Fraidy Cat

[phantom power]

This article doesn't really summarize in the traditional four-paragraph limit, so definitely Read The Whole Thing

One of the (several) reasons I don’t want ShopKat in the house with Stupid and Tubby is that I don’t want her to pick up their fear, their everyday terror at mundane things, the nameless shapeless dread that rules Stupid’s very existence.

Because I know that fear can be contagious.

I’ve seen it, out there in the world, on the battlefield, in crisis.

I know that fear can spread until people, like cats, become frightened by the slightest adversity, the smallest setback, the tiniest upset, until fear becomes habit.

The question is whether or not fear can be unlearned.

The question is if the habit of fear can be broken.

http://www.stonekettle.com/2013/04/fraidy-cat.html

[Cirque du So-What]

1. I hope this isn't violating a copyright rule

but the following too-long paragraph encapsulates the whole piece:

They’re afraid of the government. They’re afraid of the president, they’re afraid of congress, they’re afraid of the judges. They’re afraid of socialism. They’re afraid of Nazis and communists. They’re afraid of liberals and progressives and RINOs and feminists and Prius-driving vegetarians. They’re afraid of their neighbors. They’re afraid of the North and afraid of the South and afraid of people from Chicago, and New York and Washington D.C. and California. They’re afraid of gangs and crime and terrorism. They’re afraid of know-it-all college educated long hairs. They’re afraid of political correctness and affirmative action. They’re afraid of minorities and they’re afraid of immigrants and they’re afraid of uppity blacks and strong-willed women and smart Asians and dirty Latinos and murderous Muslims. They fear their own supposedly loving God and they’re afraid of everybody else’s deity too. They’re afraid of the Rapture and the Anti-Christ and the End Times. They’re afraid of Sharia Law and they’re afraid of the Pope and afraid of the Jews – and yet they’re afraid of atheists too. They’re afraid of immorality and pornography and the internet and cable TV and that Rock&Roll music. They’re afraid of social media, they’re afraid of Twitter and Facebook and the bloggers and the Goddamned lamestream media. They’re afraid the military might just take over and they’re afraid that the military isn’t powerful enough. They’re afraid of death and afraid of taxes. They’re afraid of science, of evolution and climate models and plate tectonics and carbon dating and sex education. They’re afraid of abortion and birth control and the morning after pill, but at the same time they’re also afraid people might be having sex and they’re afraid “those” people might be having a whole bunch of welfare babies that they’re afraid they’ll have to pay for. They’re afraid of North Korea and China and the long defunct Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. They’re afraid that somebody might be coming to take all their guns and they’re afraid of all the crazy people with guns and they’re afraid that the government has too many guns. They’re afraid of being poor but they’re afraid of the rich too. They’re afraid of the Bilderbergs and the Illuminati and the New World Order. They’re afraid of the the banksters and yet they’re deathly afraid of any laws that might restrict those self same power brokers. They’re afraid of losing their entitlements and they’re afraid the undeserving want entitlements too and more than anything they’re afraid that somebody somewhere might be getting something for nothing on the taxpayer dime, but they’re afraid of making those same “takers” pay for their own healthcare. They’re afraid of chemicals in their food and genetically engineered crops, but they’re afraid of laws requiring that those same ingredients be fully disclosed by food producers because they’re afraid that might be bad for business. They’re afraid of obesity and heart disease and that our kids are a generation of blubbery little couch potatoes, but they’re afraid of Mayor Bloomberg and Michelle Obama. They’re afraid of Hollywood violence and yet they’re also afraid that Sesame Street might be making their kids into prancing pacifist pisswillies. They’re afraid we’ll run out of oil or that some America hating dictator somewhere will cut the oil off – and yet at the same time they’re afraid of solar panels and wind towers and electric cars.

LOL at prancing pacifist pisswillies

[IrishAyes]

2. Well, I hope it isn't copyright violation, because...

... I'm going to pass it around to a lot of people.

However, I'm not even going to paraphrase it for a letter to the editor of our small MidWest town weekly paper, because too many people around here are furious with me already for not being like them. More than once in public someone has started to scream at me incoherently, but I'm pretty sure it's about politics.

I'm afraid one of these days they'll tie a string of tin cans to me and run me out of town.

[phantom power]

3. 'pisswillies' by itself is worth the price of admission

[Cirque du So-What]

4. Yeah, it's definitely part of my vocab now

I've co-opted it and, despite my disdain for unnecessary adjectives in general, I've coined a new phrase in celebration: 'pusillanimous pisswillies.' Despite the redundancy:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pusillanimous

I'm fond of alliteration.