If you've ever wondered what "it's socialism or barbarism" means, just look at the US. America abandoned any pretense of civilization when it decided the rich and powerful could exempt themselves from laws, regulations, and any form of social responsibility even if it meant destroying the planet. Meanwhile, if you don't pay a $2.90 subway fare, the cops will shoot you in the head.
"Olivia Nuzzi, by the way, is a great example of how manifestly unqualified right wingers fail upwards in the supposedly biased mainstream media, mostly because they went to the right schools and knew the right people."
Journalism has become a daycare for nepo babies who want to have a prestigious career that still involves hobnobbing with other rich and famous people.
A lot of people think of Rogue from "X-Men" as just the sassy flying brick, but when I was a trans girl growing up, she embodied my feelings about being untouchable, unwanted, and trying to be okay and do the right thing anyway.
When you write, you don't know how you're going to affect other people. It's easy to treat your characters shallowly, to make them jokes or tropes. But it's nice to think somebody, somewhere is going to feel seen and feel better about themselves because of it.
"There are different ways to hide," Morrigan said, "This is a world of conformity. If you appear to be what others expect, their attention will slide away from you."
"But if you go among the herd as a wolf, the herd will scatter in fear and raise a cry that they might hear."
Felicia laughed, which caught her off guard. "So what you're saying is: just be a normal girl. That's rich! Yeah. That's the one thing I have no idea how to do! What I was never allowed to be."
"My family tortured me," Felicia explained, "I was not allowed to be what I was. Even as an infant. They cut and rearranged me the way they wanted me to be. The Huntsman did the same. In the end, the only thing left of me were scars..."
"But I persisted," she added, "I wormed my way around their rules -- and was punished -- until it was intolerable to even live. I killed myself to escape. And it worked! Lucky us, huh? We survived. What right did we have to do that?"
If you're white, well-connected, and can afford to drop a hundred grand on a politician without breaking a sweat, you can buy the political outcome you want in the US, whether it's in Congress or the SCOTUS. Discounts available for Russians and Nazis. The other 99% of us are virtually disenfranchised.
Cis people hate trans people because we insist on being ourselves instead of some subordinate, inferior other thing they can make fun of and push to the margins, because we insist on our identities having the same weight and validity as theirs. Their arguments are just semantics.
The NYT and other outlets rewrite Trump's ranting to make him sound semi-coherent. Not just covering his ass but wiping it for him, too.
But I wonder who it's for the benefit of? His base doesn't care. They hear the message behind the words, the screeching contempt for anyone who wants a world different from them.
Trump talks gibberish like a horrible parody of REM doing "It's the End of the World As We Know It."
"Haitians, cats, refugees, Biden, trans surgeries." And it's not meant to make sense. He CAN'T make sense.
But alongside Vance's snide incel bitterness, it's ultimately the language of American fascism. They can't think. They don't think. The words are talismanic because all they do is hate, hate, HATE.
"All the boys you went to school with who wore the same black t shirt with a sarcastic joke on it have grown out of their depression into fully adult women."
Living in Texas, where we've had multiple summers of continual 110F+ heat and humidity, I think I have a pretty clear idea of what climate change entails and it's not more backyard barbecues.
It's people cooking to death in their homes because the grid failed. It's people dropping dead trying to work outdoors in extreme temperatures. And it's a government that doesn't care as long as they and their business patrons keep on making money.
You can tell America is a white supremacist state because white conservatives are allowed to run the entire country into the ground and make things miserable for everyone and nobody stops them.
Remembering how in Book One I had the people of the future refer to our era as the Old Ones, kind of like Stephen King in "The Dark Tower," only they meant it in an incredibly sarcastic way.
"The same people who hated socialism huffed lead fumes and set the world on fire even though better sources of energy were available. Nobody misses them, and we're all still paying the price for their excess." -- Liara, probably
Republican voters are not merely misled, even as they are taken advantage of by their politicians. They want to be lied to and they want to believe those lies.
They're not interested in the truth or in solving problems, especially not the problems they brought upon themselves by voting for Republicans.
Formerly from Twitter and Mastodon.lol. Trans, bi, she / her. Writing, dreams, politics, science, metaphysics.Blocking and muting you is the easiest thing in the world if you mouth off at me.