Great presentation, sir. I have spent my life in absolute amazement at the confounding crap and nonsense people are willing and/or want to believe.
I don't have a fancy education. My dad was a machine designer. Mom a nurse. Just normal go to work folks.
I announced at age 13 that I was leaving the church because all I saw was parishioners who were nice on Sundays and assholes Monday through Saturday. My folks were silent..then they just said "OK". About a year later they stopped attending. We never mentioned religion again. They never made a reference to "God". They rarely criticised others. They had lots of friends of differing "faiths". We talked at the dinner table each night about all manner of other subjects. Critical thinking and finding something interesting or nice to say about a coworker or neighbor was normal.
You were indeed a fortunate kid. I am with a few exceptions, willing to talk with people about why they believe what they believe. Some conversations are an utter waste of time, and our time is the most precious thing we have in life.
Excellent post Penfist. I too am going to read Fantasyland. As a nurse during the Covid pandemic I was blown away by the conspiracy theories and general stupidity around it. “Covid was a hoax started by the democrats to ruin the economy for the election”, “The vaccine carries a microchip so Bill Gates can track everyone “, just to name a few. Covid patients taking their final breaths and still denying Covid exists has to be the ultimate in Covid Fantasyland. Their ill fated beliefs killed many of them and nearly caused our health care system to collapse.
My mom and dad, both evangelical Christians and Trump supporters, both got COVID-19 late last year. They were both conspiracy theorists on the vaccines, so both were unvaccinated. Mom survived. Dad did not. I wrote an essay on how I felt about it that is here.
Trump's election shocked me. His abysmal handling of the pandemic did not. Cognitive biases kill indiscriminately.
Oops, I hit the send button accidentally. I’ve been a nurse for almost 37 years. It truly is an art and a science and I think that’s why I love it. We definitely see the best and the worst in people. But I haven’t given up yet.
Great presentation, sir. I have spent my life in absolute amazement at the confounding crap and nonsense people are willing and/or want to believe.
I don't have a fancy education. My dad was a machine designer. Mom a nurse. Just normal go to work folks.
I announced at age 13 that I was leaving the church because all I saw was parishioners who were nice on Sundays and assholes Monday through Saturday. My folks were silent..then they just said "OK". About a year later they stopped attending. We never mentioned religion again. They never made a reference to "God". They rarely criticised others. They had lots of friends of differing "faiths". We talked at the dinner table each night about all manner of other subjects. Critical thinking and finding something interesting or nice to say about a coworker or neighbor was normal.
Wasn't I a lucky kid!
You were indeed a fortunate kid. I am with a few exceptions, willing to talk with people about why they believe what they believe. Some conversations are an utter waste of time, and our time is the most precious thing we have in life.
I appreciate you sharing Bill.
Now I am going to read Fantasyland.
Drop by again when you finish it and let me know what you think.
Excellent post Penfist. I too am going to read Fantasyland. As a nurse during the Covid pandemic I was blown away by the conspiracy theories and general stupidity around it. “Covid was a hoax started by the democrats to ruin the economy for the election”, “The vaccine carries a microchip so Bill Gates can track everyone “, just to name a few. Covid patients taking their final breaths and still denying Covid exists has to be the ultimate in Covid Fantasyland. Their ill fated beliefs killed many of them and nearly caused our health care system to collapse.
My mom and dad, both evangelical Christians and Trump supporters, both got COVID-19 late last year. They were both conspiracy theorists on the vaccines, so both were unvaccinated. Mom survived. Dad did not. I wrote an essay on how I felt about it that is here.
Trump's election shocked me. His abysmal handling of the pandemic did not. Cognitive biases kill indiscriminately.
I am sorry about your Dad. And all of the other deaths that could have been prevented.
Oops, I hit the send button accidentally. I’ve been a nurse for almost 37 years. It truly is an art and a science and I think that’s why I love it. We definitely see the best and the worst in people. But I haven’t given up yet.
Thank you for working in health care and not giving up on our species.