We know it happens every day, but it's a big deal when the local news finally decides to report on the growing aggression and hostility toward maskers, especially in schools. Teachers have started forcing students to remove their masks unless they have a "medical reason." Well, there's always a valid medical reason to wear a mask, not to mention a constitutional right.
As tropical storm Hilary makes disaster history, we're seeing the minimizers ramp up their rhetoric. It seems like the worse things get, the harder they try to convince themselves (and everyone else) there's nothing to be concerned about. There's a psychological term for that, reactance.
Mental health has become a battleground as we all try to cling to our insanity while getting throttled by world events. The wellness grifters are out in force telling us how to take care of ourselves. There's a sociopolitical side here we can't ignore. For example, here's the ugly truth about sleep:
The most important stories I write will always remain free, but I've been looking for ways to add material for subscribers. So I've started adding some longer essays I've written about less urgent topics. Here, I dig into the extremely weird history of the self-help industry:
Jessica Wildfire
