Quarantine Not Working? Time To Double Down

{You friendly, rational conspiracy theorist here:

Things are getting weird…er. Some might say that we’re becoming the Totalitarian States of America. Some might say that we’re just starting to find the solutions to fix the Coronavirus pandemic. I think we’re all just struggling to get by. We’re all tired of being forced to remain home–which we’ve interpreted as remaining inside–and not assembling.

(Wearing a mask doesn’t infringe upon our freedoms.) My question is what’s the point of getting a vaccine if once you get it, you still have to quarantine? Yes, fine, still wear a mask, no big deal [I’ve given up living in a mask-less society].

Even Bill Maher has grown tired of the misinformation and fearmongering that surround Covid-19:

I mean, we put pandemic patients into nursing homes instead of on the ship send to help because…the president at the time was from a different political party and therefore the bad guy and we needed to make him look bad?

I’m beginning to think that Dr. Fauci is a doctor like Bill Nye is a science guy.

While we continue to be told that staying inside and away from others, even though Vitamin D comes from the sun and hugging people helps improve our immune response.

But, nah, it’s cool. Let’s just allow the government to run full steam ahead and trample businesses, livelihoods, and mental health for the sake of “science”.

[No one is advocating being unsafe or that the death toll of the coronavirus pandemic is somehow not tragic; it is very tragic.] The response of our elected officials has, however, done little to curb the spread.

At least in Michigan.

Two weeks to flatten the curve and we’re still under pretty strict lockdown enforcement. Including fines. I think it’s time to take back our lives. We’ve already given them 2020. Do we need to give them 2021, too? Would that also include 2022?

Hold on there’s a knock on the door.

…}

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Well, that was awkward. Some guys in suits just dragged the writer off in a straightjacket. Guess that’s all for this segment.

Until next week, stay informed and stay safe (from the pre-approved sources).

Captain America Versus America

We are in a comics golden age…of TV. The MCU is widespread across Disney+ and, well, Disney+ (it used to be in theaters, too, but we can’t have nice things [thanks Covid]). But we still get to enjoy, and hate, all things nerd.

Because that’s what we do as a culture apparently. Some character is unliked? Harass the actor. A plot is weak and badly written? Harass the writer. …Okay, that one makes sense. But let’s leave the people who embody the characters alone. They are playing a role.

***Warning: Spoilers ahead***

Sure, John Walker, i.e. the new Captain America, i.e. the character everyone hates since his first appearance holding the shield, was given an impossible task. After all, no one could carry the mantle of Captain America after Steve Rogers. Steve was the perfect super soldier, human being, leader, tactician, friend, gentleman, etc. John Walker isn’t any of those things.

From buzzfeed.com

But, let’s be honest, no matter who took up the shield (except Bucky or Sam perhaps) immediately after Steve’s retirement would have gotten hate.

It’s okay to dislike the character. The problem is that the fans hate the actor, too. Which, I mean, come on, the guy is just doing his job.

Sure, John Walker lost his best friend. Then reacted out of anger, pain, and loss. Sure, he got blood on the precious shield. But, Steve Rogers knocked a guy out of a train when Bucky was lost. Then nearly killed Tony Stark for fighting Bucky after Zemo revealed the Winter Soldier killed Tony Stark’s parents.

Would Steve have stopped if Tony had actually killed Bucky? Not sure since that didn’t happen [to be clear, I’m only discussing the MCU, not the decades of comic book history]. But he came close all the same. So, if Steve hesitated at the last moment from killing Tony after Tony only wounded Bucky (shot off his mechanical arm), isn’t it possible that our precious, never do anything wrong Captain America might have killed Tony?

I’m simply asking if it could have been a possibility.

Granted I know no one wants to think that way. Steve Rogers is the epitome of the lawful good heroic self-sacrificing soldier. But, he’s also human. He has emotions, friends, family, goals, flaws, and imperfections just like the rest of us.

This wasn’t exactly how Captain America: Civil War ended.

From geeksoncoffee.com

Guess we need to rethink a few things.

From buzzfeed.com

Like how do we regain the notion Captain America held of us? That we are decent, good, and kind folk just in need of a little direction.

Because no one starts all bad but our interactions and circumstances can bring out the worst in us. So maybe cut each other some slack.

From Instagram

(But not John Walker. He straight up murdered a dude who associated with the lady who killed his bff.)

Social Media Impairs Critical Thinking

We believe everything we see on the internet. We think that the internet can’t possibly lie. We take in everything at face value and expect it to be the truth. Because it’s there in plain sight. And yet, when we’re out in the real world, we take everything with a grain of salt.

It’s not just social media either. It’s the people we look up to [or just follow] on the internet.

For example, we expect Elon Musk to be some sort of technological phenomenon. And while he has done incredible things, he is no Tony Stark (not just because he didn’t make his money with his father’s company selling weapons of war). We want him to be this superhero and so people put money into Tesla, increasing its stock price while it continues to sell cars at a loss.

From Tumblr

We want so badly to believe in the morality of the internet. But too often, we let our own biases [or Twitter’s] filter what we see. The algorithms show us more of what we click on {though they can skew toward the ads Facebook wants you to see}.

It’s been interesting, sitting in quarantine, watching the world America increasingly divide because we want the things we see on the internet to be true. We listen to the news sources we trust and don’t filter our their biases {often because we agree with them}, but we also have lost our critical thinking.

We see a journalist, a celebrity, a social media personality spouting something and we instantly agree or disagree based on our biases, our politics, our whatever and we don’t pause to reflect on what the story wants us to feel. The story is meant to trigger a reaction in us. That’s not just what click-bait titles are for, but a good journalist wants to elicit a response with their writing.

So wake up, sheeple. Open your eyes. Keep on reading from multiple channels and don’t forget that–

*Conspiracy Theorist Writer gets dragged away from keyboard*

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Well, that was weird. Keep your eyes glued to your phone. We’ll tell you what to believe.

An Endgame Time Heist Question

Okay, I have a question about Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame. I’ve waited to post it because spoilers, but I think enough time has passed that it’s okay.

Probably. I mean, honestly, if you haven’t seen Endgame by now, you probably have already learned the plot from memes, internet forums, casual friends, news outlets, the media, strangers, family members, the newspaper, or you’ve lived in a cave (building an Iron Man suit).

From Pinterest

Anyway, back to my question: Why didn’t they just go back in time and have Thor cut off Thanos’ arm? Then he could’ve tortured the Mad Titan if that was his wish. Though I don’t think Thor would’ve done that [the torture].

We still could have had a Wanda/Vision spinoff series. Though, admittedly, a bit different. We still could have had a Loki series because, honestly, no one believes he actually died at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War. Thanos didn’t have the reality stone yet, so obviously Loki could still have played him with an illusion…which is much more in-line with Loki’s character than pointlessly sacrificing himself. So, yeah, we’re still good on both those fronts. And, even The Falcon and The Winter Soldier could continue. Cap could still have retired back in 1920 with Peggy and given the shield to Sam. So really nothing much changes.

Except that the hero of the saga is no longer a rat.

From comicbook.com

Obvious answer: It would’ve been a much shorter movie.

In-movie answer: Going back in time wouldn’t change their present only create an alternate future present. Though, didn’t they break their own rule when Steve Rogers went back in time and lived with Peggy Carter? Or was that always meant to happen and so was part of the current present? Time travel rules hurt my brain.

Other answer: It would have erased the five years after the Blip. Something T. Stark was very much against.

But he would’ve been alive and able to retire and rebuild those five years with Pepper. And, who’s to say that he would even remember those five years? Would time travel have erased his memory of Morgan? I have additional questions. Oh no, this is a rabbit hole I didn’t expect to open.

Close the box! Close the box!

DST: Fact or Crap?

Daylight Savings Time is the Monday of the timescape. We lost an hour over a week ago and I still hear people complaining about how it’s thrown off their day/week/rhythm. I don’t know, maybe plan ahead and go to bed a little earlier that day if losing an hour so drastically inconveniences and ruins your entire year.

Mondays arrive every week to ruin the weekend and somehow we muddle through. DST is only once a year. It’s not like life is so much better in autumn when we fall back.

Okay sure, it’s amazing to get an extra hour of sleep. Or wake up and realize that the thing you needed to start doesn’t need to start for another hour, but really does it make your whole life that much better?

(Yes. Yes it does.)

Now I might be wrong, but if losing an hour really throws you off that much, maybe you just need to better handle going with the flow…of time. That we currently use. In this hemisphere. Part of the world. State. City.

From Pinterest

Okay, DST is arbitrary since not even every city in a single state follows the rules. Some people just don’t want to ever have to change their clocks (other people just never do).

From onsizzle.com

Actually, Daylight Savings Time started to better make use of daylight and save energy. You can thank Canada [just another thing to blame on the Great White North].