{"id":41915,"date":"2022-01-06T23:45:10","date_gmt":"2022-01-07T04:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/?p=41915"},"modified":"2022-01-13T19:17:11","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T00:17:11","slug":"cabin-fever-bits-pieces-2022-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/2022\/01\/06\/cabin-fever-bits-pieces-2022-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Cabin Fever: Bits & Pieces 2022 (1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ADColemanThe Future Lies Ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. \u2026 It is also this hope, above all, which gives us the strength to live and continually try new things, even in conditions that seem as hopeless as ours do, here and now.<\/em> \u2014 Vaclav Havel
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

Happy new year to all of Photocritic International’s subscribers, regular readers, and occasional visitors. I hope that none of you got lumps of coal from Santa, and that this finds you \u2014 like me \u2014 well, thriving, and staying safe.<\/p>\n

Shortly before New Year’s I received my booster jab of Moderna, as well a pneumonia shot. Earlier last fall I got my flu shot. Having just turned 78, I had all the usual childhood diseases that my war-baby generation suffered through \u2014 measles, mumps, chicken pox \u2014 in the pre-MMR vaccine days, and still recall the misery of those weeks. I also remember getting the Salk polio vaccine in 1954 or so, and the way this medical miracle ended the cultural terror of that crippling and often fatal disease.<\/p>\n

So I’m a firm believer in vaccines, and in drastic public health\/safety measures in times of plagues. Consequently, I have no patience whatsoever with anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers, and others who insist on their “freedom” to infect their fellow citizens, drive up the costs of medical insurance, consume medical materials and equipment and hospital space needed by others, exhaust doctors and nurses and other medical personnel, and generally overwhelm the national, state, and local medical systems.<\/p>\n

\"ServingThese are dangerously dumb people, and I celebrate their deaths when I read about them, as I would the elimination of any amoral vector threatening the well-being of other human beings. This has nothing to do with schadenfreude. The fact that variants of COVID-19 have devastated red-state voters by a ratio of 4:1 or thereabouts I consider a cause for rejoicing, not mourning. Survival of the fittest, and if resistance to irrationality surmounts a virus to which lunatic theocrats enthusiastically succumb I cheerfully wave farewell. Democracy needs all the help it can get right now, and the preventable demise of proto-fascists en masse via “suicide by COVID” may make the difference in this year’s midterm elections and then in the presidential contest of 2024.<\/p>\n

While I have long considered both my culture and my country to have entered a state of decline, I assumed, na\u00efvely, that it would take the form of a long, slow downward slide \u2014 not as long as that of the Roman Empire, to be sure, but decades, even a century. At the very least, longer than I expect to live (till I’m 150 or so). I had not thought Trump could undo so many in just 6 years.<\/p>\n

Of course the right had paved the way for his attack, going back at least to the 1920s, but watching it all fall apart so quickly has disheartened me, to say the least. If the Democratic Party does not prevail in 2022 and 2024 I think we will have reached our national moment of game over.<\/p>\n

In short, no more Mr. Nice Guy. We have just kicked off a do-or-die year, and I’ve entered my take-no-prisoners mode.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

Let me add that, as someone who has professionally “done my own research” for over half a century, I despise those who have degraded that concept in recent years by ascribing it to the mere act of going online, searching for some controversial term, choosing the algorithmically generated Top 10, and rushing pell-mell into a cultist echo chamber.<\/p>\n

\"Charles

Charles Mackay, author. Portrait by Elliott & Fey, 1889.<\/p><\/div>\n

That doesn’t qualify as “doing your own research” \u2014 it’s nothing more than rumor-mongering, a social-media version of the party game Telephone. The notion that some Joe the Plumber or soccer mom with a Twitter account and a head full of half-baked, groundless, received ideas deserves the same respect and media attention as the director of the Center for Disease Control boggles my mind. Believe that and you’ve entered the territory described by Charles Mackay in 1841 as “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.”<\/a> Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend’s balls to them, say I.<\/p>\n

Readers of this blog \u2014 and of my writing over the years \u2014 know that I have no reservations about challenging the conventional wisdom. They also know that I don’t hesitate to defer to people who know more than I do about something. I have no time to converse with anyone who doesn’t understand that having the right to an opinion does not mean that all opinions have the same weight.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

Ten Predictions for 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

With President Joe Biden addressing the nation on the first anniversary of the January 6, 2021 insurrection as I write this, 2022 has already become a memorable year. More to come, surely. Some prognoses:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I will go to press with the short book on which I’m working \u2014 a little time capsule of the photo scene circa 1973-74 \u2014 and find a publisher for the longer project underway, the book version of the Capa D-Day Project.<\/li>\n
  2. The Capa D-Day Project team will add at least one new volunteer to its roster.<\/li>\n
  3. The project will offer new evidence, new analyses, and new provocations. The research conducted by this team will continue to affect work by specialists in photojournalism, photo history, military history, media studies, and cultural studies, among other disciplines.<\/li>\n
  4. The COVID-19 pandemic will gradually normalize, becoming something on the order of the flu, but not before costing millions of lives and trillions of dollars.<\/li>\n
  5. The weather will continue to manifest as increasingly erratic and extreme, creating havoc worldwide, and climate-change denial will continue unabated.<\/li>\n
  6. Donald Trump and the crime syndicate he heads \u2014 including his entire family (with the possible exception of Tiffany) \u2014 will face criminal as well as civil charges on both the federal and state levels in multiple jurisdictions.<\/li>\n
  7. These high-profile cases, playing daily on national TV and amplified via the press and the internet, will damage not only the Trump family and the Trump businesses but many of those connected to Trump \u2014 including those politicians who colluded with him in his failed coup, those who have sought his endorsement for public office, and even those who have merely sucked up to him publicly.<\/li>\n
  8. Trump’s belated effort to paint himself as innocent in relation to the January 6 insurrection, the botching of the pandemic response, the endless grifting at taxpayers’ expense, and other malfeasance will show him as a whining weakling, resulting in his abandonment by the wingnut right, already turning on him.<\/li>\n
  9. The defection of disillusioned Trumpists from the ranks of Republican voters, combined with the defections of those whom Trumpists have convinced that various forces have rigged the election system, combined with the corpsification of hundreds of thousands of super-spreader MAGAts, will give the Democratic Party just enough of an edge to eke out a win in November 2022. If they can gain a seat or two in both the House and the Senate they’ll go on a roll.<\/li>\n
  10. The inherently poisonous effect of social media will become ever more obvious. The examples of how these platforms can get used for good \u2014 Black Twitter, #MeToo, etc. \u2014 will continue to pale in comparison to the damage they do. The fact that Mark Zuckerberg has any degree of influence over the survival of democracy will finally become understood as terrifying.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u2022<\/p>\n

    Starting the New Year Right<\/strong><\/p>\n

    What better way to kick off the year than with a job offer? Here’s what I got:<\/p>\n

    \n
    From: Leslie Johnson <ljohnson<\/em>@proliftdoorscorp.com><\/em>
    \nDate: Sun Dec 05 10:31:10 CET 2021<\/em>
    \nTo: “A Coleman” <adc@photocritic.com><\/em>
    \nSubject: Regarding Photocritic International<\/em><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Hi A,<\/em><\/p>\n

    I came across your info online and I feel I have an opportunity you might be interested in.<\/em><\/p>\n

    My name is Leslie Johnson, I assist with franchise development for a home service brand that specializes in garage door service – part of the Premium Service Brands family of franchises.<\/em><\/p>\n

    The concept is called ProLift Garage Doors, and it is ready to launch its next phase of expansion.<\/em><\/p>\n

    ProLift Garage Doors performs repair, replacement, installation, and servicing of overhead garage doors for residential and light commercial customers and currently experiencing incredible demand.\u00a0 In 2020, franchise owners experienced an average job size of up to $1300 per visit with as high as 55 job visits per month. (see 2020 FDD Item 19 for details)<\/em><\/p>\n

    Ultimately, your experience at Photocritic International caught my attention.\u00a0 We have found our top-performing franchisees possess similar skillsets and backgrounds.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Franchise owners build their business from the comfort of their own home either managing it themselves or hiring a manager.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Would love to set up a call to discuss.\u00a0 Let me know if you have any interest in speaking or learning more.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Thank you,<\/em><\/p>\n

    Leslie Johnson<\/em>
    \nFranchise Consultant |     ProLift Garage Doors<\/a><\/em>
    \nljohnson@proliftdoorscorp.com<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    They certainly cast a wide net. Reassuring to know that the work I do here, and have done over the course of my professional life, has resulted in a skillset applicable in such a different field. So \u2014 anyone out there need a garage door?<\/p>\n

    \u2022<\/p>\n

    Stories I Never Finished Reading Dept.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    “When German poet Charles Bukowski famously talked about style, he said, ‘Cats have it with abundance.'” From “Japanese Rescue Cat Wins Over the Internet With His Chic Supermodel Pose”<\/a> by Emma Taggart at My Modern Met, October 6, 2021.<\/p>\n

    Bukowski, born in Germany in August 1920, came to the U.S. with his parents in April, 1923. To the best of my knowledge, no one except Taggart has ever dubbed him a “German poet.”<\/p>\n

    \u2022<\/p>\n

    Just trust me on this: You need three minutes with Stella the Leaping Lab<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    \"Stella

    Stella the Leaping Lab (screenshot)<\/p><\/div>\n

    \u2022<\/p>\n

    This post sponsored in part by a donation from Arthur Ollman.<\/p>\n

    \u2022<\/p>\n

    \"Allan<\/a>Special offer:<\/strong> If you want me to either continue pursuing a particular subject or give you a break and (for one post) write on a topic \u2014 my choice \u2014 other than the current main story, make a donation of $50 via the PayPal widget below<\/strong>, indicating your preference in a note accompanying your donation. I’ll credit you as that new post’s sponsor, and link to a website of your choosing.<\/p>\n

    And, as a bonus, I’ll send you a signed copy of my new book, poetic license \/ poetic justice<\/em> \u2014 published under my full name, Allan Douglass Coleman, which I use for my creative writing.<\/p>\n

    [donateplus]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Prediction for 2022: The inherently poisonous effect of social media will become ever more obvious. The fact that Mark Zuckerberg has any degree of influence over the survival of democracy will finally become understood as terrifying. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,15,17],"tags":[2032,2073,2075,1666,2074,2076,1535],"class_list":["post-41915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digital-life","category-news-commentary","category-personal-history","tag-charles-bukowski","tag-charles-mackay","tag-emma-taggart","tag-mark-zuckerberg","tag-prolift-garage-doors","tag-stella-the-leaping-lab","tag-vaclav-havel","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41915\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}