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shadowkatAt least it was a pretty day - mild, sunny, not humid, in the 70s this evening, and 60s this morning. So not a bad walk to and from the trains.
But commuting would be easier if less people -- the subway was delayed on the way home, so as a result kind of crowded when I boarded, so much so that I jumped to another car. (The car I was in had lots of people too, but it wasn't packed at least. I'm dreading the fall - and hoping we stick to the hybrid schedules - which seem to benefit managers more than they do us. Plus side of the pandemic on subways and trains? Less passengers, cleaner, and not as noisy - people talk less.)
I'm sleepy. Dosed on the train ride to work and home. Also the book I'm currently reading isn't thrilling me, instead the books I've been writing off and on - kept jumping into my head wanting attention. That's not happened in a while. I may go back and edit the treatise I wrote - which is disguised as a romance novel. [Except I suck at editing - I have a tendency to add stuff, instead of deleting it - which may explain why I enjoy editing far more than I should?] Or the science fiction novel I was working on and almost done with prior to 2019. But I write so much at work - I'm not sure I'm up to it. I suppose I could give up blogging in this journal or playing on a fanboard in favor of it - but where's the fun in that?
**
Crazy Workplace
People for the most part wear masks on the trains and indoors in NYC. Outside, it's a toss-up. Some do. Some don't. On the train platforms? Same.
Meeting went well - considering the silly consultant sent me the questions at 4pm on Sunday, and I had to coordinate answers this morning. I think I surprised him - I got the answers so quickly. I honestly think the consultant was employing a couple of delaying tactics. But crazy org really wants this completed before the end of September. Also, I'm not certain the consultant understands what we're asking of them - honestly? I don't blame them.
Anyhow, after the meeting, I went to consult Breaking Bad in the conference room. He's co-opted it. It is covered with paper. It's just an extension of his office now. Every spare surface is covered with paper. Including the chairs, and some of the floor.
Me: Uh..I was about to ask what this is about - but I'm not sure I want to know.
Breaking Bad just looks at me with this kind of lost expression. He looks like a snowy owl buried in paper. His hair is white, his beard is scraggly, his glasses give him an owlish look. And he looks kind of buried. I felt sorry for him. New agency may kill him.
***
The US vs. The Corona Virus
The Governor is annoyed because the cases have begun to spike again, and we still need to get more people vaccinated. We have about 75%, so it's really just the 24% that has to get it. How are they doing it? Well a combination of bribes, threats and mandates apparently. Actually moving more and more in the direction of mandates and threats.
The Governor is asking all businesses to mandate vaccines for any entry into their buildings, much like the Springsteen show did.
Also all teachers will have to get vaccinated, or take tests regularly. All health care workers, all front-facing or public facing MTA and Transportation employees, etc.
Cubicle mate was annoyed with un-vaccinated. He's had the virus, and still gets short of breath and struggles with exhaustion over seven months since he had it. Every time someone says its like the flu - he wants to kick them.
The Governor is stopping just short of mandated masks indoors for anyone who is vaccinated. As is the Mayor. Although the Governor kind of said - he had no problem insisting on it again. What everyone is concerned about is the virus will eventually mutate into a version that we're not vaccinated against - and we'll be back to where we started and all because of the ding-bat anti-vaxxers.
In other virus news, Mayor Bill de Blasio urged vaccinated New Yorkers to wear masks indoors as cases surge, but balked at a mask mandate. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a vaccine mandate for New York City transit workers. [Considering half of them don't wear masks, and only 47% of the agency has been vaccinated last I checked - I think he should have done that three months ago. Note it is ridiculously easy for these folks to get vaccinated - there's multiple sites, and private ones, just for them. Also they were offering the Pfizer to them.]
1. COVID hospitalizations are at 788. Of the 72,514 tests reported yesterday, 2,143, or 2.96 percent, were positive. The 7-day positivity average was 2.53 percent. There were 162 patients in ICU yesterday, up 10 from the previous day. Of them, 56 are intubated. Sadly, we lost four New Yorkers to the virus. [To put this in context? This time last year we were averaging over 2,000 hospitalizations a day. Florida currently has 10,000 hospitalizations. Also we were averaging 100-700 deaths a day, now we just have 2-4.]
2. As of 11am this morning, 75.5 CDC. Over the past 24 hours, 29,127 total doses have been administered. To date, New York has administered 22,324,811 total doses with 68.7 percent of adult New Yorkers completing their vaccine series. See additional data on the State's Vaccine Tracker. [Getting closer to the 70% fully vaccinated.]
3. MTA and Port Authority employees working in New York facilities will be required to either be vaccinated or get weekly testing starting Labor Day. Employee-only vaccination sites will increase access for these workforces, along with nine new vaccination sites that will open this week. [Personally, I would have mandated that by Memorial Day. But whatever. Note - we already have employee only sites.]
4. New York State will administer nearly $1.1 billion in federal funding directly to child care providers. This funding—available through the American Rescue Plan Act and the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act—will help stabilize the industry and enable more parents to return to the workplace full time. It will provide direct support to child care programs and help replenish losses experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
5. Broadway theaters and the Metropolitan Opera will require proof of vaccination and masks when performances return. New York is not New York without the arts. To ensure the industry returns safely, all 41 Broadway theaters will require patrons and staff to be fully vaccinated. Today I encouraged private businesses like restaurants and stadiums to require patrons to be vaccinated in order to incentivize more people to get vaccinated. [I may be able to see a Bway show again? I miss live theater, its my first love.]
6. Reminder that Excelsior Vaccination Passes are valid for 365 days after the final dose. Back in May, the State extended the validity of vaccination status through Excelsior Pass from 180 days to 365 days (after the final vaccine dose is administered). Those who already have a COVID-19 Vaccination Pass with a shorter period of validity can simply retrieve a new Pass at epass.ny.gov in order to take advantage of the extension.[Just updated mine - thanks for the reminder. Previous version expired 9/15/21, new one 3/22/2022.]
Everyone Else"
* The governor or Louisiana reinstated an indoor mask mandate, as did San Francisco and several surrounding Bay Area counties. [It's only a matter of time before we do - too.]
* The Republican governors of South Carolina and Ohio both said they would not renew public health mandates like mask-wearing and social distancing, even as their states continue to battle a raging pandemic.
* Senator Lindsey Graham said he has a breakthrough Covid infection. [Is it too much to ask that he die of it? Yes, I guess so. Can it at least be a horrible case with long-term effects?]
* Home Depot, SoulCycle and other businesses tightened pandemic restrictions. [Interesting.]
* Dr. Anthony Fauci predicted cases would rise, but said lockdowns were unlikely. [That's because no one wants to lock down the economy again.]
* Provincetown, Mass., thought it was safe to return to prepandemic partying. It wasn’t. From the 965 cases that scientists have traced to gatherings in Provincetown, among them 238 residents, scientists have drawn important conclusions about the Delta variant of the coronavirus, which has helped drive a rise in hospitalizations across the country, mostly among the unvaccinated.
The good news is that people infected in Provincetown, about three-quarters of whom were fully vaccinated, were, for the most part, not seriously ill; no deaths were reported, and only seven people were hospitalized. The bad news is that the variant is extraordinarily contagious — as contagious as chickenpox, the C.D.C. said — and people with so-called breakthrough infections may spread the virus to others.
* Oh, a woman who fled NYC to the Conneticut Suburbs last year, is struggling to make new friends so went out to dinner with her neighbor from across the street. Only to discover the neighbor wouldn't get vaccinated due to fears about side-effects. The woman has a newborn. She was furious, because the neighbor knew she had a newborn. Now they can't be friends.
[If you've not gotten the vaccine, you should get one. The side-effects are far less likely to kill you than either COVID or the vaccinated folks who are fed up with your sorry ass, and verging on homicidial. 70% of NY State wants to kick 24% of NY State that refuses to get vaccinated across the Atlantic and back at the moment. I thought I was annoyed, in the last two weeks I've encountered rage that puts mine to shame.]
The World vs. COVID
*Meanwhile the UK is wisely looking into a booster shot, which it will roll out once a year along with the flu shot.
* And with COVAX behind in distributing doses to the disadvantaged countries around the world, the Delta Variant is on the rise everywhere.
* Thailand is extending strict coronavirus measures to more regions of the country.
* In France, demonstrations against the country’s vaccine requirements surged for a third straight weekend.
*Canada fined two travelers nearly $20,000 each for providing false vaccination documents.
***
In other news...In a rare weekend session, the Senate finalized a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. We’re combing through the 2,702-page bill for details.
The legislation includes billions of dollars to better prepare the country for global warming, in what could be the largest investment in climate resilience in American history. Amtrak would get $66 billion in new funding, which would be the largest investment in passenger rail since it was created.
That's great news. We really need better train service in this country. Trains are messy, true, but they are the least messy.
**
What else to talk about? I know there's something but I'm drawing a blank.
Life isn't fair? But you already knew that. Matt Damon got in trouble with his daughter for using the word "fag" at the dinner table - they got into an argument, she left the table, wrote a long essay about it, gave it to him, and he was so filled with remorse that he chose never to use it again and decided to tell the world.
I think he might re-think that decision soon. Social Media was far less forgiving than his daughter, and far less ...complimentary of his decision to brag about not doing it ever again publicly. (Apparently they didn't know he'd been using it - and now, well, that cat is out of the bag isn't it?)
Damon: Hey look, I gave up saying the "F" word for my daughter. She enlightened me. Aren't I cool?
Social media: Uhm, wait you were doing what? We didn't know you were doing that! Frigging hell, and we liked you. We thought you were woke! Now we don't. You frigging bigot! Fuck off!
Damon: But I stopped saying it. It was just something we said. It's a Boston thing.
Social Media: You realize that makes it worse. Right? You only stopped to appease your daughter. At least she's woke. You shouldn't have been saying it at all you bigot. I'm not seeing your movies any more!!!
Something tells me that his new movie Stillwater may have issues at the Box Office?
I don't know, maybe it's just me? But social media and the internet has become increasingly touchy about words.
I get it. I do. Often we can ignore the nasty oral slang folks say on the street and around us daily, but when it is in print - it's hard to look away. And if you are like me, some words just make you cringe. I know the word "faggot" always has. I really despise that word. It's like nails on a chalkboard kind of word. Rhymes with Maggot. Ugh. I would not mind having that word removed from our current lingo or vernacular.
But, I also live in New York City - so I hear that word and words like it all the time. New Yorkers love to throw all sorts of angry words and insults in your face - mainly just to see how you will react. Over time you learn not to. It's decisively a New Yorker thing or so I've discovered. I think they get off on shocking people? (I don't use them and work to block them out.) And I've heard them a lot less in the last two years, because I'm not commuting that much, there's less people, not as much chatting around me, and only five to six people in the office. Today, I think it was five. But prior to the pandemic - I'd hear fag, fuck, motherfucker, cunt, bitch, nigger, fucking niggah, son of a bitch, faggot, fuckhead, shithead, and various combinations of all of the above on a weekly basis. I used to play a game - to see how many new curse words and insults I could learn in the space of one subway ride or walk down the street at work.
After a while, you learn how to block it out. Lando was horrific at times. I finally took a page from cubicle mate and invested in some Bose head-phones, which I wear constantly - the cancel out background noise and I listen to music.
I don't like the word "fag" - it has a horrible sound to it. It's a word that feels like a punch to the gut. I can literally sense the pain and rage behind it. Rhymes with "hag" - also a nasty word. That feels like a punch. I've learned to not use words that incite rage or pain in others, as much as possible. Words can pack a wallop. And despite what folks state - they care far more than they should what others think.
Although I admittedly like the word Fuck, it has a nice ring to it. Good thing too since my brother and sister-in-law were using it constantly. I'd gotten out of the habit over the pandemic. I only was talking daily over the phone to mother and she has no patience for it.
Bitch - I could do without, but so many people have reclaimed it, and the Queer community in New York and in the media seems to use it all the time. It's another word, I hear a lot on the street.
Cunt? Irritates me. Dick - Amuses me, because it is short for Richard, and a lot of Richard's are well Dick's.
Asshole is a favorite - it's equal opportunity. I prefer equal opportunity insults. Pick something that can go across the board.
Bastard? I find illogical, so it doesn't really have any impact. Kind of weak. Jesus - I kind of enjoy, mainly because I'm not really a believer and I find it interesting.
Nigger - makes me cringe. Black folks in NYC use it all the time. I hear it all the time. Lando used it constantly, and I was always cringing. Mainly because I get the connotation - it's an insult no matter who uses it. And it has a horrific sound.
Whore - doesn't bother me. Nor does slut. Skank. Any of that.
Tranie - annoys, and I wish people wouldn't use it. It's like nails on chalk-board.
Retard? Dated and painful.
Gypped - I had to wean myself off of - because it has a great sound and works very well, better than scammed or swindled. Also Gypsies - I don't care one way or the other about, they've more or less disappeared from New York. But I don't use it because it bothers folks. And there are other words.
Indian - is another one - because I grew up with it, its ingrained. Injun - I've always hated. The Western Genre used it a lot, and every time they did, I'd cringe.
Words can feel like swords if used inappropriately. We all need to mindful of their use, I think. But I also think we need to be kinder towards those who screw up with their usage from time to time. Everyone is human, no one is perfect - if people were, we wouldn't have climate change and a pandemic among other things. It's best to gently wean folks off of it. It's programming. That's all. And changing programming requires work and time. Being cruel and judgemental - doesn't change the programming it just digs it in deeper. I think that's the problem with social media sometimes - people forget they have to be kind to everyone, not just those they like or are like-minded.
I also keep thinking of that saying people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones?
Okay enough for tonight. No pictures, sorry, you'll just have to do without. ;-)
But commuting would be easier if less people -- the subway was delayed on the way home, so as a result kind of crowded when I boarded, so much so that I jumped to another car. (The car I was in had lots of people too, but it wasn't packed at least. I'm dreading the fall - and hoping we stick to the hybrid schedules - which seem to benefit managers more than they do us. Plus side of the pandemic on subways and trains? Less passengers, cleaner, and not as noisy - people talk less.)
I'm sleepy. Dosed on the train ride to work and home. Also the book I'm currently reading isn't thrilling me, instead the books I've been writing off and on - kept jumping into my head wanting attention. That's not happened in a while. I may go back and edit the treatise I wrote - which is disguised as a romance novel. [Except I suck at editing - I have a tendency to add stuff, instead of deleting it - which may explain why I enjoy editing far more than I should?] Or the science fiction novel I was working on and almost done with prior to 2019. But I write so much at work - I'm not sure I'm up to it. I suppose I could give up blogging in this journal or playing on a fanboard in favor of it - but where's the fun in that?
**
Crazy Workplace
People for the most part wear masks on the trains and indoors in NYC. Outside, it's a toss-up. Some do. Some don't. On the train platforms? Same.
Meeting went well - considering the silly consultant sent me the questions at 4pm on Sunday, and I had to coordinate answers this morning. I think I surprised him - I got the answers so quickly. I honestly think the consultant was employing a couple of delaying tactics. But crazy org really wants this completed before the end of September. Also, I'm not certain the consultant understands what we're asking of them - honestly? I don't blame them.
Anyhow, after the meeting, I went to consult Breaking Bad in the conference room. He's co-opted it. It is covered with paper. It's just an extension of his office now. Every spare surface is covered with paper. Including the chairs, and some of the floor.
Me: Uh..I was about to ask what this is about - but I'm not sure I want to know.
Breaking Bad just looks at me with this kind of lost expression. He looks like a snowy owl buried in paper. His hair is white, his beard is scraggly, his glasses give him an owlish look. And he looks kind of buried. I felt sorry for him. New agency may kill him.
***
The US vs. The Corona Virus
The Governor is annoyed because the cases have begun to spike again, and we still need to get more people vaccinated. We have about 75%, so it's really just the 24% that has to get it. How are they doing it? Well a combination of bribes, threats and mandates apparently. Actually moving more and more in the direction of mandates and threats.
The Governor is asking all businesses to mandate vaccines for any entry into their buildings, much like the Springsteen show did.
Also all teachers will have to get vaccinated, or take tests regularly. All health care workers, all front-facing or public facing MTA and Transportation employees, etc.
Cubicle mate was annoyed with un-vaccinated. He's had the virus, and still gets short of breath and struggles with exhaustion over seven months since he had it. Every time someone says its like the flu - he wants to kick them.
The Governor is stopping just short of mandated masks indoors for anyone who is vaccinated. As is the Mayor. Although the Governor kind of said - he had no problem insisting on it again. What everyone is concerned about is the virus will eventually mutate into a version that we're not vaccinated against - and we'll be back to where we started and all because of the ding-bat anti-vaxxers.
In other virus news, Mayor Bill de Blasio urged vaccinated New Yorkers to wear masks indoors as cases surge, but balked at a mask mandate. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a vaccine mandate for New York City transit workers. [Considering half of them don't wear masks, and only 47% of the agency has been vaccinated last I checked - I think he should have done that three months ago. Note it is ridiculously easy for these folks to get vaccinated - there's multiple sites, and private ones, just for them. Also they were offering the Pfizer to them.]
1. COVID hospitalizations are at 788. Of the 72,514 tests reported yesterday, 2,143, or 2.96 percent, were positive. The 7-day positivity average was 2.53 percent. There were 162 patients in ICU yesterday, up 10 from the previous day. Of them, 56 are intubated. Sadly, we lost four New Yorkers to the virus. [To put this in context? This time last year we were averaging over 2,000 hospitalizations a day. Florida currently has 10,000 hospitalizations. Also we were averaging 100-700 deaths a day, now we just have 2-4.]
2. As of 11am this morning, 75.5 CDC. Over the past 24 hours, 29,127 total doses have been administered. To date, New York has administered 22,324,811 total doses with 68.7 percent of adult New Yorkers completing their vaccine series. See additional data on the State's Vaccine Tracker. [Getting closer to the 70% fully vaccinated.]
3. MTA and Port Authority employees working in New York facilities will be required to either be vaccinated or get weekly testing starting Labor Day. Employee-only vaccination sites will increase access for these workforces, along with nine new vaccination sites that will open this week. [Personally, I would have mandated that by Memorial Day. But whatever. Note - we already have employee only sites.]
4. New York State will administer nearly $1.1 billion in federal funding directly to child care providers. This funding—available through the American Rescue Plan Act and the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act—will help stabilize the industry and enable more parents to return to the workplace full time. It will provide direct support to child care programs and help replenish losses experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
5. Broadway theaters and the Metropolitan Opera will require proof of vaccination and masks when performances return. New York is not New York without the arts. To ensure the industry returns safely, all 41 Broadway theaters will require patrons and staff to be fully vaccinated. Today I encouraged private businesses like restaurants and stadiums to require patrons to be vaccinated in order to incentivize more people to get vaccinated. [I may be able to see a Bway show again? I miss live theater, its my first love.]
6. Reminder that Excelsior Vaccination Passes are valid for 365 days after the final dose. Back in May, the State extended the validity of vaccination status through Excelsior Pass from 180 days to 365 days (after the final vaccine dose is administered). Those who already have a COVID-19 Vaccination Pass with a shorter period of validity can simply retrieve a new Pass at epass.ny.gov in order to take advantage of the extension.[Just updated mine - thanks for the reminder. Previous version expired 9/15/21, new one 3/22/2022.]
Everyone Else"
* The governor or Louisiana reinstated an indoor mask mandate, as did San Francisco and several surrounding Bay Area counties. [It's only a matter of time before we do - too.]
* The Republican governors of South Carolina and Ohio both said they would not renew public health mandates like mask-wearing and social distancing, even as their states continue to battle a raging pandemic.
* Senator Lindsey Graham said he has a breakthrough Covid infection. [Is it too much to ask that he die of it? Yes, I guess so. Can it at least be a horrible case with long-term effects?]
* Home Depot, SoulCycle and other businesses tightened pandemic restrictions. [Interesting.]
* Dr. Anthony Fauci predicted cases would rise, but said lockdowns were unlikely. [That's because no one wants to lock down the economy again.]
* Provincetown, Mass., thought it was safe to return to prepandemic partying. It wasn’t. From the 965 cases that scientists have traced to gatherings in Provincetown, among them 238 residents, scientists have drawn important conclusions about the Delta variant of the coronavirus, which has helped drive a rise in hospitalizations across the country, mostly among the unvaccinated.
The good news is that people infected in Provincetown, about three-quarters of whom were fully vaccinated, were, for the most part, not seriously ill; no deaths were reported, and only seven people were hospitalized. The bad news is that the variant is extraordinarily contagious — as contagious as chickenpox, the C.D.C. said — and people with so-called breakthrough infections may spread the virus to others.
* Oh, a woman who fled NYC to the Conneticut Suburbs last year, is struggling to make new friends so went out to dinner with her neighbor from across the street. Only to discover the neighbor wouldn't get vaccinated due to fears about side-effects. The woman has a newborn. She was furious, because the neighbor knew she had a newborn. Now they can't be friends.
[If you've not gotten the vaccine, you should get one. The side-effects are far less likely to kill you than either COVID or the vaccinated folks who are fed up with your sorry ass, and verging on homicidial. 70% of NY State wants to kick 24% of NY State that refuses to get vaccinated across the Atlantic and back at the moment. I thought I was annoyed, in the last two weeks I've encountered rage that puts mine to shame.]
The World vs. COVID
*Meanwhile the UK is wisely looking into a booster shot, which it will roll out once a year along with the flu shot.
* And with COVAX behind in distributing doses to the disadvantaged countries around the world, the Delta Variant is on the rise everywhere.
* Thailand is extending strict coronavirus measures to more regions of the country.
* In France, demonstrations against the country’s vaccine requirements surged for a third straight weekend.
*Canada fined two travelers nearly $20,000 each for providing false vaccination documents.
***
In other news...In a rare weekend session, the Senate finalized a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. We’re combing through the 2,702-page bill for details.
The legislation includes billions of dollars to better prepare the country for global warming, in what could be the largest investment in climate resilience in American history. Amtrak would get $66 billion in new funding, which would be the largest investment in passenger rail since it was created.
That's great news. We really need better train service in this country. Trains are messy, true, but they are the least messy.
**
What else to talk about? I know there's something but I'm drawing a blank.
Life isn't fair? But you already knew that. Matt Damon got in trouble with his daughter for using the word "fag" at the dinner table - they got into an argument, she left the table, wrote a long essay about it, gave it to him, and he was so filled with remorse that he chose never to use it again and decided to tell the world.
I think he might re-think that decision soon. Social Media was far less forgiving than his daughter, and far less ...complimentary of his decision to brag about not doing it ever again publicly. (Apparently they didn't know he'd been using it - and now, well, that cat is out of the bag isn't it?)
Damon: Hey look, I gave up saying the "F" word for my daughter. She enlightened me. Aren't I cool?
Social media: Uhm, wait you were doing what? We didn't know you were doing that! Frigging hell, and we liked you. We thought you were woke! Now we don't. You frigging bigot! Fuck off!
Damon: But I stopped saying it. It was just something we said. It's a Boston thing.
Social Media: You realize that makes it worse. Right? You only stopped to appease your daughter. At least she's woke. You shouldn't have been saying it at all you bigot. I'm not seeing your movies any more!!!
Something tells me that his new movie Stillwater may have issues at the Box Office?
I don't know, maybe it's just me? But social media and the internet has become increasingly touchy about words.
I get it. I do. Often we can ignore the nasty oral slang folks say on the street and around us daily, but when it is in print - it's hard to look away. And if you are like me, some words just make you cringe. I know the word "faggot" always has. I really despise that word. It's like nails on a chalkboard kind of word. Rhymes with Maggot. Ugh. I would not mind having that word removed from our current lingo or vernacular.
But, I also live in New York City - so I hear that word and words like it all the time. New Yorkers love to throw all sorts of angry words and insults in your face - mainly just to see how you will react. Over time you learn not to. It's decisively a New Yorker thing or so I've discovered. I think they get off on shocking people? (I don't use them and work to block them out.) And I've heard them a lot less in the last two years, because I'm not commuting that much, there's less people, not as much chatting around me, and only five to six people in the office. Today, I think it was five. But prior to the pandemic - I'd hear fag, fuck, motherfucker, cunt, bitch, nigger, fucking niggah, son of a bitch, faggot, fuckhead, shithead, and various combinations of all of the above on a weekly basis. I used to play a game - to see how many new curse words and insults I could learn in the space of one subway ride or walk down the street at work.
After a while, you learn how to block it out. Lando was horrific at times. I finally took a page from cubicle mate and invested in some Bose head-phones, which I wear constantly - the cancel out background noise and I listen to music.
I don't like the word "fag" - it has a horrible sound to it. It's a word that feels like a punch to the gut. I can literally sense the pain and rage behind it. Rhymes with "hag" - also a nasty word. That feels like a punch. I've learned to not use words that incite rage or pain in others, as much as possible. Words can pack a wallop. And despite what folks state - they care far more than they should what others think.
Although I admittedly like the word Fuck, it has a nice ring to it. Good thing too since my brother and sister-in-law were using it constantly. I'd gotten out of the habit over the pandemic. I only was talking daily over the phone to mother and she has no patience for it.
Bitch - I could do without, but so many people have reclaimed it, and the Queer community in New York and in the media seems to use it all the time. It's another word, I hear a lot on the street.
Cunt? Irritates me. Dick - Amuses me, because it is short for Richard, and a lot of Richard's are well Dick's.
Asshole is a favorite - it's equal opportunity. I prefer equal opportunity insults. Pick something that can go across the board.
Bastard? I find illogical, so it doesn't really have any impact. Kind of weak. Jesus - I kind of enjoy, mainly because I'm not really a believer and I find it interesting.
Nigger - makes me cringe. Black folks in NYC use it all the time. I hear it all the time. Lando used it constantly, and I was always cringing. Mainly because I get the connotation - it's an insult no matter who uses it. And it has a horrific sound.
Whore - doesn't bother me. Nor does slut. Skank. Any of that.
Tranie - annoys, and I wish people wouldn't use it. It's like nails on chalk-board.
Retard? Dated and painful.
Gypped - I had to wean myself off of - because it has a great sound and works very well, better than scammed or swindled. Also Gypsies - I don't care one way or the other about, they've more or less disappeared from New York. But I don't use it because it bothers folks. And there are other words.
Indian - is another one - because I grew up with it, its ingrained. Injun - I've always hated. The Western Genre used it a lot, and every time they did, I'd cringe.
Words can feel like swords if used inappropriately. We all need to mindful of their use, I think. But I also think we need to be kinder towards those who screw up with their usage from time to time. Everyone is human, no one is perfect - if people were, we wouldn't have climate change and a pandemic among other things. It's best to gently wean folks off of it. It's programming. That's all. And changing programming requires work and time. Being cruel and judgemental - doesn't change the programming it just digs it in deeper. I think that's the problem with social media sometimes - people forget they have to be kind to everyone, not just those they like or are like-minded.
I also keep thinking of that saying people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones?
Okay enough for tonight. No pictures, sorry, you'll just have to do without. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2021-08-03 01:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-03 01:16 am (UTC)It was kind of embarrassing. They weren't gentle about pointing it out to me. They assumed I knew. I did not.
I got defensive, as one does - when one is called out in such a way.
I think people need to be more gentle in their approach, it's easier to persuade someone to stop using a word if you gently point it out to them. I've stopped using "lame" - since another poster got upset about its use.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-03 01:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-03 06:10 pm (UTC)Hopefully this has some teeth, because they were supposedly doing the same for Lollapalooza but it was a joke. There were bunches of people selling vaccine cards near entrances and the staff barely glanced at what people showed.