(A disturbing narrative from a personal friend.)
A large number of honking cars and trucks and some loud motorcycles, and mega horns went by our house 15 minutes ago, protesting mandates. There were flags, and signs, and writing on their car windows. It went on for about 30 minutes, because they came in groups due to the traffic light below. Most were honking their horns. The first truck that went by was a semi and it sounded like a loud train coming at us with its horn blazing, so I went outside to see what it was. When I realized what it was I stood out on our parking strip without outstretched bird fingers, flipping them all off as they drove by. Especially the ones with Trump flags waving. One of the trucks with a megahorn said "Get in my truck and say that to me." as he reacted to me flipping him off.
This procession started with 2 or 3 semi trucks. I wish I'd videoed them, because I would have sent it to the police and the news people. It was pretty loud. It's the loudest noises I've ever heard on this street, except for the close fireworks. Did they have a permit to make noise like that? I really doubt it.
My wife pulled me into the house a couple of times, because she didn't want problems, but it bothered me so much I went out a 3rd time to flip off more Trumpers.
I felt a little uncomfortable flipping people off because there were lots of vehicles with children in them. But I felt worse that I was flipping off old grandmothers, so I stopped, and reserved my bird fingers for the Trumpers.
One of the women said to me, "What, you hate the American flag?" I said "No the Trump flags."
There is so much ignorance and blindness in so many people. People who are generally good and decent people. But people who are also racists. That's a weird thing to say about people in Hawaii, but I still think racism is pretty much a hidden factor in why people do things. The white people don't like it that they have to share power. They think God gave them the right to be superior. They think the United States is God's chosen country, and that we should be able to do whatever we want, and if the government says they have to give up some of their freedoms for the welfare of society, they're against it, because they're white. Other people have to give up their freedoms so that we don't have to.
Or, maybe some people are just angry about their current situation, financially or otherwise, and they just want to protest something. They're tired of being "pushed around" and being powerless.
I think that 60% or more of the people were white. I saw one black person, alone in his fancy convertible sports car. I don't remember seeing any pure asians.
I was so upset by this, and am still upset, that I have pretty much decided never to go back to Louise's music classes, or deal with any of the people there who were anti mask, or anti vaccine, or who believe in chem-trails, or any of that other absolute nonsense. This includes Louise, unfortunately. It also means I won't hire Mark to work on the house either. I just can't bear the nonsense that these people believe. I don't want to hear it, but they don't keep their mouths shut when they get together, so I don't want to be around them.
Some of the people are just victims and don't really have the ability to know better, but obviously all of these hundreds of people who drove by (well, the adults, except for the 80 year old grandmothers) have taken a stand on the side that has done harm to other people. Trump is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, not just because of his Covid actions, but all the misery his other policies have caused people in the world. And these caravan protest people probably didn't get vaccinated, and probably protested having to wear masks in stores and other places, and they didn't do their part to get through this epidemic. They were selfish, and they caused harm.
And what's the point of this caravan protest anyway? On March 1st the rules are changing with regard to mask mandates. They'll probably think they had something to do with the change, which is another example of their stupidity.
The air conditioning guy wears a mask when he's in our house or when he talks to us outside. I thanked him for that. He said "I don't see why people have a problem with this. It doesn't bother me to wear a mask." He's from Brazil. He's not white. He's a hard worker. He's polite. He's patient. He's responsible. He's welcome here in the US. I'd have no problem with him representing me in government or being in TV commercials, or being my boss. But I do not want to be around people who think they deserve to be treated better than others, and that the laws don't apply to them.
For sure most of them were breaking the law with their noise, disturbing the neighborhood. Nobody but me was out watching this convoy drive by their house. There were no neighbors in this convoy, probably, except one, who I accidentally flipped off, and she said "I just live right over here, I got caught up in this driving home." We both laughed that I'd flipped her off. They were all driving by slowly enough that people could say things.
But I think Liping was right. Ignore them. Just because people have a different opinion than me doesn't necessarily mean I have to be offensive, or cut off my association with them. I suppose there's a way to protest things you don't like without being offensive. If in Louise's class someone starts saying things that bother me, I can leave, or I could say something to counter what they said, or maybe I could say "Can we please not talk about such things like how masks and vaccines don't work? It makes me feel uncomfortable."
Nah, I think I'll just stop going to her class. And I'm not going to hire Mark. It's easier that way.
Got any ideas on how to handle this general problem of dealing with people you disagree with? If I was smart enough I could engage in some kind of friendly debate with them. Or ask them some thought provoking questions that would lead them to realize they're wrong. But I generally don't think that fast, like today. I must have flipped off a hundred people, easily, before I gave it much thought. Double barrelled flip-off. Sometimes it was pointed double barrelled flipping. Right at them, from 10 feet away.
I can just imagine some of those mothers answering their child's question about why "that old man was doing the birdy sign to you and daddy". "Oh, he just doesn't love our country. But we do. We're trying to protect our country from people like him who want us to be slaves. He doesn't want you to go to school and play with your friends. He's just an angry old man."
