I know at least some of you reading this actually had the unpleasant experience of growing up in the Soviet Union, so you already know just how vicious the “sheep” can be. Personally, I hate the term “sheep” to describe statist bootlicks, I prefer to call them “lemmings.” Anyway, while it wasn’t my intent to write another editorial for a while, there was another bit of toxic e-drama that I simply must address. While it may be in bad form for me to publish a series of private messages, I’d say that the person whom I was in contact with doesn’t deserve privacy if he’s not even going to give me the time of day over what I share, so screw decorum, Andrew Campbell is going to be made an example of. Pity, I thought we’d be good friends. We had our first interaction in the comments section of this post. I can’t see any of his comments anymore, because he’s blocked me. Well, I guess he’ll never see my scathing take of him, either! No matter, our initial interaction, which was entirely cordial (though he was clearly on edge the entire time, probably because of Chris Bulcock’s mild jab at millennials) is not relevant to the point that I’m going to make today. I’ll just get straight to our private interaction, and share my conclusions at the end.
Andrew: So, thanks for the interest in seeing my personal shop. It’s a work in progress, not very photogenic, so I don’t show it off really. I work in a prototype shop, but my personal tools are high precision manual things. I work toward making a watch entirely from scratch. I’ve had the skill to do this for a while, but finding the machines (or rather, affording them) was an issue for a time. The day job pays my bills and makes me better at my own work, which has never paid much privately- but my equipment was mainly meant for my own odd ends. I have very little about my career as a machinist on here, just never felt the need to show it all. I’ve an instagram where I’m gradually opening up a little about some of it. Just always been a private individual. If you’re truly curious, feel free to chat sometime, I’ll answer questions.
Me: I understand. My own shop is a bit of a mess at the moment, and my machines need some work, but I’m slowly getting it into presentable condition in between odd maintenance projects. I’m a rather private individual myself, but I find it necessary to share more and more of my personal projects in order to “market” my skills. I have a few interesting things to share in the near future, so maybe those will give us something to chat about.
Andrew: Actually, I just opened linked in, and first thing I see is a post from you, so I click it.
Me: Ah, in that case, beware the hot takes that I occasionally put out. My editorial blog automatically cross-posts to LinkedIn.
Andrew: Leads me to a page mocking science and masks, and antivaxxer bullshit. So, the first impression I have of you is this. Good luck, I have no desire to interact with idiots like this anymore. It’s not even political at this point it’s just downright human stupidity at this point
And this is why I don’t do much on LinkedIn
Good luck to you hope reality doesn’t catch up to you I hear it leads to intubation. I’m just not even tolerating people like you anymore I’ve had enough more than enough
Sincerely I hope you remain safe but I’m not tolerating this crap anymore
Me: I said “beware the hot takes.” Not everything I share is something I agree with, sometimes I share stuff that I disagree with in order to make a point.
That was just a dodge that I made in attempt to get him to calm down, but it didn’t work.
Andrew: If someone’s first interaction with you isn’t an immediate clarification that this is not what you believe it’s not a good way to present yourself
LinkedIn is a professional Network
I would normally never speak this candidly to someone on here but this is so blatant I draw the line so if this is what you believe this is what I believe so I am going to be blunt about it
If this is not what you believe clarify pretty quick or you have lost the connection
If someone wants to present themself with this information this is what crazy areas of Facebook are for not a professional Network
Me: Correction: LinkedIn is SUPPOSED TO BE a professional network. It’s been devolving into a social media cesspit lately. At first, it was a few people sharing some memes for the laughs (I do this with my friends all the time) but some people take it too far. I’m sorry if you got the wrong impression from my feed, but I can only type so fast in my defense.
Andrew: I will listen to your explanation of what this is supposed to be
To me this looks like you support the opposite of science and reason and you seem to be thankful someone shared this with you so my impression is this is what you believe
If I have this wrong feel free to explain but that’s what it looks like to me
Me: Right. Here it is: I have two different blogs, one on WordPress, one on Hive. My WordPress blog automatically cross-posts to LinkedIn. My Hive blog does not. If I think a post on Hive, whether one of my own or from someone I follow, is particularly amusing (for the record, I have quite a few connections who are scientists who work in the vaccine industry, including my own father) or informative, I manually cross-post it here.
Andrew: This does not clarify your view on this.
Because this has come up, I will ask you directly- is this what you believe? Are you an antivaxxer or think covid is overblown?
Me: I’m pro-vax, but anti-mandate. I think CoVID is real, but I think that the government is going overboard on the response and exploiting the crisis to gain more power (maybe that’s just my Slavic paranoia, but whatever).
Andrew: Family has caught this. Family has nearly died. It matters.
Me: I was born [in] the [former] USSR. Public welfare was the excuse for every tyrannical diktat. This matters.
Granted, I was too young to actually remember the Soviet Union, but my parents have told me all about it.
That’s a lie, my parents didn’t tell me a damn thing about life in the Soviet Union, I studied it by reading extensively, but I was in a hurry to type a defense before the next message came through. The only people who have actually told me about life under the Soviet system in personal conversations have been Tatiana Nastashenko and Natalia Vinogradova, neither of whom I’m related to… as far as I know 😉
Andrew: Yes I think I see where this is going
For the record my best friend was also born in the USSR. And he fled to America because it was a shit hole where he couldn’t even buy bread
Apparently he grasped reality and recognized what you don’t. He became an engineer and a successful man and takes science seriously because he remembers what the country he came from was like.
I pity you a great deal
Me: And what don’t I recognise?
Andrew: Reality and everything that comes with it apparently like basic science.
Goodbye I am not wasting my time with someone like you
Me: Be more specific, please. I actually take science very seriously. Both of my parents are scientists, and I intended to become a scientist before going into engineering. [message not sent, connection terminated]
As of this conversation (all of my interactions involving Andrew took place within the span of 12 hours), the most recent post on my LinkedIn feed was a link to a collection of memes that one of my friends shared on Hive. I think the post was fairly innocuous, but apparently, it was quite triggering to poor Andrew, who began typing at an absolutely alarming rate (at least thrice as fast as I can, and I’m no slouch at a keyboard). For the record, I anticipate a strong reaction from almost anyone who views my blog, even without knowing what my most recent post is, for the simple reason that I’ve been aware for quite some time that my opinions are unpopular. However, this I have no words for. Maybe this is just my own social ineptitude rearing its ugly head again, or maybe this is just a microcosm of mass psychosis. To me, this seems to echo the interaction between myself, Yelena Rakhimov, and the vicious “scientist” Wales Nematollahi, which I’ve already covered.
Of course, if I really DO come across as an anti-science nutjob, PLEASE TELL ME NOW. I’ll have some retractions to make, but if my attempt to remain rational and moderate is making me come across as an extremist… well, I don’t know WHAT to do. Maybe I should just stop writing, since it gets me into trouble.
Kaja's Kreations 