Kevin Ball
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stairway-to-kevin.bsky.social
Kevin Ball
@stairway-to-kevin.bsky.social
normalize not normalizing the new normal
the pandemic is now
hypermaskuline energy since 2020
i pity the fools but i do not suffer them Ⓥ 🇨🇦
and now ‘normal’—fuelled by the “you do you” aggressive individualism of the day and the untold underlying impacts of the virus to our frontal lobes—is also a looking a lot meaner and pushier than we left it back in 2019
December 1, 2025 at 4:41 AM
i think it would have been much more effective to respond with something like, “while it may be new to many listeners, this is not new information—but wow! it’s downright scary. why do you think more is not being made of it?”
November 30, 2025 at 4:43 AM
it gives everyone—the audience, the show, CBC management—licence to be ignorant on the matter, & once (& only once) the topic has been broached, for everyone to pat their backs, declare, “well, that was interesting”, wipe their hands & carry on as if it’s but one of a myriad of ways of looking at it
November 30, 2025 at 4:38 AM
yes, it’s a common technique—but i’d argue it serves no use & is in fact counterproductive in this case, if the intent is to inform the listener of the situation as it is. but more problematic than the “surprising” framing is that this was a one-off; just “one way” the CBC has chosen to cover COVID
November 30, 2025 at 4:34 AM
(except the on/to grammatical oversight, dangit)
November 30, 2025 at 12:35 AM
this is a problem that extends to the next generation, one i’ve experienced first-hand with family—if you acknowledge that any & every COVID infection can have deleterious consequences on the long-term health of your kids, how do you come to terms with having put them in harm’s way on a daily basis?
November 29, 2025 at 10:51 PM
… which, one might argue, makes their failure to adequately report on the risks associated with this disease even more egregious
November 29, 2025 at 10:39 PM
better placed, perhaps. but how much better are they actually doing when it comes to coverage on COVID? i’d say the difference is negligible
November 29, 2025 at 10:35 PM
🎯
November 29, 2025 at 9:51 PM
👍🏼 moved back from toronto in ‘22 (not kelowna)
November 29, 2025 at 8:22 AM
did not know that, but born & raised in kelowna. my dad and mom were GPs at KGH (the docs’ lounge is named for my dad.) sad to hear.
November 29, 2025 at 8:08 AM
writer’s in ontario. i’m in bc. same diff, really
November 29, 2025 at 6:02 AM
“don’t let the bastards grind you down.”
November 26, 2025 at 9:21 PM
check out some of the other red-hot-poker takes they have on offer:

(never afraid to lazily ask the super-important questions like, “ok, but how many lives did the COVID vaccines actually save?”

their answer: *only* about 2.3 million worldwide 👍🏼)
November 26, 2025 at 6:28 AM
let’s just not mention the C-word though. it’s so unseemly.
November 26, 2025 at 3:37 AM