"Yes, the continued prevalence of COVID mask-wearing at any left-wing function, and therefore any pro-Palestine function, does suggest an outsized prevalence of mental illness."
I had wondered whether anyone else had noticed this.
I would term it more a subculture whose members bond on their perceived commitment to public health and hygiene. Mask-wearing by left in public spaces may encourage hypochondria but that doesn’t mean the mask wearers at, say, the Petro’s talk were all mentally ill.
Having the need to bring up mask wearing is another cheap shot by a weak mind. While it's mindbendingly ridiculous to engage on the matter - who cares?
Relating mental illness to any Pro-Palestinian cause is a clear demonstration of why this author is another vile, immoral Zionist with no knowledge, or at least acceptance of the facts about Palestine. The history is clear. 80 years of Zionist propaganda, lies, revisionist history, obfuscation and genocide is there for those who wish to see it.
Why do you spend your time reading and commenting on any author who you think possesses a "weak mind;" is a "vile, immoral Zionist with no knowledge;" and does not accept facts? Do you cut your wrists and drink shots of poison at the same time, too?
In the words of Schopenhauer: "One can never read too little of bad, or too much of good books: bad books are intellectual poison; they destroy the mind. In order to read what is good one must make it a condition never to read what is bad; for life is short, and both time and strength limited."
"It was an intriguing question though: what the nation of Colombia, represented by its boisterous left-wing president, can realistically do about “genocide” in Gaza — and why this should be a top priority for ordinary Colombians" ordinary Colombians, certainly those who would have voted for him or other left candidates, have long supported Third World struggles for self-determination, going back a century. Most people of the Third World have, including Palestine, which is why it has been the Wretched of the Earth who have come to the Palestinians defence at the International Stage (think Yemen, South Africa, Brazil, Columbia, etc) while other states have been far more complicit. For most people in the US, and many in the UK and Europe, Palestine is an afterthought. This is not the case in much of the Third World (see: “Palestinians and Latin America’s Indigenous Peoples” (2015) https://www.merip.org/2015/04/palestinians-and-latin-americas-indigenous-peoples/ and “We Do Not Support Genocides”: Gustavo Petro, the Palestinian Solidarity Movement, and Political Backlash in Colombia https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1657060). Don't forget that Latin America was settled very much as Palestine was, suffering ethnic cleansing and genocide. There is an explicit race and class divide there which strongly correlates with Left and Right. Those descendent from Europeans tend to be much better off, Whiter and much more to the Right if not outright neo-fascist, with the converse true for those descendent from Slaves and Indigenous peoples. There are explicit links between the reactionaries in Latin America and Israel, going back to the Cold War. Colombia has often been referred to as the Israel of Latin America, by other Latin Americans I have spoken to (“The Colombia–Israel Nexus: Toward Historical and Analytic Contexts” — Leon W. Field (Latin American Research Review, 2017, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/latin-american-research-review/article/colombiaisrael-nexus-toward-historical-and-analytic-contexts/09B58D46CBCD3DFFD963C7435D5094E5)). On his connecting Climate Change and the genocide of Palestinians, in December 2023, (see: Petro Compares the Palestinian “Genocide” With the Climate Exodus https://colombiaone.com/2023/12/02/petro-compares-palestinian-genocide-climate-exodus-colombia/)
The mask wearing at left-wing events might also have to do with making it a little harder for ICE, FBI and other police agencies, as well as Zionist vigilantes and doxers, to identify participants.
Not even a little; facial recognition has no problem with mask wearing at all, lest anyone be lured into a false sense of security. You would have to cover your face completely, but even if you're wearing a balaclava, you could be easily identified by other means (phone and location history, gait, build, etc; US is the most surveilled country in the world).
To defeat all the surveillance tech at this point, you'd probably need everyone to have left their phones and cars at home to jump out their windows into a dark alley without any cameras while already done up in fatsuits and wearing heeled shoes and helmets that, ideally, make them sound like Darth Vader or something; all complete with some kind of obstructive patterning like fake license plates all over it. Imagine a group of such people.
Thanks for this useful, if somewhat exaggerated information, but it doesn't mean that more than a few who participate in public left-wing events, especially anti-genocide protests, are wearing masks primarily an effort to evade identification in the possibly mistaken belief or hope that this might be effective. (Perhaps mask-wearing is ineffective if you are a known activist on an official watch list, but many at most such events don't fit that category. Don't promote paranoia. That's like promoting paranoia about Covid. Not helpful.)
“Yes, the continued prevalence of COVID mask-wearing at any left-wing function, and therefore any pro-Palestine function, does suggest an outsized prevalence of mental illness.”
as someone in my fifth year of having Long Covid it makes perfect sense why some people still want to mask, some people are far more vulnerable to serious damage from Covid from others, but who cares when you can be glib and dismissive and feel superior to others?
Keep in mind the things you find strange are not universally shared by others
Trump calls them drug dealers and acts like he has permission for his actions - as sung in the old Steppenwolf song "The Pusher" lyric - "If I were the president of this land, I would declare total war on the pusher man. I'd cut him if he stands, and shoot him if he runs, I kill him with my bible ..." An ominous prediction playing out. He forgets the other Steppenwolf song "The Monster" - telling us "there is a monster on the loose" in America. That could understandably unhinged a lot of people and get them babbling a bit.
Ah, yes, another cudgel in the US's quiver of persuasive measures... The world will be relieved of that thuggery - he said naively - once, ultimately, soon, the US becomes a failed state, on track to become just that with an obscene, unsustainable $1+ trillion per year "defense" budget.
“Nobody knows quite what for” re the shutdown is patently false. Everyone knows what it’s for : to prevent the Massie-Khanna Epstein Files bill from proceeding through to a vote. Which means that the Trump Administration are attempting to prevent something they don’t want people to see from becoming publicly available. It is not a secret that they have been furiously ‘arm-twisting’ and threatening Lawmakers in their efforts to suppress Epstein information. But i suppose that doesn’t fit your weird agenda of “There are no victims - Epstein wasnt trafficking victims - nothing to see here”, so you’ll go with “nobody knows” why there’s a prolonged shutdown.
Petro definitely sounds a bit unhinged. What kind of doofus visits a foreign country to make a speech bashing its leader? Surely he wasn't all that surprised at the Trump Admin's retaliation? We all know how petty Trump can be.
"Yes, the continued prevalence of COVID mask-wearing at any left-wing function, and therefore any pro-Palestine function, does suggest an outsized prevalence of mental illness."
I had wondered whether anyone else had noticed this.
I would term it more a subculture whose members bond on their perceived commitment to public health and hygiene. Mask-wearing by left in public spaces may encourage hypochondria but that doesn’t mean the mask wearers at, say, the Petro’s talk were all mentally ill.
I think the mask wearing is also to avoid facial recognition software. I remember that being issue at the early Columbia protests.
Having the need to bring up mask wearing is another cheap shot by a weak mind. While it's mindbendingly ridiculous to engage on the matter - who cares?
Relating mental illness to any Pro-Palestinian cause is a clear demonstration of why this author is another vile, immoral Zionist with no knowledge, or at least acceptance of the facts about Palestine. The history is clear. 80 years of Zionist propaganda, lies, revisionist history, obfuscation and genocide is there for those who wish to see it.
Why do you spend your time reading and commenting on any author who you think possesses a "weak mind;" is a "vile, immoral Zionist with no knowledge;" and does not accept facts? Do you cut your wrists and drink shots of poison at the same time, too?
In the words of Schopenhauer: "One can never read too little of bad, or too much of good books: bad books are intellectual poison; they destroy the mind. In order to read what is good one must make it a condition never to read what is bad; for life is short, and both time and strength limited."
Maybe I'm obtuse to the wording (it's possible), but I didn't read it that way.
It’s all about Israel. Petro is one of the strongest voices out there against Israel. Trump is Israel first.
"It was an intriguing question though: what the nation of Colombia, represented by its boisterous left-wing president, can realistically do about “genocide” in Gaza — and why this should be a top priority for ordinary Colombians" ordinary Colombians, certainly those who would have voted for him or other left candidates, have long supported Third World struggles for self-determination, going back a century. Most people of the Third World have, including Palestine, which is why it has been the Wretched of the Earth who have come to the Palestinians defence at the International Stage (think Yemen, South Africa, Brazil, Columbia, etc) while other states have been far more complicit. For most people in the US, and many in the UK and Europe, Palestine is an afterthought. This is not the case in much of the Third World (see: “Palestinians and Latin America’s Indigenous Peoples” (2015) https://www.merip.org/2015/04/palestinians-and-latin-americas-indigenous-peoples/ and “We Do Not Support Genocides”: Gustavo Petro, the Palestinian Solidarity Movement, and Political Backlash in Colombia https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1657060). Don't forget that Latin America was settled very much as Palestine was, suffering ethnic cleansing and genocide. There is an explicit race and class divide there which strongly correlates with Left and Right. Those descendent from Europeans tend to be much better off, Whiter and much more to the Right if not outright neo-fascist, with the converse true for those descendent from Slaves and Indigenous peoples. There are explicit links between the reactionaries in Latin America and Israel, going back to the Cold War. Colombia has often been referred to as the Israel of Latin America, by other Latin Americans I have spoken to (“The Colombia–Israel Nexus: Toward Historical and Analytic Contexts” — Leon W. Field (Latin American Research Review, 2017, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/latin-american-research-review/article/colombiaisrael-nexus-toward-historical-and-analytic-contexts/09B58D46CBCD3DFFD963C7435D5094E5)). On his connecting Climate Change and the genocide of Palestinians, in December 2023, (see: Petro Compares the Palestinian “Genocide” With the Climate Exodus https://colombiaone.com/2023/12/02/petro-compares-palestinian-genocide-climate-exodus-colombia/)
I couldn't figure out how to edit my post to correct spelling and grammar typos, please forgive and move on.
The mask wearing at left-wing events might also have to do with making it a little harder for ICE, FBI and other police agencies, as well as Zionist vigilantes and doxers, to identify participants.
Not even a little; facial recognition has no problem with mask wearing at all, lest anyone be lured into a false sense of security. You would have to cover your face completely, but even if you're wearing a balaclava, you could be easily identified by other means (phone and location history, gait, build, etc; US is the most surveilled country in the world).
To defeat all the surveillance tech at this point, you'd probably need everyone to have left their phones and cars at home to jump out their windows into a dark alley without any cameras while already done up in fatsuits and wearing heeled shoes and helmets that, ideally, make them sound like Darth Vader or something; all complete with some kind of obstructive patterning like fake license plates all over it. Imagine a group of such people.
Thanks for this useful, if somewhat exaggerated information, but it doesn't mean that more than a few who participate in public left-wing events, especially anti-genocide protests, are wearing masks primarily an effort to evade identification in the possibly mistaken belief or hope that this might be effective. (Perhaps mask-wearing is ineffective if you are a known activist on an official watch list, but many at most such events don't fit that category. Don't promote paranoia. That's like promoting paranoia about Covid. Not helpful.)
“Yes, the continued prevalence of COVID mask-wearing at any left-wing function, and therefore any pro-Palestine function, does suggest an outsized prevalence of mental illness.”
as someone in my fifth year of having Long Covid it makes perfect sense why some people still want to mask, some people are far more vulnerable to serious damage from Covid from others, but who cares when you can be glib and dismissive and feel superior to others?
Keep in mind the things you find strange are not universally shared by others
Did long COVID happen for you before or after you got the shots?
Before
"Some might have wondered if this plan was slightly impractical." Ha!
I admit to not reading the entirety, just what should USA do about these dam drugs… yes, kill them.
Trump calls them drug dealers and acts like he has permission for his actions - as sung in the old Steppenwolf song "The Pusher" lyric - "If I were the president of this land, I would declare total war on the pusher man. I'd cut him if he stands, and shoot him if he runs, I kill him with my bible ..." An ominous prediction playing out. He forgets the other Steppenwolf song "The Monster" - telling us "there is a monster on the loose" in America. That could understandably unhinged a lot of people and get them babbling a bit.
Ah, yes, another cudgel in the US's quiver of persuasive measures... The world will be relieved of that thuggery - he said naively - once, ultimately, soon, the US becomes a failed state, on track to become just that with an obscene, unsustainable $1+ trillion per year "defense" budget.
“Nobody knows quite what for” re the shutdown is patently false. Everyone knows what it’s for : to prevent the Massie-Khanna Epstein Files bill from proceeding through to a vote. Which means that the Trump Administration are attempting to prevent something they don’t want people to see from becoming publicly available. It is not a secret that they have been furiously ‘arm-twisting’ and threatening Lawmakers in their efforts to suppress Epstein information. But i suppose that doesn’t fit your weird agenda of “There are no victims - Epstein wasnt trafficking victims - nothing to see here”, so you’ll go with “nobody knows” why there’s a prolonged shutdown.
Petro definitely sounds a bit unhinged. What kind of doofus visits a foreign country to make a speech bashing its leader? Surely he wasn't all that surprised at the Trump Admin's retaliation? We all know how petty Trump can be.
". . . Hegelian dialectics (which I’d guess most people in the room would’ve pretended to be extremely well-versed in). . . "
Bwahahahahahahaha!