The Captain is tired.
Tired of the endless onslaught of Facebook posts, shared
news stories, and memes about the hearings for the new Supreme Court nominee.
Captain’s Note:
It is the policy on the Banana Winds to not mention the names nor display the photos
of convicted and/or alleged rapists; they don’t deserve any more attention than
absolutely necessary.
Captain’s Note #2:
Out of necessity, President Trumpf is excepted.
The Captain has many friends who are politically active, and
many others who are politically vocal on Facebook. So when I open up my
newsfeed in the morning, I am assaulted with a barrage of photos of the nominee’s
sweaty, crying, angry face.
And I’m tired of it!
Understand, it is not that I am not sympathetic toward women
who have been sexually assaulted. But right now I just have too many friends
talking about it.
The Captain doesn’t have a vote here!
And you don’t have to convince me. I think this guy is an over-privileged
slimeball and doesn’t need to sit on the highest Court in the land.
Even if he didn’t attack Dr. Ford as a teenager, I still
think he’s an over-privileged slimeball and doesn’t need to sit on the highest
Court in the land!
You don’t have to convince me!
So on Saturday the Captain was ready to “go dark” for a few
days – to relax and to let this stuff blow over.
Captain’s Note: I
did this last year after the election of President Trumpf too.
When I do this, I notify my friends of what I am doing and
why. Then I change both my Profile Picture and the Cover Photo on my page to
black.
“The Captain is not in.”
But as I was about to go dark yesterday, a friend changed
her Profile Picture to a black box.
I knew right away it was about something.
She’s one of those politically vocal people I mentioned above.
Not wanted to dilute whatever she was doing, and not wanting
to be confused with her cause either, I sent her a messaging asking about it.
It was a secret, she told me.
Captain’s Note: Honestly,
mates, what good is a protest if no one knows what you are protesting?
But since we’re friends – and friends don’t keep secrets – she
told me the what it is about.
Women were being asked to go black to stand in solidarity
with sexual assault victims… to “disappear”, as so many men seem to want women
to do.
She followed up today with an article by a woman saying, “Don’t
do this!” The writer’s argument was that since this “protest” is not tied to an
organization or letter-writing campaign, it cannot be productive.
WTF?!?
And she quoted someone else about how using a “black box”
for this protest might offend “black” people.
WTFWTFWTF!!!
At the risk of “mansplaining”, I assured my friend that she is
free to protest whatever the hell she wants; she doesn’t need an organization to
tell her to do it.
I further noted that most of my “black” friends are not
really “black”, but rather beautiful shades of brown. I don’t know how they
might be offended by changing a Profile Picture like this.
Captain’s Note: Perhaps
the Captain should ask one of them some day.
Nonetheless, I assured her that whatever she does, someone
will criticize her for it so she might as well follow her heart.
This is why the Captain is tired.
So I suppose I will have to find some other way to signify
that I am taking a break from Facebook.
But if you are a Facebook friend and are reading this,
please review your personal page. Have you been over-sharing recently?
Let me suggest this: if you have posted or shared six or
more items per day concerning this Supreme Court nomination and the circus that
has grown up around it, understand that you are part of the reason I’m checking
out for a while.
Perhaps you should cut back…
It’s not healthy.
Not for the Captain… and probably not for you either.
