Shelter in Place, The True Non-Essential By Mimi E. Johnson

Narren Schiff, woodcut

In our society, irrational behavior and thought seems to plague us more than any virus ever could. Each day, I read more and more histrionic articles surrounding COVID-19 written by, what I consider, non-essential journalists with no understanding, at even a basic level, of immunology and virology.  Yet, each day, people continually share these musings as concrete science.  I do not post much on social media, there is enough absurd matter being doled up for several lifetimes, but I do, however, scroll through these incredulous posts, read them, and then use rationality and medical journals/textbooks to get accurate information. 

I am what you call a young Gen-xer or Xilennial, if you will, and was always taught that knowledge was acquired by being curious, reading books, being open-minded, and gaining a true understanding of the subject matter.  I dare say that even a fraction of the global population, probably statistically the same as the mortality rate of COVID-19 (hint: it’s well under 1%), understands what a virus actually does in the human body, how many bacteria and viruses’ dwell on our body’s, shedding microscopically all day every day, and how the immune system plays into it all. Although college educated,  I do not have a medical degree, don’t claim to be an expert, and my knowledge of medicine only scratches the surface, but what is evident, is that of all things that have been deemed “non-essential,” quarantining the healthy is the biggest medical mistake of all.

I work for a business that is deemed “essential” by the federal government and have been in the midst of this chaos since day 1. In the very beginning of this nightmare, I had a bit of trepidation about continuing to work with the public, fueled by a voracious media telling me that I was going to die if I come in contact with another human, but nonetheless, decided to keep my wits and take a rational approach.  At first, my company wouldn’t allow us to wear masks.  I was a tad put off by this policy, but I have always practiced good hygiene, wash my hands frequently, and don’t touch my face incessantly like a toddler, so I wasn’t excessively panicked.  Many of my employees refused to work unless they were allowed to don full hazmat gear, so of course, as weeks have progressed, over 60% of my staff has self-quarantined. 

Since patrons are still allowed to come into our business and purchase products, it has become very tense and awkward reminding people to keep their distance and not shoving their cell phones in our faces wanting to know where this product is located.  See, we sell essential products for those working from home, so many have to ask a multitude of questions; sometimes we can help them, but often times, the answers involve contact, and that is not allowed. 

If there ever was a time in human history to invoke the term “privilege,” it is now.  People are actually more harmful than the virus.  The entitlement and disregard for other’s personal space and safety is absolutely baffling.  The fear mongering and misinformation have caused people to treat one another like human garbage.  Not only is our business following sanitation standards per CDC, but we are now guarded with mandatory masks and gloves.  Patrons will throw money at us, refuse to let us touch their products, but then expect us to take their dirty money.  I pointed that out to a patron one day, and her response was “well, you’re wearing gloves, so you won’t catch anything.” Her ignorance actually made my stomach turn.  Her feeble mind actually thought that gloves, would save the world from illness. 

Humans need interaction.  We are designed to be social creatures who gather our immunity from the world around us.  Sure, when we are born, we have to be isolated and introduced into society slowly to garner immunity, but playing in dirt, touching things, touching others, all builds our body’s immunities.  Self-isolation, does quite the opposite, it weakens us not only physically, but mentally as well.  If you think of any other global pandemic such as Ebola, SARS, MERS, etc., you never hear of the healthy, non-symptomatic people being quarantined, only the sick, so why are we isolating the entire globe?  It makes absolutely no medical and scientific sense. 

The other ridiculous, irrational misnomer posted by all self-righteous COVID-ites is “staying at home saves lives, help us flatten the curve.” Flattening a curve seems like it would do some good, but when it comes to something as volatile as a virus, its M.O. is to survive, not infect less.  This actually prolongs the virus, thus allowing it to mutate. Sure, sometimes the mutations are less caustic than the original, but again, to some, this virus is ineffective, thus perpetuating the cycle.  If the “shelter in place” edict isn’t all businesses, it’s ineffective. Couple this bad advice with immuno-suppressed and depressed quarantined humans, and the minute we re-open civilization we have a true pandemic of many physically ill people.  I always challenge my friends or even random strangers that quote the same bile infested words to me and ask if they’ve stayed at home or gone to get take out or entered an essential business?  If so, then they’re definitely hypocrites and not flattening the curve, but they’re also not getting infected with the virus.  You go out in public at least 2-3 times a week, go to multiple places, parks, and touch all sorts of inanimate objects that could also harbor the virus, yet I don’t hear of the virus spiking, or of anyone I know having become infected.  Why you ask? Because your body is developing immunity each and every time you leave your home.  It is that simple. I am sure others will argue, oh, it is BECAUSE of the quarantine that the virus is lessening, but in truth it is human interaction.

Statistically speaking, according to Dr. Fauci, 3-4 members of my staff or myself should have become infected with the virus over the last 8 weeks, yet we have not.  For 5 weeks, we were not wearing masks while meeting all sorts of people and making deliveries to their vehicles. This shows that the virus isn’t as nefarious as reported.  It is also important to point out that people don’t die of COVID-19, just like people don’t die of AIDS, they die of complications that were exacerbated by having the illness.  If hospitals were reporting accurate statistics, I guarantee you there wouldn’t be a global panic. My favorite articles are the ones citing “30-year-old healthy male marathon runner dies of COVID-19,” but upon reading the article, one discovers some underlying cause of death such as cancer, diabetes, and other co-morbidities. These people could easily succumb to another popular virus, the rhinovirus, also known as the common cold.

Lysol is the pied piper in all of this, luring unsuspecting human rats to stores to buy up all the available stock of their products, creating what they think is a “virus safe zone” in their homes. Unbeknownst to them, their overly sterile environment is creating the perfect storm for yet another virus. Ignorance is the true pandemic, plaguing every facet of our lives from economics to medicine.

The planet is engineered to survive, and will, at any cost.  We humans are but a mere guest on borrowed time and a blip in Earth’s history. Continually destroying ecosystems and coming in contact with areas that humans were never intended to explore, cause a larger opening on pandora’s box.  Not only do we lack personal hygiene, we also lack it globally as well.   

In our society, irrational behavior and thought seems to plague us more than any virus ever could. Each day, I read more and more histrionic articles surrounding COVID-19 written by, what I consider, non-essential journalists with no understanding, at even a basic level, of immunology and virology.  Yet, each day, people continually share these musings as concrete science.  I do not post much on social media, there is enough absurd matter being doled up for several lifetimes, but I do, however, scroll through these incredulous posts, read them, and then use rationality and medical journals/textbooks to get accurate information. 

I am what you call a young Gen-xer or Xilennial, if you will, and was always taught that knowledge was acquired by being curious, reading books, being open-minded, and gaining a true understanding of the subject matter.  I dare say that even a fraction of the global population, probably statistically the same as the mortality rate of COVID-19 (hint: it’s well under 1%), understands what a virus actually does in the human body, how many bacteria and viruses’ dwell on our body’s, shedding microscopically all day every day, and how the immune system plays into it all. Although college educated,  I do not have a medical degree, don’t claim to be an expert, and my knowledge of medicine only scratches the surface, but what is evident, is that of all things that have been deemed “non-essential,” quarantining the healthy is the biggest medical mistake of all.

I work for a business that is deemed “essential” by the federal government and have been in the midst of this chaos since day 1. In the very beginning of this nightmare, I had a bit of trepidation about continuing to work with the public, fueled by a voracious media telling me that I was going to die if I come in contact with another human, but nonetheless, decided to keep my wits and take a rational approach.  At first, my company wouldn’t allow us to wear masks.  I was a tad put off by this policy, but I have always practiced good hygiene, wash my hands frequently, and don’t touch my face incessantly like a toddler, so I wasn’t excessively panicked.  Many of my employees refused to work unless they were allowed to don full hazmat gear, so of course, as weeks have progressed, over 60% of my staff has self-quarantined. 

Since patrons are still allowed to come into our business and purchase products, it has become very tense and awkward reminding people to keep their distance and not shoving their cell phones in our faces wanting to know where this product is located.  See, we sell essential products for those working from home, so many have to ask a multitude of questions; sometimes we can help them, but often times, the answers involve contact, and that is not allowed. 

If there ever was a time in human history to invoke the term “privilege,” it is now.  People are actually more harmful than the virus.  The entitlement and disregard for other’s personal space and safety is absolutely baffling.  The fear mongering and misinformation has caused people to treat one another like human garbage.  Not only is our business following sanitation standards per CDC, but we are now guarded with mandatory masks and gloves.  Patrons will throw money at us, refuse to let us touch their products, but then expect us to take their dirty money.  I pointed that out to a patron one day, and her response was “well, you’re wearing gloves, so you won’t catch anything.” Her ignorance actually made my stomach turn.  Her feeble mind actually thought that gloves, would save the world from illness. 

Humans need interaction.  We are designed to be social creatures who gather our immunity from the world around us.  Sure, when we are born, we have to be isolated and introduced into society slowly to garner immunity, but playing in dirt, touching things, touching others, all builds our body’s immunities.  Self-isolation, does quite the opposite, it weakens us not only physically, but mentally as well.  If you think of any other global pandemic such as Ebola, SARS, MERS, etc., you never hear of the healthy, non-symptomatic people being quarantined, only the sick, so why are we isolating the entire globe?  It makes absolutely no medical and scientific sense. 

The other ridiculous, irrational misnomer posted by all self-righteous COVID-ites is “staying at home saves lives, help us flatten the curve.” Flattening a curve seems like it would do some good, but when it comes to something as volatile as a virus, its M.O. is to survive, not infect less.  This actually prolongs the virus, thus allowing it to mutate. Sure, sometimes the mutations are less caustic than the original, but again, to some, this virus is ineffective, thus perpetuating the cycle.  If the “shelter in place” edict isn’t all businesses, it’s ineffective. Couple this bad advice with immuno-suppressed and depressed quarantined humans, and the minute we re-open civilization we have a true pandemic of many physically ill people.  I always challenge my friends or even random strangers that quote the same bile infested words to me and ask if they’ve stayed at home or gone to get take out or entered an essential business?  If so, then they’re definitely hypocrites and not flattening the curve, but they’re also not getting infected with the virus.  You go out in public at least 2-3 times a week, go to multiple places, parks, and touch all sorts of inanimate objects that could also harbor the virus, yet I don’t hear of the virus spiking, or of anyone I know having become infected.  Why you ask? Because your body is developing immunity each and every time you leave your home.  It is that simple. I am sure others will argue, oh, it is BECAUSE of the quarantine that the virus is lessening, but in truth it is human interaction.

Statistically speaking, according to Dr. Fauci, 3-4 members of my staff or myself should have become infected with the virus over the last 8 weeks, yet we have not.  For 5 weeks, we were not wearing masks while meeting all sorts of people and making deliveries to their vehicles. This shows that the virus isn’t as nefarious as reported.  It is also important to point out that people don’t die of COVID-19, just like people don’t die of AIDS, they die of complications that were exacerbated by having the illness.  If hospitals were reporting accurate statistics, I guarantee you there wouldn’t be a global panic. My favorite articles are the ones citing “30-year-old healthy male marathon runner dies of COVID-19,” but upon reading the article, one discovers some underlying cause of death such as cancer, diabetes, and other co-morbidities. These individuals could’ve easily succumbed to another popular coronavirus, the common cold.

Lysol is the pied piper in all of this, luring unsuspecting human rats to stores to buy up all the available stock of their products, creating what they think is a “virus safe zone” in their homes. Unbeknownst to them, their overly sterile environment is creating the perfect storm for yet another virus. Ignorance is the true pandemic, plaguing every facet of our lives from economics to medicine.

The planet is engineered to survive, and will, at any cost.  We humans are but a mere guest on borrowed time and a blip in Earth’s history. Continually destroying ecosystems and coming in contact with areas that humans were never intended to explore, cause a larger opening on pandora’s box.  Not only do we lack personal hygiene, we also lack it globally as well.   

Confessions of Being a Young Conservative among a Sea of Liberals by Mimi Johnson

As I sit here attempting to write about my experiences as a young conservative, I reflect back on the choices and situations that led me to this exact moment.  I look at the world and issues today, the constant onslaught of “he said/she said” everywhere,  the constant blame games and lack of responsibility to oneself, commitment to striving for personal excellence, love for one’s country, respect for others and their opinions, and most importantly self-reliance. 

The Liberal/Conservative debate is nothing new throughout political history, but I find myself wondering why can it be seen in every facet of life beyond politics?  What has driven the young generation to such hatred and animosity? 

Facebook used to be a social medium for college students to connect on a friendship level, to incite silly games and to get a break from the monotony of studying and being stressed out.  When did it become a political forum for everyone in America?  The bigger question is where was this fervor and voice when it actually counted to stand up for what you claimed you believe in so vehemently?  Where were they when it came time to vote on issues that were destroying our country? 

Growing up in Mississippi, where Conservatives are plentiful, was very interesting to say the least.  I was raised more on European ideals rather than Southern ideals.  I was exposed to things many children either were not interested in or parents had no interest in learning themselves.  To say the least, I was well versed in the world and the way it operated. 

I remember my mother telling me stories of how Communists oppressed and tortured citizens in her county, how the government kept everyone in a constant state of poverty to promote the wealth of the elite, orphanages full of sick children, horrible socialized medicine; the list could go on.  At the time, being a teenager, I never fully understood the ramifications of these stories and rarely took them seriously - I thought them to be just rants of an adult.  Since I was raised in a predominantly conservative area, I never once had to deal with any of those issues or ever remotely thought this would happen in our prosperous country. If I only knew then what I have witnessed and know now! 

In college and Graduate School, I majored in the most Liberal subjects:  Music and Education.  I’m absolutely in love with music and couldn’t imagine a world in existence without it.  It is difficult to juxtapose having conservative values and also being a musician - usually these two do not go hand in hand. 

The educational system cultures you that conservatives are bad and want to take away funding from our programs and freedoms.  It’s just hogwash and the furthest thing from the truth, yet so many buy into this dogma. 

For over a decade, I kept my mouth shut, never uttering my opinions on political matters, because I was afraid of being ostracized amongst my friends.  When I was in graduate school at Northwestern, I definitely would avoid political conversations as I was not in the right company.  I wish now that I had spoken up and voiced my opinions.  Fear drove me to silence. That is what political correctness does.  I wish I had known that I could support my friends and still be Conservative.  I felt bullied and forced to be silent. 

It’s no secret that the Republican Party lacks support in the 18-40 year old demographic.  I constantly ask myself why this is the case? Most of the liberal youth are in college and can rationally see what is happening in the world today.  Why aren’t there more conservatives in this age bracket?  Where are we as conservatives going wrong in adequately gaining this support?  How can we shake the stigma of being a “stuffy Bible beating party full of white men?”  How do we educate a population to stop giving handouts of other people’s hard-earned money and seeing the fallacy in doing so?  How do we stop seeing Republicans and Conservatives as greedy mongers with no one’s interest at heart but the so-called 1 %?

People constantly ask me, “how can you be conservative and be a woman?” or even better, “how can you be conservative and still have gay friends? First off I answer them by saying that Abortion is not a choice, regardless of whether you believe life happens at conception or not.  You advocate not killing animals, yet wouldn’t bat an eyelash at aborting a human even after it is viable outside the womb.  No rights are being infringed upon except those of the unwanted fetus.  Where is the fairness in this?  Who protects their interest? This explanation normally will get someone’s attention. 

Defining what a “right” is in this country is also important and I think we as conservatives fail to convey this definition appropriately.  Ultimately people don’t understand the true definition of being Conservative.  The media does an awful yet successful job at pitting people against one another and of course we, as citizens buy into it. 

We love drama and the media gives it to us just like a Tele-novella! They’ve definitely done a tremendous job at demonizing anyone that stands for what this county was founded on and reads the Constitution as if it wasn’t intended to be taken ad litteram. 

Liberals are right in one regard, the Bible is definitely NOT the Constitution.  There aren’t any differing denominations of the Constitutional interpretations like there are interpretations of the Bible. The Constitution is a binding document that is meant as is, no reading between the lines and making things up as we go to fit someone’s agenda.  People will constantly change, and so will society, but we must abide by a set of rules. 

We can’t continually keep changing them to appease everyone.  When amendments were made, they were because those cases were ACTUALLY devaluing human life.  Abortion devalues human life yet many take no issue with it.  It seems hypocritical to me.  No one views women as being inferior anymore, but it’s still difficult to assert ourselves in certain situations. I see it as more of a challenge and not a hindrance.

Many of the so called “injustices” are manufactured by the media and by the most important element: the bottom line.  Conservatives aren’t attempting to control anyone or stifle anyone’s freedoms; they simply want “Liberty and Justice for all.”  In actuality, they’re attempting to PROTECT ALL FREEDOMS from Tyrannical leaders who want to weasel their way in, (or in our case, already have) promising free healthcare, free money, and a perennial nanny state. 

I am sure your parents taught you the adage that if something is too good to be true, it usually is. We are so skeptical of anyone/everything else in our lives except when it comes to the most important institution governing our lives.  Why is this so?  Why would you, as a proud American, accept handouts over an education and a good paying job?  Our system is flawed to a degree that I’m afraid is beyond fixing. 

It is our job as responsible Americans to educate and influence the younger generations as much as possible before things progress to such a point of uncertainty and no return, that we’ve completely lost our way.  I truly believe that all will come to fruition soon enough, unfortunately it will be too late for most, but hopefully when the upheaval does occur, it will put society on the right path for the sanctity of our glorious country!