One of the things that’s often said about vaccine avoiders and maskholes is that they’re being “childish”, but really, it’s worse. The kids in my neighborhood, where the schools have been safely in session almost full-time (elementary) and part time (“hybrid”) in middle and high school, are perhaps the most diligent mask wearers around.
My wife and I were taking a walk on a warm day and there was a ~5 year-old kid doing chalk art in his driveway, by himself, wearing a mask. We see kids walking to school with masks on, and walking home with masks on. It’s just not a big deal.
Granted, my neighborhood is affluent by most standards, but it’s still middle-class. That said, people moved here for the schools, so they’re extremely motivated to have them open — not in a “mah freedum open up now” way, but a “let’s all work together to get the kids to school” way. The closest elementary school to my house, which is huge (643 students, 252 teachers and staff on-site) has had 14 cases among students and staff since New York started COVID reporting last Fall. That is an amazing achievement considering schools were open during the start of the Thanksgiving/Christmas spike, and also during the current spike. (Note that teachers and staff had the option to be online, and 108 students and 4 teachers took that option.)
(Unfortunately, the city schools were not able to open, in part because they were already struggling with prior gross incompetence. So, once again, suburban, mostly white kids have another huge advantage.)
Anyway, my point is that calling maskholes “childish” diminishes children. Just call them “assholes” and be done with it.
debbie
Children are the most selfless beings among us (dogs and cats included).
Immanentize
@debbie: And at the very same moment, children are the most selfish beings among us (dogs and cats included).
Bobby Thomson
Veruca Salts works
Gozer
This tracks anecdotally with what I’ve observed. We have a middle school 5 blocks away and ALL of the kids I’ve seen wear masks back and forth to class or sports practice or whatever.
Some friends that have young kids (10 and 7) I believe were saying how their kids are like mask patrollers. They kindly remind mom and dad to mask up (even for trips to the edge of the driveway for mail or trash). Luckily there aren’t too many anti-maskers/covid-truthers in this part of PA.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I think you’re talking about a very specific kind of child in that “childishness”: A maladjusted twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy whose idea of manliness is bullying and dominance motivated by an overwhelming and semi-conscious fear of his father calling him a girl, or a Loser. The thread runs from anti-masking to rolling coal to ammosexuality to voting for trump. To the thread below.
zhena gogolia
How about a dentist who berates you for still wearing a mask after you’re vaccinated, says, “It’s time to tear off the bandage!” “We have herd immunity!” “Who do you think you’re protecting?” “So you just do whatever Fauci tells you to do?” (when I had said “CDC,” not “Fauci”) — what mental age is he?
mrmoshpotato
Good point.
Doc Sardonic
@zhena gogolia: I had a similar dentist when I was younger. I broke his nose.
zhena gogolia
@Doc Sardonic:
Intentionally?
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
It’s bad enough that he believes that, but it’s worse that he felt comfortable expressing that.
I can’t imagine talking down to my customers that way, even if they were Trump people.
sdhays
My 2 year old has no problem wearing a mask for an hour, and he slobbers all over it so you know it’s less fun than for the rest of us. He can’t use the toilet, but he can wear a damn mask.
Doc Sardonic
@zhena gogolia: Yes and no.
smith
I think this is more accurately termed “toxic masculinity,” AKA assholishness.
WereBear
I know “childishness” comes to mind because of the Basic Immaturity of the Asshole. (I am a fountain of possible thesis subjects.)
NetheadJay
@zhena gogolia: Holy fuck, saw your comment about your bad dentist visit in an earlier thread, but with these details I really wonder how you managed to not go Nancy Smash/mama bear on him.
Hoodie
I prefer to label their behavior infantile, i.e., unregulated id. Most children start to develop empathy around age 2.
Sister Golden Bear
For once some happier news on the Republican attempts to eradicate trans people from public life front: New poll shows Americans overwhelmingly oppose anti-transgender laws
The bad news is that a number of those 115 bills are close to becoming law, because:
Republicans: We must protect our girls from those perverted trans people.
Also Republicans: We’ll inspect the genitals of any student athletes we suspect are trans.
and:
Republicans: Cancel culture is out of control.
Also Republicans: We need to prevent students from learning about LGBTQ people, as well as any historical events involving them, such as Stonewall.
sdhays
@zhena gogolia: When I first came back to the US, the first dentist I went to turned out to be a right winger who wanted to tell me how much Obamacare sucked.
He only saw me darken his door once.
Baud
@sdhays:
Dentists generally skew right, I believe. Seinfeld was right to be an anti-dentite.
Oklahomo
@zhena gogolia: I had to switch dentists back in 2009: the Obama Presidency sent him over the edge. (Fox News always on in the waiting room, Super-Jesus talk radio piped into the other rooms.) I can only imagine his take on the masks.
Uncle Cosmo
@zhena gogolia: Next time you see him you might note in passing that dentists have the highest suicide rate among all professions – and “Listening to you, I can understand why.” (Me, I would probably just encourage him to sign up for the Selbstmordabteilung right away.)
Brantl
These days, the virus is mostly spread by pinheads.
WereBear
Our town is a purple dot in a red area, so I’m used to the dance of my hired professionals deciding how sensible I am with delicate feelers of attitude.
Once it’s established we are loud and proud Democrats, so far at least: they relax and reveal their loyalties, too.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I have bad teeth and a good dentist. I don’t want to know about his politics. I’m troubled enough by the fact that his main topic of conversation with his assistant seems to be those TV talent shows.
Baud
@Sister Golden Bear:
That’s good news about the polling. For a long time, Dems had to be cautious about LGBT issues because the public was more conservative on them. Good polling will give us strength.
JMS
What about one’s 17 year old who doesn’t want to get vaccinated now because he would have to go with a parent. Yes, this happened.
Emma from Miami
@zhena gogolia: The kind that would get fired and then reported to their professional association, if there’s one.
Shakti
@zhena gogolia: Yeah, I can see why you want to find a new dentist.
“Please let me and my dental hygienists breathe coronavirus on you while poking around in your mouth and drilling holes in your teeth!” I get that maybe his business is way down because of the pandemic and all of these people being out of work but this is not the way to go about it.
My eye doctor, OTOH, does not fuck around with coronavirus precautions. Even before the pandemic he had a sign on the door saying if you were experiencing cold or flu symptoms or a fever to turn around and reschedule. Most of his patients are elderly. If you’re wearing a cloth mask he has you swap it out for a medical one.
WereBear
@Baud:
In terms of academic challenge, the school order is:
veterinarian
medical
dental
People who don’t “make the cut” and take a dropdown in their preference tend much more towards bitterness and resentment. Which is the lifeblood of the Wingnut.
WereBear
@Sister Golden Bear: That is made of AWESOME! The polling should help overcome the laws.
Elizabelle
Kids rock. Not all folks’ kids, though.
BREAKING NEWS
Liberty University has sued Jerry Falwell Jr. for $10 million, accusing its former president and chancellor of breach of contract and fiduciary duty.
Friday, April 16, 2021 12:23 PM EST
The suit claims that Mr. Falwell withheld scandalous and potentially damaging information from Liberty’s board of trustees, while negotiating a generous new contract for himself in 2019 under false pretenses. Mr. Falwell also failed to disclose and address “his personal impairment by alcohol,” the suit alleges.
sdhays
@Baud: I was just shocked by unprofessional he was. He’s sticking his hands in my mouth while bitching about the need for tort reform. I’m not paying for him to spout propaganda at me while I can’t respond.
Doc Sardonic
@zhena gogolia: Sorry….didn’t get to flesh out my answer before my edit window closed. Story behind the dentist’s nose. I am one of those “lucky” people that had a dentist as a child that did not believe in exposing children to drugs, so nothing he did was done with Novocain or other anesthetic. I also have a very rapid metabolism for processing drugs in the cocaine derivative family, so when you numb me for a procedure if you don’t hit the nerve exactly, you have about 10 minutes before it wears off. Well, he missed, was yakking with his assistant and wasted most of his working time.He was pulling a tooth and broke the root off. By the time he pulled the tooth the Novocain was done. Before I could tell him I swallowed the root he reached in my mouth with a pair of scissors and slit the gum to the roof of my mouth, at that point I punched him.
patrick II
Proud Boy Christopher Worrell attended the Jan 6 mob insurrection without wearing a mask, in spite of a compromised immune system resulting from treatment for lymphoma. He has caught COVID while in jail and his attorney has asked for a release from detention. The judge was unsympathetic.
That was dumb on two levels — the avoiding covid level, and if I’m committing a crime I am probably wearing a mask level.
waspuppet
I get it, but it depends on the target and the goal. The fact is, they enjoy being called “assholes.” Being called “childish,” “weak” and “scared” bugs the shit out of them. And frankly, that’s what I’m looking to do.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I gather Brian Schatz is that rare animal: A US Senator who doesn’t like to be on TV. Too bad.
patrick II
@sdhays:
At least your dentist didn’t was offering advice that directly contradicted medical science. At the beginning of the pandemic I saw a doctor who, when I mentioned my concerns about COVID, advised me not to worry — it is just like the flu. I am 72 years old and that was the last time I saw that guy. I got a notice from the medical co-op he is a member of saying he has retired. I wonder why.
mrmoshpotato
@sdhays:
Wow.
zhena gogolia
@NetheadJay:
He had the drill.
zhena gogolia
@Doc Sardonic:
Oh, God, I can’t even read this story.
mrmoshpotato
@patrick II: And this insurrectionist pile of shit is what we call a “dumb motherfucker,” kids.
UncleEbeneezer
@Sister Golden Bear: Thanks for sharing this. Do you have a Twitter account I can follow? I always really appreciate your updates here.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Doc Sardonic:
Fuuuuuuuck…..
I had one be stingy with novacaine while grinding a chipped incisor down in order to closely fit a crown to the root – I’ve had huge fears since. My current dentist (she’s fairly conservative but rigid about all the hygiene protocols and is a personal friend) has to give me Valium for procedures and then hits me with gas even before the shot on any grinding.
I feel your pain in my bones.
Rocks
@zhena gogolia: He wouldn’t be my dentist any more.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@zhena gogolia:
Right?
Kay
This is a really Trumpy area but we had no problem with masks at school.
What’s been really disruptive and (probably exhausting) for them has been the quarantines. My own child has been quarantined twice. That’ll be part of their childhood school experience. “Remember when we used to get quarantined all the time?”
UncleEbeneezer
This is so true. I teach predominantly children (tennis) and they are VERY careful with mask-wearing. My students are predominantly Asian-American, so culturally mask-wearing isn’t that strange to them as many of their older relatives already wore them in public settings with high risk of getting flu etc. I actually tell my students they can take their masks off (when they are distanced safely enough) and many still want to keep them on, which I tell them is fine too. So yeah, kids aren’t really the problem.
bbleh
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: @smith: @Hoodie: I think the closest parallel is ODD, which is described as an adolescent disorder but clearly has close parallels in emotionally maladjusted adults
@waspuppet: And yes, fearful. I think the root of it — as with many adolescents — is a consuming lack of self-confidence. They’re afraid, and they lash out to compensate.
Ken
I had one of those once. “Yeah, I thought he sang well enough, but his dance moves were — number 6 burnisher — not great. And Mary was a great dancer with a fairly — suction — good voice but — more suction — what did you think of that costume?” COULD YOU PLEASE CONCENTRATE WHILE YOU HAVE THAT SHARP TOOL IN MY MOUTH!?!
Ken
As long as it doesn’t become “Remember when we only got quarantined twice a year?”
StringOnAStick
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yeah, dental assistants tend to just have a high school education and are often trained in the job or a 4-6weeks for profit college class. It’s not the land of deep thinkers. How the dentist treats them is a big hint on how nice (or not) a person the dentist is. Dental school classes are typically 50% women now, the older dentists tend to skew winger and religious; it’s getting a little better but it’s generally a conservative profession. It’s getting a lot of financial pressure to go to the corporate group ownership model too. The days of buying into a practice after the owner tried out the new guy and decides if they are the right fit for their patients is nearly over, killed by the debt load the dental student graduates with.
MattF
OT. Hill hill hill hill.
ETA: But thread says not. Too good to check.
Doc Sardonic
@zhena gogolia: And that is why, I don’t know if there is an actual term for it, I have almost a pathological phobia of dentistry. It is also why if my current dentist was to decide to relocate to the other side of the world I would conquer my hatred of flying and be on a plane 3 to 4 times a year. If she retires I may be screwed.
StringOnAStick
@zhena gogolia: Definitely get a new dentist, because I can guarantee you they are not taking the extra (and expensive) precautions recommended for Covid, and that puts you at risk.
kindness
Selfish shits is more appropriate. The anti-maskers seem to be so wound up with the demons in their heads that they go off on an Ayn Rand, I am King of my world narcissism and fling poo like monkeys in order to get back at all those who tell them they are wrong and idiots.
KSinMA
@zhena gogolia: I hope you fired him.
Hoodie
@Kay: This is what’s happening in my wife’s middle school. A lot of these parents bitched about having their kids being taught online or in the hybrid setup. I get the difficulties this presented and it no doubt has had undesirable effects on their education, but the infection rate was really low and steady and it was working to some extent. Presumably under pressure, the school board decided to have the hybrid classes in middle school and high school go full-time in person, and compounded the error by doing this right after spring break, when a bunch of these kids went on ill-advised vacations. Now, infections are popping up everywhere and kids are being quarantined right and left. That’s as much or more disruptive than the hybrid system was and has the added complication that the school is having difficulty keeping track of and enforcing who should be in school and when they should return because they’re having to deal with a lot more kids. My wife has had several kids show up who were supposed to be in quarantine.
joel hanes
@zhena gogolia:
Find a different dentist, and tell the old dentist why you’re leaving.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Doc Sardonic: Like you, I had a really bad experience with my childhood dentist, and that led to further complications down the road. He was a social acquaintance of my parents, and I’m sure dealt very differently with adults. I was not sorry to hear he died shortly after retiring. I’ve lucked out to have four good ones as an adult. Even the current guy who talks too much.
I apologized once for being a difficult patient and he said, it’s a normal reaction, you’re on your back with somebody poking stuff in your mouth and making it hard to breathe.
VeniceRiley
I don’t think any of our dentists at FQHC are Rnuts. Nor are they white, now that I think on it. Perhaps it is much like the One Truck CEO situation. Lots of dentists out there in sole or one partner practice.
StringOnAStick
@sdhays: Smart and professional dental offices have a “no politics” policy, and that includes the dentist. If that can’t or don’t adhere to that then they are wingnuts and don’t deserve your trust or business.
I worked for 6 years as a temporary dental hygienist (requires college, a license and liability insurance, unlike being an assistant) and I was often shocked at how shoddy and lacking in asepsis procedures some offices were. 100% of those were obvious wing nut offices.
Mary G
I’ve been back in Orange County for 21 years now and I still haven’t found a dentist anywhere to the left of Mitt Romney. I had one I was OKish with until the March for Our Lives after the Parkland massacre. There was a large turnout on our little main drag and I had started to chat about how great that was when he started spewing NRA talking points as fast as he could, waving the little scraper torture tool around in the air. The one after that retired and I’ve been putting off shopping for a new one.
waspuppet
@bbleh: In adults, sometimes a lack of self-confidence is well-earned. On the other hand, the healthy ways to deal with it are well-known.
Ruckus
@Doc Sardonic:
I had an dentist in the navy who deserved a punch in the nose. I told him I wanted to wait till my next duty station, which I was supposed to go to in a week and he told me I didn’t have a choice. My entire lower jaw was swollen like a puffer fish for over a week and I could hardly eat. I found out from his boss when I went back to the clinic that the only time the military could work on you medically without permission is when you are unconscious and wounded. They can save your life. This is the same as in civilian life. It’s quite likely that if I ran across that guy today, I’d be all in for breaking things and this was over 50 yrs ago.
Some people are just fucking sadists and there are only two courses of action. Cure them of it, strongly and rapidly, or walk away, rapidly.
e julius drivingstorm
@zhena gogolia:
How about a Doctor who recommended against getting the vaccine and told us to google Dr. Sherri Tenpenny and get her take on it. Go ahead google her. He must have been kidding, right?
Kay
@Hoodie:
Yeah, I think it’s hard. I was pro-open because I’m on a school committee and I know our school population. We have 20-25% who will disappear completely if they’re not in school. It’s just a fact- their parents have to go to work in person and are frankly barely getting them to school when it’s open, let alone supervising lessons. That happened too- we were closed March to May of last year and the kids who are probably most at risk just dropped off the map. We did manage to (eventually) get them all internet access, but there was a period last year where they huddled outside the public library for free wifi. Huddled. In groups. But we have had lots and lots of quarantines. There’s no “good” solution but I still believe open is better than closed, as far as damage to them. It became just impossible to justify to people after they were all going in to work, often in close quarters and with less than ideal infection protections. It stopped making sense.
Ken
The term you are looking for is “sanity”.
Ruckus
@Mary G:
I asked my boss and he suggested his dentist, a firm with several dentists in an office in a shopping mall. Actually very good, very professional staff. First woman dentist I’ve ever had. Most talented dentist I’ve had was an enlisted dental tech in boot camp in the navy. He did first inspections, x rays, cleaning, normal fillings. He was very good. The ass I wrote about in the post above was an officer at navy dental school who was the exact opposite of the enlisted dental tech.
You have to expect a difference in dentists, but they only seem to fall into 3 camps, pretty damn good, not worth the time of day, or that person should never be allowed to be around humans. Or other animals.
StringOnAStick
We moved here last fall and now that we’re fully vaccinated I can start shopping for a dental practice; I used to be in the field and even I hate going through this! Our prior dentist was the best ever and it showed in her staff and how she treated them. I’ve kept my husband current on his dental hygiene with a set of instruments I get as close to sterilized as I can in a pressure cooker but he needs someone with an ultrasonic scaler. Now I have to interview offices and try not to come off as a fussy PITA.
The rich kid high school in this town tried to reopen a few months ago, and the popular kids immediately had a large illegal indoor party and infections of course skyrocketed and quarantine had to happen again. It’s been better since then but infection rates are higher in this country than any other in OR right now; tourism and dining out, even outside. The locals are mostly masking, very few tourists are.
Kay
@Hoodie:
The school closing debate has been interesting to me because I have known for a long time that public schools are the centers of places like where I live. Some parents here were angry about school closings for “educational” reasons, sure, but they were also angry because it leaves a big hole in their lives, things like sporting events and musical performances and how in a place with not that much to do those things are a big part of peoples lives. The school calendar is their calendar. I don’t think there’s been much discussion of that because as usual it was more important to BE ANGRY and YELL A LOT, but their freaking out about school is a recognition of how important public schools are to communities for reasons that are not strictly “educational”.
different-church-lady
I am having one of my “I’m completely sick of outrage and conflict” days.
This is a problem because I’m also having one of my “I really must procrastinate on the internet” days.
Jinchi
@Gozer:
I never believed the nonsense arguments that kids wouldn’t wear masks during Covid. Kids wear what they’re told to wear, especially in a school setting, which often have very specific dress codes. Any child old enough to put on their shoes will wear a mask properly if they’re told to do so.
The problem is the adults.
NotMax
@different-church-lady
Welcome to my world.
Feel free to put up your feet. Help yourself to snacks.
Hoodie
@Kay: That’s why I think some sort of hybrid is better, get those at risk kids in the classroom and let everyone else work from home. Our county is still kind of doing that, we have a virtual academy that’s about 40% of the kids, the rest of the kids who were on a hybrid now going full time. My wife’s school has a mixed population, some very affluent, others economically underprivileged (around 15-20%). Frankly, a lot of the recent infection problems are coming from the more affluent kids whose parents are having them travel all over the place. I’ve heard multiple stories of trips to Disneyworld, ski resorts, Mexico beaches, etc. Perhaps some of that will subside, as it coincided with spring break. For some inexplicable reason, the school board waited 2 weeks after the Xmas holidays to return kids to the classrooms for the hybrid plan, but slammed the throttle to the floor for full instruction the day after spring break. Did not seem very well thought out to me.
CaseyL
@StringOnAStick:
Wow: that is my dentist. I started going to a solo practice way the hell back in college, and stayed with him until he retired and sold his practice to a dentist he had met and gotten to know at conferences. She took over his practice and I’m still there.
She’s the best. About 10 years ago, I had to have a tooth extracted. While waiting the 4 (?) weeks for the implant procedure, I broke the tooth right next to it while eating salad (!!). I called my dentist, in tears, “I don’t want to lose another tooth!” She had me come in immediately, and capped it. I consider myself lucky to be one of her patients.
Anyone in the Seattle area who wants/needs a rec, I’m happy to give it.
Doc Sardonic
@Ken: Now I have to catch and wipe down the cat and my iPad
senyordave
When people would say that Trump was acting like a toddler I always found it incredibly insulting to toddlers.
Roger Moore
One of the things to remember is that by their nature, children tend to be more open to new things than adults are. This makes sense, because they don’t have the same depth of experience adults do, so more of what they encounter is new. The other thing is that the pandemic represents a much bigger slice of their lives than of ours. The 5 year-old you mentioned probably sees wearing a mask when going out as normal because the pandemic is 20% of his life experience.
Quiltingfool
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m so sorry for you and Doc. I was lucky to have a pediatric dentist. He never hurt me – one visit he had to wake me up after he put in a filling! So, I don’t have dentist fear, but I despise getting a root canal – there isn’t any pain, it’s just that it takes so damned long to get one done.
I will say this about my dentist (he was a dentist in the Navy) – during a cursory examination of my teeth, he discovered a lump on my neck (lymph node area). He told me to see my doctor, I did, and she referred me to an ENT doctor. I had a Wartens Tumor, not cancerous, but they get very large if untreated and can cause facial nerve damage. Got it removed, and the only side effect is my right ear doesn’t have much feeling. Meh, don’t care about my ear anyway!
StringOnAStick
@CaseyL: I’ve known a few wing nut female dentists, but the odds of a female dentist being both good at their job and not a wing nut are sure better than with guys. You’ve found a treasure, be sure and tell your friends!
The worst practices I ever worked at were ones where the son took over from his dad. The sons were using the cleanliness standards from back in dad’s day; horrible. The best practices did not have bibles in the waiting room or FOX on there or in the treatment rooms, and it’s best when there isn’t a TV playing in every treatment room to entertain the patients; it’s distracting to staff and I found it really annoying. If the dentist treats the employees like fellow professionals then that’s a good sign. If they are sullen or noncommunicative with the staff or patients, or staff turnover rate is high, find a new dentist. You only get one set of adult teeth and dental care is expensive, don’t spend your dollars there when you see these warning signs because I guarantee you are getting care that’s not as good or as highly skilled as it should be, and in the age of Covid it is NOT worth the risk that the dentist is a dumbass getting his infection control advice from Tucker Carlson instead of the CDC.
Roger Moore
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s obsessed with it; it just means it’s an area where they share an interest they feel OK discussing around patients.
Quiltingfool
@Kay: I live about a mile from a tiny rural school (Missouri). They have been open all year, and I think they have done a pretty good job. Very few infections. The parents have been good, too – they keep their kids at home if the child is showing a slight fever or isn’t feeling well, even if the parent is sure that the symptoms are pollen allergies, or a simple cold, etc. My great nephew (kindergarten age) attends; his mother told me that the number of children suffering from ordinary colds or flu or strep has dropped dramatically. Masks and frequent hand washing- really works, lol!
OT – Kay, I’m so happy to read your comments! I understand you needed to be gone for awhile, but I love seeing you here again!
StringOnAStick
@Quiltingfool: Now that’s a great dentist! Full lymph mode inspection of the face and neck is supposed to happen, and often does not, unfortunately. It is also the dentist’s job to examine for oral cancer, your MD does a cursory look but the dentist should be the primary on that.
Old Dan and Little Ann
I know a dude on book of faces I played baseball with 25 years ago. His brother is a dentist. They are both lunatic anti-vaxxers. They both think they are scientific geniuses and are only ones how know the truth about everything.
NotMax
re: tooth docs
Coincidentally am listeningthrough the spiffy new computer speakers to a favorite soundtrack of a Broadway show. Mentioned because it contains a bit of dental dialogue delivered by the narrator character which never fails to elicit a chuckle.
“Before he became an actor he was the All-Brite toothpaste man. All-Brite was hugely popular in the twenties, because it contained cocaine.”
(comedic beat)
“Oh yes, it’s true. If you look at the label it’s the fifth ingredient down. Right after sugar.”
.
Elie
The anti vaccine and anti maskers are childish in how they handle their resentment and need to be the center of attention. They are tantruming. They are pissed off that their way of looking at the world has been rejected and they also see themselves as rejected by the majority. They need to be important and at the center – hence their White supremacy views. The only way they have to do this is to call attention to themselves in a resentful, antisocial way. White resentment — not supremacy. There is nothing supreme in their behavior.. its all anger and “I’m going to make you pay attention to me. If I can I am also going to try to make you sick because of me. That gives me power.”
They are that weak and sad.
FlyingToaster
I’ve observed (in passing; we parents aren’t allowed out of our cars) that even the pre-K kids at WarriorTeen’s school have no problems at all keeping their masks on. And from her old pre-school, they figured out how to pod and segregate so that they’ve all been back as well.
At school, Pre-K to grade 3 are on normal schedule, with individual desks replacing the normal modular tables. Grades 4 and 5 are podded (half the class in the classroom, half the class in a curtained section of the multipurpose room). The middle school is podded (5 classrooms and the cafe converted to a classroom), 2 pods per grade, two weeks remote at each trimester to shuffle the pods. It’s also hybrid, so one pod from each grade has the camera and large monitor; mornings (8:45-12:30) are live and afternoons (1:30-3:15) are remote, as in the teachers leave at 12:30 and teach via chromebook. 1 7th grader and 4 8th graders are fully remote; about half of 6th, 3 of 7th and 6 of 8th leave at 12:30 and remote in from home.
We’ve sent whole classes remote now 3 times: 5th when one of their teachers was exposed via their spouse; 7th when one of their teachers was exposed by their HS son, and this week 6th because a student tested positive this past Sunday. So far we’ve see no in-school transmission, because every kid has been conscientious about masking and distancing.
And we’re doing much better than several of the more expensive elite private schools, who are still remote.
Our asshole governor (Fuck you, Charlie Baker!) ordered the public schools back to live, and the cases for age 0-19 skyrocketed. So everyone keeps getting sent remote again. Fucking pinhead.
glc
@Uncle Cosmo:
Thought it was oboe players. Or is that not a profession?
zhena gogolia
@Shakti:
That’s how my eye doctor’s office is too. I feel very comfortable there.
Martin
Children understand collective action because that’s how schools are run. We line up, we can’t go to recess until everyone is still and quiet, etc.
The US has structured adulthood to rip away all collective action instincts in favor of individuality, in large part because you can monetize it. This is why kids also understand climate change better than adults – they understand that everyone has to do their part or none of us get the outcome we want.
zhena gogolia
@StringOnAStick:
One of my friends has a dentist here, just as close to my home, and she said they are doing it all, air filtering, etc. It’s on their website too. So I’ll be calling them Monday.
NotMax
Don’t like “childish” in this context? Fine. Use “infantile” then. Or “bratty.” Or, plucked from the $10 bin, “contumacious.”
It’s not rocket science.
:)
zhena gogolia
@e julius drivingstorm:
Oh, God, I’m not going to google that!
All my other medical professionals are just that, professional, scrupulously professional. This was a shock.
Kayla Rudbek
Mr. Rudbek gripes about my dentists having Porsches in their parking lot, but I think that they’re skilled professionals and if they want to spend their money on fancy cars, they can go right ahead. My sole gripe is that they don’t have pediatric-sized X-ray films at the office site I go to (small mouth plus strong gag reflex means that I would much prefer a smaller-sized film and grip within my mouth). Although maybe a pediatric-size film wouldn’t get all of the vertical area that they need to see.
And two of the dentists at the practice are twin brothers; how they manage to work together smoothly puzzles me (as I am much more used to brothers constantly arguing when they are together.)
James E Powell
@Kay:
You’re right about the schools being the center of activity in the small towns. And not just the rural places, but exurbs.
Those of us who have moved away from the places where we grew up sometimes overlook those who do not. There are people who regularly attend the athletic events at the high school they attended. And there are a lot of adults whose circle of friends includes people who only know each other because their kids went to school together.
I’m one of those who moved away and I know I often forget about those who did not.
Kay
@Hoodie:
They tried really hard at our school. One of the lower income rural districts had the bus driver who does their routes bring kids “packets” because none of them have internet access. He knows where they all live! What a weird year. They’re having graduation here. Outdoors and with only 2 tickets per family, but they’ll have a real graduation.
We’re going to keep some of the pandemic practices we took on in the local legal community. I guess it never made sense for everyone to drive to a pretrial, which is essentially a meeting between lawyers and judges- for me, where I appear in three rural county courts tens of miles apart, I was driving hundreds of miles a year and 90% of it turns out to be …optional. it can be done remotely and done better remotely. Our bankruptcy court has taken to remote in a big way. They’re probably never going back.
Matt McIrvin
The dentist I had in childhood was, I think, not very good, somewhat behind the times technically, but he did believe in local anesthetic. I’ve heard such horror stories from people who got all their cavities drilled without Novocain because, as one coworker put it, “my mother thought it would make me a drug addict”.
My wife actually has had small fillings done without it, but it’s because she simply had no cavities when she was a child (this in itself is unimaginable to me), never had to deal with it, and is more apprehensive about the needle than about getting teeth drilled without anesthetic.
Sister Golden Bear
@UncleEbeneezer: Thanks. My Twitter is https://www.twitter.com/sistergldnbear although I don’t post that much there. Too many social media outlets, not enough time.
Matt McIrvin
My daughter has complained about kids at her school who wouldn’t wear masks consistently (some actually got barred from in-person classes over it).
They’re getting it from their parents.
James E Powell
My school district – Los Angeles – is returning students to class starting next week. Secondary schools don’t return until a week from Monday, student returning on the following Wednesday.
Anecdotal: An informal survey of my 130 students. 18 reported they were definitely coming to school. 14 said they were not sure. The rest said not coming back till next year.
We won’t know until the day we start. Administrators advised us this week that since classes are expected to have four to eight students, some teachers will be “repurposed.” Sounds ominous.
SpongeBobtheBuilder
Your local elementary school has a ratio of children to adults that is >3:1? This is better than infant care. How much do your schools cost? Eleventy-zillion dollars per child?
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
Alas, infantile and bratty both have the same literal meaning as childish.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Differences in nuance and interpretation when it comes to an implied level of silliness.
NotMax
@NotMax
Also too, infantile and bratty each descend from behavior of a subset of children.
Shakti
@zhena gogolia: Sherry Tennpenny is a full blown conspiracist anti-vaxxer making hay while the sun shines. She claims the COVID vaccines cause deaths and autoimmune diseases and pocketed a sweet amount of money from the Paycheck Protection Program for her “Integrative Medical Center.” She believes that all vaccines cause autism and sells rent money vaccine courses to teach people how to spread lies and misinformation.
Incidentally she was the head of the ER in the one of my college friends’ hometown. Sundown town.
Brachiator
@Kay:
It is really fascinating to read about the situations where remote operations work well, and those situations where it may not be best.
I know some people who see returning to normal as ending all forms of remote work, instruction, etc. But I want to see the technology and operations improve.
I was working remotely before the pandemic, and found that it works for me. My sister works from home most of the time, with an occasional need to visit the office. She loves it.
@Matt McIrvin:
My college girlfriend had never had a cavity in her life. Good genes and good dental practices. I thought this absolutely amazing.
cain
@Sister Golden Bear:
Ultimately, if you believe in small govt – as most proper conservatives should – this is the wrong policy just on that alone never mind the absolute immoral drive behind them.
Everyone will be harmed by this law. Youre basically saying all children’s genitals are govt property to be examined at any time.
Bill Arnold
@e julius drivingstorm:
The results on the first page of google search results are quite negative, except her twitter links.
That’s one way to deal with such people; SERP optimization to put truth about their bullshit in front of inquisitive eyeballs. It’s not hard to do, either.
The counterhate piece has been quite helpful. (anger-inducing, warning)
The Disinformation Dozen – Why platforms must act on twelve leading online anti-vaxxers
StringOnAStick
@Kayla Rudbek: If they have a modern digital panoramic X-Ray unit, you can get your check up fiims done without having a sensor placed inside your mouth. This is a fairly recent capability for these kinds of machines, which means a more expensive piece of equipment but you might want to find an office that has one. For my last year of work before I retired, this was a wonderful capability to have for patients with your size of mouth.
satby
@Brachiator: So far, I’ve never had a cavity either, and I’ll be 66 next month. Both my parents ended up with dentures before they were 60, so it’s not genes. BUT, I’ve never liked sodas or sugary drinks like fruit juice, KoolAid, etc and the only candy I would eat as a kid was chocolate. Plus I had vitamins with added flouride as a kid, my mom wanted us to have less cavities than her generation, and this was during the debates on flouridating tap water. It worked.
StringOnAStick
@zhena gogolia: Good, glad to hear it.
Brachiator
@satby:
With my girlfriend, I noted genes and dental practices as possible big factors. Flouride might also have been a contributor. I can’t remember.
She ate a healthy diet, but loved sodas and especially chocolate. As an adult, and with her kids, she was big on healthy foods, and down on sugary drinks, etc. But in college and earlier, her diet was much like other folk.
But however she got to be cavity free, it was pretty noteworthy.
She also never got headaches.
StringOnAStick
@Matt McIrvin: There’s no way a local anaesthetic will turn someone into a drug addict; it is amazing what people convince themselves of. Local anaesthetics are not narcotics, they simply greatly slow the conduction of nerve impulses when injected close enough to the targeted sensory nerve. Slowed conduction means the pain signal isn’t getting through to the brain.
I had patients as a student who were dental phobic because of the childhood dentist who didn’t think kids needed their teeth to be numb to work on them, according to their stories; all were from tiny rural areas which is apparently where crappy, sadistic dentists practice I guess. My attitude is if you don’t want to practice in kids then refer them out, don’t torture them! Kids weren’t my favourite patient population either, especially since The ones my city centre boss had were often very spoiled rich kids who apparently are always allowed to run wild. Paediatric dentists exist for a reason and that’s who kids should go to; everyone is happier that way.
The kernel of truth in some stories is that baby teeth can have the nerve inside die and they usually turn pink when that happens; dead nerve = no pain sensation so no need to numb them. When the adult tooth starts pushing out it makes the root of the baby tooth dissolve and usual the baby tooth nerve is dead inside by then (thankfully, or else losing baby teeth would be orders of magnitude more painful). Sometimes serious decay in a baby tooth causes that too, and I’ve seen such bad decay that there’s already a cavity in the adult tooth underneath it that hasn’t fully erupted yet. That’s almost always due to lots of sugary drinks, sticky carbohydrate diet and poor oral hygiene.
TheronWare
I see at least 4 or 5 people like this at my gym every fracking day! One guy had his mask resting on his chin with mouth and nose fully exposed and when I asked him to mask up he said he didn’t have to as long as he was 6 feet away. Damn but talk about dumb frackery and willful ignorance ! My second Moderna shot can’t get here soon enough!!
wenchacha
@Shakti: Our dentists shut down their office for several weeks to retool. Then they had waterline problems when they reopened. The rooms are all plastic-shrouded. No spitting into a sink!
lowtechcyclist
I’d describe it less as ‘childishness’ as ‘unwillingness to adult.’ Two very different things, really.
J R in WV
My first dentist didn’t believe in Novocaine, or any injected nerve anesthetic — I actually bit him as hard as I could once…
Second dentist had to redrill every filling first dentist installed. So much fun. Navy dentists were OK.
Now we have a gentle and humane and very competent dentist… don’t know what we’ll do when he retires. Very careful about sterility, esp right now. Liberal Jewish guy. Won’t see a right wing medical person. Can’t be competent, right-wing-nutism doesn’t go with competence.
Cynthia
643 students, 252 teachers and staff on-site? Why so many teachers and staff? That’s fewer than 3 students per teacher/staff member!