Just For Grins ... and to keep from crying

The idea of laughing to keep from crying has been around a long, long time has it not? Surely we've all expressed the sentiment more than once. Who knows where or when the myth originated. Maybe it got started about the time anxious individuals began to whistle in the dark. Could it just be one more example of how our culture specializes in denial?

Yet I know one thing for certain. I can damn sure use a good laugh wherever I can find it. With that in mind, I'll make it my mission to seek out and share meaningful editorial cartoon within this space.

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My quest for humor among the issue weeds surrounding us may be a case of jousting with windmills. I'm willing to be your daily Don Quixote on this one. Will you be my Sancho Panzas ... valiantly contributing your own discoveries to our shared treasure of political humor. Post 'em when yo got 'em.

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PriceRip's picture

**nit picker here** That would be "tilting at windmills", as in from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.

RIP, yea I am one of those faculty members · · · Smile

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CB's picture

@PriceRip Dirol

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@PriceRip
appears in the novel (not even as translated from Spanish). It was coined by somebody else (19th century, I'm pretty sure), basing a metaphor on the example of poor, mad Quixote.

As verbs, "joust" and "tilt" are considered synonymous. It's true, though, that "joust" is not usually given the preposition "at", but rather "with", or more rarely, "against".

Yes, I was that kind of student.

Pointless trivia note: Don Quixote is generally thought to be the all-time global best-selling novel, with sales estimates running as high as 500,000,000 copies. I know, right?

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16 users have voted.

The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

@UntimelyRippd and saw the oldest Man of La Mancha in existence. From the first printing.
Yes, I am that kind of traveler.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

enhydra lutris's picture

@UntimelyRippd
pinball machines. Geez, do I gotta teach you kids everything?

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@enhydra lutris

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8 users have voted.

The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

PriceRip's picture

@UntimelyRippd

          I bow in your general direction!

          As I pressed "save" my wife said "I don't think so" so I am not surprised to be corrected.

RIP

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phillybluesfan's picture

@PriceRip During my own days in academia, I had the great pleasure of developing my personal teaching & writing tastes under the tu·​te·​lage of the late Ken MacRorie. I was especially influenced by Uptaught.
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Few are guilty, but all are responsible.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Prophets

PriceRip's picture

@phillybluesfan

          I suspect you would have a great time in our OLLI group.

RIP

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longtalldrink's picture

are really apropos as they really reflect my sentiments. The virus DOES feel like a mine-field. And we decide to fight sure death with the military...cuz ya' know...the military will solve everything...hence it's huge budget. History major here...studied many pandemics and the overall truth is people get fearful and superstitious real quick.

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Well done is better than well said-Ben Franklin

wendy davis's picture

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phillybluesfan's picture

@wendy davis Thanks for adding a cartoon to the mix. It's a good one.

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Few are guilty, but all are responsible.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Prophets

wendy davis's picture

@phillybluesfan

but i wish the pandemic fear-porn weren't so prevalent that folks could see how relatively few die after being tested positive. not only that, that how many don't die DUE to the virus, as well as some test kits giving false positives (i used to have a link on some word document back).

but the owners want us afraid, as they steal our civil and privacy rights wholesale, and likely will never rescind any of them in the future.

fear is the weapon they've always used to rearrange civil society to a manageable level.

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Lily O Lady's picture

@wendy davis

that each of those people is a walking time bomb who could pass it on to a significant number of people who are extremely vulnerable. Enough people to overwhelm hospitals, straining supplies to their breaking point. Not only are a significant number of patients fall ill and die, but their medical care givers are succumbing as well. No flu has caused such privation since 1918.

And we can’t tell who it will kill and who will be merely a carrier of the disease that kills others. What for some is nothing, is a death sentence for others. Age is partly a factor, but teens and children have died. It’s taking out perfectly healthy adults in the prime of life. It has medical people breaking down in tears. So it is scary.

And oddly enough people aren’t really acting that frightened. Sure they’ve bought up all the goddam toilet paper, but then they leave it at home and go galavanting around with their friends.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

wendy davis's picture

@Lily O Lady

respond to this, actually, given your comment is so wide-ranging. yes, some who've tested positive might spread the disease around, but the rules keep changing. no more than fifty peeps in a group, says the cdc (but working is okay). no more than 10 peeps, says the gov. of colorado.

mr. wd said he'd seen a headline this mornin' that the CDC might require all amerikans to wear masks (as china required in two provinces), but what sense does that really make, as touching infected surfaces can also spread covid19. on cardboard it lasts 24 hours, see billionaire bezos and amazon making hay while the storm brews...

a checker in walmart scornfully asked mr. wd if our canvas shopping bags had been washed recently. and no, she wasn't wearing latex gloves (handling filthy money all day) nor a mask; go figure (he'd forgotten to point that out). colorado and new mexico have cancelled schools until next year. that's rough: but working's okay for car mnufacturers and amazon supply chain workers?

yes, the US fucked up its response at first, few test kits, masks, gowns, while many nations have re-jiggered oldish cures to at least stop the disease and facilitate healing: china, japan, and cuban doctors, of course. do the hospitals have any treatment meds to offer? i know portable ventilators are scarce.

but from random sites:

First of all, it appears that China has started mass producing an anti-flu drug called Avigan that a Chinese firm licensed from the Japanese creators of the drug.

Chloroquine & Hydroxychloroquine, as well as other 'quines'.

from newsweek:

The drug, called Interferon Alpha-2B Recombinant (IFNrec), is jointly developed by scientists from Cuba and China, where the coronavirus COVID-19 disease outbreak first emerged late last year. Already active in China since January, the Cuban Medical Brigades began deploying to dozens of nations, providing personnel and products such as its new anti-viral drug to battle the disease that has exceeded 400,000 confirmed cases across the globe. As of Tuesday, over 100,000 people have recovered from the infection and more than 18,000 have died.

Cuba first used advanced interferon techniques to treat dengue fever in the 1980s and later found success in using it to combat HIV, human papillomavirus, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and other diseases. The use of Interferon Alpha-2B Recombinant "prevents aggravation and complications in patients reaching that stage that ultimately can result in death," Cuban biotech expert Luis Herrera Martinez said, according to a recent Yale University Press Blog feature written by the University of Glasgow's Helen Yaffe. She called the treatment a potential "wonder drug" against the new coronavirus.

but everyday the front pages on online crporate news are 90% dedicated to Covi-19, and yet the rate of cases is diminishing globally, not increasing. dunno about in the US.

but i'm not taking your meaning here:

No flu has caused such privation since 1918.

by privation i assume you mean deprivation of needed items?
but the spanish flu :

Global cases: 500 million
Global deaths: over 50 million (675,000 in the United States); the death rate was around 2 percent; middle aged people predominantly died in the US.

Q: do you wear a mask and latex gloves when you go out to shop for necessities? our tiny local grocery store's co-owner's wife tested positive, and they kindly put a sign on the door saying so as in: Enter at your own risk. mr. wd doesn't wear a mask or gloves, but by now it might be too late in any event. but fear? gonna die of something someday. a neighbor just stopped by and we agreed we're more afraid of the panic.

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@wendy davis @wendy davis

just got off the phone with a friend in michigan
her daughter and son in law are sick with the bug
father is dying on a respirator, gas leak in the house ...
tried to explain that the panic and fear may be less healthy
than dying of some friggin' flu

the god damn health care system is sicker than we are
if this doesn't wake up the sleepers, nothing will

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Lily O Lady's picture

@wendy davis

for him now that Truthdig has folded.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

wendy davis's picture

but there are sooooo many. some newsletter i subscribe to sent that one recently.

or (lightbulb): mr. fish at clowncrack.com. brilliant bingling, wd! and there it is!

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