Excellent piece. I hope you are correct but fear you are not. We are talking about people who masked against a virus, who not only believed Fauci and all the rest when they told us all that once we got the initial shot regimen, that we were done, the viruses has nowhere to go, but also used those lies against we refuseniks only to run out and get boosters as soon as they were available. True, fewer and fewer are getting the most recent version of boosters, but I think that is more do to it having become troublesome rather than an understanding that they aren’t cutting the mustard.
I hope you are too. I think the vax is part of the trust issue in fact. People have been primed for skepticism thanks to the vax failures which are becoming ever more apparent. Now they just saw the Potato stumble through and they can see people in real time saying you didn't see that. So now it's like "they lied about Biden, and looks like they lied about the vax and the masking etc. so we're done."
That's in the US. Dunno about Japan but I don't know anyone who got a booster recently or in fact since 2022
There are places in the US that are brining back the mask mandate and other elements of the failed covid response, so I am thinking you are giving my fellow Americans more credit than they have earned. Just read a warning that covid and avian flu are expected to hit hard again during the summer. I expect blue and purple states to go full on panic again and the red states to ignore the hype.
In Japan, well masking is still here. I’d say around only 15% of those on the street are still wearing them but almost all who serve the public are still wearing them. Went tho the city library this afternoon. All employees were masked. Stopped by two grocery stores I have not been to in a while. One of the two cashiers at one was masked and gloved, the other had neither of these but both were behind plexiglass barriers. All cashiers at the second grocery store, all cashiers and stock personnel were masked and the cashiers were behind plastic shower curtains. I do not know if most of the mad maskers think masks work or have just accepted them as customary not knowing the health risks.
Yes, masking is still 'de rigeur' among 'public-facing employees' in Japan. No amount of information about CO2 poisoning, ineffectiveness in preventing viral transmission, etc., has the slightest effect. At the same time, people who don't have to wear face-diapers don't, and nobody much cares.
Kitsune and I have had debates on his substack abut the prevalence or not of masking here in Japan. He sees a lot more of it than I do. Not sure if that's because of who he deals with or where he is compared to me. Here in more rural Japan only some public facing employees wear masks
I think the biggest unsettled discussion between us is how important it is to get the masking down to zero, or at the very least, back to where it was prepanic. Lots of kids up here around Tokyo masking even in this heat and humidity. Needs to be zero.
Interesting that the formal or informal rules are a bit looser where you are. It's disappointing that the one-or-more vax uptake rate is about 80% in Japan, though it seems that's dropped off a lot with people foregoing boosters. Also the rate of excess deaths in Japan, as elsewhere, tracks the vax rollout schedule. Also, as elsewhere, that has not stopped health authorities and doctors from administering the clot-shots to the unwary.
Employers care, which is why I am all but unemployed. Gave the mask talk to two classes of 1st year medical students last week. Wonder if the mask fight at this school will finally come tomorrow.
I have not focuses on the CO2 poisoning, not because it is not important, it is, but I focus on the germ incubator capabilities of masks. Every here is aware of “baikin” and “kabi” but if I cannot get them to understand that it is not good to be breathing these in I’ll never get them to even consider the CO2 poisoning bit. Most of my students are masked. A large number of my kids’ classmates are too.
If you're right or wrong the Serenity Prayer is still there and can be read, interpreted as a matter of faith or simply extremely practical advice.:
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;...
Building on that, particularly the things I can change -or continue, develop, practice are; self sufficiency, alternative communication, trade, etc. networks, store knowledge, paper and digital, broaden skill sets, ...
-in other words if as Robert Heinlein noted; “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” , no matter what comes, you and yours, me and mine, just might be able to deal with it.
Our system of government is designed to have the opposition Party prevent a person like Biden. The Republican Party gave this guy Billions to fight wars and supported most of his agenda. The Democrats fought Trump on every issue and impeached him twice. It was the Republicans who betrayed the country and our representative system of government. They knew their base and the Conservative media would never leave the plantation. They were obviously right. Throw them ALL out! Biden is an indictment of our entire system. This is a chance to galvanize the American people under a common cause. Will the Conservative media use this opportunity to do the right thing or will they continue on their cynical quest for power?
'[R]emember: the media democrat complex is reacting in horror over joe's condition not because they saw it - it's because you saw it.' -- So true. Also spot-on: 'There are only two possibilities. Either the entire media apparatus — everyone from the NYT editorial board to the CNN and MSNBC commentators who held virtual eulogies during the post-debate analysis to the podcasters and Twitterati — knew all along that Biden was non compos mentis and were lying to us, or they failed in their job of pattern recognition and thus didn’t know.' In fact, the media democrat complex and the Biden regime are mirror images of one another: https://peterdanielmiller.substack.com/p/sharp-and-focused
Excellent piece. I hope you are correct but fear you are not. We are talking about people who masked against a virus, who not only believed Fauci and all the rest when they told us all that once we got the initial shot regimen, that we were done, the viruses has nowhere to go, but also used those lies against we refuseniks only to run out and get boosters as soon as they were available. True, fewer and fewer are getting the most recent version of boosters, but I think that is more do to it having become troublesome rather than an understanding that they aren’t cutting the mustard.
I hope I am wrong.
I hope you are too. I think the vax is part of the trust issue in fact. People have been primed for skepticism thanks to the vax failures which are becoming ever more apparent. Now they just saw the Potato stumble through and they can see people in real time saying you didn't see that. So now it's like "they lied about Biden, and looks like they lied about the vax and the masking etc. so we're done."
That's in the US. Dunno about Japan but I don't know anyone who got a booster recently or in fact since 2022
There are places in the US that are brining back the mask mandate and other elements of the failed covid response, so I am thinking you are giving my fellow Americans more credit than they have earned. Just read a warning that covid and avian flu are expected to hit hard again during the summer. I expect blue and purple states to go full on panic again and the red states to ignore the hype.
In Japan, well masking is still here. I’d say around only 15% of those on the street are still wearing them but almost all who serve the public are still wearing them. Went tho the city library this afternoon. All employees were masked. Stopped by two grocery stores I have not been to in a while. One of the two cashiers at one was masked and gloved, the other had neither of these but both were behind plexiglass barriers. All cashiers at the second grocery store, all cashiers and stock personnel were masked and the cashiers were behind plastic shower curtains. I do not know if most of the mad maskers think masks work or have just accepted them as customary not knowing the health risks.
Yes, masking is still 'de rigeur' among 'public-facing employees' in Japan. No amount of information about CO2 poisoning, ineffectiveness in preventing viral transmission, etc., has the slightest effect. At the same time, people who don't have to wear face-diapers don't, and nobody much cares.
Kitsune and I have had debates on his substack abut the prevalence or not of masking here in Japan. He sees a lot more of it than I do. Not sure if that's because of who he deals with or where he is compared to me. Here in more rural Japan only some public facing employees wear masks
I think the biggest unsettled discussion between us is how important it is to get the masking down to zero, or at the very least, back to where it was prepanic. Lots of kids up here around Tokyo masking even in this heat and humidity. Needs to be zero.
Interesting that the formal or informal rules are a bit looser where you are. It's disappointing that the one-or-more vax uptake rate is about 80% in Japan, though it seems that's dropped off a lot with people foregoing boosters. Also the rate of excess deaths in Japan, as elsewhere, tracks the vax rollout schedule. Also, as elsewhere, that has not stopped health authorities and doctors from administering the clot-shots to the unwary.
Employers care, which is why I am all but unemployed. Gave the mask talk to two classes of 1st year medical students last week. Wonder if the mask fight at this school will finally come tomorrow.
I have not focuses on the CO2 poisoning, not because it is not important, it is, but I focus on the germ incubator capabilities of masks. Every here is aware of “baikin” and “kabi” but if I cannot get them to understand that it is not good to be breathing these in I’ll never get them to even consider the CO2 poisoning bit. Most of my students are masked. A large number of my kids’ classmates are too.
Great!
If you're right or wrong the Serenity Prayer is still there and can be read, interpreted as a matter of faith or simply extremely practical advice.:
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;...
Building on that, particularly the things I can change -or continue, develop, practice are; self sufficiency, alternative communication, trade, etc. networks, store knowledge, paper and digital, broaden skill sets, ...
-in other words if as Robert Heinlein noted; “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” , no matter what comes, you and yours, me and mine, just might be able to deal with it.
Our system of government is designed to have the opposition Party prevent a person like Biden. The Republican Party gave this guy Billions to fight wars and supported most of his agenda. The Democrats fought Trump on every issue and impeached him twice. It was the Republicans who betrayed the country and our representative system of government. They knew their base and the Conservative media would never leave the plantation. They were obviously right. Throw them ALL out! Biden is an indictment of our entire system. This is a chance to galvanize the American people under a common cause. Will the Conservative media use this opportunity to do the right thing or will they continue on their cynical quest for power?
"What did you know and when did you know it about Joe Biden's mental state?"
They all need to answer.
'[R]emember: the media democrat complex is reacting in horror over joe's condition not because they saw it - it's because you saw it.' -- So true. Also spot-on: 'There are only two possibilities. Either the entire media apparatus — everyone from the NYT editorial board to the CNN and MSNBC commentators who held virtual eulogies during the post-debate analysis to the podcasters and Twitterati — knew all along that Biden was non compos mentis and were lying to us, or they failed in their job of pattern recognition and thus didn’t know.' In fact, the media democrat complex and the Biden regime are mirror images of one another: https://peterdanielmiller.substack.com/p/sharp-and-focused