Out of the Blue

 

        Sometimes you get surprised by things which just seem to come from left field. My favorite massage therapist and I have had numerous conversations, mostly about music or travel, while I was being rubbed the right way.  (Massage Envy franchise - superb one here!) This individual is a retired Army E-8 corpsman whom I knew to be a little conservative, compared to me. But....!

         In the course of our hour, I mentioned that I thought it interesting that President-elect Biden has selected a retired four-star Army man for the Defense Secretary position. That was it…just that. I was ill prepared for the comments which followed which ranged from “all those illegal votes” to “Republicans weren’t allowed to watch the count” to you name it, I asked where the information came from, and they responded that they, “Don’t watch the news, but I’ve heard it.”

        I explained as calmy as possible that the purveyors of such claims have not provided one scintilla of actual substantiation of them and have refused every opportunity to do so. So then, the rejoinder was, “But how about those fraudulent mail in ballots? We know a lot of them are illegal.” Me: “How do we know that?” Them: “Well, that’s what ‘they’re’ saying.” Me: “Who’s saying?” Well, Giuliani is.”  Me: “How do you know what Giuliani says?” Them: “Well I did see some Fox News.” Crickets.

        Then, as if to prove the point, the subject was turned to mail in ballots and the “Rampant fraud" associated with them.” Me: “Did you ever vote by absentee ballot?”  Them” “Well sure, when I was deployed in Europe.”  Me: “So, what’s the difference?”  Them: “Well, I was in the service.” Me: “But what’s the difference? We voted by mail this year. Lots of people did because of COVID. Were, or are, you more morally upright than citizens stateside because you were in the Military?”  Them: pause… “Well, I guess not.” 

        At this point, I explained what, apparently, Republicans don’t want the rest of us to know, which is that the only difference in a stateside mail-in ballot and an absentee ballot is the name. Period. Identical. In fact, ballots taken, as ours were, to the county supervisor’s office and individually certified were probably more secure than just dropping it in the mail in Germany. After a lull, I asked one of Emily’s favorite questions,  “Have you heard of voting fraud concerns in “Red” states? Them: “No.”  Me: “Why do you think that is?” Silence.

        The individual in question here is a moral, devout and genuinely nice person. After a pause they offered, “Well, I’m a moderate; and I’m worried about some of the things the Democrats want to “bring in.” (like it was an Amazon package on the front stoop).

        What followed was the fact that this individual doesn’t like abortion or gay marriage but does think everyone should have access to medical care. I paused, already knowing what I was going to say and finally said, well, “Abortion isn’t an issue now, and the President has nothing to do with that, but he is a Catholic.” As for gay marriage, the dialogue was that people “choose” to be gay, at which point I said, “Well, my son and his husband would disagree with you.” Crickets again.

        We agreed to disagree, and since this was our last appointment before her retirement before Christmas, I hugged her, wished her and the hubby a happy holiday, and told her I loved her. But I must admit, sometimes it makes your head hurt when otherwise stable, sane, individuals go all delusional conspiracy evangelical on you by surprise.