07 February, 2021

She’s a Horrible, Horrible Person

And for once, I’m not talking about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12). Who is the object of my ire this time? One Virginia Hefferman who write for the Los Angeles Times.

Column: What can you do about the Trumpites next door? - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

You can also read it on Yahoo! LAT has a rather pernicious Ad-Blocker Blocker.

Column: What can you do about the Trumpites next door? (yahoo.com)

At first, I truly thought this was satire. Particularly when she brought up an Eddie Murphy SNL skit. But no, she appears to be serious. And if so, she is quite mentally and emotionally disturbed.

The article begins thusly:

Oh, heck no. The Trumpites next door to our pandemic getaway, who seem as devoted to the ex-president as you can get without being Q fans, just plowed our driveway without being asked and did a great job.

How am I going to resist demands for unity in the face of this act of aggressive niceness?

A shoveled driveway is a demand for unity? Oh dear. I didn’t know.

This next bit is fascinating:

This is also kind of weird. Back in the city, people don’t sweep other people’s walkways for nothing.

I think you just summarized in one sentence what is wrong with living in the city. And the fact that you think it’s weird means you’ve been brainwashed. Stay living where you are right now. This is the best thing for you. There may still be hope. You might learn that out here in the real world, people do nice things for each other sometimes. For no reason whatsoever. Just to be neighborly as it were. Maybe you should watch some reruns of The Andy Griffith Show or even It’s a Wonderful Life.

My neighbor has shoveled my drive many times. I’ve done his some too. If I’m keeping score, I think he’s done mine a bit more than I’ve done his. But that’s the thing. No one is keeping score. We’re just doing it to be nice.

People do that sometimes. If you live in a world where that doesn’t happen, move. Move now. I mean it. Don’t spend another second in that horrible place, wherever it is.

Maybe it’s like what Eddie Murphy discovered in that old "Saturday Night Live" sketch “White Like Me.” He goes undercover in white makeup and finds that when white people are among their own, they pop free champagne and live the high life. As Murphy puts it: “Slowly I began to realize that when white people are alone, they give things to each other. For free.”

No, it’s nothing like that. I guarantee your neighbor didn’t care whether you are white or black. He just cared that you had a driveway in need of clearing and he had the time and ability to clear it.

There are some more paragraphs comparing her neighborhood to Nazi occupied France that I won’t bother to repeat.

Loving your neighbor is evidently much easier when your neighborhood is full of people just like you.

Again, I sincerely doubt that your neighbor cares about your race or anything. In fact, you are clearly not at all like him, and he probably knows that, and did it anyway. Think about that. Think hard.

And then you give us an idea of what you think “unity” is.

So here’s my response to my plowed driveway, for now. Politely, but not profusely, I’ll acknowledge the Sassian move. With a wave and a thanks, a minimal start on building back trust. I’m not ready to knock on the door with a covered dish yet.

Ummm…okay. Don’t hurt yourself. Sounds like gratitude and kindness are foreign concepts to you. Best to take things slow. Ease into it slowly.

I also can’t give my neighbors absolution; it’s not mine to give. Free driveway work, as nice as it is, is just not the same currency as justice and truth. To pretend it is would be to lie, and they probably aren’t looking for absolution anyway.

But I can offer a standing invitation to make amends. Not with a snowplow but by recognizing the truth about the Trump administration and, more important, by working for justice for all those whom the administration harmed. Only when we work shoulder to shoulder to repair the damage of the last four years will we even begin to dig out of this storm.

No, they aren’t looking for absolution. Nor are they looking for an “invitation to make amends”. You complained incessantly in the article about groups moving in lockstep because they felt comfortable as a group and don’t recognize the same problem within yourself. You hate these people for the mere reason that they’re outside your group. And yet, they’re showing you that they don’t hate you. And you don’t know how to handle that.

Doesn’t that tell you that your worldview is completely wrong? It should.

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