Goldtent TA Paradise

One man’s take:

1. Karl says:

   December 14, 2020 - 9:13 am at 9:13 am

   It certainly is upsetting. I have so many disagreements with so many of the points and so many of the comments. Yet I am in accord with much of the underlying points. I am pretty immobile, but I keep going over and over, for example, how I possibly might move if necessary, and where.

   Ultimately however I think mass noncompliance is going to work better than anything else. Contrary to many people’s ideas, resistance pops up in unexpected places. In NYC my impression is that some of biggest pains in the necks for the authorities have been the extreme Orthodox Jews. In Newark I have read that there are frequent, even daily (?) demonstrations, albeit small ones, by blacks saying that they have had enough of being experimented upon and have no intention of having blacks be vaccinated for genocidal purposes.

   It is clearly tough when people are supposed to be inside, staying away from each other and not talking, when they have been raised for decades now to be stupid; when large official and semi-official entities are subsidizing and helping to populate violent fake “revolutionary” “resistance” etc groups as well as undoubtedly to some extent the opposing groups – divide and rule – create chaos etc.

   Many people do however have a social tendency. They do tend to have an underlying tendency for real resistance. The question is how to bring it out. Sometimes big things help. Sometimes small things.

   • silverboom says:

     December 14, 2020 - 9:16 am at 9:16 am

     Good points, Karl.

2. Karl says:

   December 14, 2020 - 9:23 am at 9:23 am

   Besides the wearing masks wrong that I see all the time and other ways of throwing sand in the machine, there’s another little one. I don’t know whether it’s any good.

   Someone – I think a Brit, maybe a USaian – wrote in offguardian a week or so ago that she has been suggesting everywhere she knows that it’s a good idea to wear a white ribbon. If asked you can say the white ribbon means the whole mask anti-social distancing Covid thing is WAY overdone. I haven’t seen any white ribbons. I haven’t gone any farther than buy white ribbon myself w/o unwrapping it. It seems somewhat idiotic and frankly it feels not particularly macho to me so I don’t like it – I tend to like wearing undecorated sloppy clothes etc etc. But it might make it stand out all the more if you’re someone who doesn’t wear ribbons to wear a ribbon. It’s a little thing that might make the day of some stranger who’s feeling isolated and discouraged who asks you if you tell them that you are thinking what they are thinking but haven’t dared to tell anyone. I don’t know. It’s easier and safer than some measures.

3. Karl says:

   December 14, 2020 - 10:07 am at 10:07 am

   More while I am ranting.

   I may be wrong, but I have long since given up on “liberals” – the true-believer identity politics DNC kind. They will be the last to see anything. Any pro or semipro leninist ideologue I know from up close experience is … not good to deal with. (What’s really bad is that the “liberals” are a mixture of neo-con and leninist – worst of various worlds. Many people here realize that.)

   I haven’t figured out yet about firm right wing ideologues. In general ideologues are bad to the extent they are ideologues.

   The point is to try to figure out ways to defeat divide-and-rule by communicating with those who you are supposed to be hating. BLM you know about. In contrast consider the pluses (there were some) of the old Black Panthers. Fred Hampton the Black Panther (I have my ***massive*** problems with him and all the Black Panthers but he was young when he was killed befriended a gang of whites from Appalachia who wore confederate flags since they had common problems – rather than getting huffy BLM style about symbolism and race. I’m not saying to be like him in other respects since the Black Panthers deserve severe criticisms. But you get my point.

   Smile (if you’re not wearing the mask) at the person who you might think is your enemy – or wink – if they’re wearing it wrong, esp if they’re of a very different ethnic group and age. Try to make sure the police are on your side (easier said than done!). They actually may be on your side in many jurisdictions. Don’t make assumptions about who is against you. I’m not being clear. I need to check the markets and pay some bills. But a good idea is try to figure out short-circuiting divide-and-rule. Again, easier said than done. Talking to myself.

4. pedro_deleon says:

   December 14, 2020 - 11:00 am at 11:00 am

   I rip off my mask INSIDE the stores after I’m done paying, before I leave the building.
   Always.

   I nod at anyone not wearing their’s near a store. (Don’t see that much even where I am).

   I would love to buy and wear a meshed mask, if I could find one.
   Or one with “Don’t Tread on Me” depicted.

   • Fullgoldcrown says:

     December 14, 2020 - 11:25 am at 11:25 am

     Ha….I am doing same…walk out with mask off.

     It’s a start

   • Karl says:

     December 14, 2020 - 11:40 am at 11:40 am

     I think much depends on the person and the situation. So very much in life depends on small things, which in many ways are much better than talk or acts of violence.

     I have trouble because before COVID I used to consider it a good habit (still do) to exercise near-Japanese style hygiene and in fact tended to use pocket hand sanitizer before and after many winter store transactions to help avoid influenza and out of courtesy to checkout people. I would have gladly even used a mask a year ago as a gesture to show courtesy, even if it didn’t work – Japanese style. It’s the idea of being forced that I object to, esp when coming from oligarchs and the State.

     Where I shop I notice the supermarket – a regional chain – only goes through motions compared to months ago. Many people in the area put on masks etc in grudging fashion. If they could they would put masks on their shoulders – I’ve actually seen that. Just yesterday I saw someone outside put on a mask when I saw me, and I said, “I don’t care” in a tone as to say “It’s completel ridiculous – don’t bother.” There’s a fair amount of that where I am. In another region where I go it’s very rigid.

     Play by ear. Push, keep pushing. Mesh if you don’t get fined – unless you can afford a great lawyer. Put the higher ups more under pressure than the people who might get fired, IMO. Be conspiratorial – wink, nod, joke. Be as hard to rule as possible. Talk with others. Be conspiratorial with those who are supposed to enforce. All easier said than done.

     • Fullgoldcrown says:

       December 14, 2020 - 11:44 am at 11:44 am

       But DO IT anyway…good one Karl

5. Fullgoldcrown says:

   December 14, 2020 - 11:26 am at 11:26 am

   Sign on a Driveway near here

   “My Health is NOT your Responsibility “