The rules darling kittehz, are arbitrary.

Not only are they arbitrary, they’re primarily designed to protect interests that aren’t yours.

We’re talking retail optometry, of course.

Yes sure they say, “oh but your eyes”.  Like you can’t possibly be trusted to distinguish blur from not-blur, or to be able to choose which pieces of clear curved plastic to put in front of your eyes.  They tell you that minus lenses are ‘prescriptions’, and plus lenses aren’t.  Even though functionally they both do the same exact thing – bend light to change focal planes in your eyes.

It’s a big leap, granted.  Realizing that the world we live in, isn’t meant for our benefit.  It’s meant for their benefit and if you have to ask who ‘they’ are … well, sorry darling, you’re not one of them.

No big conspiracy.  In this case ‘they’ are just those who profit from selling you never ending myopia.  It’s almost laughably transparent too, the claim that you’re somehow and mysteriously genetically defective and that it’s pure coincidence that their glasses treatment consistently make your eyes worse.

It’s not the glasses at all, you see.  It’s … genetic. You’re genetically at fault, really.  They’re just trying to help.

All this as a preamble for an e-mail from today:

500+ e-mails a day.  Some gems to be had most days.

This particular gem to highlight that the rules are indeed arbitrary.  If you live in the UK, you’re far more likely to get a strict finger wagging and be told that ze diopters are vhat zey are.  Yes a German accent doesn’t make sense here other than to highlight ze authority in question.  Which certainly isn’t yours who is the customer and paying the bill but rather ‘them’ telling you your diopters, and that’ll be the end of it.

Like you’re a child.

If you travel enough though, or move, or otherwise experience enough different optic shops, you’ll realize that they just make these rules up.  The goal is to sell you glasses at massive markups and whatever it takes to get there, is what they do.

Btw, I found the same to be true in my cursory experiences with optic shops in the UK.  Very unforthcoming.  Germany was actually super cool, the Fielmann chain there literally would cut raw lenses I bought from ebay, as long as I bought the frames from them.  Zero questions about diopters.

Or Italy where I’d just squint at the shop keeper and say “-2.5 dipoters, please”.  Get a ‘bene’ and a pair of glasses in response.

In today’s world especially where apparently farming is evil and eating cows should be verboten, and where cultural cohesion is a no-no, the glasses slide-of-hand seems almost a silly thing to discuss.  We clearly have bigger problems when the US has their latest child like level of excitement about starting a major war (far from their shores, natürlich).  Or some acronymous organization like WHO or WEF or CIA or whoever else and their latest scheme to turn the world into a James Bond movie.

Vhere is my vhite cat?

Endmyopia has never been more than a little side show.  You seeing clearly is the last thing anyone in power wants.  If it’s literal and literally hugely profitable, also why not that.

Go make some 20/20 gains.

Cheers,

-Jake