Notices by Inertial Invites (intransitivelie@beige.party), page 2

Notice how Dracula comes to London and kills one white woman and suddenly everyone is all "kill Dracula" this and "kill Dracula" that. Never mind that Dracula could be a priceless source of information about history. Never mind that he defended Christendom from the Turk. No, we lose one ingenue and suddenly it's a plague of vampires bringing the British Empire to its knees. Out come the stakes and away goes the critical thinking.

And Abraham Van Helsing? Yeah, he's not licensed to practice vampire-hunting by any governing body. Basically, he incites a group of young men to assassinate a foreign dignitary. Because they refuse to allow a woman to have agency. Maybe Mina likes Dracula better, boys. Maybe you shouldn't be sore losers.

Dracula: innocent victim. #DraculaWasFramed

Remember, the youth have protested in the past, and some change has been effected, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. In hindsight, it wasn't the sea change it might have been thought at the time. We didn't get out of Vietnam because of Ohio State. We got out because we lost the war.

Seriously. We could have drawn it out, but we lost the war, and the myth that the military was stabbed in the back by politicians and protestors at home is fashy and incorrect. And the myth that protests moved the needle very much militarily is misguided, based on fashy nonsense, and incorrect. Basically, while public opinion did make some difference, it didn't make all the difference, and student protests were only a small part of that.

I really hate being a history buff because I know this shit and it bums people out.

@inthehands @gardencourt @helplessduck
Earthenware is water-permiable as is some stoneware. Also, "impermiable" is relative, and some vitrified ceramics will still absorb some percentage of water. Most dishware is impermiable, but glue might still seep into the open pores of the material which would lessen the bonding strength. That's the hazard of cyanoacrylate glues.

H/t @timberwraith

https://mastodon.social/@timberwraith/112175621409795010

The decades immediately after WWII we decided that Nazis and Commies were convenient enemies to shun so we could continue oppressing our own minorities with impunity because after all, we weren't Nazis or Commies. That's why there was something of a stigma, particularly in popular culture. Behind the scenes, of course, we went to the Moon on the back of the Nazis, for fuck's sake.

The problem the right in this country is currently having, if it's even a problem for them, is that young people in particular looked at the Nazis and said, "Hey, hang on, that's basically the conservative party in the US." And then a bunch of them further decided that that wasn't a deal-breaker and just went full Nazi. The older members of the klan would prefer to keep that part quiet and keep pretending, but it's been 80 years. The stink has come off the shit. Young people either are into Nazi shit or they're sick of being lied to about it.

It's not that the country has become more polarized, it's that we're getting slightly more honest. The right wing has been this bad, folks. It's been this bad for a long time. We just agreed to pretend that it wasn't for a while, for the sake of the children (and so that everyone could keep oppressing minorities). You think Black people haven't been telling you? Repeatedly? How about Native folks? LGBTQI+? Beuller? Beuller?

So yeah, we've had Nazi shit for longer than the Nazis had Nazi shit. We just didn't call it that. But we've stopped pretending because both sides are running out of room to maneuver. The right sees the writing on the wall. If they don't lock shit down, hard, they're going to lose. And the left is pretty much out of options. Meaningful political change is almost out of the question.

I don't think the US is unique in this. We're seeing fascist reactionaries trying desperately to consolidate power all over. They figure if they can make he pendulum swing hard enough to the right, they can catch the end and keep it from ever swinging back. That's basically the only play they have at this point. The gloves are off.

I suppose that should be heartening, because they wouldn't be trying this hard if they weren't desperate. But so many people are going to die. I find it hard to believe that there's any future not built on the bodies of a lot of people. And that's the good futures.

In most of the futures I foresee, fascists and capital (but I repeat myself) grab the pendulum and halt it long enough to burn everything down.

Sorry, this went dark.

Anyway, back to the original point: popular culture only viewed the Nazis as losers because it was convenient.

The Empire in Star Wars aren't losers. They lose, but they're intimidating and cool. They're the enemy, but they have to be viewed as formidable or there's no stakes for the story. If a ragtag band of rebels defeats an empire staffed entirely by the sort of people who are actually Nazis, it's a comedy. It's Spaceballs.

Nazis *are* losers. They're horrible, they're a threat, but they're giant revanchist losers who get butthurt over the smallest things. I am entirely in favor of mocking the Nazis. Christ, someone punched Richard Spencer so hard he disappeared in a puff of farts. The Proud Boys are a collection of giant losers.

That doesn't make them any less dangerous, and it doesn't mean that they should be given any sunshine. Make Nazis afraid to be Nazis again. By all means.

But remember, the Nazis were here first. It's not a German thing. The United States is built on bones and nourished by blood, and until we reckon with that, Nazis are gonna keep popping up.

Jesus: impossible to kill, reproduced asexually. Jesus is canonically a fungus. Clearly the part the Romans crucified was a fruiting body of some kind, leaving the bulk of the organism below ground, safe and secure. And every Easter, we find Jesus' multi-colored spores hidden in dark places. The rabbits tried to warn us. But now it's too late. He's metastasized across the whole planet. Soon enough, he will come again, and when he does, no cross in the world will be big enough to keep him at bay.

*Twilight Zone music intensifies*

I'm seeing more people talking about Trump promising a "bloodbath" if he loses (he meant a metaphorical, monetary bloodbath and it's pretty easy to say that, which is why it's really stupid to walk into the trap of taking him entirely literally with no context in this case so his supporters can then respond that he's being metaphorical and nuanced in every case) than are talking about him saying that some immigrants aren't people. And they're definitely not talking about the current bloodbath going on in Palestine. Hooray, I guess.

@AnarchoNinaWrites
I'm sorry to hear that. Is there anything anyone can do to help, or is it just the world in general?

@AnarchoNinaWrites
I'm right there with you on the world stuff. I'm sorry about the family health stuff though. I hope it resolves as best it can.