In my untrained estimation, my favorite teen granddaughter primarily has conservative viewpoints. We spent hours discussing world problems and one thing she said stuck out to me:
“I’m afraid to voice my opinions.“
Of course, not only does that piss me off, it also causes me wonder how we got to that point in the U.S. in the first place. And then I realized I also stay quiet (except for here) when I’m faced with those who hold a different opinion than I do on most every issue. I’m one of those “YOU DO YOU” people, but I’ll admit I’m fed up.
Not all liberals feel fearless, and not all conservatives stay quiet — but studies consistently show conservatives report higher fear of speaking openly.
There’s a difference between, “I disagree with you,” and “What you believe makes you a bad person.” Sadly, many conservatives stay quiet because the second reaction has become more common. Think of this… speaking out feels safer when you expect applause rather than punishment.
basically, it’s cultural power VS political power…
It’s a fact (per Gemini, Grok, ChatGPT, & a bajillion other sources) that even when conservatives hold political offices or win elections, liberals often hold more cultural power—in education, entertainment, media, nonprofits, and tech platforms. Cultural power shapes what feels “acceptable” to say out loud. Conservatives (who often value tradition and social harmony) are less likely to “poke the bear,” whereas activists on the left may view vocalizing their stance as a moral duty, regardless of the friction it causes.
Politics has merged with identity — political views are no longer opinions, they’re often treated as reflections of character and morality. You’ve seen it too if you’re on any social media platform. “If you voted for Trump just unfriend me now.” Is that the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard of? That would be like me saying, “If you eat the green M&M’s don’t come back to whatifitdid.com.” 🙄
I WANT to hear why you believe what you believe… but I don’t want you protesting inside of churches, accosting congregations as they depart a place of worship, or spitting on anyone. Once you resort to that, your chance of helping me understand your position is gone.
I can’t single-handedly change the national temperature — neither can you.
What we CAN do is model calm disagreement. I’m open to disagreement, but not being treated like I’m immoral for wanting laws enforced. Cultural climates don’t change through shouting—they change when reasonable people refuse to become caricatures.
Now you know: Before 9/11, US airports were public social hubs where you could walk to the gate, eat at food courts, and watch planes without a ticket or ID.
When Ben was a youngster, he always wanted to know “how many sleeps” until he would get (or get to do) whatever it was that he deemed important at the time. After more snowfall yesterday — adding to what snow was dumped earlier that’s still hanging around — I need to know how many more sleeps until we have ‘normal’ winter.
I love snow, but these temps are brutal.
The snowfall yesterday wasn’t much, but it did coat the tree branches and left a sprinkling of the white stuff on top of what was already there. The frigid temperatures are the worst part though. It was -9° when I got up this morning, and will only reach the teens with windchill numbers too ugly to repeat.
Playing outside makes you sleepy.
Hugo LOVES the snow and he’s the instigator on going in and out every 5 minutes. He comes in crazy wild and zoomies all through the house. He then runs between the legs of whomever is standing and wants warm hands to cover his cold ears. Once that process is complete, he gets cozy on the couch and prepares to nap — it’s a cycle on repeat from daylight until around midnight.
So back to the question of day: How many sleeps until it warms up here?
If weather.com is correct, we’ll be barely above freezing in just a couple days… with rain. ARG!
Now you know: Over a 5-month period in 2020, a nurse in Yale’s fertility center stole the fentanyl in 175 vials that were meant for women who had a procedure to have their eggs retrieved. The nurse replaced the pain medication with saline solution, leaving the women in excruciating pain during the procedure.
As I sit here in a toasty warm house (thanks to the wood boiler that’s finally working properly), those outside are battling severe conditions here in southern Indiana. Current temps are brittle cold. How cold is it, you ask?
It’s poop on the deck cold!
Granny Dharma requires an escort off the deck no matter the weather. I bundled up and took her to the yard where she walked the fence perimeter sniffing for the perfect spot to take care of her business. She then came back up on the deck and pooped in a snow drift right by the door! Being a dog mom to this crew ain’t easy. 🙄
Life used to be easier!
I’m the baby of our immediate family. My brother, almost 5 years older than I am, had all the privileges and I wasn’t allowed to do shit. I couldn’t understand why I had all the restrictions and couldn’t do the same things he was allowed to do.
I remember a time I couldn’t WAIT to be 13… a teenager, y’all. Then 16 couldn’t come fast enough so I could drive a car. Next milestone was to be 21 so I could vote, purchase alcohol and go to a bar. I remember Mom, when listening to me whine about wanting to being older, always telling me I was wasting the best years “wishing my life away.”
Hate to admit it, but Mom was right — about that anyway. 😉
Now you know: Dan Burros, the third highest ranked member of the American Nazi party in the 60s and grand dragon of the New York Klan, killed himself after the NYT revealed he was in fact a Jewish man that went to Hebrew school and even had a bar mitzvah.
Y’all remember when I posted about how my county showed up and dug a ditch in front of the barndo even when I asked them not to? How they said because there was a 2nd driveway, the road would flood without it? For the record, it’s NEVER had water in it — it’s just something that requires weed eating maintenance.
But I have a brilliant idea!
We have a wood boiler that heats the entire barndo via a radiant heat hydronic floor system. Soooo… before getting gravel again here, I’m thinking I should have the same types of pipes installed from the barndo to the road so my driveway never gets snowy again. Of course, the melting snow must have someplace to run off to so it doesn’t refreeze in some undesirable spot — and I have a ditch that would work perfectly for that!
I figure it would only take a few years of paying someone to clean the drive of snow to finance the improvement, and it would mean that Jackson County didn’t waste taxpayer money for no good reason.
Frigid temps are going to hang around for awhile in southern Indiana.
Neg… neg… negative temps are what we have to look forward to when crawling out of bed in the mornings. Those negative temps are back by the time we crawl back in bed at night.
The cold air doesn’t keep the bird patrons from visiting the seed cafe though. They just puff out a little more and don’t let it deter them.
Now you know: Jamaica is the only country that has a flag without red, white or blue in it.
Texting takes just a few moments and could save your reputation.
After our problems last week with the boiler — and the only company in the area certified to do work on a Central Boiler or buy parts for it — we had a repeat of getting ghosted again when needing the driveway cleared.
Sunday afternoon, I talked to a dude via text about clearing our drive. Not only did he advertise on FaceBook to call or text anytime… but Jerilyn said that’s who she got to do her drive in town. Nice guy… good conversation… said he would either be here later that evening or on Monday by noon. I explained that I just needed it to be done before 5:00 PM on Monday. “No problem,” he said.
Noon came and went and I sent a text at 1:30 PM that was ignored. At 3:30, I sent another text that was also ignored. At 4:30, my text wasn’t as pleasant… I explained that I had to do SOMETHING. Dude said I needed to find someone else. 🤬
Fluff to the rescue!!
Ben spent the weekend in a hotel for work throughout the snowfall, and when he finally got off, he had to park at Mom’s and have Carl chauffeur him here… and pick him up for work yesterday morning… AND bring him back here.
But good ole’ Fluff came when he said he would!
If you can’t even take time to send someone a text when you’re unable to do what you said you would do, you don’t need my money. And you don’t need the money of anyone else that I’d refer to you either. Not now — not ever. I’ll never trust you again to provide a service because you couldn’t take 30 seconds of your time for me.
Now you know: Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara to Indian parents in the Parsi community and spent his formative years in India. He never discussed his ethnicity w/ journalists; the closest he came was referring to himself as “a Persian popinjay”.
