[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Only need a few screaming superspreaders distributed through a dense and maskless crowd....

Why not have a special section for the people who want to act like hooligans, with masked security between? They'll be more likely to only infect each other.... (Think I'd rather watch the fights than the game. But you should probably wait until after the pandemic to start headbutting people again (in the face, at least... entertaining and educational as the variations in form and strategy may be).)

Basing progressive goals---whether about race, multiculturalism, or vaccination---on sports success is hazardous... when I read about how England's team was being treated as a symbol of the benefits of racial diversity---'Racial and ethnic minorities are good because they help us win at sports!'---the potential fall-out from a loss seemed obvious....

Saw a headline recently claiming 'The Sports Teams Getting the COVID Vaccine Are Getting an Edge'---glancing at the article now I see it happens to focus on my city's local baseball team as an example of what can happen to teams whose players don't get vaccinated:

https://slate.com/cu...sm-mlb-nfl.html

Granted, encouraging more people to get vaccinated is certainly good... and it's generally nice when celebrities use their platforms to promote good causes.

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 13 July 2021 - 10:25 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

I think it's more magnified this time because the hypocritical right wing press and hypocritical right wing politicians are all bandwaggoning HARD to show how much they dislike racism despite openly enabling it about 2 weeks ago.

So no-one really thinks that being a football fan and English automatically makes you a thug (though being a Newcastle fan kind of does!! ) but there's a lot more anger this time than before.

[Maark Abbott]

Tiste Simeon, on 13 July 2021 - 11:40 PM, said:

So no-one really thinks that being a football fan and English automatically makes you a thug

I dunno, English fans have such a bad reputation over on the continent that my discord has been flooded with messages that are on the track of the French Castle in Monty Python and it's gotten quite silly.

As to current covid happenings, working from home for now, but I really don't feel comfortable using public transport. Come Saturday I can see most people just not even trying to be sensible any more. Last week, most of them already weren't.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

amphibian, on 13 July 2021 - 07:58 PM, said:

I dunno about any of this - when I learn that there's many people saying there's enormous amounts of bigotry bring directed at them, especially in ways that make them fear for their lives, because they're brown or black, my response isn't to get tired of the "we must look at ourselves" spiel or to emphasize how I'm not part of the crowd that's hurting the people this way.

The people being hurt aren't asking you if you're abusive in real life or online. They're telling you that this person or that group are doing that and ask that you help to step up to stop it. And some of the hurt people are even providing step by step processes for support or how to make things better.

Learning to live with it or being tired of the inference that all football fans are abusive hooligans seem like bad takeaways from this.

Let the people who want to feel superior do so - they've barely needed an excuse before and will continue to do so. How about actively helping people experience less abuse instead?

In all honesty I agree with that. I'd been riled up all most of yesterday and the day before and shouldn't have posted until I'd calmed down. I also did a terrible job of explaining my anger given there are so many more layers to it, the first being anger that the sick knowing feeling in my stomach on Sunday night that the violence and abuse would happen was entirely, sadly correct. Mezla also mentioned a few reasons that chime with me in her much better post, and Tiste was spot on with how the press and government have gone about handling it. The sheer number of people I've seen who a few months back were claiming there is no racism in the UK and that taking the knee is some sort of heinous sin now decrying said racism and abuse is.... well, rage inducing.

Whether I'm cross about faux superiority or not really isn't important in what's happened and I shouldn't have made it appear I thought it was. I would love to see it cleaned up as a sport for good and all and for the abuse and reprehensible behaviour to stop. Absolutely my bad and I apologise for an unhelpful addition to the discussion.

Tiste Simeon, on 13 July 2021 - 11:40 PM, said:

So no-one really thinks that being a football fan and English automatically makes you a thug (though being a Newcastle fan kind of does!! )

Oi, Newcastle's pathetic record over the last few years is punishment enough

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 14 July 2021 - 01:39 PM

[Macros]

Last aside, then back to covid

Nsfw, but Pie fucking nails it as usualhttps://www.instagra...edium=copy_link

[Tiste Simeon]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 14 July 2021 - 01:31 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 13 July 2021 - 11:40 PM, said:

So no-one really thinks that being a football fan and English automatically makes you a thug (though being a Newcastle fan kind of does!! )

Oi, Newcastle's pathetic record over the last few years is punishment enough

You're right, my apologies, any further mockery is just cruel and sad

[Mezla PigDog]

Does everyone else feel like there is nothing to look forward to for the foreseeable future? I can't work out if I have just forgotten what I used to do or if the current feeling of hopelessness is legitimate. Even if we get an ok summer, we're back on the shit heap for winter, right?

[Mentalist]

Mezla PigDog, on 14 July 2021 - 09:46 PM, said:

Does everyone else feel like there is nothing to look forward to for the foreseeable future? I can't work out if I have just forgotten what I used to do or if the current feeling of hopelessness is legitimate. Even if we get an ok summer, we're back on the shit heap for winter, right?

Organized sports are starting again.

Pools are already open.

Getting together with friends more frequently, and in larger numbers, not worrying about the "10 people rule"


Plenty of reasons to look forward to the future.

[Mezla PigDog]

Maybe it's just the UK then with "Freedom Day" next week where all restrictions will be lifted while we are already on 40,000 cases a day. They are forecasting 100,000 cases a day in August and we already gifted the alpha variant to the world. These vaccines had better work reeeeeally well and fingers crossed Long Covid magically stops being a thing.

This post has been edited by Mezla PigDog: 15 July 2021 - 07:01 AM

[Maark Abbott]

It'll be De Pfeffel under pressure from his landlord-class donors to get people back into offices - our work is already releasing lease on the second building at our site. Not a decision made in the interest of national healthcare, but a decision made to benefit only those who own capital. A truly tory decision, in other words.

[James Hutton]

Mezla PigDog, on 14 July 2021 - 09:46 PM, said:

Does everyone else feel like there is nothing to look forward to for the foreseeable future? I can't work out if I have just forgotten what I used to do or if the current feeling of hopelessness is legitimate. Even if we get an ok summer, we're back on the shit heap for winter, right?

I'm not sure you want me to heartfelt say "I feel roughly the same", since that's depressing, but at least you're not alone!

[Mezla PigDog]

James Hutton, on 15 July 2021 - 08:08 AM, said:

Mezla PigDog, on 14 July 2021 - 09:46 PM, said:

Does everyone else feel like there is nothing to look forward to for the foreseeable future? I can't work out if I have just forgotten what I used to do or if the current feeling of hopelessness is legitimate. Even if we get an ok summer, we're back on the shit heap for winter, right?

I'm not sure you want me to heartfelt say "I feel roughly the same", since that's depressing, but at least you're not alone!

Let's cheer ourselves up and read about climate change.

[Gorefest]

I just hope that one day I'll get to see my parents again before they die of old age. Been a year and a half now.

[Aptorian]

Got my second shot today. I was not particularly worried about getting sick but it's a relief to just get it over with. If nothing else, so you don't have to get tested twice a week.

[Maark Abbott]

Went shopping last night. No one is bothering any more. Covid is over so we can down masks willy nilly, stand as close to people as we like... I am very concerned for what the next months will bring. Three members of gym staff where I train are off with it now.

[James Hutton]

Maark Abbott, on 16 July 2021 - 07:52 AM, said:

Went shopping last night. No one is bothering any more. Covid is over so we can down masks willy nilly, stand as close to people as we like... I am very concerned for what the next months will bring. Three members of gym staff where I train are off with it now.

I see similar things in the Netherlands, even though we've hit an all time record for daily number of infections yesterday (with no sign of a peak in sight). Also, I saw that a good number of bars/cafes in the city are temporarily closed, because so many of their staff are sick or in quarantine because of Covid. Personally, I've basically ignored our governments latest lifting of restrictions like work from home, wear a mask, etc -- I'm still on those, and hope they put these rules back in order soon.

[James Hutton]

Mezla PigDog, on 15 July 2021 - 08:54 PM, said:

James Hutton, on 15 July 2021 - 08:08 AM, said:

Mezla PigDog, on 14 July 2021 - 09:46 PM, said:

Does everyone else feel like there is nothing to look forward to for the foreseeable future? I can't work out if I have just forgotten what I used to do or if the current feeling of hopelessness is legitimate. Even if we get an ok summer, we're back on the shit heap for winter, right?

I'm not sure you want me to heartfelt say "I feel roughly the same", since that's depressing, but at least you're not alone!

Let's cheer ourselves up and read about climate change.

Or listen to podcasts of structural inequality?

On a less sarcastic note: I did go start seeing a psychologist to help me with this, and encourage everyone to do too if they feel stuck. It helped me like nothing else could when I burned out a few years back.

[Malankazooie]

Heard Boebert call receiving a vaccine shot as the "Fauci ouchie." What dumb times we are living.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Malankazooie, on 16 July 2021 - 01:30 PM, said:

Heard Boebert call receiving a vaccine shot as the "Fauci ouchie." What dumb times we are living.

'Rep. Madison Cawthorn Suggests Biden’s Vax Outreach Is a Plot to Steal Bibles

[...] Biden promised that his health department’s new approach would involve trusted local figures like doctors and pastors “literally knocking on doors,” to which the freshman Republican responded, “Now they’re talking about going door-to-door to bring vaccines to the people. Think of the mechanisms they would have to build to be able to actually execute that massive of a thing. Think about what those mechanisms could be used for. They could then go door-to-door to take your guns, to take your Bibles.”'


https://www.thedaily...to-steal-bibles


'some Republican elected officials and social media posts have suggested that door-to-door initiatives are efforts to force vaccination or could lead to the confiscation of guns or Bibles. [...]


Those claims, for which there is no evidence [...]

Outreach efforts, including door-knocking, have been going on for months across the country. [...]

[...] face-to-face outreach has been particularly helpful in reaching people who are hesitant about getting immunized, belong to nonwhite or low-income communities, or need to hear about vaccination from a trusted member of their own community[...]


[...] strategy similar to those used for census and voter outreach. [Oh no not voter outreach! That's even scarier ...]

Most important, public health workers say, such visits provide a one-on-one opportunity to answer people’s questions, debunk misinformation about the vaccines, and address individual concerns. Canvassers can help solve problems, such as finding transportation or a clinic that’s open when the person is free, and also provide information about other pandemic support, such as food or housing assistance [...]


“Door-to-door works, [...] People are afraid, and the easy answers are coming from online misinformation and fearmongering and conspiracy theories. To be able to break through that with a face-to-face conversation is critical.”


It also can “combat the idea that ‘The government is telling me to do this, [...] No, people who understand science are encouraging you to make a decision that is informed by facts.”'


https://www.inquirer...y-20210716.html


'Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) [... tweeted:]


"covid is a political tool used to control people.


People have a choice, they don’t need your medical brown shirts showing up at their door ordering vaccinations.


You can’t force people to be part of the human experiment."


[...]


If you look up “brownshirt” on dictionary.com, there are two definitions:



a Nazi.
a Nazi storm trooper.


[She] apparently [...] learned how bad The Holocaust was just three weeks ago when she visited The Holocaust museum. After her visit, she apologized, presumably for suggesting that Covid-19 vaccination and other Covid-19 precautions were somehow analogous to the Nazi atrocities around World War II[...]


But lo and behold, there was Taylor Greene again with the brown shirts reference'

https://www.forbes.c...sh=1be52b814501


'"Biden has deployed his Needle Nazis to Mesa County," [Congresswoman] Boebert tweeted. "The people of my district are more than smart enough to make their own decisions about the experimental vaccine and don't need coercion by federal agents. Did I wake up in Communist China?"'


https://www.business...le-nazis-2021-7

[Gorefest]

Neonazis accusing people of being nazis. You wonder if they recognise the irony themselves.