Quote of the Week...from Frank Zappa

Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.                             --Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa (1940-93) was an avant-garde musician and composer, his collected works spanning many styles while often fusing them together in one piece.  He was very satirical with his song's lyrics, and made another quote I discussed in December 2019 on this blog: "The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced." The above quote of his dovetails nicely with the Canadian rock trio Rush's Vital Signs track from their incredible 1981 Moving Pictures album.  And with the population's norm these days for disrespecting science in favor of their precious manipulative, egomaniacal idols, I'm starting to feel like the little boy in the story The Emperor's New Clothes who was "deviant" in simply telling the truth: the emperor is naked!  The great figures of our history were not afraid of standing alone among their surrounding peers.  They often suffered ridicule and insult for simply speaking the truth and many weren't recognized within their own lifetimes for their contributions to humanity.  So, like the little boy in that children's story, I'm going to "deviate".  The current upsurge in the Covid-19 pandemic here in the United States is TOTALLY due to those selfish dupes who refuse to both wear masks in public enclosed places and get the vaccine.  I keep wondering, mystified at how many people have decided to make wearing a measly little thing like a mask the great issue in their lives to take a stand on.  Really?  From what I know about human nature, though, many of the anti-masker/anti-vaxxer folks behave as they do because they see others in their immediate group behaving this way and want to fit in and not be put down by the aggressive ones in that group. Back in early April 2020 I made the decision to wear a mask while at work...even though others (including a supervisor) laughed at me.  I then had my first vaccine in March 2021 and the second in April.  I never entertained the wild conspiracy bullshit (the emperor's new clothes) circulating around me and only stopped wearing a mask when the CDC cleared doing so for those completely vaccinated. But the Delta variant for this already very contagious disease that kills across the age spectrum has prompted those with the proper scientific credentials to go back and urge everyone...even if already vaccinated...to resume wearing masks while in crowds or indoors.  I came too close to having my essential, but elective open heart surgery postponed when the demand at Shands for ICU beds exploded...all because of the jerks who won't mask up or get vaccinated.  I hear a lot of talk from my state's demagogic governor Ron DeSantis banning mask mandates from even private businesses, but I never hear about the need for the people to behave in a responsible manner when each other's health...and even lives...are at stake.  Those who are BOTH anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers, like those in the fawning crowd's open adulation of the emperor's new "clothes", have committed themselves to their delusion: they disgust me...