The Sherman Oaks Galleria is up the street from me. On one corner, the Black Lives Matter folks stood with their signs. Across the street, the conservatives stood with their flags. People honked and gave a thumbs up. I’m not sure who the honk love went to but one thing was certain; folks were peaceably protesting and it was nice to see.
Spaceship JNET welcomed a visitor to LaLaLand. D @derekrichardson from SoCal Hive was in town and what better adventure is there than take photos of good ole Americans exercising their First Amendment. We dove right in and people posed with their signs. Most were friendly looking while a few had their angry-I-hate-the-system-let-it-all-burn-to-hell look. Maybe they thought I was a tourist. I wouldn’t have felt as bold if it wasn’t for D keeping me company. I wasn’t wearing a mask and meandered through the crowd. I was glad no one played mask police. A person with a black umbrella followed me around. Umbrella Person’s pack of friends looked very Gotham meets Clockwork Orange. It was an eclectic solemn crowd.
Across the street, the conservatives worn red, white and blue. They played music. No one on this side of the street wore masks. They smiled. Hardly the menacing white extremists that Republicans are touted as. They were sweet and goofy which is always shocking. It’s been on repeat FOREVER that these folks are hateful, mean and extremely racist. I’ve crashed a few conservative events where friends feared for my life. Daredevil JNET still alive and have not found any scary Republicans.
R: “They let you take photos of them?” The lady at the conservative table of stickers and red, white, and blue wares asked incredulously.
JNET: “I’m not a liberal nor a conservative. And I like to take photos. I recommend everyone consider anarchy and never trusting the government.”
She imagined anarchists to be a certain way and quickly put away her bias and listened. She was nice. D clarified that I was an anarcho-capitalist while the folks across the street were probably more anarcho-communist. I wished I could’ve sat down with the BLM crowd and shared the virtues of not wanting an authority figure to validate one’s existence but that crowd seemed keen on shaking fists and being angry. Liberals are a tougher crowd. I’m still recovering from debating my friend over crypto and it’s mining effects on the environment. He thinks governments hate crypto because governments care about climate change and protecting people. Government is a big party with too many tables, seats, and false friends that crave power. It’s a racket. Hardly an altruistic organization.
I’m okay with people exercising their right to think and say their peace. It’s a free country. People with creative ways of sharing their grievances get noticed.
California is in bad shape and party bias creates blind spots. Party bias also makes the koolaid extra strong. We have two years of Covid drama and I’m still mostly teaching online. My democrat friends tell me I’m safest staying home and avoiding people as I’m unvaxxed. They’ve been telling me that I will die soon unless I do what the government and experts says is best for me. It amazes me that civilization managed to make it this far without hospitals and governments coming about at the Big Bang. According to the current “science”, I’m alive strictly by luck.
I live life on my terms. I venture out of Spaceship JNET for the occasional adventure. Since I’ve chosen to not participate in the dystopian terms and get infected by the groupthink, I guess I come across as a visitor. Everything is novel to me. People are mostly nice to visitors.
This is a piece of my California in Sherman Oaks at my neighborhood mall where I used to go to the movies (pre-Covid vax pass days). On Friday afternoons, if you fancy a drive, go to Sepulveda and Ventura Blvd. Park at a meter and take photos and strike up a conversation. People are there to say their peace. Give them a listen.
That could be really tough if you’ve assigned yourself to a party especially in California. Some have taken some sort of weird sacramental vow to not talk to anyone of the other party. Heck…it is grounds for divorce here.
What a paralyzing way to live…may I recommend anarchy perhaps? 😬
Peace!
JNET
Seems to me that unless one is batshit crazy they are being thrown out of the Democrat party these days.
Glad to see you poking around again. Perhaps one day in the future you will create a SoCal Blurt and get your friends over here where there is more of an anarchist feel to it than the flag controlled Hive that demands one have a Hive Mind to prosper. :)
Glad all is well with you. Appreciate your sensibilities very much, which is surprising based on where you've called home. I always picture your family and friends overwhelmingly concerned/frustrated for you as you don't keep in lockstep with the latest thought demands of the cult leaders. They probably call you a sheep behind your back, easily swayed by those white supremacist far right conspiracy theorists, lol.
Good to see you too, J.
I haven’t seen my family in over a year. I’ve sent vitamins to my mom in hopes to help keep her safe. The vax cover-up can’t hold forever especially since the courts asked that data be provided by summer. The world will go crazy at a new level before those fireworks go off. So far we have Trudeau martial law in Canada and Putin trolling Biden for fomenting a war no one wants. Exciting times.
Living in Los Angeles is very grounding to me. Since I’m not taken in by the drama of it, I have a very different relationship with this city, the people that cross my path, and the people I choose to keep close to me. I’ve never cared to be in lockstep with society but I’m fascinated by the choreography. This Covid dance off is on its final legs I hope. Some of the koolaid zombies are getting tired of being told what to do…took them a couple of years. Better late than never!
I can’t believe I’ve been writing about lockdowns and mandates for two years … despite it all, I’ve enjoyed my solitude, discovering a world of knowledge I didn’t have before, and outliving everyone’s expectations. It’s been doing my head in a bit, hence, the erratic writing. Thank you always for your kind hellos. They mean a lot to me.
JNET