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From goat yoga to professional play, these people took risks and found their purpose through passion
12.31.20
Lainey and baby goat Annie. Photo courtesy of Lainey Morse
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Oftentimes, the journey to our true calling is winding and unexpected. Take Lainey Morse, who went from office manager to creator of the viral trend, Goat Yoga, thanks to her natural affinity for goats and throwing parties.
Back in 2015, Lainey bought a farm in Oregon and got her first goats who she named Ansel and Adams. "Once I got them, I was obsessed," says Lainey. "It was hard to get me off the farm to go do anything else."
Right away, she noticed what a calming presence they had. "Even the way they chew their cud is relaxing to be around because it's very methodical," she says. Lainey was going through a divorce and dealing with a rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis at the time, but even when things got particularly hard, the goats provided relief.
"I found it impossible to be stressed or depressed when I was with them."
She started inviting friends up to the farm for what she called "Goat Happy Hour." Soon, the word spread about Lainey's delightful, stress-relieving furry friends. At one point, she auctioned off a child's birthday party at her farm, and the mom asked if they could do yoga with the goats. And lo, the idea for goat yoga was born.
A baby goat on a yoga student. Photo courtesy of Lainey Morse
Goat yoga went viral so much so that by fall of 2016, Lainey was able to quit her office manager job at a remodeling company to manage her burgeoning goat yoga business full-time. Now she has 10 locations nationwide.
Lainey handles the backend management for all of her locations, and loves that side of the business too, even though it's less goat-related. "I still have my own personal Goat Happy Hour every single day so I still get to spend a lot of time with my goats," says Lainey. "I get the best of both worlds."
Lainey with her goat Fabio. Photo courtesy of Lainey Morse
Since COVID-19 hit, her locations have had to close temporarily. She hopes her yoga locations will be able to resume classes in the spring when the vaccine is more widely available. "I think people will need goat yoga more than ever before, because everyone has been through so much stress in 2020," says Lainey.
Major life changes like Lainey's can come around for any number of reasons. Even if they seem out of left field to some, it doesn't mean they're not the right moves for you. The new FOX series "Call Me Kat", which premieres Sunday, January 3rd after NFL and will continue on Thursday nights beginning January 7th, exemplifies that. The show is centered around Kat, a 39-year old single woman played by Mayim Bialik, who quit her math professor job and spent her life's savings to pursue her dreams to open a Cat Café in Louisville, Kentucky.
We're not freaking out, you're freaking out (but in the BEST way!) 🤩#CallMeKat premieres Sunday, January 3 on @FOXTV after NFL. pic.twitter.com/XhylqSVeMB
— CallMeKat (@CallMeKatFOX) December 22, 2020
Jeff Harry started making similar moves when he was just 10-years-old, and kept making them throughout his life. After seeing the movie "Big,"Jeff knew he wanted to play with toys for a living, so he started writing toy companies asking for next steps. He finally got a response when he was a sophomore in high school — the company told him he needed to become a mechanical engineer first.
<p>He did that, and eventually got a job with Toys R Us in the Labor Planning Department where he was almost immediately disillusioned. "There was no play, no fun, no high fives, and no kids," says Jeff.</p><p>Soon after, in late 2001, he decided to quit the business and move across the country to Oakland, California. While there, he found a job posting on Craigslist for a STEM education company called <u><a href="https://www.play-well.org/" target="_blank">Play-Well</a></u>, which uses LEGOs to teach kids about engineering. Even though they only had 7 employees and only paid $150 a week, he thought it sounded promising and applied.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTA4NDM0OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY3MTEyODUyMX0.5gSODJaYGYQ5TERTQmpygPNemkQ8dUGdXgIGuONPdE4/img.png?width=980" id="e44b6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="53871d8cd78217d3c8d12e443114dc2a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Courtesy of Jeff Harry</small></p><p>Over the next 16 years, Jeff helped grow the company to over 400 employees. By "embracing a play-oriented mindset, we said yes to everything even if we didn't know if we would be able to figure it out," says Jeff. "We were constantly doing experiments, open to failure, not fixated on certain results." Through this method, they became the largest LEGO-inspired STEM organization in the United States.<br></p><p>Since they were teaching lots of kids whose parents worked in Silicon Valley, they were eventually asked to run team-building workshops with some of the top tech companies in the business. They did this for nine years and excelled at it, but eventually, Jeff began to feel like the importance of play was getting lost. In response, he created a consulting business called <u><a href="https://www.rediscoveryourplay.com/" target="_blank">Rediscover Your Play,</a></u> which uses positive psychology and play to help reinvigorate employees and help companies tackle workplaces challenges.</p><p>Now, he finally feels like he's found his purpose because he's living, and sharing, his passion for play every day.</p><p>Your life and career path don't have to look like anyone else's, in fact, it's usually better when they don't. If you follow your gut and buy some goats or apply to an unorthodox job posting on Craigslist, you might just open a door to one spectacular future.</p><p>So, this New Year...Quit your job. Open a cat cafe. Live your best life.</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.fox.com/call-me-kat/" target="_blank">Call Me Kat</a> premieres on FOX Sunday, January 3rd after NFL and continues on Thursdays beginning January 7th at 9/8c. Starring Mayim Bialik, the show is about a 39-year-old woman who quit her successful, yet unfulfilling, job to pursue her dreams to open a cat café. Kat couldn't be any happier with her new life… despite her mother pushing Kat to get married already!</strong></p>
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British reporter captured the pro-Trump Capitol riot up close, and the footage is surreal
01.08.21
Here in the U.S. many of us had our eyes glued to the news yesterday as a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, disrupting a constitutionally-mandated session of Congress and sending lawmakers into hiding. We watched insurrectionists raise a Trump flag on the outside of the building, flinched at the Confederate flag being marched through its hallowed halls, and witnessed the desecration of our democracy in real-time.
It was a huge and horrifying day in our history. Our own citizens attacking our own government, all because the president refuses to accept that he lost an election. In their minds, they are patriots defending democracy from an illegitimate election. In reality, they are terrorists destroying the foundations of what makes America great.
The disconnect between what these people believe and actual reality could not be starker. Years of misinformation and disinformation, bald-faced lie upon bald-faced lie, and conspiracy theory upon conspiracy theory have led to this place. It was predictable. It should have been preventable. But it was still stunning to witness.
As an American, it's a little hard to digest in its entirety. We've been in this weird space of "alternative facts" for years, and have grown accustomed to hearing blatant lies pushed as truth. We've gotten used to being gaslit daily, from the highest office in the land. That constant deluge of falsehood has an effect on our psyches, whether we fall on the side of eating it up like candy or spitting it out like the poison it is.
So seeing what happened at the Capitol through the eyes of another country's media is really something.
<p>British broadcasters were on the ground with the rioters yesterday as they stormed the building, and they captured footage from outside and inside the building that is just surreal. But it's not just the visuals that are striking. To hear a foreign country's media describing an American insurrection really drives home the seriousness of what we all witnessed. To see the domestic attack on our democracy through the eyes of one of our closest allies somehow hits home in a way that seeing it on our news does not.</p><p>Watch the incredible coverage <a href="https://twitter.com/itvnews/status/1346952339886923786" target="_blank">from iTV News</a>' Robert Moore:</p><div id="2aa80" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e400cd48d93bcd0883e23ab551b3e54e"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1346952339886923786" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Watch @robertmooreitv's report from inside the Capitol building as the extraordinary events unfolded in Washington… https://t.co/PjMm60Wbf1</div> — ITV News (@ITV News)<a href="https://twitter.com/itvnews/statuses/1346952339886923786">1609973437.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"America's long journey as a stable democracy appears to be in genuine doubt." Wow, those words. It's a bit like having a friend slap you straight when you've gotten a bit too wrapped up in your own b.s. It also feels a lot like watching news coverage from a country we would criticize for its anti-democratic elections. <br></p><p>What a sobering perspective of where we are as a nation. "Humiliating" seems to barely scratch the surface, knowing this was what the world just watched transpire in our Capitol. "Grave" is another word that comes to mind. </p><p>It's going to take time and a herculean effort, but let's all commit to doing our part to repair the fabric of our democracy, restore dignity to the U.S., and regain our standing on the global stage.</p>
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From goat yoga to professional play, these people took risks and found their purpose through passion
12.31.20
Lainey and baby goat Annie. Photo courtesy of Lainey Morse
True
Oftentimes, the journey to our true calling is winding and unexpected. Take Lainey Morse, who went from office manager to creator of the viral trend, Goat Yoga, thanks to her natural affinity for goats and throwing parties.
Back in 2015, Lainey bought a farm in Oregon and got her first goats who she named Ansel and Adams. "Once I got them, I was obsessed," says Lainey. "It was hard to get me off the farm to go do anything else."
Right away, she noticed what a calming presence they had. "Even the way they chew their cud is relaxing to be around because it's very methodical," she says. Lainey was going through a divorce and dealing with a rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis at the time, but even when things got particularly hard, the goats provided relief.
"I found it impossible to be stressed or depressed when I was with them."
She started inviting friends up to the farm for what she called "Goat Happy Hour." Soon, the word spread about Lainey's delightful, stress-relieving furry friends. At one point, she auctioned off a child's birthday party at her farm, and the mom asked if they could do yoga with the goats. And lo, the idea for goat yoga was born.
A baby goat on a yoga student. Photo courtesy of Lainey Morse
Goat yoga went viral so much so that by fall of 2016, Lainey was able to quit her office manager job at a remodeling company to manage her burgeoning goat yoga business full-time. Now she has 10 locations nationwide.
Lainey handles the backend management for all of her locations, and loves that side of the business too, even though it's less goat-related. "I still have my own personal Goat Happy Hour every single day so I still get to spend a lot of time with my goats," says Lainey. "I get the best of both worlds."
Lainey with her goat Fabio. Photo courtesy of Lainey Morse
Since COVID-19 hit, her locations have had to close temporarily. She hopes her yoga locations will be able to resume classes in the spring when the vaccine is more widely available. "I think people will need goat yoga more than ever before, because everyone has been through so much stress in 2020," says Lainey.
Major life changes like Lainey's can come around for any number of reasons. Even if they seem out of left field to some, it doesn't mean they're not the right moves for you. The new FOX series "Call Me Kat", which premieres Sunday, January 3rd after NFL and will continue on Thursday nights beginning January 7th, exemplifies that. The show is centered around Kat, a 39-year old single woman played by Mayim Bialik, who quit her math professor job and spent her life's savings to pursue her dreams to open a Cat Café in Louisville, Kentucky.
We're not freaking out, you're freaking out (but in the BEST way!) 🤩#CallMeKat premieres Sunday, January 3 on @FOXTV after NFL. pic.twitter.com/XhylqSVeMB
— CallMeKat (@CallMeKatFOX) December 22, 2020
Jeff Harry started making similar moves when he was just 10-years-old, and kept making them throughout his life. After seeing the movie "Big,"Jeff knew he wanted to play with toys for a living, so he started writing toy companies asking for next steps. He finally got a response when he was a sophomore in high school — the company told him he needed to become a mechanical engineer first.
<p>He did that, and eventually got a job with Toys R Us in the Labor Planning Department where he was almost immediately disillusioned. "There was no play, no fun, no high fives, and no kids," says Jeff.</p><p>Soon after, in late 2001, he decided to quit the business and move across the country to Oakland, California. While there, he found a job posting on Craigslist for a STEM education company called <u><a href="https://www.play-well.org/" target="_blank">Play-Well</a></u>, which uses LEGOs to teach kids about engineering. Even though they only had 7 employees and only paid $150 a week, he thought it sounded promising and applied.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTA4NDM0OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY3MTEyODUyMX0.5gSODJaYGYQ5TERTQmpygPNemkQ8dUGdXgIGuONPdE4/img.png?width=980" id="e44b6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="53871d8cd78217d3c8d12e443114dc2a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Courtesy of Jeff Harry</small></p><p>Over the next 16 years, Jeff helped grow the company to over 400 employees. By "embracing a play-oriented mindset, we said yes to everything even if we didn't know if we would be able to figure it out," says Jeff. "We were constantly doing experiments, open to failure, not fixated on certain results." Through this method, they became the largest LEGO-inspired STEM organization in the United States.<br></p><p>Since they were teaching lots of kids whose parents worked in Silicon Valley, they were eventually asked to run team-building workshops with some of the top tech companies in the business. They did this for nine years and excelled at it, but eventually, Jeff began to feel like the importance of play was getting lost. In response, he created a consulting business called <u><a href="https://www.rediscoveryourplay.com/" target="_blank">Rediscover Your Play,</a></u> which uses positive psychology and play to help reinvigorate employees and help companies tackle workplaces challenges.</p><p>Now, he finally feels like he's found his purpose because he's living, and sharing, his passion for play every day.</p><p>Your life and career path don't have to look like anyone else's, in fact, it's usually better when they don't. If you follow your gut and buy some goats or apply to an unorthodox job posting on Craigslist, you might just open a door to one spectacular future.</p><p>So, this New Year...Quit your job. Open a cat cafe. Live your best life.</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.fox.com/call-me-kat/" target="_blank">Call Me Kat</a> premieres on FOX Sunday, January 3rd after NFL and continues on Thursdays beginning January 7th at 9/8c. Starring Mayim Bialik, the show is about a 39-year-old woman who quit her successful, yet unfulfilling, job to pursue her dreams to open a cat café. Kat couldn't be any happier with her new life… despite her mother pushing Kat to get married already!</strong></p>
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How do we coax millions of Americans away from the edge of election conspiracy insanity?
01.04.21
If the past four years has taught us anything, it's that when you think things can't really get any nuttier, they totally can and will.
Case in point: Lin Wood's latest tweets.
Lin Wood is a lawyer who has filed or joined multiple lawsuits on behalf of President Trump in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Wood has been an outspoken supporter of Trump and a forceful pusher of conspiracy theories—not only about the election, but about...well, just take a look.
Wood already made headlines a few days ago for suggesting Mike Pence should be executed by firing squad. Late last night, in a series of tweets, Wood lays out absolutely bonkers allegations against Chief Justice John Roberts and the world's "most well-known & 'elite' intelligence agencies."
<p>I'm not fond of amplifying these kinds of batsh*t crazy rants, but considering how intertwined this individual is with the current legal actions of the president of the United States, and considering the fact that <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-twitter-today-georgia-republicans-lin-wood-b1774363.html" target="_blank">President Trump has retweeted this man's tweets</a> just within the past month, it's important to understand the level of unreality that a significant portion of Americans are living in—or at least tacitly accepting.</p><div id="364e5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="46fdf26c44d541186cd2942b1328ff25"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1345994856674557952" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Uhhhh https://t.co/bA5e8V9XjE</div> — Andrew Feinberg (@Andrew Feinberg)<a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/statuses/1345994856674557952">1609745155.0</a></blockquote></div><p>In a series of tweets, Wood <a href="https://twitter.com/LLinWood/status/1345991175690457091" target="_blank">wrote</a>:</p><p><em>"</em><em>I believe Chief Justice John Roberts & a multitude of powerful individuals worldwide are being blackmailed in a horrendous scheme involving rape & murder of children captured on videotape. </em></p><p><em>I have the key to the files containing the videos. I have also shared this information.</em></p><p><em>This blackmail scheme is conducted by members of 10 of world's most well-known & "elite" intelligence agencies. One of those groups was hacked by a group known as Lizard Squad. </em></p><p><em>The blackmail files of rape & murder were obtained by this group & copy was provided to Isaac Kappy.</em></p><p><em>The blackmail targets are approached with a gun, a child, & a camera. The target is ordered to rape the child on video. The target is then ordered to shoot the child on video. The target is then owned & controlled by the blackmailers until blackmail evidence loses its value.</em></p><p><em>After Kappy received the hacked files from member of Lizard Squad, he gave files to one friend and the encryption key to another friend. He provided this information to his friends shortly before he was murdered in May 13, 2019. Members of Lizard Squad were jailed for hacking.</em></p><p><em>Jeffrey Epstein used this same blackmail scheme of child rape & child murder to either further his own interests or those of any intelligence agency with whom he worked. ALL who flew on his private jet or visited his island must be IMMEDIATELY interrogated & brought to justice.</em></p><p><em>I decided to post this truth on Twitter & Parler as wall exists around <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump" target="_blank">@realDonaldTrump</a> that may have prevented me from getting this evidence to him. Kappy tried to deliver info to President but was then murdered. I do not know who Kappy gave it to for delivery to the President.</em></p><p><em>I have concerns that information from Kappy was not delivered to <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump" target="_blank">@realDonaldTrump</a> & his effort to get it to President may have caused his death. I am aware that my life is now at great risk. But I put my faith in God. I prayed before I made the decision. I had to reveal TRUTH."</em></p><p>Let's pause for a moment here. </p><p>First of all, how is this even a thing that he believes? Someone just walks up with a gun and a child and a camera? What? Most of us who actually are not pedophiles would rather die than rape a child. And if someone handed us a gun to shoot a child, most of us would shoot the person trying to blackmail us instead. On a basic level, this is just dumb. </p><p>Second of all, every conspiracy theory sucks people in with grains of truth, so let's briefly get those out of the way. Lizard Squad might sound like a made-up thing, but it was actually a real hacking group that successfully disrupted XBox and PlayStation systems in addition to committing other hacking crimes. A bunch of members were arrested in 2014—but their arrest had nothing to do with intelligence agencies. </p><p>Former Lizard Squad member Vinnie Omari, when asked about Wood's tweets, <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/debug/lizard-squad-lin-wood-conspiracy/" target="_blank">told the Daily Dot</a>, "That sounds fucking insane, bro. I'm not going to lie to you. That sounds like the type of stuff that I usually laugh at people for bringing up in conversations."</p><p>Omari said he'd never heard of Wood or Kappy and that the group never hacked any government entities or agencies. "We never hacked anything in regards to any of these billionaires like Jeffrey Epstein or any government officials," he said.</p><p>That won't convince the conspiracy theorists, of course. (We'll get to that in a minute.) At this point, you may be wondering who the heck Isaac Kappy is. Kappy was an actor and musician who tragically <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/life/people/2019/05/15/thor-actor-isaac-kappy-dies-after-jumping-off-arizona-bridge/3687012002/" target="_blank">died by suicide</a> by jumping off a bridge onto a freeway in Arizona in 2019. He <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7033879/Haunting-final-video-Thor-actor-Isaac-Kappy-committed-suicide.html" target="_blank">left lengthy messages</a> on social media before his death, expressing remorse for who he had been, stating that he had spent thousands of hours diving into QAnon conspiracies, talking about how he's abused himself with drugs and alcohol, and apologizing to people he'd hurt. </p><p>But instead of his death being a cautionary tale, QAnoners like Wood claim that Kappy didn't die by suicide but was murdered because this obscure actor had the elusive evidence proving all of the cabal nonsense that he was trying to get to the president. As if that makes sense. </p><p>Moving on. Wood <a href="https://twitter.com/LLinWood/status/1346003831503646723" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">continued on Twitter</a>.</p><p><em>"I would never make an accusation without having reliable source for it. Stakes are too high. So I did due diligence to validate the accuracy of the shocking information I am revealing tonight. I am entirely comfortable that you are learning the truth. A truth that explains much.</em></p><p><em>I have no idea extent of blackmail scheme of raping & killing children but given the number of agencies involved, the hundreds of thousands of missing children, & the otherwise inexplicable actions of many powerful officials, celebrities, & business leaders, I fear the worst.</em></p><p><em>The number of missing children worldwide & in United States is staggering.</em></p><p><em>So I have now conveyed the truth as I know it. There has been a rising chorus of people questioning my sanity in recent days. Now you can understand why. I have no idea what will be done to me or said about me in coming days, but I will rest well tonight for having spoken truth.</em></p><p><em>Many issues in our world may be tied to blackmail scheme I described tonight, including bizarre behavior of officials & judges in recent election. <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump" target="_blank">@realDonaldTrump</a> must appoint special prosecutor to thoroughly investigate. We need answers. We must investigate. For the children."</em></p><p>Ah yes. For the children. I've written about how the QAnon child trafficking conspiracy theories <a data-linked-post="2646961333" href="https://www.upworthy.com/save-the-children-stop-the-qanon-conspiracies" target="_blank">are doing real harm</a> to actual anti-trafficking organizations that work to protect vulnerable missing children. QAnon is not in the business of saving children from anything. </p><p>Oh, and there's also this:</p><div id="21956" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="33c5ab57c859556083340c3b17cfbbc4"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1346020295002497026" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">If asked to turn over the encryption key & other information I have to law enforcement, I will only agree to provid… https://t.co/fziauiOl6n</div> — Lin Wood (@Lin Wood)<a href="https://twitter.com/LLinWood/statuses/1346020295002497026">1609751220.0</a></blockquote></div><p>To be perfectly clear, this is insane. That should be totally obvious, but at this point, even obvious truths need to be stated clearly, unequivocally, and constantly. This man has a million followers on Twitter and has been retweeted by the president, who is a known peddler of conspiracy theorists himself. We also now have <a data-linked-post="2648180456" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/03/us/politics/qanon-candidates-marjorie-taylor-greene.html" target="_blank">QAnon adherents in Congress</a>, so this stuff can't be ignored. As <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/trump-pushed-qanon-4chan-created-conspiracy-theories-georgia-call-n1252769" target="_blank">NBC reports</a>, nearly all of Trump's election fraud allegations come from the QAnon world, and he has hoards of MAGA followers who have bought it all hook, line, and sinker. At this point, no one can be all in for Trump and not, by extension, support these crazy conspiracy theories. They are all inextricably linked.<br></p><div id="ed4ce" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="12e88a0a4781d67042f04b1ce8eda235"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1346198251343671297" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">New from me and @oneunderscore__ and @janestreet. Trump's expert rehash of QAnon and 4chan conspiracy theories in… https://t.co/lr8BRdbAMb</div> — Brandy Zadrozny (@Brandy Zadrozny)<a href="https://twitter.com/BrandyZadrozny/statuses/1346198251343671297">1609793648.0</a></blockquote></div><p>So how did we even get here? And more importantly, how do we get out?</p><p>It was predictable, to be honest. During the 2016 election, there were an alarming number of comments that referred to Hillary Clinton being part of an evil global cabal of pedophiles who operate in secret and communicate in code via email. The rumors included various details about Satanic rituals (which involved bizzaro accusations of <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-the-dark-virality-of-a-hollywood-blood-harvesting-conspiracy/" target="_blank">harvesting something called adrenochrome</a> from children), Obama ordering 65,000 hot dogs (which was supposedly code for little boys), and child trafficking taking place in the basement of a popular D.C. pizza parlor (which doesn't even have a basement). Even though none of it made the least bit of logical sense and most of us just rolled our eyes at it all, a shocking number of people truly believed it—and still do. </p><p>I assumed at the time that it was just a dumb disinformation campaign to hurt Clinton's chances of winning the election (which it was) and that it would die out after the election (which it didn't). I think most reasonable people believed the same thing, which was a mistake. For four years, we've watched these conspiracy theories grow and spread. For four years, I've personally seen more and more people get sucked into the unreality the person/people behind QAnon created. For four years, people have continued to claim that well-known politicians and A-list celebrities are about to be arrested, that they're all going down soon, that Donald Trump is the great savior who will finally blow the lid off of this vast conspiracy and save the world from the machinations of the evil elite. For four years, the big reveal has always been just around the corner. <em>Just wait. </em>(That's literally the entire premise of QAnon. <em>Just wait. Just wait. Just wait. It's coming. It's coming. It's coming.</em>)</p><p>The quackiness was never going to just fade away. The fringe element just kept growing and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/right-wing-social-media-finalizes-its-divorce-reality/617177/" target="_blank">spilling into right-wing media</a>. And like a snowball that gathers size, speed, and strength as it tumbles down a mountain, the quackiness was becoming more and more dangerous. </p><p>When <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/22/533941689/pizzagate-gunman-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison" target="_blank">a guy took his AR-15 to Comet Ping Pong Pizza </a>to save the children from the clutches of Clinton and her cabal of child traffickers and found nothing, that should have been the end of it. When <a href="https://mpdc.dc.gov/release/arrest-made-assault-dangerous-weapon-gun-5000-block-connecticut-avenue-northwest" target="_blank">the D.C. police called Pizzagate</a> "a fictitious online conspiracy theory," that should have been the end of it. But it wasn't. Because that's not how these things work. </p><p>There's a reason conspiracy theories are called rabbit holes. Once you start detaching from reality, it's really hard to come back. Real news is fake news. Fact-checkers can't be trusted. Every reasonable explanation gets rejected. Anyone who denies the unreality is in on the conspiracy. From an objective outside stance, none of it makes sense, but within that world, it all makes perfect sense. <em>Just wait, you'll see. </em></p><p>From a psychological point of view, the draw is pretty simple. It's a connect-the-dots mystery with the added thrill of a gambling addiction—<em>this </em>time, it's <em>really</em> gonna happen. It's a thrilling chase with the carrot of Trump saving the world from the evil elites always dangling just out of reach as you chase it. It has everything we've become accustomed to in our favorite movie plots—intrigue and deception, bad guys you'd never suspect, and an unlikely hero who we just know is going to swoop in at the finale to bring it all down. <em>Just you wait.</em></p><p>The problem is that we're not living in a movie. This is real life, and our country is being damaged in real ways by having too many of its citizens swept up in an alternate reality, which isn't reality at all. </p><p>The dilemma we face now is what to do about it. This stuff isn't going to go away just because Biden gets inaugurated on January 20th, and it's destructive to the fabric of society no matter who is in charge. For goodness sake, I've had people accuse me of being a pedophile because I wrote about how child sex trafficking organizations want people <a data-linked-post="2647077554" href="https://www.upworthy.com/child-sex-trafficking-organizations-debunk-qanon-conspiracies" target="_blank">to stop sharing QAnon conspiracy theories</a>. That doesn't make sense, of course—but how am I supposed to sit down and have a reasonable conversation with someone who believes that? We can have disagreements about government and policy and social issues, and we can debate those things passionately even. But we have to exist in the same objective reality in order to have that reasonable exchange of ideas. </p><p>I'm not sure how we get there, but I have a few ideas. We need to have psychologists along with political pundits weighing in on the daily news shows. We need to see the opinions of cult deprogramming experts in addition to legal analysts as we talk about what happens from here. We need to be talking about how to convince millions of our fellow Americans to step back from the edge of the rabbit hole and how to extricate them from it once they've fallen down it. </p><p>The issues are important, but we can't have the important conversations we need to have about the issues without a basic shared reality, and right now, we're so not there. </p>
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After torturing parents for more than two decades, Caillou has finally been canceled
01.07.21
After more than two decades of torturing parents and offering a horrible example for preschool-aged children, the era of Caillou has finally ended. The Canadian kids' show started in 1997, kept churning out new episodes until 2018, and now the will be taken off the air, finally.
As a huge fan and ardent defender of PBS—especially the network's generally excellent children's programming—it pains me to launch such a passionate criticism. But seriously, how on Al Gore's green Earth did this show last for this long?
My children were born during Caillou's early years. Having been raised myself on a steady diet of Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, I felt confident that PBS Kids' shows would be healthy, educational entertainment for my own children as they entered the preschool phase, and for the most part, PBS delivered. In addition to the awesomeness of Sesame Street, my kids got to explore the alphabet through Martha Speaks, dive into scientific questions with Sid the Science Kid, and build reading skills and curiosity with Super Why. My kids loved learning while being entertained, and I loved that they were learning while being entertained.
Then there was Caillou. I'm not sure if I have the words for my depth of loathing for that character, and I'm someone who loves all (real) children. I'm not the only one who feels this way. For years, Caillou has been a running joke in the parenting world, regularly taking first place in the "Most Annoying Kids' Show" category. Social media erupted in virtual celebration at the news of its demise.
<p>Check out these moms sharing their undying hatred for Caillou:</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="286bbcd2ada18a1831b647089297fb19"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T2oMMMiu91E?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Moms Share Their Undying Hatred For Caillou</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://youtu.be/T2oMMMiu91E" target="_blank">youtu.be</a>
</small>
</p><p>The agony is real. The first time I watched an episode of Caillou, I was gobsmacked by how whiny, bratty, and tantrummy he was. He's four, which is a challenging age for sure. But in my opinion, all Caillou did for parents of young kids was make those years even more challenging.<br></p><p>First of all, the whining was absolutely <em>incessant</em>. And his voice made it worse. Like, I don't know how any parent could sit through an entire episode of Caillou "<em>Waaaaahhh</em>"ing without wanting to poke their ears out with a crochet hook. </p><p>Secondly, his behavior was atrocious half the time. The episode where he pinched his baby sister in her crib until she cried? That's not an idea I'd wanted to plant in my preschooler's head. The way he talked to other kids? Ugh. Just no. </p><p>And therein lies the major problem with Caillou. Preschool-aged kids imitate what they see. That's<a href="https://www.todaysparent.com/kids/copycat-kids-why-they-do-it/" target="_blank"> the developmental stage</a> they are in. As a parent, I watched every kids' show through the lens of "Is this how I want my child to behave?" and when it came to Caillou, the answer to that question was "LORDY NO" nine times out of ten. </p><p>But honestly, the adults in the show were almost as bad. It would be one thing if the storylines showed parents helping kids how to work through their feelings or problem solve, but Caillou's mom was bafflingly hands-off. It seemed like there was never any real resolution to the issues, and preschool-aged kids don't have the capability of processing a character's emotional story arc to take a moral from the end anyway. Older kids, yes. But the age of kids who actually enjoy Caillou? Nope. </p><p>Check out these few clips and see if this is what you'd want your young child imitating:</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6727bf2bedb3e4626c89c74459178120"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x7SrtZOizCs?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Caillou Being a Brat Comp.</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7SrtZOizCs" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p><p><br></p><p>I literally didn't allow my kids to watch Caillou because he was such whiny little douche nozzle, his parents were mostly useless, and I didn't feel like making parenting any harder than it needed to be.</p><p>(For the record, my 20-year-old has thanked me for banning Caillou from our house. She agrees that he would have served as a terrible example to follow and can't stand to hear his voice either.) </p><p>Goodbye and good riddance, Caillou. </p>
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