Norm (not his real name) is a simple-minded fellow who goes to the same church that I attend.
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When asked "Why?" he goes off on a long ramble about how the pull tabs are made of a special, ultra-pure alloy that is recycled for heart-valves and cardiac stents. At church dinners he places his chair by the barrel for recycling beverage cans (which have a ten-cent deposit on them in Michigan) and sternly lectures diners who do not separate the tabs from their cans.
Anybody who knows anything about metals and alloys know that this is pure B.S. Aluminum is not used in any in-body medical devices and even if it was, it would be far cheaper and simpler to use virgin material rather than recycling tramp materials into a pure enough form to use in-body.
Most of us humor him in the same way we would humor an intellectually-challenged child showing us a scribble that they inform us was "a horse". I deal with him by choosing to drink water.
Norm's quirk reminds me of the smokers in the 1970s who collected the plastic sleeves that went on the outside of their packages of cigarettes. According to them, the sleeves were made of a special, rare, exotic material that was used in dialysis machine membranes. People were dying because the companies that made dialysis machines could not get enough of that material. They also demanded that other smokers save their wrappers.
Why is that interesting?
This phenomena interests me because people outside of the "thrall" easily see that it is pure bull-shit. Irrational behaviors interest me, so dissecting the "thrall" or the "glamor" captured my interest.
I believe that the basis for the delusional behavior is that it allows Norm to feel morally superior to people who do not drink 24 cans of Keystone Light beer* every night because they are not saving the lives of people who need heart valves.
Likewise, the belief in saving the cellophane wrappers of cigarette packages allowed the believer to entertain the fantasy that they are righteous and pure and morally superior to people who do not pluck cigarette packages out of the gutter and strip them of their cellophane.
Norm's hectoring of people who do not share his delusions reminds me of the WOKE people who dog normal people like you and me. "XY"s cannot be women is a simple, biological fact and yet social justice warriors made trans-ideology (along with a host of other absurdities) a core belief. Not just that, but they are enraged if we do not validate their fantasies.
* Artistic license exercised. I don't know if "Norm" drinks.
I classify the Pets of the Woke into three categories.
ReplyDelete(i) Drag Queens.
(ii) Female Impersonators.
(iii) Castrati.
The third is approximate but good enough for government work.
Crazy people can be dangerous. Drinking water is a wise way to stand aside your pull tab mostly harmless crazy.
ReplyDeleteWoke crazies are MORE Dangerous because they are emoting THEIR Rightness and Indignation and tend to violence given the number (ever rising) of shoot them up tranny's and such.
As Ole Remus said "stay away from stupid people doing stupid things". His advice even works for "hold my beer moments".
And we just went through a big one that lasted 4 years and destroyed jobs, businesses, families and friendships. I guess it's just the way people are sometimes. --ken
ReplyDeleteSome of the barkeeps that I know save the tabs as well, but they save them for the aluminum as scrap. the thought being get your 5 cents for the can and then they donate the tabs to the American legion who eventually get some cash for the scrap. I tell them just donate the whole can
ReplyDeleteAt the current price of $0.76 a pound for beverage can scrap and 1750 tabs per pound (4.0 grains per tab), that is a princely sum of 0.04 cents per tab.
DeleteYep, they are counting product to adjust their record of tips to align with till, or simply to ensure they are putting cash in till or balancing tabs (the bookkeeping type) to cover cans consumed. When tending fast, especially cash or places that allow you to run a tab, any little trick can help achieve your goal.
DeleteI’ve always found the word “woke” interesting because it’s rarely defined, yet it gets used as the explanation for almost everything going wrong. It becomes kind of a placeholder for whatever someone already dislikes.
ReplyDeleteYour examples about pull-tabs and cigarette wrappers actually made me think of that. In both cases people believed they were part of something bigger, even if the details weren’t clear. In a way, that’s not too different from how “woke” gets used now—almost as a symbolic stand-in rather than a specific idea.
So your comparison ends up being thought-provoking in a way you might not have intended.
Gees all I'm trying to do is remember to pull up my zipper. Woody
ReplyDeleteI am working to remember to pull mine down before...well, you know.
DeleteIt is a common human condition. Like absolutions in the church. They are seeking redemption for their ill actions. Keystone or Royal Crown Cola, its all 'bad' for you, but if I wrap this 'good' thing around it...
ReplyDeleteI inherently know forcing people to do/comply against their will is bad, but if I can wrap it in something good thats even bigger, I can justify it! Remeber when we were saving the whales from acid rain and baby seals from being clubbed to death for their fur? Now we're being gaslit up to saving the freaking planet. They can morally do just about anything, in their own minds. Remember The KungFlu, and how justified mass hysteria victims were in trampling everyone else's rights? We are so screwed...
The thrall... What a great word.
ReplyDeleteTo Anon's point above, I do think that it is a common human condition - and it goes both ways. Purity of belief and action which results in one feeling superior to one's fellows is not confined to a single political belief or philosophical point of view. I try to recall this when presenting something as fact or common sense.
ReplyDeletePeople latch on to the strangest things to...collect...
ReplyDelete