to a movie couple weeks ago, one friend was coughing badly on the phone as we neared his house. I put a mask on before he got in the vehicle. Considering a fall booster, hopefully will lessen downtime.
Associated press reporting a couple of studies looking at COVID origins in different ways, strengthening the belief of close proximity and eating wild animals in Wuhan China starting the mess, but plenty people can't say that is for sure for sure. Hoping all of you are doing ok and not getting all Willy Nilly about the Monkey Pox pustule yuckiness.
apnews.com
Associated press reporting a couple of studies looking at COVID origins in different ways, strengthening the belief of close proximity and eating wild animals in Wuhan China starting the mess, but plenty people can't say that is for sure for sure. Hoping all of you are doing ok and not getting all Willy Nilly about the Monkey Pox pustule yuckiness.
New studies bolster theory coronavirus emerged from the wild
Two new studies provide more evidence that the coronavirus pandemic originated in a Wuhan, China market where live animals were sold.
apnews.com
We are getting many people with COVID these days, kids much so. It is heartening that deaths and hospitalizations are relatively low. I took my son and two of his friends to a movie couple weeks ago, one friend was coughing badly on the phone as we neared his house. I put a mask on before he got in the vehicle. Considering a fall booster, hopefully will lessen downtime.
Associated press reporting a couple of studies looking at COVID origins in different ways, strengthening the belief of close proximity and eating wild animals in Wuhan China starting the mess, but plenty people can't say that is for sure for sure. Hoping all of you are doing ok and not getting all Willy Nilly about the Monkey Pox pustule yuckiness.
New studies bolster theory coronavirus emerged from the wild
Two new studies provide more evidence that the coronavirus pandemic originated in a Wuhan, China market where live animals were sold.
Why did you choose to expose your family and the people in the movie theater to someone that had such a cough?
raggie33
*the raggedier*
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2003
- Messages
- 13,592
i had a freind who saw me wearing a mask in the early covid days. and he pretended to cough as if he was sick. i just ignored him. sadly months latter his father got covid and it sadly took his life..
My college advisor said I had a 4th grade reading level. I just chuckled knowing all through grade school the teachers had done their best to teach us boomers and x-ers apparently to no avail. I remember reading my high school diploma a couple years later thinking I had learned to read by reading Readers Digest and instruction manuals not Shakespere and grammer classes.
American kids are smart yet the tried and true acedemia makes kids learn things so irrelevent to a normal life the kids end up stupid. I used to show my kids how the crap they were being taught in school could be applied to real life. It helped them understand some but they were rarely challenged so they were bored most of the time.
