Naomi Wolf: A Lost Small Town - Running Errands In The Wake Of Emotional Violence, USA

Sunfellow Notes ^ | 10/26/22 | Naomi Wolf

[T-Bird45]

I live in a picture-perfect region — the Hudson Valley, memorialized by painters and poets; a patchwork of autumn reds and yellows, majestic hillsides, storied waterfalls, and little homesteads dotted picturesquely on the slopes of sleepy hamlets.

Towns in our area look like Norman Rockwell paintings: there is Main Street, Millerton, with its white 19th century church steeple, its famous Irving Farm cafe with the excellent curated coffee beans, its charming antiques mall, its popular pizzeria.

When you drive to Millerton, it looks like you are driving into the heart of archetypal America; everything that Woody Guthrie songs memorialize, everything of which American soldiers dreamt when they were far away — everything decent and pure, is to be found in Hudson Valley towns.

It sure looks that way, anyway.

But these days, I am obliged to maintain a fervent inner monologue, just so I can pleasantly go about my business in the local hardware store, in the local florist, in the post office.

Because an emotional massacre has taken place in these little towns. And now we are expected to act as if — this never happened at all.

But psychically, emotionally, there is blood flowing in the streets; and bodies are stacked up, invisible, in front of the candy stores, the high end wine stores, the pretty memorials to the World War Two dead; outside the farmers’ market on Saturdays, outside the tapas bars.

So my quiet internal mantra, is: I forgive you.

I forgive you, Millerton movie theatre. Your owner, who was interviewed just before the pandemic, saying lovely things in a local paper about how the revamped theatre would enhance the local community, posted a sign in 2021 saying that only vaccinated people could enter. You needed to really look for the fine print to see that you could walk through those doors, if unvaccinated, but only with a PCR test.

I forgive the young ladies who worked behind the popcorn counter, for telling me that I could not enter further. That I could not sit down, with other human beings in my community, to watch a film alongside of them.

I forgive the young ticket taker for telling me that I had to go back outside, onto the sidewalk. I could not even stand in the lobby.

I forgive these young people who just wanted jobs, and who had to discriminate in the most heinous and scarring way — scarring to me, and to them too no doubt — just to keep their jobs. I forgive them. I forgive them for the mortifying scene they had to cause.

I forgive the movie theatre owner for shouting at me defensively when I questioned this policy.

I forgive the elderly couple nearby in the lobby; the woman who started shrieking at me alarmingly that she was glad of the policy and did not want me anywhere near her. I forgive her. I forgive her silent, embarrassed husband for his silence.

I forgive the employee of the Millerton flower shop who demanded, “Are you vaccinated?” when I walked in – when I just wanted some nice-looking flowers, some artificial olive branches, perhaps, like those I had seen in a decorating magazine, to arrange in a vase in my study.

I forgive this employee for having to follow a script that must have been set out by the town, for all the small businesses to follow, in some bizarre, coercive methodology, as this out-of-the-blue, un-American and inappropriate question was posed all at once somehow, in store after store, in my little town, in the nearby towns, even in New York City, during a certain moment in the bad year of 2021.

I forgive these store owners for stripping me of a great benefit of a free society — the great gift of liberty, of America — that right to be dreamy, to have some privacy, and to be preoccupied with one’s own thoughts.

I forgive this employee for intruding on my privacy in a way that was startling, ill-mannered, and entirely beside the point, given the fact that she was simply selling flowers and I was simply trying to buy them.

I forgive her for the way this demand made my adrenaline levels jump, as they do when things are unstable around you; in 2021, you could not tell which stores would confront you, or when, with that urgent, bullying question — when you happened to wander in, just wanting some toothpaste, or a slice of pizza, or to look at some antiques.

Not — expecting an inquisition.

I forgive this flower shop employee for presenting me with this startling question that each time made me, with my clinically diagnosed PTSD from a very old trauma, feel ambushed, violated and humiliated. Surely this sense of ambush was felt by trauma survivors everywhere.

Are you vaccinated?

Are you? Vaccinated?

Are you vaccinated?

Are you naked? Are you helpless?

Are you mine? My possession?

The viral clip of the Pfizer marketing rep, admitting to the European Parliament that the mRNA vaccines never stopped transmission, should make every single one of these moments, into a source of deep embarrassment and self-criticism for all those people — all of them — who inflicted these violations of privacy on others, or who excluded in any way, their neighbors and fellow countrymen and women. They did so, it is clear now to all, on the basis of arrant nonsense.

But meanwhile, I forgive them. I have to. Because otherwise the rage and sorrow would exhaust me to death.

I forgive my neighbor who froze when I hugged her.

I forgive my other neighbor, who told me that she was making homemade soup and fresh bread, and that I could join her to have some, if I was vaccinated. If I was unvaccinated, however, she explained, someday she might consent to walk outside with me.

I forgive the monitor — what else could one call him — surely appointed by the local Board of Health, who told me that I could not go inside a church at an adorable outdoor town festival at the tiny mountain hamlet of Mt Washington, to see an exhibit, because I was unmasked. I forgive him for the steely look in his eyes as he remained unmoved when I explained that had a serious neurological condition, and thus could not wear a mask. I forgive the nervous lady at the table full of trinkets, who had apparently ratted us out to the Board of Health representative, when we were simply browsing outdoors, surrounded by fresh air, on a peaceful June day, our faces uncovered, at her table.

I forgive them for making a miserable scene about all of this in front of my then-ten-year-old stepson. The unmasked and unvaccinated are eternally accused of having made scenes, but the scenes were made, really, by the actions of those who were coercing and conforming.

I forgive them for driving us to leave the festival. I forgive their manifesting a pathetic and indefensible lesson in servility, and in submission to things that made no sense, to an impressionable American child.

I forgive the teller at my local bank for throwing a paper napkin at me to cover my face, when I explained respectfully and gently, from twenty feet away from her, why I did not wear a mask.

I forgive the staff at the Walker Hotel, in lower Manhattan, for warning me that they would call the manager, who no doubt would then call law enforcement, if I sat at the Blue Bottle Coffee lunch counter with my unvaccinated self.

I forgive my loved ones for keeping us from the Thanksgiving table.

I forgive one of my best friends for her having left the country without having said goodbye to me; the reason was that she was “disappointed” in me for my stance on masks and vaccines. No matter that this was entirely my risk, my body, my decision, my life. Her “disappointment” led her to assume the burden of censuring me for something that had nothing to do with her. I forgive her, though my heart broke.

I forgive the friend whose daughter had a baby, and who would not let me indoors to see the child.

I forgive the friend who said he did not sit indoors with unvaccinated people.

I forgive the family members who pressed my loved one to get one more booster – thus leading directly to her sustaining heart damage.

I forgive them, because my soul instructs me that I must.

But I cannot forget.

Are we supposed to just pick up again, as if emotional limbs were not crushed, as if emotional hearts and guts were not pierced, as if with sharp objects? And that, again and again?

As if there has been no savagery, no massacre here?

All those people — now that athletes are dropping dead, now that their own loved ones are sickening and hospitalized, now that the “transmission” is known to be a lie and the vaccines’ “efficacy” itself is known to be a lie – are they — sorry? Are they reflecting upon themselves, on their actions, on their consciences; on their immortal souls; on what they have done to others; on their part in this shameful melodrama in American and world history – a time that now can never be erased?

I don’t hear it. I don’t hear any apologies.

I don’t see signs on the Millerton movie theatre saying, “Dear Customers. We are so sorry we treated many of you as if we were all living under Jim Crow laws. We did so for no reason at all.

There is no excuse, of course, for such discrimination, then or now. Please forgive us.”

Nothing. Have you seen anything like this? I haven’t. Not one conversation. Not one sign. Not one article. “My friend, I was a beast. How can you forgive me? I behaved so badly.” Have you heard that? No, nothing.

Instead people are reacting to the fact of their awfulness, of their profound wrongness, of their foolishness, of their ignorance and credulity, like sneaky, guilty dogs. They are sidling up.

In the city, they are quietly adding one to the guest list. In the country, they are stopping their cars in the sunny autumn air to have a little chat.

They are calling up just to say hi — after two and a half years.

Two and a half years of brutal, ignorant ostracism.

I can and must forgive all those I enumerated. But it is harder to forgive – others.

It is hard to forgive the high school in Chatham, that forced a teenager to be mRNA vaccinated against her wishes, in order to play basketball, and thus hope for a college scholarship.

It is hard to forgive the doctors, the hospitals, the pediatricians, who knew and knew and knew. And bowed their head, and plunged the needles into the arms of innocents, and committed evil. The doctors who today say, of the horrific side effects brought about by their own hands, their own collusion — “We are baffled. We have no idea.”

When did Western doctors, before 2020, ever have no idea?

It is hard to forgive the Mayor of New York City, who drove the brave First Responders who did not wish to submit to a dangerous experiment, to have no income with which to feed their families.

It is hard to forgive the Ivy League universities, who took the money and forced all the members of their communities to submit to a deadly or dangerous experimental injection — one that will damage the fertility of who knows how many young men and women; one that will kill who knows how many community members.

They took the money and there is blood on their hands. Have you, parents of college age children, received a letter of apology? “We are so sorry we forced your son/your daughter to submit to an experimental injection that can harm him or her, that may cripple your daughter with bleeding every single month of her childbearing years, and that may lead your son to drop dead on the track field. And one that, it turns out, has nothing to do with transmission. We can’t apologize enough. (But the money — it was just such a lot.) Really sorry. Won’t do it again, rest assured.”

Did you get that letter, America’s parents?

It is almost impossible to forgive the churches, the synagogues, who took the money and stayed closed. Or who took the money, and then locked their doors at High Holy Day Services against the unvaccinated. To this day. (Hi there, Hevreh Synagogue of the Southern Berkshires. Shalom. Shabbat Shalom. Good Yom Tov.)

“Please note that we require proof of vaccination upon entry for all High Holy Day Services. Please bring a copy with you. Masks are optional and encouraged for all who are comfortable wearing them.”

These are great, great sins.

But meanwhile, you have errands to run. You have books to return to the library and flowers to pick up from the florist perhaps — you have to go to the kids’ soccer game, you have to go to the movie theatre; the hardware store. Back to church. Back to synagogue.

You have to pick up your life again.

You have to step around the bodies decomposing invisibly in the charming streets of our nation. You have to pick up again as if we were not annihilated in spirit. Or, you have to pick up again if you were the abuser.

Will you apologize, if you did wrong?

Will you forgive, if you were wronged?

Can this nation, which fell so far short of its true identity and its founders’ intention, ever, ever heal?

Can we heal — we ourselves?

[Ezekiel]

Can this nation, which fell so far short of its true identity and its founders' intention, ever, ever heal?

The First Day, 197 letters:

Genesis 1:1-5

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

ויאמר אלהים יהי אור ויהי־אור׃ וירא אלהים את־האור כי־טוב

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good = 1776

וירא אלהים את־האור כי־טוב ויבדל אלהים בין האור ובין החשך׃

And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. = 1776

 

A few EST acronyms:

Established
Esther (the scroll of)
Eastern Standard Time

As long as this article (from 10/26) was posted today (November 5th, the red-letter date in the history of science, marking 67* years)...

November 5th, 2022 is also Jewish Mother's Day, honoring Jacob's beloved wife Rachel (11 Cheshvan being the traditional date for her yahrzeit). Rachel "Imenu", Rachel "our mother", the Mother of all Israel.

Cheshvan 11 is the 41st day on the Hebrew calendar, tying in with the tradition because the Hebrew word for mother, "em" [אם], = 41.

An excellent summary by Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh is located here.

Today is also the last (238th) day of Daylight Savings Time in the United States. Rachel [רחל] = 238. "And there was light" [ויהי־אור] = 238.

Next up: 127 days of Standard Time (EST in the place this article was written, the time zone of first light on the United States of America).

127 is a key sum in the Bible as

1. the number of years in the life of Sarah (GEN 23:1)
2. the number of provinces in Achashverosh's kingdom, the setting for Queen Esther's mission -- saving her people from Hodu to Cush, from sea to shining sea so to speak (EST 1:1; ch. 7).

I mentioned the 197 letters of the first day of Creation because it connects to others in this field of study; e.g.:

127 + 70 = 197
197 + 41 = 238

Can we heal -- we ourselves?

*67, because

1. 55 saves lives
2. 67 = "Lev Yehudi" [לב יהודי], a Jewish Heart
3. 67 = the 4th of July [ה-ד ביולי], the same letters as a Jewish Heart.

On Election Day (Tues, November 8th), don't vote for red (commie) "Thomas" and his "progress" platform (like the name Amalek, Thomas represents doubt), because

An Eclipse Never Comes Alone!

Genesis 37
9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?
11 And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

Joseph -- world famous for uniting all the brothers and saving lives by a great deliverance. If he could unite twelve while awake, surely he could unite two in his sleep. A great miracle happens here:

(Amazing what shows up in those two words, all of those letters working together as a team. The cure is already in the very words and letters of "a complete healing" but hey, what do I know, sitting on the sidelines with nothing better to do.)

[Tallguy]

As corny as it sounds (the truth usually does), bottling up anger only hurts you.

Whenever I got 'attitude' from frontline employees of businesses who were tasked with COVID enforcement I always pushed back. Tit for Tat. Yeah, it might not be fair to the worker. But if none of them threatened to quit then their employers would never modify the stupid policies.

You had to be careful about it. Calibrate your response so as not to draw a law enforcement response. You'd never argue with a flight attendant. But the office lady at the doctors office got cranky one morning after the COVID thing was finally lifting this spring and I nailed her with a sharp verbal response about cloth masks 'not working' and that her rules were complete BS. She replied that they "weren't her rules" but I countered that she appeared to be having "a bit too much fun enforcing them" for her to deflect all responsibility.

[drSteve78]

Not invited to thanksgiving?
Or hosting.

Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate with family, friends, community. The Covidiots destroyed that and are undeserving of joining in. They are thankless.

[drSteve78]

Never forget though - as this article shows - Wolf is a mentally disturbed left winger at heart.

I disagree, but more importantly, her message is spot on, regardless of who is saying it.

[cgbg]

I disagree with your approach.

Let me explain.

One of the goals of the “bad guys” is to get us to angry with each other, alienated from each other, separated from each other—so we can’t resist them.

Once you see that you realize that your job is to either gain new allies—or if that is not possible—then do nothing.

You were not going to convert these people to your point of view—so you created heat, not light.

What you want is to stay on good terms with as many people as possible so that you can gently try to get them to join the “good guys”—when they appear ready.

[Tallguy]

Removing Trump from Office was a goal that the Pandemic Scammers managed to achieve. But they have other goals (population reduction, world economic re-ordering) that they failed to achieve. There will be a Round 2. Be ready for it.

[drSteve78]

What you want is to stay on good terms with as many people as possible

And that’s the classic liberal lie, Get along and go along. For ALL of the liberals i have met in my life, anytime you don’t actively push back, you are automatically included as agreeing with them, and have that used against you. “You agreed with me when you didn’t say anything , so you’re wrong now.”

[Natty Bumppo@frontier.net]

Just be rational calm and deliberate.

One does not hate the venomous snake when one dispatches it, or get angry at the wasp nest when destroying it.

Hate and anger are counterproductive. They raise your heart and respiratory rates which could throw off your aim. More importantly, they cloud your intellect and senses, making you more vulnerable.

That said:

No Quarter

Never Forgive

Never Forget

If any Branch Covidian wishes to redeem themself, they would do well to imitate the example of John and Valerie Profumo.

After his affair with Christine Keeler brought down the British government, they sold everything they had, donating the proceeds to the poor, and disappeared from public view.

They went to live and work at menial jobs at Tonybee Hall settlement, a poor house in London’s East End, serving the most destitute the rest of their lives.

[cgbg]

“You agreed with me when you didn’t say anything , so you’re wrong now.”

If someone tries to put words in my mouth about what I “agreed” to when I didn’t agree to anything then they are my enemy.

Nobody has ever tried that with me—they know they could not get away with it.

[Krosan]

She is also insane. Her latest academic work turned out to be all based on a simple misunderstanding and she said that Apple created COVID in the future and brought it back to us with a Time Machine.

[MayflowerMadam]

“my day-to-day observation is that conservatives are in the majority around here”

Conservatives were in the majority in November 2020, too. That doesn’t matter. Just look at who’s in the White House. It’s all about the cheat in the end.

[Clutch Martin]

“Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate with family, friends, community.”

Is that a beer commercial?

[vladimir998]

“I disagree, but more importantly, her message is spot on, regardless of who is saying it.”

It doesn’t matter if you disagree.

1) Naomi Wolf is a crackpot leftist - her books prove that.
2) In the article she admits she suffers from PTSD and a neurological disorder. She is mentally disturbed. This is objective fact, not opinion - she admits it.
3) If you look at the article again you’ll see it’s all about her. It’s not about principles. It’s not about rights. It’s about her her little girl feelings getting hurt. Wolf is a 60 year old with hurt little girl feelings with pretensions of being a worthwhile public intellectual. She often - literally - doesn’t know what she’s even talking about: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/naomi-wolf-outrages-book-cancelled-publisher-houghton-mifflin-harcourt-a9167491.html

[oldtech]

Where I live, there was some of the mask foolishness at retail outlets for a brief period of time. iI complied only if I was forced to. Some folks are still stupidly complying apparently, as I occasionally see a mask here & there. I mostly don’t consider what as done as any great affront to me as they were complying with orders from above, or so it was thought. What I DO still strongly dislike is this foolishness still being followed at our local hospitals & related services. What do they think they are accomplishing, other than making people disgusted? I really feel offended only by those are passing down these orders, not by everyone who has to wear a mask. Wish those who give these orders would wake up to some facts. By the way, I live in a red state & am certainly glad of that.

[married21]

Thank you for your post.

[Pajamajan]

Excellent article.

I would add it is difficult to forgive the cruelty of "medical professionals" forcing their patients to die alone.

[robowombat]

A Time Machine, really? Do you have some citations for that remarkable statement?

[Hiddigeigei]

"We can’t let people forget that this was the primary goal of the scamdemic: Remove Trump from office."
That may have been part of it, but I fear there was and is a greater evil involved.

[Pajamajan]

We should also not forget the damage that was done to children.

An example:

Speech Therapist: 364% Surge in Baby and Toddler Referrals Thanks to Mask Wearing-Young children developing cognitive problems due to widespread use of face coverings

We could include children's test scores have gone way down since the lockdowns and school closures.

And what about all the psychological damage done by the Covid crap?

The article does a good job of describing many aspects of it.

And IMHO the only way to begin to repair the damages, is for massive, public, Nuremburg type trials to be held, to bring the perpetrators of the crimes against humanity to account, for what they did to every man, woman, and child.

[Krosan]

Her twitter account got suspended, but people took screenshots.