August 6, 2021

Why people are so mad in airplanes and in stores right now

A Harvard psychologist explains the rise in passengers getting violent on airplanes and customers abusing retail workers: People have reached 'a boiling point'

- Passenger violence on airplanes is spiking and retail workers are experiencing customer harassment.
- Fear and anxiety activates the fight-or-flight part of our brain, a Harvard psychologist said.
- Now, after a year and a half of being on edge, many people are reaching a "boiling point."

Violence on airplanes is spiking. Retail and fast-food workers say they're being harassed and assaulted. And small business owners report experiencing frustrated customers whose patience has evaporated.

All of this behavior is the result of a year and a half of fear and anxiety, according to Luana Marques, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

"We've been skating thin ice in the past year, and if the weight [becomes] too much, the ice cracks. I think that's what we're seeing," she said.

https://www.businessinsider.com/violence-on-airplanes-in-stores-explained-harvard-psychologist-2021-7

No comments to add, except to say I found this to be a very interesting read, and I think it makes a lot of sense!

August 4, 2021

I just don't understand this obsession of GQP governors with FORBIDDING local mask mandates.

It's one thing to refuse to enact a statewide mask mandate, but going to such lengths to prevent local governments, school systems, etc. from making decisions for their own localities seems like a whole extrw level of crazy, as well as an unnecessary power grab.

Of course, I don't understand much of anything about the way these red state governors have responded (or failed to respond) to the pandemic, but this particular aspect baffles me almost more than anything else. There's something so perverse about it. It's like these governors are saying, "I'm not just going to PASSIVELY stand by and let the people of my state infect each other with a deadly disease; I'm also going to ACTIVELY make damned sure nobody else can stop them from doing it. WTAF?

August 4, 2021

Read the damned report already.

You are making statements based on what is obviously a complete lack of information.

August 2, 2021

I would definitely freak out if that happened to me.

I have very few phobias, but one that's a whopper: being so closely confined that I can't move freely. I found this out years ago when I had to have an mri on my knee. When asked if I was claustrophobic I said "No" without hesitation. I've never had a problem with elevators or enclosed spaces where I could actually move around, which is what I thought claustrophia meant. Well, boy howdy, was I wrong! When they stuffed me in that tube, with my arms pinned to my sides and the ceiling a few inches from my face, the feeling of panic was unreal.

I felt like I was literally being buried alive. (Yes, I know that's irrational. That's why it's called a phobia!) The only reason I managed to get through it was because they were doing my knee, so I didn't have to have my head all the way inside. If I'd had to go any further, I'd have had to nope the fuck out of there. As it was, I was just barely able to tolerate it long enough to get the damned thing done. I will never have an mri again unless it's the open kind, OR if I can be fully sedated. Maybe both, lol.

I haven't been on a plane since 1992, and it was cramped then. After reading your description of what it's like to sit behind somebody with their seat reclined, DFW, I'm not sure I ever want to fly again, unless I win the lottery and can afford to go first class. "A fully reclined seat, even if only in coach, so really only partially reclined, still means the passenger in back of it is trapped in place and can‘t get in or out" literally sounds like my idea of torture. If American is really that much worse than all the other airlines, I will for sure avoid THEM if I do need to fly.

July 24, 2021

Thanks for starting this thread.

I'm with you: Down with fat shaming of ANYBODY, including TFG (because double standards are a very bad thing).

People seem to think it's somehow okay to make fun of someone's size/weight, because we've all been bombarded in this society with the idea that being fat is completely voluntary and controlled 100% by our personal choices, and that losing weight is a "simple" matter of self-control. At the same time, we've also been bombarded by the idea that fat (any amount) = a very, very bad thing. Put those two ideas together and what you get is a lot of toxic attitudes about fatness and fat people. After all, if fat is very, very bad, and being thin is easy (both erroneous ideas, of course), then fat people must be making a deliberate choice to be that way, and that means they must be really, really bad people, right? (WRONG, but that's how a lot of people think).

It sucks, and I wish it would stop, in general, but especially here at DU. Sure, TFG is fat, but so what? That is not what makes him a horrible human being and it's not what made him a terrible president.

My state currently has a Democratic governor, JB Pritzker, who is obese. The guy is probably fatter than TFG. He's also doing a fantastic job as our governor, and his size is completely beside the point. If he suddenly lost 200 lbs., would he be an even better governor? Hell, no. He'd still be the same decent, principled person and the same excellent governor that he is right now.

TFG was one of the worst presidents in the history of this country, and HIS size is completely beside the point as well. If he had slimmed down while he was potus, would he suddenly have been transformed into a competent, ethical leader? Don't make me laugh! Fat or thin, he would still have all the same character flaws that made him such a shitty potus. His weight has absolutely NO RELEVANCE to his qualities as a human being or his ability to run the country.

Fat shaming of politicians (or anyone else) here at DU really needs to stop. I know it's not going to happen, short of making much stricter rules about what we're allowed to say here, but I really, REALLY, REALLY wish it would.

July 24, 2021

He may or may not know better, but he's even more weak than he is stupid, imo.

At this point in time, the truth about the insurrection is not something KM is concerned with. The only thing he cares about is keeping his lord and master TFG happy, and keeping TFG happy is antithetical to getting to the bottom of what happened on 1/6.

Ever since that "ring" kissing trip to Mar-a-Lago in January, KM has been making a disgustingly pathetic spectacle of himself and showing all of us what a weak, corrupt, spineless jellyfish he is. The man has no principles, morals, ethics, or scruples, just blind allegiahce to the worst potus in the nation's history.

I have more respect for pond scum than I do for Kevin McCarthy right now. Pond scum can't help being pond scum; it doesn't have a choice. Humans (supposedly) do have a choice, and we are responsible for the choices we make.

July 10, 2021

Interesting article about ospreys

This just popped up in my Google News feed, and I thought I'd share it with my fellow osprey fanciers here at DU!

https://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/2021/05/flying-fishermen-the-key-features-that-help-ospreys-hunt/

July 7, 2021

Biden pays a visit. MAGAts show up and say dumb stuff. (What else is new, right?)

Hundreds protest outside McHenry County College during President Joe Biden’s visit

Hundreds of protesters opposed to President Joe Biden’s agenda rallied along Route 14 outside McHenry County College Wednesday ahead of the Biden’s visit. Many donned campaign memorabilia in support of President Donald Trump’s unsuccessful 2020 reelection bid and anticipating a possible 2024 run.

*snip*

Among those gathered were Fred Bock of Crystal Lake and his sister-in-law Candice Bock. They’re both Trump supporters and raised issues with Biden’s $1.8 trillion American Families Plan proposal, which Biden was at McHenry County College to promote. The proposal includes a policy that would give Americans two free years of community college education.

*snip*

“Free education, that’s what Biden is here promoting, but free education, if you really can’t afford an education, it was already paid for anyway,” Candice Bock said.

“More like free indoctrination,” Fred Bock said.

*snip*

“I do not approve of free college education for anybody. No free anything,” Rhodes said.

More at the source, including comments from a couple of Biden supporters:
https://www.shawlocal.com/northwest-herald/news/local/2021/07/07/hundreds-protest-outside-mchenry-county-college-during-president-joe-bidens-visit/
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Okay, I get it: they don't want no free nothing for nobody. But what the hell is this supposed to mean: "...free education, if you really can’t afford an education, it was already paid for anyway,"

Whatever she was trying to say, it got garbled somehow. Maybe she could use more education, to learn how to communicate clearly, hmmm?

In any case, people railing against making higher education free or even more affordable grinds my gears. I got an almost free college education back in the early 70s, thanks to the fact that both my state government and the federal government provided tons of financial aid to those who could demonstrate financial need. I believe this was in part due to LBJ's "Great Society" legislation that provided tons of funding for all kinds of antipoverty programs, including financial aid for needy college students, but my state also had good financial aid. Basically, because my parents were broke, the state of Illinois paid my tuition, the feds paid my room and board, and I paid for everything else by working part time at a work study job that was also subsidized by the government. (I also borrowed a little bit, but that was only because my dad made a little too much money one year and some of my funding was temporarily yanked.)

By the time my daughter was college age, all of that kind of financial aid had bean replaced by loans, loans, and more loans. My daughter wouldn't have qualified for everything I got, because her dad and I were less broke than my parents were, but the difference between what she was theoretically qualified to receive and what was actually available to her was huge. So she did what a lot of kids do these days: she borrowed, and borrowed, and graduated with a whopping load of debt.

So anyway...when RWers get their panties in a twist about the idea of making college free or at least easier to pay for, like it's a brand new idea, I just roll my eyes. Because it's NOT an entirely new idea. It's really not!

July 6, 2021

So all of a sudden, there's something wrong with wanting to date people who share one's values?

My dating days have been over for decades (47 years of monogamous marriage here), but I seem to recall being advised that it was a good idea to seek out people who share one's basic values as dating and potential relationship prospects. That still makes sense to me, and it also makes sense to me that most women who are smart enough to get into an ivy league school would also be too smart to want to hang out with someone who supports the biggest liar and most corrupt criminal shitweasel to ever taint the oval office with his presence.

As for job discrimination, anyone who displays their political orientation at any point during the hiring process is displaying very bad judgment (because WHO DOES THAT?) and probably should rethink a lot of their life choices.

July 6, 2021

Everything is transactional with TFG.

"I'll do stuff for you as long as you do stuff for me," he'll tell you. "As long as you keep doing stuff for me, I'll do stuff for you."

Doesn't sound too bad, until you realize what he doesn't say: that he'll throw you under the bus in a heartbeat as soon as you decline to do something he wants. No matter what you've done for him in the past, no matter how many limbs you've gone out on for him, no matter how many points you think you've racked up with him, all of it will be wiped out as soon as you decline one tiny "request" to lie, cheat, or corrupt yourself for him.

Ask Michael Cohen if you don't believe me.