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I have enough denial affecting my meatspace life that I will be blocking a lot of “it’s not that bad” & “not a real threat,” & “wouldn’t have worked.”
That’s textbook denial, exactly like “eating out is no big deal,” and “it’s just a bad cold,” and “it only kills old people.”
That’s textbook denial, exactly like “eating out is no big deal,” and “it’s just a bad cold,” and “it only kills old people.”
Denial is a comforting story one tells oneself to avoid reality & culpability. It is the exact opposite of catastrophizing. It’s giving oneself permission to pretend. It excuses those in one’s circle who have done harm or supported harm.
It’s a way of preserving one’s illusions.
It’s a way of preserving one’s illusions.
I am still doing triage every other day, and will be for the foreseeable future because way too many meat puppets think their right to get drunk in a group* is more important than the lives of healthcare workers, grandparents or kids with asthma.
*or not wear masks or antivax
*or not wear masks or antivax
So yeah, I see how day to day denial exhausts nurses & respiratory techs & CNAs. I see it tearing apart their adolescent children — who just want their old normal... and their parents alive, too.
How their relationships with their parents are trashed.
Denial kills. Slow & fast.
How their relationships with their parents are trashed.
Denial kills. Slow & fast.
About once a year, a woman (it’s always a woman) dies when her sexual partner strangles her and tries to cover it up.
He always says it was an accident. Most often, he is believed.
Our culture wants the excuse. Wants to blame the victim. Wants to think “It won’t happen to me.”
He always says it was an accident. Most often, he is believed.
Our culture wants the excuse. Wants to blame the victim. Wants to think “It won’t happen to me.”
About twice a week, a police officer shoots someone, and if they’re even brought to trial, they say “I feared for my life.”
They’re coached to say this. It is a known strategy. Published.
They’re almost always believed because the excuse is easier than facing reality.
They’re coached to say this. It is a known strategy. Published.
They’re almost always believed because the excuse is easier than facing reality.
Every time we give the benefit of the doubt, we are engaging in denial. We are excusing culpability.
What we’re also doing is making it easier for the next strangler to get away with killing. For the next cop to shoot first.
Denial kills. Slow and fast.
What we’re also doing is making it easier for the next strangler to get away with killing. For the next cop to shoot first.
Denial kills. Slow and fast.
And COVID.
And climate change.
And smoking.
And so much more.
The aphorism should not be “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”
It should be “The crap we don’t kill early keeps coming back stronger until it does kill us.”
And climate change.
And smoking.
And so much more.
The aphorism should not be “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”
It should be “The crap we don’t kill early keeps coming back stronger until it does kill us.”
