I have a 'part II" to this story, from today, with the same person as I went to get some Raw rolling papers.
As we were just chatting about normal stuff, a short convoy of maybe 10-12 trucks and one big rig at the end appeared rolling slowly down the downtown street honking their horns. I could feel 'a pull' to go out and watch them and give a wave but I didn't want to be rude and just walk out. She kept talking but I don't remember what she said. My attention was elsewhere. Once they had passed I said that the convoy was good to see, thinking that that wouldn't happen here. I knew it was a 'hot button' topic and that I probably shouldn't have said anything but I did anyway. Well, yep, off she went and used the same energy I mentioned (only I'm going to call it 'dominance energy' now). I don't want to bother with the majority of a conversation I can't recall, and it wasn't important anyway. But, the one point she made was. She asked me if I thought it was a right or a privilege to be able to go into a store. The way she worded the question was a bit confusing so I said it was a 'right'. With a resounding 'no' she made it clear that it was a privilege. I then asked her to re-ask the question, just to make sure I understood it. She repeated it and again I said 'right', although I did not know why I said that since I would have agreed with 'privilege'. Her view was that people are required to prove that they can enter a store and that it is a privilege to do so, or something like that. I didn't quite follow her dialogue and my memory is a bit messy. She did most of the talking after that and I was saved by another customer walking in. I left to deal with a spiky, vibrating solar plexus. As I was heading back to the car, I thought about the conversation and really started to focus on 'right vs. privilege'.
After rolling this around for awhile, I came to the conclusion that entering a store as being my '
right' to do so, gives
me the choice to enter it or not. The '
privilege' of entering a store is
decided by someone else. I just checked the
definition:
Privilege:
1: a right or benefit that is given to some people and not to others
2: a special opportunity to do something that makes you proud
3:
somewhat formal: the advantage that wealthy and powerful people have over other people in a society
I had never really thought about this difference and I realized that the PTB sees 'privileges' and not 'rights'. The authoritarian mindset adheres to 'privilege'. 'The Convoy' mindset does not.
As 'robotic' and radicalized as she is, she's, oddly, teaching me some pretty basic stuff that I only knew about
in theory. NOW it's real to me because I can see it being illustrated on a 'bigger scale'.