The government-imposed restrictions on individuals activities and the government-mandated shutdowns of businesses have stolen many things from our American lives. Most seriously for many people have been the loss of jobs and income. Fortunately as a long-time freelance writer and editor I have found that my work is generally only minimally affected by the wider economic situation. Ups and downs happen frequently in my line of work but they tend to be irregularly cyclic in their own way irrespective of the ups and downs of the national or state economy. Thus I have not had to deal with any unusual loss of income during this current unnecessary government-manufactured crisis.
Rather like everyone else I have had to face the loss of various other activities and established habits that I can no longer partake of. I suppose that these losses cannot be described as serious" compared to what many other Americans are struggling with every day. But they are nevertheless irritating upsetting and infuriatingespecially considering my firm contention that most of this nonsense has been purposefully created by the government for leftist political reasons and for reasons of social control. You do not destroy the economy and strip away freedoms because of a new flu-like virus. But that is precisely what has happened allowing the government to greedily and dishonestly seize unprecedented powers at the local state and national levels.
Lost Basic Activities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FgNBy-dh5E (I Love Tom T. Hall 1973)
I miss a lot of things that I used to do before the world went insane. Many activities that I miss are just common things that I had taken for granteddaily things I thought would always be there never imaging that they would someday be gone. Simple things. These losses are the most irritating. Perhaps you can relate. Here are five examples of regular things that I miss:
1) Walking into Jewel grocery store Walgreens or Ace Hardwareor any public place of commercewithout a silly damn covering wrapped around my head (as is required here in Illinois).
2) Going into a restaurant and sitting down to eat a meal which I used to do regularly with my elderly mother or with friends. (I understand that some restaurants in this stupid state are supposed to now be reopened for public seating to a very limited extent with ridiculous restrictions that make the reopenings" akin to a sick joke.)
3) Talking to neighbors or any other people without the fear of frightening them by standing too close. (But upon further reflection seeing me up close may have always been frightening to these people.)
4) Watching television and listening to the radio without seeing/hearing commercials implying that this current twisted abnormal unacceptable situation is normal and acceptable. I do not accept it and I never will. Wearing a wrapping around your face is never normal or acceptableunless you are a member of an Arabic harem or a belly dancer. Furthermore companies that are presently profiting from selling face masks to the frightened unknowledgeable publicsuch as Boomer Naturals of Las Vegasshould be ashamed of themselves because of their deceptions and profiteeringand they should be publicly shamed. Any TV or radio stations/programs playing such adssuch as WLS AM in Chicago and its various local and syndicated hosts (who purport to give objective commentary regarding masks)should also be strongly condemned because of their hypocrisy.
5) Watching listening or reading the news without constantly being confronted with this virus BS. Have all other newsworthy events suddenly ceased to happen? No apparently not all. I have been pleased to see the recent news stories about Elon Musks SpaceX company providing the first United States-based launch of astronauts into space in almost 10 years. This is a genuinely important and historic happening. It has been like a breath of fresh air to watch even though the original planned launch date had to be delayed because of bad weather. I am further pleased with Musks strong vocal condemnation of the shutdown. He has lately been my new hero.
Lost Pleasures
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwvuMSARQS0 (I Gotta Get Drunk Willie Nelson and George Jones 1979)
Other activities that I miss fall into the category of special recreational outings that I would occasionally enjoy as a liberty-loving open-minded American man. I never thought that the government would one day ban these things either. But it did. Some of these might be described as my vices others are less naughty. I read a news story the other day claiming that a large percentage of Americans say that the shutdown has been good because it helped them stop bad behaviors. First I do not believe that story. Second if you want to stop a bad behavior you can do it on your own anytime you want. You dont need a fascist government to do it for you.
Here are five examples of occasional enjoyments that I miss:
1) Drinking socializing and meeting new people in bars.
2) Enjoying less intellectual but still stimulating pursuits in local gentlemens clubs."
3) Going to live music events/concerts.
4) Going to minor-league baseball games (the Joliet Slammers).
5) Going to movie theaters.
I am sure that you can easily come up with your own lists of recreational pleasures and regular activities that you have missed since all this BS started early this year. Maybe it is going to church the beauty salon the tattoo parlor or the shopping mall. The main point is that whether they are virtues vices or neutral activities the things that you choose to do in your life are your own choices your own individual pursuits of happinessand the government should not be allowed to remove them from your life. The government claims that these are temporary restrictions. But then the power-intoxicated governors and mayors add that we have to get used to the new normal." And they allow certain businesses to reopen under their suddenly-pulled-from-their-big-behinds new restrictionslike everybody has to eat or drink outside stay ten feet away from everyone else and wear a mask in between their bites or sips. This is Crazy Town USA!
You need to clearly understand that the new normal" being forced upon us by these ignorant authority figures is an intolerable contradiction. There is no new normal. Something is either normal or it is not. We either go back completely to the old normal or we live in an abnormal world. And if that abnormality has no end in sight then we should not accept it. To put it at a rather base and simplistic level a poledancer in a strip club wearing a face maskbut nothing else other than a garter?is about as sick abnormal unappealing and un-American as one might imagine. The concept is disgustingly dystopian.
Paranoia Pathology
I understand that many people have suffered unfathomable losses during this crazy COVID-19 period. They have lost their jobs. They may have lost their homes. Individuals whom they loved may have died. These are all terrible tragedies. But the harsh truth is that such tragedies occur all the time. My father died last Octoberunrelated to the virusjust ten days before his 89th birthday. I miss him a lot. It is too damn bad that these tragedies of life have been made unnecessarily worse by the governments excessive response to the virus as well as by the unreasonable reactions of private entities such as hospitals and nursing homes. My mother got out of a nursing home in February right before the feces hit the fan in those places which are always pretty awful even in normal times. If she was still there today I wouldnt even be allowed to visit her and the neglect abuse and risk there would probably be worse than it was when she was there. If my dad died today we couldnt even have a normal funeral. The COVID-19 paranoia has totally warped the healthcare system the assisted living" system and the death system in this country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qanF-91aJo (Paranoid Black Sabbath 1970)
How long are Americans going to tolerate this abnormal pathological dystopian fascist-like situation? I wonder about that every day. And every day I have to walk into a store wearing a mask doing some other irrational thing required by the government or not being allowed to do something that I used to enjoy I grow angrier and more infuriated. I know I am not the only person experiencing these dark feelings.
It has to end soon and it has to end fully. I want all of my freedoms backvirtues and vicesfor me and me alone to choose. I want to ride my freedoms across an open sun-drenched American field again galloping in any direction I select with my own brain intelligently accepting the risks of the ride… kind of like that song about educated horses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmXdpv3pCGU (Foxy Foxy Rob Zombie 2006)
Hey government… Fully end all the personal restrictions and fully open all the businesses now! That is the only American normal!
About the author:
A.J. Smuskiewicz is a freelance writer specializing in science medicine history and cultural issues. He can be contacted at: [email protected]. His website is at: https://www.ajsmuskiewicz.com.
The government-imposed restrictions on individuals activities and the government-mandated shutdowns of businesses have stolen many things from our American lives. Most seriously for many people have been the loss of jobs and income. Fortunately as a long-time freelance writer and editor I have found that my work is generally only minimally affected by the wider economic situation. Ups and downs happen frequently in my line of work but they tend to be irregularly cyclic in their own way irrespective of the ups and downs of the national or state economy. Thus I have not had to deal with any unusual loss of income during this current unnecessary government-manufactured crisis.
Rather like everyone else I have had to face the loss of various other activities and established habits that I can no longer partake of. I suppose that these losses cannot be described as serious" compared to what many other Americans are struggling with every day. But they are nevertheless irritating upsetting and infuriatingespecially considering my firm contention that most of this nonsense has been purposefully created by the government for leftist political reasons and for reasons of social control. You do not destroy the economy and strip away freedoms because of a new flu-like virus. But that is precisely what has happened allowing the government to greedily and dishonestly seize unprecedented powers at the local state and national levels.
Lost Basic Activities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FgNBy-dh5E (I Love Tom T. Hall 1973)
I miss a lot of things that I used to do before the world went insane. Many activities that I miss are just common things that I had taken for granteddaily things I thought would always be there never imaging that they would someday be gone. Simple things. These losses are the most irritating. Perhaps you can relate. Here are five examples of regular things that I miss:
1) Walking into Jewel grocery store Walgreens or Ace Hardwareor any public place of commercewithout a silly damn covering wrapped around my head (as is required here in Illinois).
2) Going into a restaurant and sitting down to eat a meal which I used to do regularly with my elderly mother or with friends. (I understand that some restaurants in this stupid state are supposed to now be reopened for public seating to a very limited extent with ridiculous restrictions that make the reopenings" akin to a sick joke.)
3) Talking to neighbors or any other people without the fear of frightening them by standing too close. (But upon further reflection seeing me up close may have always been frightening to these people.)
4) Watching television and listening to the radio without seeing/hearing commercials implying that this current twisted abnormal unacceptable situation is normal and acceptable. I do not accept it and I never will. Wearing a wrapping around your face is never normal or acceptableunless you are a member of an Arabic harem or a belly dancer. Furthermore companies that are presently profiting from selling face masks to the frightened unknowledgeable publicsuch as Boomer Naturals of Las Vegasshould be ashamed of themselves because of their deceptions and profiteeringand they should be publicly shamed. Any TV or radio stations/programs playing such adssuch as WLS AM in Chicago and its various local and syndicated hosts (who purport to give objective commentary regarding masks)should also be strongly condemned because of their hypocrisy.
5) Watching listening or reading the news without constantly being confronted with this virus BS. Have all other newsworthy events suddenly ceased to happen? No apparently not all. I have been pleased to see the recent news stories about Elon Musks SpaceX company providing the first United States-based launch of astronauts into space in almost 10 years. This is a genuinely important and historic happening. It has been like a breath of fresh air to watch even though the original planned launch date had to be delayed because of bad weather. I am further pleased with Musks strong vocal condemnation of the shutdown. He has lately been my new hero.
Lost Pleasures
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwvuMSARQS0 (I Gotta Get Drunk Willie Nelson and George Jones 1979)
Other activities that I miss fall into the category of special recreational outings that I would occasionally enjoy as a liberty-loving open-minded American man. I never thought that the government would one day ban these things either. But it did. Some of these might be described as my vices others are less naughty. I read a news story the other day claiming that a large percentage of Americans say that the shutdown has been good because it helped them stop bad behaviors. First I do not believe that story. Second if you want to stop a bad behavior you can do it on your own anytime you want. You dont need a fascist government to do it for you.
Here are five examples of occasional enjoyments that I miss:
1) Drinking socializing and meeting new people in bars.
2) Enjoying less intellectual but still stimulating pursuits in local gentlemens clubs."
3) Going to live music events/concerts.
4) Going to minor-league baseball games (the Joliet Slammers).
5) Going to movie theaters.
I am sure that you can easily come up with your own lists of recreational pleasures and regular activities that you have missed since all this BS started early this year. Maybe it is going to church the beauty salon the tattoo parlor or the shopping mall. The main point is that whether they are virtues vices or neutral activities the things that you choose to do in your life are your own choices your own individual pursuits of happinessand the government should not be allowed to remove them from your life. The government claims that these are temporary restrictions. But then the power-intoxicated governors and mayors add that we have to get used to the new normal." And they allow certain businesses to reopen under their suddenly-pulled-from-their-big-behinds new restrictionslike everybody has to eat or drink outside stay ten feet away from everyone else and wear a mask in between their bites or sips. This is Crazy Town USA!
You need to clearly understand that the new normal" being forced upon us by these ignorant authority figures is an intolerable contradiction. There is no new normal. Something is either normal or it is not. We either go back completely to the old normal or we live in an abnormal world. And if that abnormality has no end in sight then we should not accept it. To put it at a rather base and simplistic level a poledancer in a strip club wearing a face maskbut nothing else other than a garter?is about as sick abnormal unappealing and un-American as one might imagine. The concept is disgustingly dystopian.
Paranoia Pathology
I understand that many people have suffered unfathomable losses during this crazy COVID-19 period. They have lost their jobs. They may have lost their homes. Individuals whom they loved may have died. These are all terrible tragedies. But the harsh truth is that such tragedies occur all the time. My father died last Octoberunrelated to the virusjust ten days before his 89th birthday. I miss him a lot. It is too damn bad that these tragedies of life have been made unnecessarily worse by the governments excessive response to the virus as well as by the unreasonable reactions of private entities such as hospitals and nursing homes. My mother got out of a nursing home in February right before the feces hit the fan in those places which are always pretty awful even in normal times. If she was still there today I wouldnt even be allowed to visit her and the neglect abuse and risk there would probably be worse than it was when she was there. If my dad died today we couldnt even have a normal funeral. The COVID-19 paranoia has totally warped the healthcare system the assisted living" system and the death system in this country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qanF-91aJo (Paranoid Black Sabbath 1970)
How long are Americans going to tolerate this abnormal pathological dystopian fascist-like situation? I wonder about that every day. And every day I have to walk into a store wearing a mask doing some other irrational thing required by the government or not being allowed to do something that I used to enjoy I grow angrier and more infuriated. I know I am not the only person experiencing these dark feelings.
It has to end soon and it has to end fully. I want all of my freedoms backvirtues and vicesfor me and me alone to choose. I want to ride my freedoms across an open sun-drenched American field again galloping in any direction I select with my own brain intelligently accepting the risks of the ride… kind of like that song about educated horses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmXdpv3pCGU (Foxy Foxy Rob Zombie 2006)
Hey government… Fully end all the personal restrictions and fully open all the businesses now! That is the only American normal!
About the author:
A.J. Smuskiewicz is a freelance writer specializing in science medicine history and cultural issues. He can be contacted at: [email protected]. His website is at: https://www.ajsmuskiewicz.com.