Oh Contrary

One must avoid snobbery and misanthropy. But one must also be unafraid to criticise those who reach for the lowest common denominator, and who sometimes succeed in finding it. This criticism would be effortless if there were no “people” waiting for just such an appeal. Any fool can lampoon a king or a bishop or a billionaire. A trifle more grit is required to face down a mob, or even a studio audience that has decided it knows what it wants and is entitled to get it. And the fact that kings and bishops and billionaires often have more say than most in forming appetites and emotions of the crowd is not irrelevant, either.” – Christopher Hitchens

I am a contrarian by nature, I ask questions, don’t accept the first answer given and often do my own research and come up with the answer prior to asking said questions in my way to out those to whom I feel don’t. In some ways it affirms my own perception and beliefs, that is the self-fulfilling prophecy in action, but it also gives me an opportunity to hear someone out and in turn look into that perspective further. It may not change my mind but it does open it. But we now in the age of social media are a tribal lot, we prefer to seek out those of like minds, who agree with us and affirm our beliefs are right and everyone else is wrong. And when we disagree we don’t argue on fact and figure we argue on personal and diabolical. We in other words launch into ad hominem attacks and physically threaten or doxx people by providing real life info such as addresses and places of employment to further bring harm. Sounds sane, no, not really.

I sadly am a misanthrope as I have given up finding the nature of people willing to learn and as a Teacher I am fully comfortable saying that. I know few adults who read anything, anything. And as I just started posting on my Substack account, Hate Male, I decided to make that site one that talks only about sex and not in salient way, but more about what it means to have sex and the repercussions of it. Sex sells. Maybe.

And with that I am a Contrarian and I appreciate the willingness of those who like Hitchens thought outside the box and was willing to push boundaries. We have lost a strong voice and with that loss we all lose. But I do not think it was deliberate or intentional to do damage, it was to shake limbs of trees, to open the thought process that not all things are as they appear. His vitriol about the vaunted Mother Teresa have since been supported that she was not as virtuous and generous as appeared, was a dogmatic bitch who did do harm in her quest to do right. Shocking! I know, not really. But when you do as such you are immediately ostracized and “canceled” for being a horrible negative person. What.ever. What comes from this is tragic on some levels and some can simply recover or move on but for many not so much. I am not sure what you do when your livelihood is taken from you, you are ostracized from the community and given the scarlet C as a moniker that makes others distance themselves in fear of being also labeled as an enabler and in turn also canceled. It is a circle of hate. With that I read this great article (WHAT READING???) in The Atlantic, The New Puritans, about our new social mores and the problems that it has created as we move into a post pandemic society.

In that article he mentions the former Science writer for the New York Times, Donald McNeil, who was terminated for using the “N” word, a word so troublesome we cannot even write it on a page or use it in speech to discuss its significance or relevance in culture. Yet it is used on the streets as a superlative and demonstrative all the time in the same culture that was once derided by it, so explain that to me. And do I want someone to address me as Bitch or Cunt as I have no problem using those words to explain myself or in fact label others? Gosh let’s start just saying “B” and “C” from now on. And we already know that Faggot is no longer allowed, just ask Matt Damon about even discussing it as a word he used in context to explain how he examined such names even in jest were damaging. Ah yes words about women will always stand up as fine I guess. Or not. What.ever.

I read Mr. McNeils Medium pages as his insight into the pandemic are critical to understanding the current state of global affairs about vaccines, the virus origins and other hot bed issues. Another I do read is Alec Berenson’s Substack, who is perhaps the most vitriolic former New York Times reporters when it comes to Covid. Where we disagree is the anti vaxx position he takes as it is loaded with errors and extrapolated facts he uses to misinform and support his views. The man is an outstanding writer and he has a voice but he chooses a megaphone that is just loudly out of balance, Mr. McNeil, no. One is cantankerous the other just a asshole who is smart and uses it to do damage. The one thing we agree on is that Fauci is the worst mouthpiece that the two Administrations needed to muzzle. So see, sometimes you find a position where you can agree, note, I sad SOMETIMES. But with Mr. Berenson he was also a profile in The Atlantic and there is little I disagree with when it comes to that portrayal. Balance is the key to life and as a Libra I constantly seek balance. And when all else fails I read (READING AGAIN???) Fact Check.org where I can also find some facts that are failed to mention when it comes to statements made by anyone on either side of the political spectrum. Not an easy gig, as Snopes as found out. Irony that Buzz Feed which still thinks it is an alternative medium to the mainstream kind. That worked out as one of the founders now works for where? The New York Times.

And because I read and read a great deal of news and in turn listen to news via NPR I have the time to ask the questions, seek out the information need to hear all sides of the story. I have a better understanding now of the FDA’s approval of the Covid vaccine that is not the current one being administrated and why it is not available. Understanding the complicated nature of drug production and manufacturing allows for the problems that Johnson and Johnson faced when they had a facility who had no expertise or knowledge to manufacture this drug, had a facility already plagued with problems and now put to use to actually work it tanked. Again had the New York Times NOT exposed that information the damage done to the vaccines, to people who were given them could have been serious and with emergency declaration the liability is waived. So it was a lose lose but it was a conventional mainstream press that exposed it through the due diligence of investigative reporting that did so. The same way that The Wall Street Journal through the work of John Carreyrou exposed the fraud of Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos whose trial began this week.

It was a conventional reporter, John DeRogatis, who doggedly pursued the R. Kelly abuse and assaults of women that have finally placed Mr. Kelly under arrest and being prosecuted for Sex Trafficking in federal court when conventional court failed the first time. He too was derided and dismissed as we now learn not wrong, thanks to the dozens of enablers that protected and in fact covered the abuse of dozens of girls and boys under the hands of R. Kelly. Follow the money and as the trial of Robert Durst is ongoing in Los Angeles one wonders if in fact had the documentary, The Jinx, not been made would he be at all?

Contrarians fall under a large umbrella and within that comes an agenda and of course a sense of need to find support and validation for the theory’s, ideas or belief’s they have. I have exhausted myself trying to explain just basic facts to adults and when I am not paid I have decided to refuse to do so. My desperation for any human contact and conversation became exhausted during the early days of the pandemic so I am shutting down and confining myself to writing finally a book. I decided to turn fact into fiction as I realized people have difficulty accepting facts and truths unless they believe in them. So something good came out of this. And for the first time in decades I want to put down roots, no compromise and with that comes the next phase of doing such, including finding work that does take me out of the house at least some of the time. Teaching? Maybe but with N-95 masks, doors and windows open as that is the most compromise I will do.

So read, be informed, be educated. Have an opinion that is your own that comes from a place of knowledge, including those that are not of the mainstream. They may help you come to that decision independently, maybe change your view or at least affirm it. Or not. Does it matter? Only to you and yours. And no those are not those voices in the empty room of social media.