Be careful expressing this nostalgia though, because you'll be judged for your lack of awareness of your privilege:
It can feel a little callous, or at the very least uncool, to admit to missing any part of those days. While so many millions of people were sheltering at home, millions more were risking their lives just going to work, mourning lost loved ones or struggling to even get internet access.
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46 comments:
my friends sat around.. NOT Working, because the government Ordered their shops closed
my friends are poor.. and got poorer.
You Know what They say, when you say you miss the panicdemic? They say: FUCK JOE BIDEN!
I have five sons and their families, in Alaska, Norway, Texas, Massachusetts, and NH. It was nice when we could all get together in Zoom every couple of months, because getting together in the flesh is more like every three years.
Zoom gets tiring after about an hour, even with a convivial crowd. But it did have advantages. What tended to go away in the pandemic was the hundred smaller relationships at church or work or the bank or the library or at restaurants and bars. It was a significant social change for the negative for that side of our lives. But people rework their time and focus and come up with ingenious solutions. I even hand-wrote a few letters, which I had not done since I had distant girlfriends in the 1970s, and am still doing a little of that.
What I miss most about it is getting everyone in one space and catching up together, as opposed to just visiting one friend wherever they are."
Previous generations got around this by, and this is crazy, organizing events in person. Hosting dinner parties and game nights and drinks after work. They had actual social lives.
I think pollsters found that, on balance, about a third of people enjoyed the lockdown, while 50% hated it and the rest had "mixed feelings." I think it sucked. At the beginning of the lockdown, I went to my farm and chopped down a couple dozen trees. I also installed a big deck on my house a little later on. I read a ton of mysteries and sci-fi.
There is a thing called a "real life". Bust out of your enclosed cubicles and live free. Walk, talk, meet and do.
"It's easy if you try" John Lennon
Hot tip for the NYT writer:
There's a thing called "having a party." It involves inviting multiple friends (not just one at a time) to come to your selected venue (your house, an accommodating restaurant or bar, etc.) to share food and beverages and conversations with you. If you and your friends are still suffering pandemic nostalgia, perhaps you could all wear masks, just like back then.
There: problem solved. Wasn't that easy?
Pandemic nostalgia could also mean mask mandates were not as intrusive and as useless as a vocal minority said they were.
The CDC needs to come up with more severe restrictions.
All the cashiers at my Super Market survived and they "swam" in a disease vector... cash!
Listen Up link https://youtu.be/SjXJUwbgKeA
The last 4 years have been an attack on the working and middle class.
They got all uppity and prosperous during the Trump years.
The Globalists are taking all of that back and trying to grind the middle class back down.
But there are a lot of people that liked sitting in their house and having their food delivered to them by Amazon. They want their serfs poor and subservient.
I still see people in Boulder driving in their cars alone, masked.
I've heard people looking back on the early days of the pandemic and their own strivings. What you did when you ran out of toilet paper that one time? or when you had nothing but possibly plague-infested meat? What it was like for an essential worker going down deserted streets in the early morning during the former-rush-hour for the first time?
What to do with the stockpiles of civilian-level hand sanitizer, stored in health care facilities? Or with stored masks whose rubber is losing efficacy? I say the masks should be labeled and sold as official pandemic souvenirs for fund raising purposes for city hospitals. And the gloves could be used in private lawn art in hated cities like Portland and NYC. The gloves could be formed into Stretchy Man "statues" which celebrate truth-fluid reporters, Social Media Stasi and their kind. They'd pop out if you pulled on them and pop back when you let go - or ooze back over time. Or the individual gloves composing the mass could be filled with air and water, and you pull one out toward a large, sharp-ended file labelled Taibbi or Weiss or Shellenberger or Carlson, and - POP! Pop the Power. Obviously the statues would be "gender-fluid" so two current forms to be celebrated in one.
There was no crisis.
It was all part of a plan.
The people who are "nostalgic" about the lockdown obviously don't have school age kids.
Spiros: "about a third of people enjoyed the lockdown"
It varied by state. Many authoritarian lockdowners were reelected handily.
Of course, the damage is still being calculated.
But considering that many people don't go to church or bars or work, more people should Zoom etc. more often.
What gilbar said.
I will add Dr Fauci and the army of bureaucrats who force-fed us "vaccines" that flew in the face of, "First, do no harm" and forbid us access to Ivermectin and other effective treatments.
Did I forget once respected medical organizations (Mayo Clinics and others) that went along with this nonsense.
The Doctor/Patient relationship is DEAD. If you get sick, you now have a relationship with a corporate bean-counter or a "protocol" created by a loyal Party Member.
It's been good for people to get back out into the real world and having real conversations with real people, but I can understand that "meeting" people from other parts of the country or the world, people one otherwise wouldn't know, could be something people would miss. Too often, online interactions are about politics and opinion. They may be more stimulating than talking about sports or the weather around the watercooler, but they can take a lot out of you.
So Zoom groups provided a way of bringing the local and the global together and seeing what we share with people living in other places and other circumstances. A "global village" of people actually interacting with each other in a positive way, rather than passively watching television or actively trying to undermine each other's arguments.
We might turn up our noses at hearing from our neighbor about mundane problems of everyday life, but when we hear about the same troubles from somebody on the other side of the continent or the planet -- somebody we have greater affinity with, in spite of the distance -- it's more interesting. Would we get used to it over time, or would the myriad possibilities keep us interested.
Zoom dissolves the distinction between remote and face-to-face communication. If we could see each other's faces, would we know each other better? Would we treat each other differently?
It became apparent to me pretty early on that a lot of people thirst for guidance from their betters; I was surprised at how many people didn't think masking and quarantining were carried far enough. That seemed particularly true of some immigrants I know--from South Africa, New Zealand, and China--but a lot of natives were eager for more restrictions on contact and on speech . . . too many for comfort, IMO.
Zoom is a useful tool but neither my wife nor I use it for purely family or social purposes, and AFAIK none of our F&F do either.
The Doctor/Patient relationship is DEAD.
No, it is not. Diversity is a class-disordered ideology. Not all doctors defer to modern conceptions of medical care. Talk to your doctor. List and decide individually.
Government sanctioned quitting with "benefits", and, aside from the prognostications and treatments of the cargo cult, and planned parent/hood, the virus posed a low risk to people young, middle, and old without metabolic or respiratory comorbidities. We knew this from the start with men and women, husband and wife, involuntarily sequestered in close proximity on the cruise ship.
This "nostalgia" is A) pure chattering-class bullshit, and/or B) "trust bureaucracy" propaganda. Either way, it is evil.
The Left is stuck in this dogma that all of this closing down businesses, hiding in our basements, social distancing and mask wearing actually did any good.
Bless their woke hearts.
The most enduring aspect of the pandemic for me was my loss of respect for the fundamental common sense óf those who live around me here in LA, many of whom STILL wear their idiotic and utterly ineffective masks in public places. I now see democracy as a hellscape Idiocracy.
The only thing I have some sense of nostalgia with is that when the gyms closed I had to improvise at home. I spent the first 3-4 weeks just hiking, walking, etc., thinking it would really be "two weeks". Nah. I begged and borrowed some weights (nearly impossible to buy retail by that point) and went back to basics on my back patio, using some of the things I'd first learned back in the '70s from my mom's old Jack LaLanne home workout book. Then the gyms opened again. And then they closed again. Still, I went out back at 6 a.m. and worked out for 90 minutes like I normally would. Kind of pleasant. Listened to whatever music I wanted. Sunny, birds singing, etc. Decent enough workout, but boring, very limited set of things to do.
Most of this 'nostalgia' is coming from the laptop class who weren't really harmed much at all, seeing as they had the hoi polloi to bring them whatever they needed.
I have absolutely no "nostalgia" about the pandemic shutdown. It caused a couple of friends and a relative to become "weirdly" paranoid. They will meet us at a crowded restaurant, unmasked, but are terrified of inviting anyone into their homes. WTF???
We've practically given up on the two friends. Unfortunately, the relative is married to a sibling. My spouse and I decided to go back to living like a lot of people did in our area even before the official "you can unmask now."
"Not all doctors defer to modern conceptions of medical care. Talk to your doctor. List and decide individually."
Beg to differ. Certainly, there are physicians who are willing to "color outside the lines" but when it comes to writing a script or ordering a test, most toss the crayon in the trash.
ALL of my docs are willing discuss most issues with varying degrees of candor. I'm no doctor but do "doctor speak" with above-average fluency (was once Public Affairs chief for 1,100 bed med center).
Bottom line: when a physician relizes the patient is making more sense than he is, he will concede that doing "X" will jeopardize his standing with whatever Medical Practice he's a part of or his accreditation to see and treat patients in one or more hospitals. Some will come right out and tell you he's afraid of jeopardizing his license to practice.
I’m still shocked at just how many people don’t understand how a virus works.
"Oh a false clock tries to tick out my time
To disgrace, distract, and bother me
And the dirt of gossip blows into my face
And the dust of rumors covers me
But if the arrow is straight
And the point is slick
It can pierce through dust no matter how thick
So I’ll make my stand
And remain as I am
And bid farewell and not give a damn"
Blogger Colonel Mustard said...
"Not all doctors defer to modern conceptions of medical care. Talk to your doctor. List and decide individually."
Beg to differ. Certainly, there are physicians who are willing to "color outside the lines" but when it comes to writing a script or ordering a test, most toss the crayon in the trash.
My wife and I see an internist who is a devoted Covid nut but he seems OK in other areas. He refused to prescribe premarin for her even though she had a hysterectomy 40 years ago and is 78. So she went to a gynecologist (female) who wrote the prescription and we sent it off to Canada.
The trouble is that we are a doctor and a nurse practitioner who know the facts. Not everyone can figure these things out on their own. I am very unhappy with the medical profession the last two years or so.
I keep being reminded of the young internist who was very concerned about my 96 year old mother's cholesterol. She lived another 7 years. Common sense seems in short supply these days.
Will Index Medicus need a new heading?
Nostalgia pandemicia.
'No, it is not. Diversity is a class-disordered ideology. Not all doctors defer to modern conceptions of medical care. Talk to your doctor. List and decide individually.'
The problem (as always) is the government and big business.
Your doctor may give you advice, based upon your individual circumstances, to avoid the vaccine.
Airline worker and don't get the vaccine? Fuck you, you're fired.
In the military and don't get the vaccine? Fuck you, you're fired.
See the problem?
millions more were risking their lives just going to work, mourning lost loved ones or ...
What a freaking Drama Queen.
No wonder the WuFlu response was totally screwed up. We are living in a nation of hysterical ninnies.
People will someday look back on 2023 with nostalgia.
Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday covid Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday covid Happy birthday to you
Of course some people miss the "zooming" era. They did very little work from home, ordered their food and anything else they wanted, and had it delivered by the peons they deemed "deplorable". And, on the first of the month their check was deposited like clock=work. A couple times a week they had 5:00 wine zooming hour where they and their friends zoomed their happy time together and fun was had by all. They never even had to get out of their pjs.
We're no longer a Nation of serious citizens, whether of the Left or the Right. While I really hated Streisand's song "People", today's version would have replace the word after "need" with "apps".
Imagine thinking your privilege is having internet access when your actual privilege is having a living space you can stay in all day without going stir crazy.
millions more were risking their lives just going to work,
Speaking as someone who was called back to work after only a couple of weeks:
It's not that I was "risking my life" and I envied the people who didn't have to risk anything.
It's that I was making the best of a tough situation, and I resented the people who were making it harder to do that.
I remember towns in the Bay Area closing hiking trails for months. Literally the safest thing imaginable. Direct sunlight, moving air, no proximity to people. Closed for the benefit of neurotic shut-ins who thought the whole world envied their "privileged" shut-in status.
My cat died after the 2020 election, so in retrospect, I am glad I got to spend more time at home with him.
Can’t read the article behind the paywall but this sounds like a person with social anxiety. Lots of aspects of the shutdown felt better for people who aren’t normally comfortable with socializing.
“I remember towns in the Bay Area closing hiking trails for months. Literally the safest thing imaginable. Direct sunlight, moving air, no proximity to people. Closed for the benefit of neurotic shut-ins who thought the whole world envied their "privileged" shut-in status.”
I would put the state of CO CDOT up there, plowing in all of pullouts on US 6 over Loveland Pass, so no one could backcountry ski there. Dem Governor, of course. When it’s crowded skiing there, the next group may be a half a mile away. And, of course, you are up there above timber line, with a breeze, bright blue skies, little atmosphere above you (top of the pass is a couple feet below 12k feet) and, as a result, you are bathed in solar radiation and UV, both of which make short work of RNA viruses.
The pandemic has been an eye opener in regards to the medical profession. We have 4 medical professionals that we deal with on a routine basis. Primary care is 2 PAs, then her pain management MD, and her spine surgeon. Both PAs half heartedly still push the mRNA vaccines. Pain management seems brain dead in regards to vaccines. Not only does he push the COVID-19 jabs, he was incredulous when my partner told him that she was allergic to, and had a significant negative reaction to, her 2nd pneumonia vaccine. But why shouldn’t she? The first shot taught her immune system memory that the vaccine components were pathogens, and with the 2nd one, her immune system recognized the vaccine components as such, and reacted accordingly. She has a very efficient and (maybe over) effective immune system, esp for someone now on Medicare. She appears to have caught the virus, and was over it in 48 hours. On the flip side, the mRNA vaccines very likely might have killed her on the 2nd jab, esp looking at what the extremely safe pneumonia vaccine did to her. Only her surgeon was on her side, understanding even better than I, why the COVID-19 vaccines were so dangerous. And of all of them, his specialty is the furthest from dealing with vaccines, yet he was the only one of them reading the research and understanding what was going on.
Some us with common sense and a functional intellect knew to view the government edicts with considerable suspicion. We never locked down and continued working to save our business. Didn't buy the propaganda bullshit about the "vacines", and didn't become leeches on the taxpayers. So, for all of you nostalgic assholes, fuck you, fuck off, and we will never forget, nor forgive. Retribution for your cowardice and tyranny will always be of mind.
Nostalgia for the lonely dystopian authoritarian Kafkaesque-irrationality of the nightmare lockdowns? THEY BROKE THE WORLD! They broke the world. They certainly broke something in me.
"millions more were risking their lives just going to work,"
Personally? Not really. Most of my days were isolated in a cubical or in the shop. Since nobody knew what I did I was pretty much left alone all day.
no one was risking their life. JFC
"of all of them, his specialty is the furthest from dealing with vaccines, yet he was the only one of them reading the research and understanding what was going on. "
Not on the take or forced to advocate under penalty of license revocation.
I really, really hated the pandemic lockdown in California. It was bad here with them arresting surfers for violating the stay at home orders. I actually ended up in the ICU. Not because of Covid but because of some anti-stress medicine that I had a bad reaction to.
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