My life:

One interesting thing I've noticed in this pandemic is how many highly intelligent people actually don't seem to understand how infectious disease works. A LOT of people talked as if COVID just manifested out of the air, or from some foul miasma.

— Noah Smith 🐇 (@Noahpinion) May 10, 2021

But that is the level of understanding most people have of how disease works, including nearly all “believe science” liberals.

And this relates directly to my years on help desk. While there, I learned that most people have no comprehension at all of how anything actually functions — not even the first inkling. They perform the little ritual they’ve painfully memorized, and if that doesn’t do what they expect they are then completely and forevermore stumped. They have nothing at all to fall back on because there is no abstract comprehension of anything below “click on green icon.”

This is true of computers and IT systems — but it’s also true of nearly everything else in society as well. Most people have no idea of the mechanism behind anything, and in many cases don’t even conceive that there is anything deeper at all.

pretty clear at this point that if Republicans control Congress in 2024 a Democrat will not be allowed to win the presidential election. simple as that https://t.co/ujMm5ifn3U

— ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper) May 10, 2021

Concur. The already-sham democracy of the US is on its deathbed. Even if Biden (or Harris) win by a substantial margin, if the Repubs control Congress there is no chance that either one will actually become president in 2024.

Reading this thread, even though there aren’t that many replies, I am certain now that there’s going to be no Roaring Twenties.

People just want to hide, and are afraid of absolutely everything. (And the women who think wearing a mask diverts the male gaze. WTF? Uh, no. Complete toddler thought process.) People just used to have a lot more fun.

What happened?

I spent the last year as a "cautious on COVID" type. I researched and followed my best guesses on how not to get sick. By a mix of prudence and luck, I never did.

It's been a ride, fellow COVID-hawks. I have few regrets. But this is where I respectfully disembark.

— Alan Cole (@AlanMCole) May 9, 2021

I’m right there with you, brother.

I wore my mask. I didn’t dine in, barely even dined outdoors, and mostly got takeout. And I rarely interacted with other people, and then usually only outdoors.

But just look at all the Covid cultists in the replies!

This will continue through 2024…snapshot this

— Jerald Jones (@justajunkdrawe1) May 9, 2021

Lockdown lifers and Covid cultists are going to make the end of this so much worse, just as the anti-maskers did the beginning. I mean, just look at these dipshits:

OK for your next trick why don’t you try running red lights and see how long you last before you are smashed to smithereens.

— Mary Bailey (@_marybailey_) May 9, 2021

Sure, I will for the time being wear my mask indoors in public. It makes others comfortable and there is still a very small chance I could spread Covid in that situation. But in the main, my goal in life is not to make others feel comfortable and definitely is not to help sustain people’s weirdo delusions.

As of tomorrow, I am past my second jab by two weeks so I will be fully vaccinated. I am going to live my life, do what I want to do, have fun, enjoy the world as much as I can. Again, my role in this world is not to sustain other people’s fantasies.

Let the liberal tears fall where they may!

The people who want to keep masking: ‘It’s like an invisibility cloak.’

“Maybe it’s because I’m a New Yorker or maybe it’s because I always feel like I have to present my best self to the world, but it has been such a relief to feel anonymous,” she said. “It’s like having a force field around me that says ‘don’t see me’.”

Some people do really think like toddlers. Note that this has nothing to do with preventing infection at all. I knew this was going to be the case. Many people are are already looking for an excuse to withdraw from the world, to go as full hikikomori as possible, and the pandemic has granted that wish.

This is the choice quote, though, that I will highlight separately:

“I’m sick of being perceived.”

You don’t need to be a psychologist to realize that these people are fundamentally mentally (and physically) unhealthy.

I was kind of hoping for a recapitulation of the Roaring 20s. But we’re not going to get that, are we? It’s probably not in the cards. No, it’ll be the Boring 20s as people just keep on withdrawing and believing they can hide from the world.

Covid mask fights make plane travel more dangerous. Listen to your flight attendants.

Proposed policy for anti-masker mooks on flights: plane slows down enough so that an external door can be opened. Anti-masker passenger thrown out, chute thrown out at the same time. If the former passenger manages to get to the chute and put it on before high-speed ground smackage, we have a winner!

If not, well…no great loss.