Day 1915: Weaponize

Words can be weapons and so can a lot of other things.  Maybe that’s why I keep hearing  the word “weaponize,” which is defined at merriamwebster.com as follows:

 

Definition of weaponize
weaponized; weaponizing
transitive verb
: to adapt for use as a weapon of war

 

Recent Examples of weaponize from the Web:
Facebook, in particular, has come under fire for its partnership with Philippine President Rodrigue Duterte, who has weaponized the social media site to attack his critics.
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Alex Shephard, The New Republic, “Facebook Has a Genocide Problem,” 15 Mar. 2018

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Sinclair explicitly weaponizes local TV news’ reputation for impartiality to amplify White House talking points.
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Eric Levitz, Daily Intelligencer, “Local News Anchors Are Being Forced to Deliver Pro-Trump Propaganda,” 8 Mar. 2018

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Hertzberg said in January that foes were attempting to weaponize the allegations against him to kill his effort to overhaul the money bail system in California.
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Taryn Luna, sacbee, “Hugging banned for California lawmaker after harassment investigation | The Sacramento Bee,” 8 Mar. 2018

 

With all the real weapons in the word, I can’t imagine why so many other things need to be weaponized. Personally,  I was hoping that definition would include an antonym, but it doesn’t (and neither does any other definition of “weaponize”).

Is it weaponizing my blog to clearly state that I’m against weaponization and for the opposite?  For now, let’s call that”deweaponization” or  maybe just “peace.”

I heard the word “weaponize” on the news yesterday morning and for the rest of the day, I tried to deweaponize by taking these photos.

 

YouTube has been weaponized with videos like “How to Weaponize Fidget Spinners,” “How to Weaponize IKEA pencils,”  “How to Weaponize Trash,” “How to Weaponize Duct Tape,”  “How to Weaponize a Beard,” and “How to Weaponize Business Cards.”  I’m deweaponizing with this:

I’m also deweaponizing with gratitude for all who helped me with today’s blog post and — of course! — for YOU.

 

 

Day 1674: Firsts and seconds

First, I notice that today is the first of the month.

Second,  I will share, for the first time,  the first photo of this post.

Here are the first and second questions I had when I first saw that box:

1. How did Michael decide which knick-knacks were secondary?
2. Where the hell is the other box of knick-knacks?

It’ll take me  just a second to share some other photos for the first time.

 

First comes peace. Will anybody second that?

Here are the first and second songs that come to my mind:

What do the firsts and seconds in this post mean to you?

It’s not a first for me to end with gratitude.  First, thanks to all who helped me create today’s post. Second, special thanks to you — of course! —  for being here, now.

Day 1429: Peace

While I thought I might name today’s post “Pick Me Ups,”

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… or “Shadows,”

 

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… or “We’ve Got it All,”

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… I’ve decided, on this morning of my return to work after a two-month medical leave, to go with “Peace.”

 

 

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Peace be with all who helped me create today’s post and peace be with you, my dear readers.