Hate is too strong of a word I am sure. But I am sticking with it because that is the way it feels. And what other feeling does the remark, “I hope you get Covid and die,” elicit, from no less than two of my “life long friends”? Wouldn’t that be considered by most to be hateful words? Well, by today’s “woke” standards, it certainly would be hate speech.
“I hope you get Covid and die” is only said/written by a Modern Moron Slave (MMS) that STILL believes in the OPERATION COVIDIUS PROPAGANDA, and one has to be pretty dumb to still believe in that!
OPERATION COVIDIUS provided the evidence that the herds of MMS/3i's (Irresponsible, Ignorant and Idiots) exist and that the number of animals that can be tagged with the MMS/3i's tag is ~99%.
So don't worry much about those displays of ignorance and cowardice... Just laugh and have Fun.
Yeah...that was very early in the game...maybe around 2021. Right after the jabs came out. It was quite a shocker, considering it was the first time I had ever experienced such a thing...and this came from two rather intimate friends. So that was a shocker too.
holy moly. you tapped into some trauma with this one. this is what i've been yapping to the wife about. the sheep enjoyed the lockdowns. the shrews got shocked by sudden, over night, totalitarianism and how helpless you actually are when the crazies grab the steering wheel. thus the shrews are still trying to figure out what the heck happened. the sheep sleep well knowing they belong to the cool group.
Yeah...and if it is played right the sheep never need to suffer more than from "expected" shortages due to the wars around the world, the climate change, etc. They will happily limit themselves travel, free movement, transportation, food, medical autonomy because they will be provided with what really matters to them...material instant gratification..."happiness" (ala Soma in "Brave New World") yet their soul will die, and they will be depressed, and anxious, and slowly kill themselves off through suicide and despondency, never knowing they always had control over their destiny.
Wow. What a timely & we’ll written essay! Thank you! In reading of your experiences, I realized we got off “lightly”. Our social circle is smaller (hence fewer “fuck you”’s hurled at us), I never bought into FB, and while I had anon accounts, it was never a source of “friends”. And only one entire branch of family has ostracized us.. I dgaf anymore! For me, finding the other fringe minorities happened in Twitter & at the shooting range. Now, this has expanded to folks like you on Substack. Yup. We are tribal creatures and it was hugely hurtful to be kicked out. No matter. We find our tribes elsewhere. The more craziness I see, the better I feel, because it’s tipping, folks. My only suggestion: every decent Canadian needs to get their RPAL. Go do the 2 day restricted fireacourse & arm yourselves. There’s power in numbers.
Funny you would say that. I totally fell for the liberal gun "control" thing when I was younger (although I grew up around hunters...so much so they would cancel school on the first day of deer season). I even, at one time when I was 17, was a card carrying NRA member! (although I never hunted, I just took phys-ed elective on guns...it was interesting!)
Since all this crap has happened I have really changed my tune. My sister lives in Virginia still (I grew up there) and I have thought about taking a firearm course down there...
I would definitely be interested in the RPAL...but isn't it just for hunting rifles in Canada now? Of course, I doubt if I could sneak a gun into this sheep house!!
Regarding tribes. Although the sting is smarting being "kicked out" I have no problem joining my new brethren. But as I have said a dozen times, I have chosen, for obvious reasons, to stay under the radar with my wife...I love her dearly, and feel that if things get really bad here, I want to be by her side (preferably armed!😁)
you can't say it's for self defense. automatic refusal. you're joining a shooting club. and i'm iffy on the restricted. read the rules. rifles far less intrusive.
"We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." Do not despair, my friends! There has always been tribulation in this world. Our times are certainly not unique. Hold fast to your faith knowing that the time we have here is but a blink of the eye. Don’t you know that you are created in the likeness of God, immortal? All of the difficulties experienced in this life will be trivialities in the next. Be strong in the Lord, be of good courage because He is faithful and unchanging in his love. Stand against evil, and He will be beside you. As Jesus said, "In this world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." Peace.
My heart breaks for all of you who have lost old friends and family members and who have been subjected to ugly and hateful comments. I have not come through this unscathed, but I consider myself pretty lucky. Well, maybe it's less about luck than not ever being on FB or any social media really.
My family, while mostly a mixture of sheep and "go along to get along" types, never shunned me or my husband or left us out of family gatherings. My best friend of 40+ years was on the same page but got the injections so she could escape to Florida during the winter of 2021/22 because she was so depressed and despondent. I warned her about the shots even before they were unleashed upon us and she was polite but we never talked about it. Because she was against masks, lockdowns and vax mandates we have remained friends but I do have to self-censor with respect to vax stuff. Other friends ghosted us during the worst of it but we have been seeing them again socially. I won't ever trust them again, but for my husband's sake I can be friendly and non-confrontational. There is only one old friend left with whom I'm not speaking, but even she has reached out and we may be able to resume some kind of relationship.
I guess the only thing I can suggest to anyone who is feeling alone is to find a community of like-minded people. Through Vaccine Choice Canada I ended up finding a few people in my area and our little group grew nicely and we still meet every Sunday. They are the only people I can speak totally freely with about any of the scamdemic nonsense. I feel like I flit back and forth between parallel universes but it works for me. I can get along with normies and my family and still enjoy their company now that they believe Covid is over, but then I can check in with my group whenever I need to talk with people who understand what's going on. Online communities are great, but part of subverting the agenda is to find your people and engage in person -- which we did despite lockdowns.
Oh, and I guess the last point is that I assume we shrews have never really given a rat's ass what people think of us and so being hated doesn't really bother us that much. The haters will have to live with what they have said and done while we can live with a clear conscience. We are on the right side of history.
Your last remark basically applies to me too. It doesn't bother me in a really deep way (personally) it is just sad...and very perplexing. I just don't get it. If I was really an ugly person, or did something really awful to these people, it would at least make sense. But as I say in the article, one things shrews are is nice, loving, many deeply devoted Christians. We believe in letting people live a free and creative life...so what the?
Sounds like you have "normal" friends...people who may do something you wouldn't do, but people who don't hate you for it.
Remembering that we are imperfect and fallible creatures has helped me keep a practical perspective, and family breakups can be avoided by more often than not, staying quiet now. After so many shushes and insults, one must keep the peace. Luckily Substack has a healthy platform for discussion and learning.
I find the ultimate damage to be subtle yet ultimately devastating. Imagine what it would be like to be dropped on a deserted island, but with plenty of food, shelter, beauty. Over time it would become difficult (well, right now I can't imagine anything better!)
Maybe that isn't a good analogy. Eventually humans can adjust to most anything. My problem is that I have made the choice to stay in my environment, which I think eventually will take me down.
Jul 13, 2023·edited Jul 13, 2023Liked by Todd Hayen, PhD, RP
The bricks of our walls are made with the finest ingredients, especially our shrew bricks, and are well baked; not likely to collapse unless we assist in their downfall.
Jul 13, 2023·edited Jul 14, 2023Liked by Todd Hayen, PhD, RP
There is probably some ‘hate’ in my experience, but more than anything is the deafening silence. If I ever speak with friends or colleagues about subjects like how many shared acquaintances have cancer or strange illnesses since around 2021, I hear ‘crickets’. Or else they say “stress” or “we’re all getting older, you know”. No vaccinated person I know will make any correlation. A neighbor who mysteriously had a hemorrhage so severe that it came out his eyes and ears—- and baffled the medical community—- just said to me that he’s ‘up to date’ on his shots (5 ). He had part of his septum removed to stop the bleeding. When I suggested mRNA: Silence. My God! Or, tomorrow a funeral will be held for a colleague. Cancer began for her pre-vax and I heard it was responding to treatment. (Now, folks here where I am in Canada had to be vaxed to continue treatments.) Well, she took a turn for the worse in 2022. And these are only two of dozens of stories I know. Just saying.
People just don’t want to talk about it—- especially those who are in authority or positions of power—-including many friends and colleagues of mine. Let’s not forget that many of them have financially improved their lives since March 2020—- and continue to do so. I think until something hits hard personally or financially to these folks, they will remain silent. It’s sad, but true.
I concluded a while ago, that the start of this Covid Era—as I call the times since March 2020—- was a watershed moment, and possibly planned—- and if not—magnificently taken advantage of by corporations and governments. Early on I believed that governments and my personal representatives would set all this straight—— but I quickly discovered how wrong I was and how little of a representative democracy we truly are nowadays.
There was a moment, at the beginning of this nightmare, that I wondered if we were all just overly paranoid, and that the joke (the psyop) was really on us to believe the "atrocious" things we believed. Obviously that is no longer the case, and of course reason would have it that all those that were telling us that we were nuts to correlate the vaccines with all these bizarre and unprecedented medical events would come over to the reasonable side of things. But that has not happened. And one wonders how far it will go before it does happen, IF it does.
The stories you tell are pretty amazing. This is something that I have not really experienced...a little bit, but small enough that I can still say "was this like this before and I just didn't notice?" I am not sure why some of us experience so many weird medical things in our circles....I have a colleague that talks about all her patients having sick and dying relatives and friends...I have just not seen that to that extent...I am sure I eventually will.
Like you, I hadn't experienced anyone in my circle dying suddenly or having any mystery illnesses, turbo cancers, etc. However, in the last few months there have been more than a few strange medical "coincidences" that none of the sufferers would ever attribute to the injections. I suspect we'll all have a story or two as the effects of the gene therapy become more clear.
This “ Why” is something I ask myself every day . I have had a number of people who claim to love me at best silence me ( for expressing my views ) at worst say I should be denied health care ( for any reason ). I can’t figure this out …I too have pulled back . My convo with most of these people is now at the level of the weather. I have observed ( now in hindsight) that in most cases these individuals were always @$&%&$%&. COVID has become the wedge issue that has brought to the surface their real “ selves “ . Yes and shutting people down including name calling is just wrong.
It is interesting how we are the tolerant ones, the ones making adjustments to keep relationships "doable"....I have found zero effort, zero patience on "their" side.
You completely described my life. We must be twins.
My husband did a Clean Language session with me, and a metaphor emerged that has helped me immensely. In the first image, I was in a lush forest with a lantern. The moss was deep green and the entire eco system was healthy and beautiful. That is the kind of person I am looking for - I call them Forest People. The next image was of a dried up ditch in a desert. Nothing healthy or appealing, and no reason to go there. The next image was a regular country dirt road. The people on the road were okay to shoot the breeze with. Not super smart or stupid, just okay to be around now and then. The Ditch People have no redeeming qualities and must be avoided. The mistake I made was trying to bring the lantern of wisdom to Ditchers. What a waste of time. But no more! Healthy, forest people are who I seek, and I won’t waste another minute with the Ditch People. Since humans think in metaphors, when we change the metaphor, our perception changes too. Now I see all the idiots that hate me, as ditch people and it no longer bothers me. The session yielded quite an amazing transformation. Where I used to feel angry at them and keenly feel the injustice, now I’m quite content with the high quality forest people in my life and the harmless road people.
Yes, there are a lot of twins here! I find it almost uncanny when I read some of these comments how EXACTLY some people's experiences mirror mine.
I like your analogies...I certainly feel most of us have come to some sort of similar conclusion. I worry about this though...the process of profiling, labelling, etc. I have been lambasted by Off Guardian readers for using the term "sheep" to describe people who fall in that category. I waffle back and forth on this...how does name calling help? Well, in my opinion, it helps US, the forest people...I don't mean to label a group in order to identify who to hate...I don't hate sheep. But they are dangerous. I don't hate venomous snakes either, but I want to identify them, avoid them, or know that I have to handle them in a special way.
I feel that we will have to eventually deal with the sheep. We will either have to convince them to come over, or we will have to put them in a position where they cannot hurt us (obvious that does NOT mean exterminate them, or harm them! They are OUR people too...but we must be careful.) The convincing them option does not seem to be working out.
Anyway...I don't want to write another article in my response! Sorry...
If they were not family, I would do no worrying about individuals. But do worry their ignorance, arrogance, and hate, will bring us all down. THANKS!!!
‘Tis why I lost my job and so many ‘friends’. Unlike you (brave soul) I don’t argue. I’ll put it forward and if there is backlash I walk away. Figure anyone who can’t/won’t listen to a different perspective is not worth my time or energy.
Wondrously though many of them came around when they started seeing other sheep veering out of the slaughterhouse chute.
Nah not at all! I was not noble and honest presenting viable arguments like you were. Kudos to you for being able to do that!!
I was more of a blunt force object wrapped in sarcasm. “If you’re wearing mask, why do I have to?” “Got your second clot shot because the first worked so well, eh?”
And to the friend who got ‘novovirus’ after ALL 7 SHOTS (!!) “So you have the flu now because your 7 shots were so effective? Best not walk around cuz you know you’re only safe when sitting at a table.”
Kinda thing.
So no power of persuasion there. And they wpuld never bring up covid in my presence becuase I would usually just sit and smirk. Didn’t hve to say a word. After 2 years of not even wanting to be around me (thank gawd!) those few now are talking the same as we do. They aren’t quite shrews - more like shorn sheep - but they are learning. Maybe it was feeling the fool for believing? Who knows.
I had a dream last night about the divide. I was surrounded by friends and colleagues -- something that never happens anymore--and which I dream about regularly. I was enjoying their company but kept myself distant, the way you do when you are sober and everyone around you is drinking. I woke up thinking about that deep-down feeling that you get when you believe someone else is crazy, and how that sense has multiplied exponentially since the pandemic. Is it just a darker shade of a sentiment I always carried, or is it new? It seems new to me. I was also demonized and ridiculed by wanting to discuss the Covid measures from a position of skepticism. Even my remaining relationships are with people who "don't want to get into it" with me--I guess that's the only way we can remain friends. What can we do? I would rather live loving the Truth than be accepted by the crowd. Maybe that's the thing they hate the most. I don't know. I try to smile and share moments of kindness. They are not inhuman, they are just in Hell.
What you are describing makes me think of my "observer mode." I wrote an article "I Am a Camera" about that...it is a strange dissociative position...being in the world but no of it. A bit surreal. I don't really engage, particularly if I know I have an opposing view...I sort of "go along" with it and just learn more about why these people stick to what they are believing. Totally non-confrontational.
Reading this could not have come at a better time for me. I was fairly and deeply down in mood the past 24 hours. Naturally depressed because I have been feeling oppressed by censure and hostility and (worse) blankness. To not have any thought or feeling mirrored in the eyes of another is exceedingly lonely. And it feels dangerous. I've always been accused of being 'too sensitive' or of 'thinking too much.' And in the past years there has been the added: 'too radical' and 'way out there.' The sense of alienation is real. And the alternative of concealing what I consider the best parts of me (genuine concern for others, for a start) is almost intolerable at times. So, for me it's a lifeline to, at least, read of shared suffering in this regard. Misery may well love company because it's an instinctive trait and serves a real benefit towards survival. Thank you for writing, T.H.. And thank you for the 'company'. And likewise, I give thanks to all engaging herein.
Your thoughts are appreciated. I've also been down of late. Overwhelmed and on the edge of tears sometimes. So isolated it's painful. often, although I'm genuinely uninterested in the people around me. I'm being shunned, there's a local boycott on my small business, and I joke that I'm the Bud Light of this little village with the one human in the whole area with an open mind. The looks I get would kill if they could, so the gossip must be up there in the axe murderer range. I'm also generally interested in the why and how of things over a fairly wide area and always have been, because it is all connected. Some friends declared that they had always thought I was crazy.
One therapist I saw for awhile went through some Myers-Briggs tests and labelled me INFJ, I think it is... It's the over-sensitive, over-thinking, radically curious one percent of the population that really wants to be understood and to understand those close, and will shut down on relationships that are, let's say, more on the surface. I was a door slammer even then, hence the therapist. I'm not a labelist, per se, and there's much more to the category, but acknowledging that I really don't want to settle for less than compatibility. That's been helpful so far, but I want to move from where I am, thinking of leaving the country. That's a big door slam. I've really had it here.
Shelagh Young, VERY interesting. I also fall into the INFJ category, for what it is worth. And I also eschew labels! Introvert, Internalizer, etc. I know I am rare, however, for better and for the worst. However, "emotional and logical" does describe me. I have never-ever been some one who has been contented with small talk and gossip. I have always been keenly curious (and auto-didactic, and self motivated as a consequence). Like you my interests are wide but I've never doubted that my interests were/are connected -- not just within myself but in all existence.
I think 'over-sensitive' definitely applies to me...WHEN compared to the NORM. Same with 'over-thinking'. When I slam a door it is because my foot is SO sore from trying to keep it open (often for years, if not decades). Yet it usually comes as a shock or, at least, great surprise, to the one on the other side of the door -- they never saw my 'exit' coming, even though I was sweating and grunting and trying everything I'd learned (or intuited) to date. And, perhaps that accounts for my despair at times. I am stubborn and tenacious, and give up only when I perceive a 'lost cause'. And, like you, settling for less (less heart, less soul, less curiosity) in an intimate -- be it friend or partner -- is not an option. I've tried it, numerous times, and it doesn't work for me. So acceptance is the thing I strive for. Accept that I have always breathed a more rarified air, and not blame those who cannot smell it, taste it, and glide in it.
Where were you considering for relocation? I have (as far as I am able) examined many options with both excitement and trepidation. And I always come back to the notion of "Wherever you go, there you are." But I was born in 1958, and I guess the particular Hill I am on right now is as good as any on which to die. That being said, I am always open to options...
Thank YOU! So lovely to meet you here on the screen and in honest dialogue.
"When I slam a door it is because my foot is SO sore from trying to keep it open (often for years, if not decades). "
LOL. I needed that. SO true! Bending over backward until the spine (and soul) aches.
Wherever you go, there you are.... Also true, but not expecting a sudden leap into fake extroversion, I just want to feel safe within a community.
I was thinking of Mexico, which is lawless and wild and you have to bribe people to get things like paperwork done, according to others who tried it. I drove around the Yucatan to see the Mayan ruins without knowing Spanish, without any solid plan or reservations, just winging it, and had an incredible time.
More recently it's Costa Rica. Very friendly to immigrants, fairly affordable, the whole country is organic, seems like a happy population with a strong democratic system that seems to be working well. Seems, I say because I have not been there yet...
They stopped injecting people and opened the border with no requirements about being injected to get in and live there earlier than most countries. Beautiful beyond belief.
And a rain forest. It rains from May to October. Most of the houses have huge overhanging roofs and big cement or tiled patios for water runoff and shade.
They recommend visiting pre-move for long enough to experience the climate. From the number of interesting places for sale I've browsed, I suspect six months of rain could be an issue for many expecting fun in the tropical sun all the time.
So there you are with that thought stream to date...
Lovely to meet you!!!! You are in the USA? I wondered about Ireland, considering your name. And Ireland is dire-land at present.
Twenty five years ago my deceased husband and I were looking into early retirement 'away from it all'. And mostly away from most people. And with no expectation of ease and convenience...or safety. I did 90% of the research! Costa Rica was a big interest and I even subscribed to the Tico Times. Then, after several visits, we decided that Belize would do for us -- an undeveloped beachfront (off grid) on Ambergris Caye, ten nautical miles from 'town' would do for us. The locales were excellent folks (we stayed with some) and I love the rainforest and the sea. But then...terminal cancer. We moved to California instead (I did rush research and within 6 months we were moved) because of the diverse forest, the river, the seasons...and the real estate prices. Anyway, it was better than Chicago! And it's still better than Chicago. BUT it's f-ing California.
All of the tropics appeal to me. I love rain. Although I am nordic in heritage I can cope well with heat and humidity. I haven't spent any time on the west coast of Mexico. Mostly Cozumel (hey, we were into SCUBA diving) and Cancun -- always finding spots to swim and eat and socialize AWAY from tourists. I am highly adaptive. I am considering investing in Spanish language studies...just to hone my skills and keep options open. But going it entirely alone at my age is daunting -- just psychologically. I'd do it, though. After all, what's the downside? Dying?
For me, the downside most visible now is staying in Canada, where I am, on the Atlantic coast. The name comes from my Welsh mother, who came to Canada all alone as a teenager. Chris Bray has a California-centric Substack I'd recommend for the great writing, laughs and commentary on legislative procedure (and bungling). My whole country is off its rocker now. Our national health care system is a point of identity and pride, which was, for decades, well-deserved. Now it's captured, as they say, by what really looks like a puppet government we can't seem to get rid of, although Trudeau is generally loathed. Still, his vitriol against dissenters as racist misogynist antiscience blah blah blahs has had the desired effect, and there's nowhere in my own country I can imagine going and being safe.
Belize is interesting too, although it's so British, and all of the UK and Ireland are very dire now, so I'd think it would have embraced the totalitarian over-reach too...
ShieldMaiden, you have described me in a much better way than I could ever have written myself. I too feel like I'm getting to the end of my rope of late. I wait for a change to happen but there are days when I feel it will never happen. To quote a line from a song by my favourite band Rush ... "another day as drab as today is more than a man can endure ...". You have a kindred spirit here who knows exactly where you are coming from. Thanks for sharing.
You describe the number one reason why I started this substack...in the hope of helping those of us in this weird isolated funk. I also felt a need to babble somewhere, as there is no longer a place for that in my inner circle.
Hang in there...there is nothing more alienating than being around people who have lost touch with reality...and that seems to be the whole world right now.
Much gratitude for your perspectives and efforts, T.H.! For a human (and many other higher social animals) to be isolated, ostracized and generally disconnected from one’s society is an existential crisis. Solitary confinement and banishment are torturous punishments. Not that I would prefer running with the flock over a cliff! But it is grievous that it seems like these are the two overarching choices for many of The Few. I keep looking for, feeling out, those who seem to have potential. But the pickings are super thin in my neck of the woods. I once thought that an extremely rural area, peopled with Native Americans, loggers, small ranchers, off-grid dwellers, etc, I would encounter a great deal of independent thinkers/actors. Alas and alack. There are mighty few. The US Government employs the largest of the small population — either through the USFS or through the local Indian Tribe. And the indoctrination is severe.
I want "them" to hate me. I relish the moment. First of all their hate only affects them. Secondly, I consider the source. To be hated by a dummy? Alrighty. Third, I expect NOTHING from this realm. That way any blessing I get is just that, "a blessing." If people don't hate you then you are not doing "the work." How can any rational mind navigate in Asylum USA and expect to be praised and loved by its unhinged patients?
“If you see The All Mighty and Magnificent, holding back this world from you, frequently trying you with adversity and tribulation, know that you hold a great status with Him. Know that He is dealing with you as He does with His Awliya and chosen elite, and is watching over you.”
I like your quote...I believe that, and it does bring me comfort..."Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."...something like that..
Your first paragraph makes sense too, but for me, the people I love the most are the "dummies"...I do not want to lose them. So I try to stay "palatable" to them, thus keeping my mouth shut most of the time. I know if things get worse (not so much an "if") this position will not be sustainable...
It is said that Jesus healed the blind and the sick by the Power of The All Mighty. He cast out demons, by the Power of The All Mighty. He could not do nothing with the fool, so he left him alone. Patience and silence, as you know, goes a long way when dealing with those on "that" frequency. Leave them to basque in the fantasy, because for most people, “that fantasy” is, really deep down, "all that they have." They have been operating from a position of self inflicted delusion for too long. The fantasy has become real. Reality is too tough for them to digest. One can only do what one can do.
Jul 13, 2023·edited Jul 13, 2023Liked by Todd Hayen, PhD, RP
I, too, was very outspoken from the start. When I said in Mid-March we needed to disobey the lockdowns the moment they were announced the shock and disgust from so many I knew was the first sign I had of what we were up against. I was called a callous murderer at the time for daring to say that.
And so it continued. I shared scientific study after scientific study, tried to put the statistics into perspective, gave historical comparisons, told the simple truth that responsibility for good health starts at home, gave tips on nutrition, hydration, exercise, sunlight, fresh air, sleep patterns, spoke of how important our microbiome are, gut, mucous membranes, skin. Pointed out that the sanitizers were harming their own natural protective hand microbiome that destroys most all microbiological threats in just 5-15 minutes on its own, sanitizer kills the good guys, too. I was called crazy, told my advice was harming people. As if.
Lost many friends on Fb. And it continued, even after the BLM riots exposed the BS, that surely would've woken up most. I refused to mask the entire time. My beloved got angry with me for all of the conflicts I'd have. She wore them the first 5-6 months used sanitizer religiously, against my cautions and my example. But finally the mask came off. Slowly she worked up her courage. And when she did she couldn't believe how much freer she felt. She had adopted the all too common, "it's no big deal, I don't even notice it" approach. But when she finally bucked the majority her sense of freedom came back. It took another year and a half where I live for most to return to bare faces so she feels like an early rebel.
I began warning about the jabs to come in July-August when my research on PCR testing informed me that vaccines shed their contents detectable for upwards of 2.5 months after inoculation, and those still living their lives testing for presence of CV (tests never reflected infection, just presence, I've never taken one and never will) those believing we'd vaccinate our way out of a pandemic would be putting themselves into quarantine up to 2.5 months after they took one using their logic of disease. And I was called crazy. For knowing the truth and sharing it with those I loved and cared about.
Many were hostile, angry, insulting. And I'm a return fire person, you hit me once I hit you twice, twice as hard, make you think twice about ever hitting me again. Lost a lot of people in my life that way. In social media. And in real life, stores and restaurants I'll never go back to depending on how ugly they were or how ugly I got in return. My share of encounters I'm not proud of. But I don't take shit. And let the dark energy win some moments.
I'm fortunate that my family never disowned me or avoided me. I've tried to explain to all the harms of masks, jabs, the insanity of it all. Most have politely nodded their heads and told me they take in information from all sources and make up their own minds. All went along with the masks, not as comfortable with conflict as I am when I know I'm right. Most got the jabs, except my sibling and my beloved, who fortunately was able to save her child from the 4x's jabbed father's preference. All family members have been sick, those who got jabbed. My sibling and partner, both unjabbed, got very sick, sibling a few weeks after the spouse got jabbed (who ended up in the hospital for a month, subjected to the remdesiver death protocol, Thank God survived it! My partner after visiting with friends who had just been jabbed. And an aunt who was a retired nurse who knew better about getting the jabs got sick after being with many who had just gotten jabbed didn't make it. Not sure if was from jab shedding, diabetic coma or done in by hospital protocols.
As for me, never been sick since before 2020. And I've hugged and been in close contact with those who've tested positive (fake test) and while my partner was sick. I try to take care of my terrain.
I left Fb in January, 2021, when I saw what feds were doing to people using social media. My posts were often confrontational, were sometimes censored, frequently shadow-banned. But the stakes for speaking out against authority became crystal clear then.
The whole time I had been on social media I had few friends rally to my side, would take the piling on, one versus three-four-five. I'd sometimes get private messages, emails or texts from friends who said they agreed with me, read my shares, appreciated that I had the courage to fight the fight, but they had too much to lose if they weighed in. Thanks.
I moved early in pandemic, that alone meant long friendships would suffer. Leaving Fb in early 2021 made it even harder. I visited old home earlier this year, met up with a dozen old friends. They knew my positions, we had conversations about, they weren't hateful, but still disagreed with me about jabs and masks, though agreed the mandates and fever pitch around it all got out of hand. And these were friends that stayed friends, hadn't disavowed me like many others.
It's been a real-time sociology experiment. I was used to being the contrarian. A free-thinking conservative/libertarian my whole life, lived in very liberal college towns and big cities, I was used to the 1 vs 5 contests of ideas. Even working in politics, kept up good relations with opposing party officials, I could be diplomatic enough to work productively with them for two decades. Though now, and after my less diplomatic presentations of ideas that's not really possible. But I speak my mind. Their feelings be damned. I'm too old to give a rat's butt. And they're in the wrong, have done great harm by their pretense of righteousness. I hold the high moral ground and don't concede an inch to them. They offend me. They offend the very humanity they pretend to care about. And I don't take their smug superiority laying down. Tom Petty's Won't Back Down would be a good song to play at my memorial whenever God calls me home. I stand with truth. I speak my truth. Till my last breath.
Wow..what a great comment!! Thank you so much...and thank you for your wonderful substack!!
You sound like you have experienced something similar with your partner and family...although both my wife and one of my sisters are hard core and have not moved an inch. Both very intelligent people. Go figure.
The biggest difference I think between you and I is that you are far braver than I. I avoid confrontation, for a couple of reasons. One is because I am generally a wimp. After going through this first "run" though I have more familiarity with the "play" and I believe when it happens again, I will be entirely resistant. Hopefully.
I also have a weird "I really don't care" attitude. I am not out to save the world...I will sneak around in the shadows and pretend I am fine with it all...at least that is what I DID, I don't think I will again. (I did draw the line with the vaccines, didn't get any of them of course, and I was quite defiant with "social distancing" and mask wearing where I wouldn't get kicked out of a building for it....)
Todd, I see that you are really suffering about all of this. I truly, deeply understand because I am in exactly the same p;lace and I wish I had something profoundly insightful to say to help you feel better. I guess I am a bit more used to being the conspiracy theorist outsider because I have been at it much longer. Today I watched an interview on Aubrey Marcus"s podcast with Del Bigtree. I listened to Del all through the entire Covid time and he kept me sane., but this interview is astonishing because Del has time to talk about how he feels about being attacked for years since he put out "Vaxxed". IT IS WONDERFUL, It IS inspiring. I strongly recommend listening to all of it to learn from him. It supports our stand on this entire thing. I hope you get some encouragement.
My suffering really comes in the form of dissociating...I feel like I am retreating more and more. Which is quite disturbing. I am hanging in there though...Vive la Shrew!
Thank you for that suggestion. I love Del…will watch today. Recently, a friend of mine recommended to another friend to watch an interview with RFK. The friend watched and then came back to my friend with insulting remarks and anger. It is the oddest thing…I remember recommending something to friends and whether or not they agreed, we had interesting discussions…certainly no attack. I find this so scary.
“I hope you get Covid and die” is only said/written by a Modern Moron Slave (MMS) that STILL believes in the OPERATION COVIDIUS PROPAGANDA, and one has to be pretty dumb to still believe in that!
OPERATION COVIDIUS provided the evidence that the herds of MMS/3i's (Irresponsible, Ignorant and Idiots) exist and that the number of animals that can be tagged with the MMS/3i's tag is ~99%.
So don't worry much about those displays of ignorance and cowardice... Just laugh and have Fun.
https://i.postimg.cc/BnMdsh3x/COVIDIUS-depression-be-brave.jpg
Yeah...that was very early in the game...maybe around 2021. Right after the jabs came out. It was quite a shocker, considering it was the first time I had ever experienced such a thing...and this came from two rather intimate friends. So that was a shocker too.
holy moly. you tapped into some trauma with this one. this is what i've been yapping to the wife about. the sheep enjoyed the lockdowns. the shrews got shocked by sudden, over night, totalitarianism and how helpless you actually are when the crazies grab the steering wheel. thus the shrews are still trying to figure out what the heck happened. the sheep sleep well knowing they belong to the cool group.
Yeah...and if it is played right the sheep never need to suffer more than from "expected" shortages due to the wars around the world, the climate change, etc. They will happily limit themselves travel, free movement, transportation, food, medical autonomy because they will be provided with what really matters to them...material instant gratification..."happiness" (ala Soma in "Brave New World") yet their soul will die, and they will be depressed, and anxious, and slowly kill themselves off through suicide and despondency, never knowing they always had control over their destiny.
mmmmmmm Somaaaaah.
Wow. What a timely & we’ll written essay! Thank you! In reading of your experiences, I realized we got off “lightly”. Our social circle is smaller (hence fewer “fuck you”’s hurled at us), I never bought into FB, and while I had anon accounts, it was never a source of “friends”. And only one entire branch of family has ostracized us.. I dgaf anymore! For me, finding the other fringe minorities happened in Twitter & at the shooting range. Now, this has expanded to folks like you on Substack. Yup. We are tribal creatures and it was hugely hurtful to be kicked out. No matter. We find our tribes elsewhere. The more craziness I see, the better I feel, because it’s tipping, folks. My only suggestion: every decent Canadian needs to get their RPAL. Go do the 2 day restricted fireacourse & arm yourselves. There’s power in numbers.
Funny you would say that. I totally fell for the liberal gun "control" thing when I was younger (although I grew up around hunters...so much so they would cancel school on the first day of deer season). I even, at one time when I was 17, was a card carrying NRA member! (although I never hunted, I just took phys-ed elective on guns...it was interesting!)
Since all this crap has happened I have really changed my tune. My sister lives in Virginia still (I grew up there) and I have thought about taking a firearm course down there...
I would definitely be interested in the RPAL...but isn't it just for hunting rifles in Canada now? Of course, I doubt if I could sneak a gun into this sheep house!!
Regarding tribes. Although the sting is smarting being "kicked out" I have no problem joining my new brethren. But as I have said a dozen times, I have chosen, for obvious reasons, to stay under the radar with my wife...I love her dearly, and feel that if things get really bad here, I want to be by her side (preferably armed!😁)
you can't say it's for self defense. automatic refusal. you're joining a shooting club. and i'm iffy on the restricted. read the rules. rifles far less intrusive.
You can get fabulous restricted “rifles”, like a couple of inches longer than a handgun😆. Go for the RPAL. It lets you get both. Totally worth it!
"We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." Do not despair, my friends! There has always been tribulation in this world. Our times are certainly not unique. Hold fast to your faith knowing that the time we have here is but a blink of the eye. Don’t you know that you are created in the likeness of God, immortal? All of the difficulties experienced in this life will be trivialities in the next. Be strong in the Lord, be of good courage because He is faithful and unchanging in his love. Stand against evil, and He will be beside you. As Jesus said, "In this world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." Peace.
Thank you Nathan!
My heart breaks for all of you who have lost old friends and family members and who have been subjected to ugly and hateful comments. I have not come through this unscathed, but I consider myself pretty lucky. Well, maybe it's less about luck than not ever being on FB or any social media really.
My family, while mostly a mixture of sheep and "go along to get along" types, never shunned me or my husband or left us out of family gatherings. My best friend of 40+ years was on the same page but got the injections so she could escape to Florida during the winter of 2021/22 because she was so depressed and despondent. I warned her about the shots even before they were unleashed upon us and she was polite but we never talked about it. Because she was against masks, lockdowns and vax mandates we have remained friends but I do have to self-censor with respect to vax stuff. Other friends ghosted us during the worst of it but we have been seeing them again socially. I won't ever trust them again, but for my husband's sake I can be friendly and non-confrontational. There is only one old friend left with whom I'm not speaking, but even she has reached out and we may be able to resume some kind of relationship.
I guess the only thing I can suggest to anyone who is feeling alone is to find a community of like-minded people. Through Vaccine Choice Canada I ended up finding a few people in my area and our little group grew nicely and we still meet every Sunday. They are the only people I can speak totally freely with about any of the scamdemic nonsense. I feel like I flit back and forth between parallel universes but it works for me. I can get along with normies and my family and still enjoy their company now that they believe Covid is over, but then I can check in with my group whenever I need to talk with people who understand what's going on. Online communities are great, but part of subverting the agenda is to find your people and engage in person -- which we did despite lockdowns.
Oh, and I guess the last point is that I assume we shrews have never really given a rat's ass what people think of us and so being hated doesn't really bother us that much. The haters will have to live with what they have said and done while we can live with a clear conscience. We are on the right side of history.
Your last remark basically applies to me too. It doesn't bother me in a really deep way (personally) it is just sad...and very perplexing. I just don't get it. If I was really an ugly person, or did something really awful to these people, it would at least make sense. But as I say in the article, one things shrews are is nice, loving, many deeply devoted Christians. We believe in letting people live a free and creative life...so what the?
Sounds like you have "normal" friends...people who may do something you wouldn't do, but people who don't hate you for it.
Remembering that we are imperfect and fallible creatures has helped me keep a practical perspective, and family breakups can be avoided by more often than not, staying quiet now. After so many shushes and insults, one must keep the peace. Luckily Substack has a healthy platform for discussion and learning.
Agreed.
I find the ultimate damage to be subtle yet ultimately devastating. Imagine what it would be like to be dropped on a deserted island, but with plenty of food, shelter, beauty. Over time it would become difficult (well, right now I can't imagine anything better!)
Maybe that isn't a good analogy. Eventually humans can adjust to most anything. My problem is that I have made the choice to stay in my environment, which I think eventually will take me down.
The bricks of our walls are made with the finest ingredients, especially our shrew bricks, and are well baked; not likely to collapse unless we assist in their downfall.
That is very true.
There is probably some ‘hate’ in my experience, but more than anything is the deafening silence. If I ever speak with friends or colleagues about subjects like how many shared acquaintances have cancer or strange illnesses since around 2021, I hear ‘crickets’. Or else they say “stress” or “we’re all getting older, you know”. No vaccinated person I know will make any correlation. A neighbor who mysteriously had a hemorrhage so severe that it came out his eyes and ears—- and baffled the medical community—- just said to me that he’s ‘up to date’ on his shots (5 ). He had part of his septum removed to stop the bleeding. When I suggested mRNA: Silence. My God! Or, tomorrow a funeral will be held for a colleague. Cancer began for her pre-vax and I heard it was responding to treatment. (Now, folks here where I am in Canada had to be vaxed to continue treatments.) Well, she took a turn for the worse in 2022. And these are only two of dozens of stories I know. Just saying.
People just don’t want to talk about it—- especially those who are in authority or positions of power—-including many friends and colleagues of mine. Let’s not forget that many of them have financially improved their lives since March 2020—- and continue to do so. I think until something hits hard personally or financially to these folks, they will remain silent. It’s sad, but true.
I concluded a while ago, that the start of this Covid Era—as I call the times since March 2020—- was a watershed moment, and possibly planned—- and if not—magnificently taken advantage of by corporations and governments. Early on I believed that governments and my personal representatives would set all this straight—— but I quickly discovered how wrong I was and how little of a representative democracy we truly are nowadays.
But, that’s for another comment in the future :)
There was a moment, at the beginning of this nightmare, that I wondered if we were all just overly paranoid, and that the joke (the psyop) was really on us to believe the "atrocious" things we believed. Obviously that is no longer the case, and of course reason would have it that all those that were telling us that we were nuts to correlate the vaccines with all these bizarre and unprecedented medical events would come over to the reasonable side of things. But that has not happened. And one wonders how far it will go before it does happen, IF it does.
The stories you tell are pretty amazing. This is something that I have not really experienced...a little bit, but small enough that I can still say "was this like this before and I just didn't notice?" I am not sure why some of us experience so many weird medical things in our circles....I have a colleague that talks about all her patients having sick and dying relatives and friends...I have just not seen that to that extent...I am sure I eventually will.
Like you, I hadn't experienced anyone in my circle dying suddenly or having any mystery illnesses, turbo cancers, etc. However, in the last few months there have been more than a few strange medical "coincidences" that none of the sufferers would ever attribute to the injections. I suspect we'll all have a story or two as the effects of the gene therapy become more clear.
This “ Why” is something I ask myself every day . I have had a number of people who claim to love me at best silence me ( for expressing my views ) at worst say I should be denied health care ( for any reason ). I can’t figure this out …I too have pulled back . My convo with most of these people is now at the level of the weather. I have observed ( now in hindsight) that in most cases these individuals were always @$&%&$%&. COVID has become the wedge issue that has brought to the surface their real “ selves “ . Yes and shutting people down including name calling is just wrong.
It is interesting how we are the tolerant ones, the ones making adjustments to keep relationships "doable"....I have found zero effort, zero patience on "their" side.
You completely described my life. We must be twins.
My husband did a Clean Language session with me, and a metaphor emerged that has helped me immensely. In the first image, I was in a lush forest with a lantern. The moss was deep green and the entire eco system was healthy and beautiful. That is the kind of person I am looking for - I call them Forest People. The next image was of a dried up ditch in a desert. Nothing healthy or appealing, and no reason to go there. The next image was a regular country dirt road. The people on the road were okay to shoot the breeze with. Not super smart or stupid, just okay to be around now and then. The Ditch People have no redeeming qualities and must be avoided. The mistake I made was trying to bring the lantern of wisdom to Ditchers. What a waste of time. But no more! Healthy, forest people are who I seek, and I won’t waste another minute with the Ditch People. Since humans think in metaphors, when we change the metaphor, our perception changes too. Now I see all the idiots that hate me, as ditch people and it no longer bothers me. The session yielded quite an amazing transformation. Where I used to feel angry at them and keenly feel the injustice, now I’m quite content with the high quality forest people in my life and the harmless road people.
Yes, there are a lot of twins here! I find it almost uncanny when I read some of these comments how EXACTLY some people's experiences mirror mine.
I like your analogies...I certainly feel most of us have come to some sort of similar conclusion. I worry about this though...the process of profiling, labelling, etc. I have been lambasted by Off Guardian readers for using the term "sheep" to describe people who fall in that category. I waffle back and forth on this...how does name calling help? Well, in my opinion, it helps US, the forest people...I don't mean to label a group in order to identify who to hate...I don't hate sheep. But they are dangerous. I don't hate venomous snakes either, but I want to identify them, avoid them, or know that I have to handle them in a special way.
I feel that we will have to eventually deal with the sheep. We will either have to convince them to come over, or we will have to put them in a position where they cannot hurt us (obvious that does NOT mean exterminate them, or harm them! They are OUR people too...but we must be careful.) The convincing them option does not seem to be working out.
Anyway...I don't want to write another article in my response! Sorry...
Thanks again for the participation!!! Twin!
Good one as usual, Todd and wiil be linking it today @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/
As long as you are true to youself, I wouldn't worry too much about what the 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 think!!!!
If they were not family, I would do no worrying about individuals. But do worry their ignorance, arrogance, and hate, will bring us all down. THANKS!!!
This.
‘Tis why I lost my job and so many ‘friends’. Unlike you (brave soul) I don’t argue. I’ll put it forward and if there is backlash I walk away. Figure anyone who can’t/won’t listen to a different perspective is not worth my time or energy.
Wondrously though many of them came around when they started seeing other sheep veering out of the slaughterhouse chute.
And yes, I did say “told you so”!
Wow...you must have much better powers of persuasion. I have not convinced a single soul to see the light. At first I did try, I do not anymore.
Nah not at all! I was not noble and honest presenting viable arguments like you were. Kudos to you for being able to do that!!
I was more of a blunt force object wrapped in sarcasm. “If you’re wearing mask, why do I have to?” “Got your second clot shot because the first worked so well, eh?”
And to the friend who got ‘novovirus’ after ALL 7 SHOTS (!!) “So you have the flu now because your 7 shots were so effective? Best not walk around cuz you know you’re only safe when sitting at a table.”
Kinda thing.
So no power of persuasion there. And they wpuld never bring up covid in my presence becuase I would usually just sit and smirk. Didn’t hve to say a word. After 2 years of not even wanting to be around me (thank gawd!) those few now are talking the same as we do. They aren’t quite shrews - more like shorn sheep - but they are learning. Maybe it was feeling the fool for believing? Who knows.
I still smirk when I say tole ya so.
I still love it!
I had a dream last night about the divide. I was surrounded by friends and colleagues -- something that never happens anymore--and which I dream about regularly. I was enjoying their company but kept myself distant, the way you do when you are sober and everyone around you is drinking. I woke up thinking about that deep-down feeling that you get when you believe someone else is crazy, and how that sense has multiplied exponentially since the pandemic. Is it just a darker shade of a sentiment I always carried, or is it new? It seems new to me. I was also demonized and ridiculed by wanting to discuss the Covid measures from a position of skepticism. Even my remaining relationships are with people who "don't want to get into it" with me--I guess that's the only way we can remain friends. What can we do? I would rather live loving the Truth than be accepted by the crowd. Maybe that's the thing they hate the most. I don't know. I try to smile and share moments of kindness. They are not inhuman, they are just in Hell.
What you are describing makes me think of my "observer mode." I wrote an article "I Am a Camera" about that...it is a strange dissociative position...being in the world but no of it. A bit surreal. I don't really engage, particularly if I know I have an opposing view...I sort of "go along" with it and just learn more about why these people stick to what they are believing. Totally non-confrontational.
Reading this could not have come at a better time for me. I was fairly and deeply down in mood the past 24 hours. Naturally depressed because I have been feeling oppressed by censure and hostility and (worse) blankness. To not have any thought or feeling mirrored in the eyes of another is exceedingly lonely. And it feels dangerous. I've always been accused of being 'too sensitive' or of 'thinking too much.' And in the past years there has been the added: 'too radical' and 'way out there.' The sense of alienation is real. And the alternative of concealing what I consider the best parts of me (genuine concern for others, for a start) is almost intolerable at times. So, for me it's a lifeline to, at least, read of shared suffering in this regard. Misery may well love company because it's an instinctive trait and serves a real benefit towards survival. Thank you for writing, T.H.. And thank you for the 'company'. And likewise, I give thanks to all engaging herein.
Your thoughts are appreciated. I've also been down of late. Overwhelmed and on the edge of tears sometimes. So isolated it's painful. often, although I'm genuinely uninterested in the people around me. I'm being shunned, there's a local boycott on my small business, and I joke that I'm the Bud Light of this little village with the one human in the whole area with an open mind. The looks I get would kill if they could, so the gossip must be up there in the axe murderer range. I'm also generally interested in the why and how of things over a fairly wide area and always have been, because it is all connected. Some friends declared that they had always thought I was crazy.
One therapist I saw for awhile went through some Myers-Briggs tests and labelled me INFJ, I think it is... It's the over-sensitive, over-thinking, radically curious one percent of the population that really wants to be understood and to understand those close, and will shut down on relationships that are, let's say, more on the surface. I was a door slammer even then, hence the therapist. I'm not a labelist, per se, and there's much more to the category, but acknowledging that I really don't want to settle for less than compatibility. That's been helpful so far, but I want to move from where I am, thinking of leaving the country. That's a big door slam. I've really had it here.
Shelagh Young, VERY interesting. I also fall into the INFJ category, for what it is worth. And I also eschew labels! Introvert, Internalizer, etc. I know I am rare, however, for better and for the worst. However, "emotional and logical" does describe me. I have never-ever been some one who has been contented with small talk and gossip. I have always been keenly curious (and auto-didactic, and self motivated as a consequence). Like you my interests are wide but I've never doubted that my interests were/are connected -- not just within myself but in all existence.
I think 'over-sensitive' definitely applies to me...WHEN compared to the NORM. Same with 'over-thinking'. When I slam a door it is because my foot is SO sore from trying to keep it open (often for years, if not decades). Yet it usually comes as a shock or, at least, great surprise, to the one on the other side of the door -- they never saw my 'exit' coming, even though I was sweating and grunting and trying everything I'd learned (or intuited) to date. And, perhaps that accounts for my despair at times. I am stubborn and tenacious, and give up only when I perceive a 'lost cause'. And, like you, settling for less (less heart, less soul, less curiosity) in an intimate -- be it friend or partner -- is not an option. I've tried it, numerous times, and it doesn't work for me. So acceptance is the thing I strive for. Accept that I have always breathed a more rarified air, and not blame those who cannot smell it, taste it, and glide in it.
Where were you considering for relocation? I have (as far as I am able) examined many options with both excitement and trepidation. And I always come back to the notion of "Wherever you go, there you are." But I was born in 1958, and I guess the particular Hill I am on right now is as good as any on which to die. That being said, I am always open to options...
Thank you for sharing <3
Thank YOU! So lovely to meet you here on the screen and in honest dialogue.
"When I slam a door it is because my foot is SO sore from trying to keep it open (often for years, if not decades). "
LOL. I needed that. SO true! Bending over backward until the spine (and soul) aches.
Wherever you go, there you are.... Also true, but not expecting a sudden leap into fake extroversion, I just want to feel safe within a community.
I was thinking of Mexico, which is lawless and wild and you have to bribe people to get things like paperwork done, according to others who tried it. I drove around the Yucatan to see the Mayan ruins without knowing Spanish, without any solid plan or reservations, just winging it, and had an incredible time.
More recently it's Costa Rica. Very friendly to immigrants, fairly affordable, the whole country is organic, seems like a happy population with a strong democratic system that seems to be working well. Seems, I say because I have not been there yet...
They stopped injecting people and opened the border with no requirements about being injected to get in and live there earlier than most countries. Beautiful beyond belief.
And a rain forest. It rains from May to October. Most of the houses have huge overhanging roofs and big cement or tiled patios for water runoff and shade.
They recommend visiting pre-move for long enough to experience the climate. From the number of interesting places for sale I've browsed, I suspect six months of rain could be an issue for many expecting fun in the tropical sun all the time.
So there you are with that thought stream to date...
What places are you considering?
Lovely to meet you!!!! You are in the USA? I wondered about Ireland, considering your name. And Ireland is dire-land at present.
Twenty five years ago my deceased husband and I were looking into early retirement 'away from it all'. And mostly away from most people. And with no expectation of ease and convenience...or safety. I did 90% of the research! Costa Rica was a big interest and I even subscribed to the Tico Times. Then, after several visits, we decided that Belize would do for us -- an undeveloped beachfront (off grid) on Ambergris Caye, ten nautical miles from 'town' would do for us. The locales were excellent folks (we stayed with some) and I love the rainforest and the sea. But then...terminal cancer. We moved to California instead (I did rush research and within 6 months we were moved) because of the diverse forest, the river, the seasons...and the real estate prices. Anyway, it was better than Chicago! And it's still better than Chicago. BUT it's f-ing California.
All of the tropics appeal to me. I love rain. Although I am nordic in heritage I can cope well with heat and humidity. I haven't spent any time on the west coast of Mexico. Mostly Cozumel (hey, we were into SCUBA diving) and Cancun -- always finding spots to swim and eat and socialize AWAY from tourists. I am highly adaptive. I am considering investing in Spanish language studies...just to hone my skills and keep options open. But going it entirely alone at my age is daunting -- just psychologically. I'd do it, though. After all, what's the downside? Dying?
For me, the downside most visible now is staying in Canada, where I am, on the Atlantic coast. The name comes from my Welsh mother, who came to Canada all alone as a teenager. Chris Bray has a California-centric Substack I'd recommend for the great writing, laughs and commentary on legislative procedure (and bungling). My whole country is off its rocker now. Our national health care system is a point of identity and pride, which was, for decades, well-deserved. Now it's captured, as they say, by what really looks like a puppet government we can't seem to get rid of, although Trudeau is generally loathed. Still, his vitriol against dissenters as racist misogynist antiscience blah blah blahs has had the desired effect, and there's nowhere in my own country I can imagine going and being safe.
Belize is interesting too, although it's so British, and all of the UK and Ireland are very dire now, so I'd think it would have embraced the totalitarian over-reach too...
ShieldMaiden, you have described me in a much better way than I could ever have written myself. I too feel like I'm getting to the end of my rope of late. I wait for a change to happen but there are days when I feel it will never happen. To quote a line from a song by my favourite band Rush ... "another day as drab as today is more than a man can endure ...". You have a kindred spirit here who knows exactly where you are coming from. Thanks for sharing.
Agree. It is great bringing a lit match into the heavy fog. Just a flicker means a lot.
You describe the number one reason why I started this substack...in the hope of helping those of us in this weird isolated funk. I also felt a need to babble somewhere, as there is no longer a place for that in my inner circle.
Hang in there...there is nothing more alienating than being around people who have lost touch with reality...and that seems to be the whole world right now.
Much gratitude for your perspectives and efforts, T.H.! For a human (and many other higher social animals) to be isolated, ostracized and generally disconnected from one’s society is an existential crisis. Solitary confinement and banishment are torturous punishments. Not that I would prefer running with the flock over a cliff! But it is grievous that it seems like these are the two overarching choices for many of The Few. I keep looking for, feeling out, those who seem to have potential. But the pickings are super thin in my neck of the woods. I once thought that an extremely rural area, peopled with Native Americans, loggers, small ranchers, off-grid dwellers, etc, I would encounter a great deal of independent thinkers/actors. Alas and alack. There are mighty few. The US Government employs the largest of the small population — either through the USFS or through the local Indian Tribe. And the indoctrination is severe.
I want "them" to hate me. I relish the moment. First of all their hate only affects them. Secondly, I consider the source. To be hated by a dummy? Alrighty. Third, I expect NOTHING from this realm. That way any blessing I get is just that, "a blessing." If people don't hate you then you are not doing "the work." How can any rational mind navigate in Asylum USA and expect to be praised and loved by its unhinged patients?
“If you see The All Mighty and Magnificent, holding back this world from you, frequently trying you with adversity and tribulation, know that you hold a great status with Him. Know that He is dealing with you as He does with His Awliya and chosen elite, and is watching over you.”
--Al-Ghazali (Written over 1000 years ago)
I like your quote...I believe that, and it does bring me comfort..."Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."...something like that..
Your first paragraph makes sense too, but for me, the people I love the most are the "dummies"...I do not want to lose them. So I try to stay "palatable" to them, thus keeping my mouth shut most of the time. I know if things get worse (not so much an "if") this position will not be sustainable...
It is said that Jesus healed the blind and the sick by the Power of The All Mighty. He cast out demons, by the Power of The All Mighty. He could not do nothing with the fool, so he left him alone. Patience and silence, as you know, goes a long way when dealing with those on "that" frequency. Leave them to basque in the fantasy, because for most people, “that fantasy” is, really deep down, "all that they have." They have been operating from a position of self inflicted delusion for too long. The fantasy has become real. Reality is too tough for them to digest. One can only do what one can do.
I, too, was very outspoken from the start. When I said in Mid-March we needed to disobey the lockdowns the moment they were announced the shock and disgust from so many I knew was the first sign I had of what we were up against. I was called a callous murderer at the time for daring to say that.
And so it continued. I shared scientific study after scientific study, tried to put the statistics into perspective, gave historical comparisons, told the simple truth that responsibility for good health starts at home, gave tips on nutrition, hydration, exercise, sunlight, fresh air, sleep patterns, spoke of how important our microbiome are, gut, mucous membranes, skin. Pointed out that the sanitizers were harming their own natural protective hand microbiome that destroys most all microbiological threats in just 5-15 minutes on its own, sanitizer kills the good guys, too. I was called crazy, told my advice was harming people. As if.
Lost many friends on Fb. And it continued, even after the BLM riots exposed the BS, that surely would've woken up most. I refused to mask the entire time. My beloved got angry with me for all of the conflicts I'd have. She wore them the first 5-6 months used sanitizer religiously, against my cautions and my example. But finally the mask came off. Slowly she worked up her courage. And when she did she couldn't believe how much freer she felt. She had adopted the all too common, "it's no big deal, I don't even notice it" approach. But when she finally bucked the majority her sense of freedom came back. It took another year and a half where I live for most to return to bare faces so she feels like an early rebel.
I began warning about the jabs to come in July-August when my research on PCR testing informed me that vaccines shed their contents detectable for upwards of 2.5 months after inoculation, and those still living their lives testing for presence of CV (tests never reflected infection, just presence, I've never taken one and never will) those believing we'd vaccinate our way out of a pandemic would be putting themselves into quarantine up to 2.5 months after they took one using their logic of disease. And I was called crazy. For knowing the truth and sharing it with those I loved and cared about.
Many were hostile, angry, insulting. And I'm a return fire person, you hit me once I hit you twice, twice as hard, make you think twice about ever hitting me again. Lost a lot of people in my life that way. In social media. And in real life, stores and restaurants I'll never go back to depending on how ugly they were or how ugly I got in return. My share of encounters I'm not proud of. But I don't take shit. And let the dark energy win some moments.
I'm fortunate that my family never disowned me or avoided me. I've tried to explain to all the harms of masks, jabs, the insanity of it all. Most have politely nodded their heads and told me they take in information from all sources and make up their own minds. All went along with the masks, not as comfortable with conflict as I am when I know I'm right. Most got the jabs, except my sibling and my beloved, who fortunately was able to save her child from the 4x's jabbed father's preference. All family members have been sick, those who got jabbed. My sibling and partner, both unjabbed, got very sick, sibling a few weeks after the spouse got jabbed (who ended up in the hospital for a month, subjected to the remdesiver death protocol, Thank God survived it! My partner after visiting with friends who had just been jabbed. And an aunt who was a retired nurse who knew better about getting the jabs got sick after being with many who had just gotten jabbed didn't make it. Not sure if was from jab shedding, diabetic coma or done in by hospital protocols.
As for me, never been sick since before 2020. And I've hugged and been in close contact with those who've tested positive (fake test) and while my partner was sick. I try to take care of my terrain.
I left Fb in January, 2021, when I saw what feds were doing to people using social media. My posts were often confrontational, were sometimes censored, frequently shadow-banned. But the stakes for speaking out against authority became crystal clear then.
The whole time I had been on social media I had few friends rally to my side, would take the piling on, one versus three-four-five. I'd sometimes get private messages, emails or texts from friends who said they agreed with me, read my shares, appreciated that I had the courage to fight the fight, but they had too much to lose if they weighed in. Thanks.
I moved early in pandemic, that alone meant long friendships would suffer. Leaving Fb in early 2021 made it even harder. I visited old home earlier this year, met up with a dozen old friends. They knew my positions, we had conversations about, they weren't hateful, but still disagreed with me about jabs and masks, though agreed the mandates and fever pitch around it all got out of hand. And these were friends that stayed friends, hadn't disavowed me like many others.
It's been a real-time sociology experiment. I was used to being the contrarian. A free-thinking conservative/libertarian my whole life, lived in very liberal college towns and big cities, I was used to the 1 vs 5 contests of ideas. Even working in politics, kept up good relations with opposing party officials, I could be diplomatic enough to work productively with them for two decades. Though now, and after my less diplomatic presentations of ideas that's not really possible. But I speak my mind. Their feelings be damned. I'm too old to give a rat's butt. And they're in the wrong, have done great harm by their pretense of righteousness. I hold the high moral ground and don't concede an inch to them. They offend me. They offend the very humanity they pretend to care about. And I don't take their smug superiority laying down. Tom Petty's Won't Back Down would be a good song to play at my memorial whenever God calls me home. I stand with truth. I speak my truth. Till my last breath.
Wow..what a great comment!! Thank you so much...and thank you for your wonderful substack!!
You sound like you have experienced something similar with your partner and family...although both my wife and one of my sisters are hard core and have not moved an inch. Both very intelligent people. Go figure.
The biggest difference I think between you and I is that you are far braver than I. I avoid confrontation, for a couple of reasons. One is because I am generally a wimp. After going through this first "run" though I have more familiarity with the "play" and I believe when it happens again, I will be entirely resistant. Hopefully.
I also have a weird "I really don't care" attitude. I am not out to save the world...I will sneak around in the shadows and pretend I am fine with it all...at least that is what I DID, I don't think I will again. (I did draw the line with the vaccines, didn't get any of them of course, and I was quite defiant with "social distancing" and mask wearing where I wouldn't get kicked out of a building for it....)
Todd, I see that you are really suffering about all of this. I truly, deeply understand because I am in exactly the same p;lace and I wish I had something profoundly insightful to say to help you feel better. I guess I am a bit more used to being the conspiracy theorist outsider because I have been at it much longer. Today I watched an interview on Aubrey Marcus"s podcast with Del Bigtree. I listened to Del all through the entire Covid time and he kept me sane., but this interview is astonishing because Del has time to talk about how he feels about being attacked for years since he put out "Vaxxed". IT IS WONDERFUL, It IS inspiring. I strongly recommend listening to all of it to learn from him. It supports our stand on this entire thing. I hope you get some encouragement.
Big Del fan here as well. I will check it out.
My suffering really comes in the form of dissociating...I feel like I am retreating more and more. Which is quite disturbing. I am hanging in there though...Vive la Shrew!
Thank you for that suggestion. I love Del…will watch today. Recently, a friend of mine recommended to another friend to watch an interview with RFK. The friend watched and then came back to my friend with insulting remarks and anger. It is the oddest thing…I remember recommending something to friends and whether or not they agreed, we had interesting discussions…certainly no attack. I find this so scary.
And RFK is so gentle...