Ex-Friends

[Martin Hash]

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Some of the people I’ve known for years have completely changed since we entered 1984 levels of propaganda. They are consumed with fear & apprehension which has completely dominated their personality. The only conversation they want to have is what they’ve been programmed to think, and since I refuse to propagate lies, we have nothing to talk about anymore. In fact, they get angry because I won’t discuss those topics. All my ex-friends had to do was keep their mouths shut but non-doctors want to lecture me on medicine, and non-lawyers want to lecture me on the law. In the past I would smile it off but look where that got us:

I was walking my neighborhood with my wife, Gwynne when a neighbor joined us uninvited. It took less than 2 minutes before she was proselytizing Covidianism. I waited for my wife to respond and when she didn’t, I said: “I’m pureblood & maskless. I believe in freedom.”
The women was indignant, “Do you put your freedom above my health?”
“Yes, and I’m a doctor.”
“You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“Are you saying I’m not a real doctor?”
I walked away and went home, the walk with my wife ruined. I can’t even relax in my own gated community.

A guy & his wife I've known for 30 years came over for a surprise visit to my house. He's a high school autoshop teacher. I was at the kitchen table just finishing up the speaker wiring for the new retro radio I'm putting in my '57 Vette. He didn't even ask me what I was doing, and it didn't take 5 minutes before he said: "There's no reason people shouldn't be getting vaccinated.”
Per my new policy of not letting that statement go uncontested, I looked him straight in the eye as a warning and said: "I'm pureblood & unmasked."
But he ignored my signal and continued about my responsibility.
I replied loudly, "You're not a doctor; you don't know what you're talking about! You don't listen to my podcasts, you don't read my books, you don't post to my forum. Screw you!"
But he continued to defend his position.
I interrupted: "This is the third time you've come at me about this and I remained silent for the first two but now you're in MY HOUSE! SHUT! UP!"
His wife was right there with my wife: I have no idea what she thought of the whole exchange. He shut up and we went out and worked on the brakes of my ‘63 Avanti.

Gwynne & I were invited to a BBQ for a birthday party of the husband of a friend of hers. Sitting around the patio table waiting for the hamburgers, I had to endure inane Covidians & feminists. I tried not to be rude and go home but I should have. I mentioned to the Covidians that I'd had Covid last month. Rather than ask me about it, they wanted to know how I knew. I told them the situation but they refused to believe someone could survive: they asked if I'd been to the doctor. I said I was a doctor, they replied that they knew but did I see a real doctor? I escaped into the house : Gwynne finally let us leave.

A 40-year friend & his wife was over unannounced. I spent their entire visit trying not to demand he get out of my house. She said, "I watch the news and make up my own mind," then bagged on my pro-Trump Russian neighbors, blatantly calling them drug-dealers, after which she began telling us about ghosts in their daughter's home. I took the guy outside to show him what I was doing on my cars: he showed no interest but asked what lube he should use to f**k Trump in the a**. The guy takes psyche meds but called me a "crank" for not believing the "news." He was my friend but like all my old friends who have chosen to betray the concept of personal autonomy, their threat exceeds their value as friends. These people used to be sane: they've been hypnotized, and everyone else is accepting the narrative, so now I'm the world's only-ever simultaneously licensed, doctor, lawyer, accountant & engineer crank.