Oh… This is getting So out of hand.

The other half got a haircut yesterday.

You’d think something as mundane as that wouldn’t be fraught with controversy…

You’d be wrong

We live in a mad mad world.

The stylist was talking with another stylist about a customer she’d had the day before.

The customer in question, was apparently transitioning from one gender to the other. “Okay, this is probably going to go off the rails,” I think.

As the story unfolds, apparently the stylist referred to the customer as a “She”. OMG! The horror!

The customer corrected the stylist’s use of pronoun defiantly proclaiming the proper pronoun was “IT”.

At this point in the story I’ve got my “What The Fuck” face on. The other half ignored me and continued the story.

The stylist, of course apologized explaining that she meant no offense. This wasn’t good enough for the mortally aggrieved customer. (He/She/It… whatever) Continued to manufacture outrage over this insignificant incident, turning everyone’s trip to the hair place into a crazed social justice nightmare.

A) How was the stylist to know “It” was the preferred pronoun?
B) The Stylist did the professional thing by apologizing.
C) The aggrieved customer had all the social decorum of a turd in a punchbowl.

The other half was laughing and said to me, “All I could picture as this story was being told was YOU sitting in a chair during the actual incident.

Good Point!

I wouldn’t have been able to let it pass. I hate shitty behavior and the shitty people exhibiting it.

The first thing that popped into my head was that since “IT” didn’t have their pronoun tattooed on ITS forehead how was anyone to know? I’m sure that my expressing that thought would have added fuel to the fire.

The second thing that popped into my head is that “IT” usually refers to an object. Then I remembered being a boy in the Deep South.

The first word I ever learned to describe a Black person was the “N-Word”. But the context was that one went to get the “N-Word” to clean up a mess.

For Example: “Bill, please go get the broom to sweep up this mess on the floor.”

My childhood memory has the statement from my Grandfather telling me, “Hey boy, go get the “N-word” to clean up that mess.”

In my experience the “N-Word” was used to reduce a kind thoughtful human being, (Eddie would tell me jokes and ride me around on his shoulders and we’d laugh the whole time,) to nothing more than an object on par with a mop or broom. (For the sake of clarity, Eddie was an employee of my Grandfather, and I probably wasn’t more than 5.)

As I thought about the implications of a human being demanding to be called “IT” I couldn’t help but notice the similarity.

What completely astounds me, is that any human being would willingly demean & diminish their own humanity in this way.

People like the aforementioned customer, would loose their shit if I, a white CIS male, were to refer to an African American as “IT”. They’d be saying I was racist or any number of other ugly things. (Then again, most of the ugly words they’d call me have lost much of their former impact and meanings.)

Then they’d turn around and make a spectacle of themselves in a public place demanding to be called “IT”.

All the while annoying the rest of us “normal” people who use pronouns based in history and languages dating back 5 thousand years or more.

The other half is right…

It’s a good thing I wasn’t there for the incident itself.

Depending on how screeching they were, I could easily see myself leading off with,

“Nobody gives a fuck about your pronouns! Now sit the fuck down and shut the hell up. There are actual humans in this business, trust me they do not consider themselves the equivalent of a dildo or pocket pussy. Both of which, by the way, are ITS.”

No, I don’t think it would have ended well at all…

Huh! Life imitating conspiracy websites now?

Several month ago I was reading an outlandish theory on one of the “Conspiracy” websites.

You know, those sites that are identified as places where Qanon, or Proud Boys, or white supremacy nuts, or COVID conspiracy nuts, hang out and post all sorts of mis-information.

You know, one of those sites that big tech like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and all the rest bans, blocks, or outright censors.

I forget what led me to the site, or even what the site was. I think it was some report on a “True Approved and Certified” news feed talking about the outlandish misinformation being published. I recall that the site was full of a lot of crazy shit. I read a few articles and dismissed the site from my memory. It wasn’t worth my time.

Anyway, on that site was a really weird article discussing how Hillary Clinton could end up as President. From what I recall, the article presented the theory that Biden would probably not be able to finish his term due to declining mental abilities. The article went on to say that America would never accept Kamala Harris as president.

(Photo by William Thomas Cain/Getty Images)

The author of the piece said this wasn’t about her gender or color, it was about her complete and utter unlikability and how poorly she’d performed as VP and prior to that, as a presidential candidate.

The author suggested that this left the Democratic Party in a real bind because they’d have to retire Joe, then deal with Kamala, and perhaps impeach her. The author suggested that she’d not go quietly, and that the Democratic Party wouldn’t have control over her vice presidential pick.

The author said this left a bad option that would require impeachment of both Kamala and Biden which the republicans wouldn’t support because removal of both would put Nancy Pelosi in the office of The President. Americans would really cry foul and definitely cripple her presidency with a Republican majority in the House and Senate.

.

The author suggested that the only path would be to get Kamala out of the way with a juicy Supreme Court position. The author wrote something like Kamala’s ego wouldn’t be able to resist the allure of being the first “black” woman on the Supreme Court. Kamala would also choose security of a lifetime appointment over obscurity at the end of her VP stint.

The person writing the article posited that it would go something like this;

An older liberal justice is cajoled into retirement. Kamala is nominated to fill the slot and is a shoe in as a liberal replacement for a liberal retiring justice. The Republicans wouldn’t be able to block the appointment and Kamala takes the slot.

Biden, then of his own volition or through manipulation, nominates or chooses Hillary Clinton as his new VP.

Once Hillary is sworn in and has some time to marshal her forces, Biden then is removed via the 25th Amendment or impeachment.

And the Democrats get what they’ve been after since 2016.

Hillary Clinton becomes the rightful “Queen” as she was supposed to in 2016. Righting the egregious wrong of Donald Trump’s election by the ignorant, uninformed, unwashed, deplorable, masses.

The author said that all of these machinations had to happen in 2021 prior to the midterms or the Democrats would lose their opportunity to establish the dynasty they wanted.

I saw yesterday that Pelosi announced she’d be seeking re-election. She knows there’s likely to be a red wave in Congress and that she’s unlikely to retain her speakers role if that happens. Why would she after months of rumors of her retiring suddenly make that reversal?

At the time reading the article I thought, “What a load of horse shit!” No one in the Democratic Party would or could be that Machiavellian.

But today?

I wish I could find that article…

It makes me wonder if sometimes something that is called an insane conspiracy theory is actually truth written anonymously by someone with a guilty conscience?

Okay, this is just insane.

By now, you may have heard of or seen the altercation that happened on a Delta Flight from Tampa to Atlanta. When I read the text of their exchange I was laughing my butt off.

The other half said, “Thank God you weren’t that old man…”

Yeah, I do have a bit of a temper and do not respond well to phrases like, “Stand your ass up!” Believe me, I’d have probably stood up, then given this particular “Karen” a verbal dressing down she’d not soon forget.

Had she slapped me, all bets would be off. As annoying and frustrating as flying anywhere has become I’d already be edgy. A slap to the face and her rearing back as though she was going to punch me, (as some reports have indicated she was doing,) would have resulted in extreme violence and rage on my part.

I think the older gentleman handled this “Karen” situation far better than I would have.

According to some of the police reports I’ve read, this whole thing started because Patricia Cornwall was trying to get back to her seat after coming from the bathroom. She was blocked by the beverage cart.

Most civilized people who have flown before know that you have to wait for the cart to clear the aisle, you have two choices, remain standing or “borrow” an empty seat until the cart has passed your seat row. It’s not a difficult problem if you think about it.

I’ve been in the exact situation and simply asked a passenger seated next to an empty seat, “May I borrow this for a minute?”

Ms Cornwall demonstrated that she was clearly a product of the American Educational system given this simple logic problem evaded her.

Things went off the rails when the flight attendant told Ms. Cornwall to grab an empty seat until the beverage service was complete. At this point Cornwall replied, “What am I Rosa Parks?”

According to reports, this is when the elder gentleman pointed out that Cornwall wasn’t black, they were not in Alabama, nor were they on a bus.

I’d have added, “Unlike you lady, Rosa Parks had a point!”

It appears that after this exchange the two of them were, “off to the races” so to speak.

At some point during the dust-up Cornwall was demanding that the gentleman put his mask on, (hers however was being worn as a chin diaper,)

There may have been the word “Bitch” tossed around, and the elderly gentleman is quoted as saying, “Sit down Karen.” If the elderly man called this woman a bitch, he was being as polite as possible given her behavior. I’d have called her much worse, and stood by my descriptors.

In the ensuing scuffle, Cornwall appears to have injured two other passengers and at least one Delta employee.

Ms. Cornwall was taken into custody in Atlanta and paid 20,000 bail to get out of jail.

This is one of those things that speaks volumes about the society.

There was a time when you treated elders, even crotchety elders with respect. When you’re on a flight, or a bus, or any other public transportation you are supposed to mind your manners and be cooperative. Apparently Ms. Cornwall missed those days in etiquette class.

But hey, she was a playboy bunny and an actress right? She’s special… Uh huh.

It’s been reported that the gentleman is 80. Given that he is about 30 years her senior, he legitimately called out Ms. Cornwall on her poor behavior. She was being childish. He may well have been a father, or grandfather. I’m betting that slipped into “Dad” mode without even thinking about it.

Even I, as much of an ass as I can be, I listen to an Elder. One telling me to cool my jets would be met with a contrite, “Yes Sir.”

Too many women like Cornwall seem to think that it’s perfectly okay to smack a man and that they’ll get away with it. Those same women run to the police when, after smacking a man, he hits ’em back.

A man’s only recourse today is to involve the law and doing so makes us feel weak and powerless, even if the police take the matter seriously, (often they don’t).

That’s why I hope this gentleman presses charges and doesn’t just let it go. I hope he puts it all out there. Elder abuse, Assault, pain and suffering due to the public nature of the crime, and anything else his attorney can toss into the mix.

The trouble is, as men we’re taught to “Suck it up,” and move on. If he happens to be a “Southern Gentleman” I’d say the odds are high that he’ll let it go.

In the same situation, I might do the same even knowing that letting it go would be tacitly condoning women getting away with abusing men.