Confronting: To face in hostility or defiance; oppose; to present for acknowledgment, contradiction

Zeitgeist: The spirit of the time; general trend of thought or feeling characteristic of a particular period

A little bit tongue in cheek, a little bit subversive, a little bit naughty, but mostly serious, we at The GoodStuph Store are on a bold mission to, like our tagline states “confront the zeitgeist.”  This may sound a bit arrogant and cocky, using big words from the German, which no one around here even speaks. Even Germans, we know, tell us it sounds arrogant and cocky. 

That may be so, but we think it’s a cool word, which makes us sound smarter and more erudite (there we go again) than we actually are but, still, describes, really well, what we are trying to do here: face defiantly and present for acknowledgement important (at least we think so) information which kind of goes against the spirit of the time or the general trend of thought during this time period. 

What better way to jump right into this than talking about the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic? It’s all anyone talks about these days, and you can’t read or listen to any kind of media without being bombarded by it.  It’s undoubtedly the biggest thing to confront this generation and arguably, most others as well.

Like other big disastrous shit shows in human history this one it seems effects every single human being on the planet.  That’s really something!  If ever there was an incident in history that everyone was on the same page about it’s got to be this one. 

Most of us, are doing our darndest to follow health measures like wearing masks, social distancing, washing our hands, isolating, getting tested and of course getting vaccinated which, according to all the “experts” is the only thing which will stop humanity from being ravaged even further than it has already.

Communists are doing it, capitalists are too; the Brits, Japanese, South and North Koreans, Burmese, Ethiopians, and everyone else in Africa as well as Europe, North and South America, Australia, and New Zealand and all of Asia, and probably even Antarctica, although it’s hard to imagine the Corona virus surviving in that harsh climate. 

It really is a non-partisan pandemic, it doesn’t discriminate, judge, or play favorites; it’s an equal opportunity killer.  Wouldn’t it be great if more people were like this virus? except for the killer part. The pandemic is teaching us all a very valuable lesson by shining a light on how all of us are really the same; there is more we have in common than what makes us different, which is probably a good thing, but unfortunately, it’s not.

Sure, it’s great to point out that humanity has more similarities than differences or more that makes it good than bad, but unfortunately, maybe, it’s that goodness that makes us dangerously naïve and trusting and willing to believe, too readily, people we elect, (if we do actually get to elect them) or those who elect themselves; those who we perceive as being smarter or more educated; and how we idolize the rich and famous and hang on to every word of those who are considered “experts” on a topic. (Dr Fauci anyone?)

It seems to be a human trait that we’re always looking for someone to look up to and to look after us.  We think we become independent when we get a job and leave our familial homes and we often realize that maybe, in a lot of areas, our parents didn’t really know that much, and we intend to be better than them. 

Maybe some of us leave bad relationships and think how we could have been so stupid. Think of how many of us had a belief in a god till one day we realized he’s a lot like Santa Clause and most of us stopped believing that lie, hopefully, by the time we were ten or so.  Even when we grew out of believing all those things we did as children, even once we are on our own, many of us continue to believe everything our doctors, dentists, lawyers, and even politicians tell us.  Heck some of us are comfortable believing in what our friends tell us or things we pick up third hand.  The bottom line is, we are quite trusting of a lot of people, that on closer examination we probably shouldn’t be.

Have you ever been bilked out of an investment, been given a prescription drug that made you sick, realized the person you voted for was a scoundrel? We’ve all had our share of disappointments in people and yet we continue to trust, because it gives a sense of security and it’s comforting to know that there are people out there, that in times of need, will know what to do and will be there for us.  Police, and firemen are like that, we rely on them to be there and know what to do in times of great need and hopefully they’ll always be there for us.

When those we trust, the most, fail us, when they are caught lying or cheating or worse, it can be quite disappointing, jarring, and can really shake your trust in humanity.

Regardless, let’s get to the crux of our argument: how does all this have anything to do with the pandemic (We think it does-A LOT!)  But before you think you’ve stumbled upon another dark web, conspiracy site, just shut your mouth and hear us out.

We are not conspiracy theorists, nor are we anti-vaxxers. Probably, most of us around here, have had all sorts of vaccines throughout their lives, and even some the latest one.  We don’t know who or how many because we don’t ask.  We agreed to get them without coercion and with informed consent and if we were too young by our parents or guardians.  Maybe, due to the fact we are still alive and hopefully leading happy and full lives gives us some comfort that we made the right choice even though we know that for some, at this moment, with these particular “vaccines” it was not the right choice, since bad things, even deaths have occurred. These outcomes are, of course, terrible but many would say within an acceptable margin of error when you do a gain/loss analysis.  We don’t have any comment on that.

What we do have a comment (dare I say opinion) on is what is happening now and has been for, coming on to, two years. And, as most have come to realize, regardless of what they may think about these current vaccines, masks, passports, lockdowns and all the rest, this “pandemic” is a lot more than just getting the jab and life will soon be back to normal. If you think that, as the saying goes, “I have some swamp land to sell you…” 

There is a whole lot more going on here than just getting the jab.  That is what we plan to explore but not because we “think” something is off but because we have done (or at least tried to do, to the best of our ability) is to look at “facts” (and as we all know one person’s facts can be another’s conspiracy theory) so we (as everyone should) try to support any “facts” with evidence. 

So that are all on the same page let’s not even use that problematic word, “fact,” anymore when talking about COVID-19 related issues but rather “idea.” And we will always try to support our idea(s) with evidence, usually in the form verifiable numbers. Not surprisingly, that can be a challenge as well; even evidence can often become a slippery slope.  We hope you get the point.  Trying to get to the “truth” about something is never easy and even scientific proof always has movable goal posts.  Good scientists accept that; good scientists are always curious and open to new ideas and should always be up for some good spirited scientific debate.

That is one thing sorely missing in the debate about COVID-19.  In mainstream media there is no debate: it’s all about getting everyone vaccinated, and when things don’t seem to be trending the right way it is “the pandemic of the unvaccinated.” Sometimes it seems that even if there were only one unvaccinated person left on earth, yet case counts kept going up, and vaccinated people were ending up in the hospital, and ICUs, and even dying, that one person would still be blamed.

I think we can all agree that something is not quite right with the whole pandemic and that’s what we will be talking about.  And we hope you will join us by contributing your thought and ideas, regardless of which side of the debate you find yourself on.  All we ask is that you rise to a higher standard when putting forth your ideas. If you say things like “this is the pandemic of the unvaccinated,” please give us some proof of that and ideally where you got your proof from and that way, hopefully, we can have a civil debate about it. ‘Attack the idea not the person’ will be our motto. But even when attacking an idea do it with proof and not insults.

We’re looking forward to a spirited debate.