Boneheads, Knuckle Heads and Generally stupid People

There are many, many adults of all ages who live on this beautiful little blue planet who still believe in the Easter bunny, Santa Claus, John F. Kennedy was assassinated by the CIA and COVID 19 is a hoax and was created by the Chinese to subjugate the rest of the world.

I have neighbors who are clean-living Christian folk. They believe the bible was written by god, their god that is; that only the pure of heart gain entrance to heaven and that COVID vaccination and masks are against god’s will. Don’t get me wrong. They are nice people. But- where are their heads at? This is iron age thinking. This is not the thinking of 21st century, educated people. A number of churches in Canada were fined for conducting services after the government had mandated no gatherings of more than 5 people until COVID was under control. This would have happened if 100% of the population was on board with the common-sense rules that various governments instituted to get us all through these very trying times.

Then there are Joe and Joanne Average who are against health masks or being vaccinated as it infringes on their personal rights. This would be fine if the two of them were living on a desert island or living in an oasis in the middle of a desert but they aren’t.

They are living in a community, a community of which they are part. When part of a community, your actions have to be in line with the majority for the greater good of the community - just like we all were mandated to wear seatbelts in automobiles; all mandated to wear seatbelts when traveling by plane; all mandated to stop at a red light; all mandated to not smoke in no-smoking zones. And on and on.

The same with anti-vaccsers. I heard two women on two different radio talk shows who called in protesting vaccinations. Their logic? If everyone around them was vaccinated and they were not, what was wrong with that? Well, duh. People who are single or double vaccinated are still carriers. And, the new variations are much more transmissible than the original COVID. I called these two women dumb and dumber.

I know the topic of the disastrous "Trump as President" experiment has been beaten to death but speaking of dumb, my jaw dropped to the floor when a woman in South Virginia Trump country said and I quote: “ Donald Trump was ordained by god to be the president of the United States,” when asked by a reporter from CNN why she voted for Trump.

I live in Canada but subscribe to CNN as I find American politics endlessly fascinating and Canadian politics quite bland. I did try watching FOX “news” but after alternating between dry retching and laughing uproariously for about 10 minutes had to give it up. The number of American’s who are absolutely convinced that Biden is the illegal president of the USA and that Trump actually won is astounding in a country with a supposed world-class educational system. Are these people boneheads or just terminally stupid?

The number of people who believe that global warming and climate change are fake news is alarming. Pre-industrial age, the Parts Per Million of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere were a liveable 280. We are now up to 450 PPM with nothing but bad news ahead if we continue spewing greenhouse gases into our enclosed biosphere at the current rate. These people do not believe anything that arises from scientific journals preferring to get their “news” from such sources as Facebook and Twitter. These people are certifiable idiots.

Then there are the people who refuse to be part of the solution and can justify being part of the problem. In the municipality I reside in, green bins were introduced in 2015. Concurrently, a law was passed prohibiting the dumping of food waste in landfills or garbage dumps as they were once called. The reason for this law is simple. Rotting food creates methane gas, one of the more onerous greenhouse gases. The less food waste dumped, the better for everyone including the nonbelievers.

The upscale apartment building I live in houses a number of troglodytes; ignorant people who could care less about the need for conservation and recycling. I took it upon myself to contact the apartment management company and pointed out they were breaking the law and needed to get with the program. This, they reluctantly did and a few days later, a green bin appeared alongside the blue bins for waste paper, cardboard, containers, and glass. A posting on the notice board instructed residents on how to use the green bin. Therefore, no plastic bags or plastic waste, no styrofoam, no metal. At the end of day two, my wife and I went to dump our food scraps in the green bin, and inside were two large plastic bags. We fished them out and last night I pasted a large sign:

PLEASE. NO PLASTIC BAGS AND NO PLASTIC.

Since it was made public that I was the instigator of the green bin, I have been assailed by several residents who consider separating food scraps and disposing of them in the green bin, an imposition of enormous magnitude.

My position is that if everyone on the planet did a little bit, we could turn the global warming/climate change monster around. Everyone has a choice to be part of the solution or part of the problem. Am I wrong?

Which side are you on?

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