almost 60. he/him. an ace/progressive “libtard” trying to find their place in the world. bookseller. mostly about Star Trek (def ship nerd and Spirk is canon) but also sci-fi, books, design, cute animals, eclectic history, and tango, with the occasional sh*tpost and signal boost.
David Gerrold is writer of the books The Man Who Folded Himself and The War Against the Chtorr series. He's also written for television, notably the original Land of the Lost and the TV adaptation of Logan's Run. He is most known for the TOS episode The Trouble with Tribbles.
The story of his adoption of his neurodivernt son, The Martian Child, was adapted into a film with John Cusak.
This problem is nothing new, but this specific example with these numbers puts it into a fucking brutal perspective.
To put these numbers a different way: A Taco Bell burrito that used to cost ~7 minutes and 20 seconds of minimum wage work now costs ~30 minutes and 30 seconds of minimum wage work.
You used to be able to work at Taco Bell anywhere in the country and make enough money in one hour to buy at least 8 burritos (maybe 9 if you're a manager or something) and feed, like, 3-4 people a decently-filling meal. But now, the same amount of work at the same job will get you one meal for one person. And this change has happened over a mere 15 years.
Remember this whenever you see rich people demonize younger generations for our financial situations, when they call us irresponsible for not investing a ton of money in savings accounts.
the lack of compassion that a good portion of lotr fans show for frodo ("why can't he fight or do simple tasks" "why is he so weak" "why does he always need help / to be rescued") mirrors the lack of compassion of people for those who bear the burden of invisible disabilities. he's struggling against an immense weight at every step! something that actively tries to destroy him, worsening at every moment! his heroism is in just continuing to walk his path, step by step. his bravery is in just existing as himself under the debilitating weight of the ring. but because the influence of the ring is invisible, it is forgotten, and frodo is written off as a weak, cowardly, and/or useless character, much like disabled people irl. in this household we do not stand for frodo slander!!!
I genuinely believe that some people could encounter a button that says “if you push this button everyone in the world has the opportunity to live a better life and your life remains exactly the same” and they would not push it.
They’d be like “well that button’s not fair to me, though,” even though there’s literally no other buttons around and nothing newly bad would happen to them if the button was pushed.