No So Blind as Those Who Will Not See...
Ann Althouse said...What really got me was the guy being an asshole to support his woman, who was being a bitch to another woman.
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In Madison, Wisc. -- where the bike trails and parks still remain open for outdoors activities despite the statewide #ShutDown order issued by Democratic Governor Tony Evers, there's some confusion -- and growing drama! -- on the crowded park trails..
Prediction: these too will be shut down shortly as CoVid numbers in Wisconsin start to rise...
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Nice weather, and paid time off work ("staycations", as the good emerius-professor annie is calling them...) brings people wanting to be outside, which brings heavy usage to public parks during the popular hours. There is nothing magical about the 6-foot distancing rule: a sneeze can make it through the air for 23 feet, and the virus is airborne, so you have to factor in the wind when running or biking in busy places outside...
Still, this is a funny story about expecting other people to adapt to your communication style, and telling them to walk single file because it's you, a law professor emeritus! and vulnerable elder, who is passing...
(Her comment about the woman relying on her man to be an asshole to another woman just personally made me laugh. Her husband moderates the blog, and culls any "offensive" comments to his wife, according to his chivalrous standards. The little lady doth protest too much, me thinks...)
Here was my, now deleted, remark:
This is why most boomer women are ineffective communicators and leaders.
First, you don't like to tell people when they are doing something wrong. So generally, you don't. (So those people who do speak up and out are seen as "enforcers" for all the rules you see broken, don't speak up about, and let pass. You make our job harder, lady.)
Second, when you do speak up, you're quickly shut down. By a man. You don't like how the woman spoke to you, so you answered in a question to her. Instead of simply saying, "Please give me a 6-foot berth to pass, or these parks and trails are going to be shut down for ALL of us for breaking the governor's order..."
Instead, like a typical white liberal lady: You wussed out when a man spoke back. (Then you came online, used vulgarities and passively attacked... from a safe distance. How ladylike.)
Stay home tomorrow -- work out indoors during the #StayHome social distancing days in your dense region -- and let the people who are comfortable following the rules, abiding by them, and enforcing them by cleary stating to others the 6-foot rule to people passing, as you maneuver your body out of THEIR way... (You really can't expect people to walk single-file on a 10-foot wide trail because you've mistimed your run during more popular hours.)
You can't play by the rules.and
Don't go outside where people are.
How hard is that? (remember, people carry weapons when walking too. Be careful if you haven't already learned how to communicate and hold your ground, now is not the time to be testing your new skills... Maybe find an ISOLATED park trail to run on, or stick to neighborhood streets, where you'll be safe without having to monitor other people's behavior encroaching on you? Resources for women runners abound -- don't think you are special with your newfound needs for distancing and accommodation in public. Respond smartly, not snarkily and snippy, even if you've got a man protecting you from criticism by well-meaning others. Still, in the end, I doubt those park trails in Madison are open still in two weeks... Drama! is not fun for others, who just want space.)
I still don’t understand why you went on a 10 foot wide path and thought you could be so demanding of others to insist they walk single file. It’s obnoxious.Read the whole thing. as ann's blogging mentor Glenn Reynolds would say...
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This.
You have to have plans for YOURself, to run around them giving them 6 feet. Or stopping running and time your pass when there are obstructions that won't let YOU get by them with 6 feet, because you cannot go around them on the trail.
69 is a bit late in life to start learning that nobody in life really has an obligation to accommodate your whims, right? And taking up jogging during a pandemic at 69 when there are #StayHome orders being issued in Madison for throughout the state?
That's a whim, ma'am.
(Can't you wait a few months to impress us with your newfound daily workout routine that requires other outside walkers to group single file as you pass? I think you can!)
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ADDED: Best advice in the thread:
I have a solution that works for me personally. I have used it with 100% effectiveness every time I needed room, whether in a crowd or on the walkway.
I take in as much air as I can and at the top of my lungs I yell MAKE WAY!! MAKE WAY!!! Repeat as often as needed.
You yell that while striding forward and people will just jump! It's like Moses with the sea. I learned that in the Army; worked there and it works out here. Of course it helps that I'm a big guy, but if you use the command voice it will work from anyone.
