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decolonize-the-left · 2 months

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I saw your post about the leopards eating faces and democrats and if you think the us is bad under biden have a good look through project 2025 and please fucking realize that queer people, those that can get pregnant, and people of color are going to be absolutely fucked if trump wins in November.

Sigh

If you ACTUALLY read it then you'd know Biden is ALREADY carrying out the goals outlined in project2025. You'd also know that his administration is even using the SAME exact language that's found in the Mandate for Leadership. Such as "protecting the freedom of navigation in the Suez Canal"

I literally have a post floating around somewhere where I said he was gonna escalate the genocide and smoke out all the rebel groups because guess what? Project2025 outlined that too. Literally listed them as targets that the administration should focus on.

Another part of it says they should continue to protect and support Israel's "right to defend itself" at any cost.

So yeah that thing you're afraid of? It's here. And it's here because you thought the fascist with a blue tie was less scary than a fascist than a red tie so you stopped paying attention when Blue Tie Man was around. And that blue Fascism that's allowing book bans and abortion bans and making trans people illegal is going to stay here and grow because you don't fucking care to address it unless the tie is red.

Maybe fucking read the thing you're trying to fearmonger me about because I guarantee I've read more of it than you.

And it's not that I find the realities in it less scary, it's that I'm not such a privileged shithead that I would prioritize my own comfort over lives being lost in a literal fucking genocide.

Yeah shit sucks for queer people and trans people and trust me, I know that, but we aren't being killed in broad fucking daylight and having people go into denial about it so maybe instead of barking up MY blog about how fucked up everything is you go and send the DNC and your representatives some emails and tell them to give Democrats a candidate that doesnt commit genocide?

How about instead of yelling at me to lower my standards cuz things MIGHT get scarier for you if Blue Tie Man doesn't beat trump (and he won't) you ACCEPT that reality and DO SOMETHING USEFUL about it. How about you and your party just BE BETTER????

There's seven months before the elections and Biden is tanking every poll and Democrats are voting uncommited in swing states and what's Biden doing? Doubling down on every single policy that he's losing voters over (like supporting Israel). If he loses that's not my fault or anyone else's.

Maybe stop asking people to vote for a warmongering white supremacist.

"think of the queers and pregnant people and PoC"

I Am.

They live in Palestine and Sudan and the DRC.

Or did you mean I should prioritize different queers and pregnant people and PoC?

Don't be shy. Did you mean I should prioritize you?

Cuz yeah. Fuck that.

(white) USamerican citizens prioritizing ourselves over everyone else is exactly how the world got so fucked up.

I'm NOT voting for Biden under any fucking circumstances, don't waste my time with another bullshit uninformed scare mongering ask like this again just cuz YOU lack the solidarity to care about any community but your own.

The fuck?

Do you think the queer community only counts Americans? What an ignorant thing to say. "Think of minority communites but only from this specific part of the world"

You wouldn't know community if it hit you in the fucking face.

#asked #answered #project2025 #queer #lgbt #poc #reproductive rights #bodily autonomy #the fact you separated PoC from queer and pregnant people is Weird As Fuck also btw like just say youre a white supremacist ffs #biden #2024 #vote

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txttletale · 8 months

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Wtf is Lancer and why is it shit (serious question)

lancer is a tabletop roleplaying game made by the guy who drew kill six billion demons and another guy. i wouldn't call it 'shit', necessarily--it's good in a lot of the ways that matter. it's first and foremost a tactical mech combat game and on that level it's incredible. its ruleset is finely tuned, provides great amounts of GM support to make running what might otherwise be overwhelmingly crunchy combat easier, and has a truly stunning and cool level of character customization available. so as a game, i think it's great fun to play and run, genuinely innovative, and a huge step forward for battlemap tactical wargame type TTRPGs in general.

the lore though, kind of sucks. i think it has two clear and overlapping core problems. problem #1 is that it is a utopia as envisioned by a social democrat. it's a world which the text describes as 'post-capitalist' (but there are still evil megacorporations with private armies who own slaves) and 'post-scarcity' (but only in the developed 'core' systems, so. y'know. there's scarcity). at many points in the text they say that Union (the game's main faction) is utopian, throwing around that exact word a bunch of times as well as 'mutual aid' and 'direct action' and the like. but what they describe is just kind of an imperialist Space Sweden with several distinct forms of slavery that constantly expands and uses its Benevolent Imperial Power to intervene on the Backwards Violent Worlds on its outer border but its good because its just trying to bring them UBI.

to show what i mean, here's one of the game's writers¹ talking about how it would be morally wrong for Union to, say, appropriate the property of a private military corporation that also operates as a fascist nation-state:

it's 'revolution' as imagined by the limpest of social democrats. and of course this would honestly be fine, whatever, most sci-fi settings are fundamentally achingly liberal, but the game goes so out of its way to signpost how Radical it is and how Hopeful and Liberationist you're meant to see the setting as

the other core problem is closely related--it feels like the lancer guys put every cool sci-fi idea they had into lancer even when it completely clashes with the core ideas behind it. like, AIs in this settings are callled 'NHPs' (non-human persons) and they're eldritch god-like beings from another dimension who have be kept 'shackled' (lancer's words, not mine!) to keep them as pliant and obedient AI assistants instead of hostile eldritch abominations. this is obviously horrifying and dystopian but it rules, it would be sick fucking worldbuilding for something with the tone of 40k or a one-off doctor who or star trek episode--but as a fundamental technology foundational to what we are supposed to believe is a post-revolutionary society founded on mutual aid and solidarity and blah blah blah it's glaringly dissonant.

bear in mind this is all just going off the rulebook. lancer fans have told me that the supplements and campaign modules fix some of this or contextualise it. but on the other hand communists have told me that they make it worse and i trust the communists more. i leave you with this incredible passage from the game's foreword:

#ask #brendanicus #ttrpg #lancer

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newdog14 · 7 months

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I want to talk to everyone who's still saying "I know Biden is bad, but Trump is worse, so just vote Blue."

I know that American Politics sucks right now. Everyone is a bad option and every year our options get worse. I get it, and it sucks, but here's the thing: If we keep saying "Vote Blue no matter what!" then the Democratic party is never going to get better. In fact, it'll probably get worse, because if ignoring the voices of their voter base doesn't lose them votes, then why bother listening?

If you want things to get better, if you want politicians that you can vote for without feeling like you've betrayed your ethics, then we need to show that we WILL stop voting for people who we don't agree with. We need to show that the American people have heard Biden's Administration say "There are no red lines for Israel" and we do not agree.

Politicians only care about us for our votes. If supporting genocides demonstrably loses votes, then politicians will take note and change their policies in accordance. But if we vote Biden no matter what, if we vote Blue no matter what, then they aren't going to listen to us when we call and protest and scream.

Now, some of you may be thinking, what about Trump?

There is a chance he won't be able to run after all; he's currently in a legal shit storm that got his ability to do business in New York revoked. And with many of his co-defendants and associates pleading guilty things aren't looking good for him. Even if he can dodge the numerous felony fraud charges he's been hit with, this is going to be an expensive, embarrassing, dragged out process that will severely limit his time and funds for campaigning.

That doesn't mean he won't find his way onto the ballot anyway, but he hasn't won the Republican nomination yet. Even if he does though, sticking by Biden doesn't mean you're putting someone better in the White House. Given the ever climbing death toll that Biden is not just ignoring but enabling, it’s getting increasingly difficult, at least for me, to believe that Trump is actually worse. They’re both bad, and they’re both hurting people, so instead let’s look at why so many are clinging to the democratic party, even in the face of a genocide.

I know the biggest reason so many folks are hesitating to cut support for Biden is that they're worried about what that means for those of us in the United States.

Who will stop the anti-trans bathroom bills that keep popping up? Who will keep abortion bans off the books? Who will prevent censorship in schools?

Well, in point of fact, not your president!

Think about it. Did Biden being president put a stop to Florida's "don't say gay" bill? No. He had zero impact there.

Is he what stands between Virginia and the Abortion Ban currently being proposed for the state? Also no. He's not involved at all.

Has Biden stopped the bans on Drag Shows so many states are trying to implement? No, the Federal Courts have been doing that, including judges who were appointed by Trump.

See, the President of the United States is all about the big picture. Their opinions matter, and they can set a tone for their party, but they don’t control everything. Their impacts on the governing of states come from the people they appoint, like judges, but even then, most people will still do their jobs over pleasing the person who got them that job. Especially so because federal judges are actually really difficult to remove, and that only really happens if they’re so bad at following the rules that congress gets rid of them.

I’m not sure if Biden can’t stop states from making laws or if he just wouldn’t, but either way he’s not protecting us.

The President honestly can’t do a hell of a lot to the American people, especially not in just four years. That’s why we survived Trump’s first presidency, and it’s why we as a whole would survive it if he got a second term.

The place where a President’s influence is immediately and drastically felt, however, is in the international sphere. The American people are protected, the citizens of the world are not, and with that fun little “well we’re not declaring war” workaround, the President, aka the Commander in Chief of the US Military, can do a hell of a lot of damage.

The people of Palestine may not survive another four years of Biden’s presidency. If things carry on like they are, they may not survive the remaining one year of his term.

So we the American people need to show that we will not stand by a president that endorses genocide. We need to show that we will not stand by a party that endorses genocide. We need to start talking, and loudly, about how we will not be voting for Biden next year. We need it to be clear that it is specifically his foreign policy that has lost his support, and that we will not be willing to just switch him out for a newer model who reminds me of no one so much as a modern day Aaron Burr.

There are a lot of things that we can do to express our displeasure for Biden, and for Israel, and there are a lot of people who can help you call for change, plan boycotts, organize marches, and determine where to aim direct action to have the greatest impact. But all of that needs to be done while putting our votes where our voices are, or else all of that rage will burn out and nothing will really change, just like it has in the Black Lives Matter movement.

In this case, as we do not currently have a better option, the place to put our presidential votes is with no one.

It’s not an ideal solution, I know. After all the years we’ve spent saying, “Vote! Vote no matter what! Vote or else you can’t complain about what happens!”, not voting feels like one of the most counterproductive moves to make. The reason we have to do it though, is because voting in the same sort of people and hoping they’ll make things better isn’t working, and we’re never going to get new options if we keep supporting the old ones. Cutting support for Biden, for Democrats on the national level, without a viable alternative isn't an easy choice to make. It's scary and I admit that it's kind of a gamble. No one has ever tried it before, not the way I'm hoping you all will.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?” It’s time for us to break. No more unconditional blue votes.

We have to force the Democratic party to recognize that their voting base will not just mindlessly support them, and that the candidates they put forth will be expected to hold up a certain moral standard. Our democracy is skewed to favor the opinions of corporations and the mega rich, but politicians do still need the masses to vote them into office, just like companies need us to buy things so that they can make money in the first place, and voting margins are tight enough that just like in the Speaker of the House vote, it won’t actually take that many of us to throw a wrench in the party’s bottom line.

We might not be able to win, but we can make sure that they lose until they shape up and start making meaningful changes.

And you may be thinking, won’t that just leave us in the hands of Republicans?

I want you to scroll back up. Look at all the bills I brought up that Biden didn’t stop. We are already in Republican hands, and the majority of Democrats are not willing to actually stand up to them.

That said, not voting across the board isn’t what I’m asking you to do.

Our choices for President may be shot to hell, but there will be other people on that ballot in 2024. Local people, who will very directly affect your hometown and not much outside of it. Vote for your local sheriff, for your school board members, for your mayor and your state delegates.

These are the people who control whether or not your senator can pass a drag show ban. These are the people who enable or block bills that hurt LGBTQ+ students. These are the folks who vote on whether or not to pass abortion bans. And in local elections? Your vote really, truly counts in a way that it just can’t on a national level.

And it’s not just people who wind up on your ballots. Local initiatives for conservation, funding for infrastructure, redistricting drives, and changes to your state’s constitution appear on your ballots too, and those are things that you’re going to want to have a say in.

There’s more to this mess than just voting or not voting, of course. There is always going to be more than one step we have to take to force change. That's why we cannot and do not vote inside a vacuum. We still have to make calls, and go to protests, and put our money where our morals are. Change isn't easy, and when you're fighting a decades old machine it's not quick either. But the longer we drag our feet about pushing back, the longer we keep betting on the lesser evil to change, the worse our options will get.

It might feel hopeless right now. Like our voices don't matter, and that we're screaming our lungs out alone. We can't give up though. We can't give into despair, and we can’t let up the pressure before new voices step forward, even if it takes time, and even if it takes more effort then checking a box or sharing a post.

One step will never be enough on its own, but every step we take adds up, and when we take those steps together we magnify our voices into something that cannot be ignored.

This is how we force our politicians to change: consequences and losses. If we start up early enough we might even get better options who could actually win the presidency, but we can't balk if we don't.

I know you might be scared to lose this election. As I write this, it feels counterintuitive, and it's something I never could have imagined saying years ago. But we can't change our political options unless we force politicians to change, and that only happens if they can't get elected as they are.

So don't elect them, and make sure they know that you're doing it on purpose and for a reason.

#american politics #us politics #political #vote #free palestine #palestine

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fairuzfan · 7 months

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Genuinely curious, because I've seen some people say that one should vote biden because if you vote for trump or desantis their stance on the ongoing genocide and other matters would actually be worse than what we're contending with, and I have no true frame of reference: do you think that's actually true or a likely possibility?

I'm of the opinion that it really doesn't matter who we vote for anyways, the outcomes will still be the same. Biden is enabling 4 different genocides/ethnic cleansing (Palestine, Congo, Armenia, Sudan) and honestly, I don't see how it can get any worse.

They often make the argument that things will happen *here* that is dangerous but speaking as someone who has lived in a very Red state my entire life, it has never been safe or welcoming for me to begin with, along with others who have similar identities to me. Not to mention that bad things have already happened here under Biden, with the Abortion ban, book bans, and ban on critical race theory being taught in schools.

Trump is not great, like I don't want him to win either. He was the person who moved the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem and it was seen as a political slap to the face to Palestinians (click). Don't get me wrong they're both piles of shit. But I refuse to elect people into office that let such flagrantly terrible things happen in the world. These people have no oversight in their actions, are free to do what they want, and no manner of "democratic" intervention will stop them from doing the things they want, especially when they're afraid of losing funding for going against major lobbying organizations like CUFI and AIPAC.

This isn't the first time Biden ignored Palestinians in this term. Remember in 2021 with the settlements in Shiekh Jarrah? He didn't say a word condemning Israel for their forced displacement and their bombardment of Gaza (click). Sure the Abraham Accords sucked and that was brokered by Trump, but Biden could have undone that. He didn't. He just re-approved aid to Palestinians (which, who cares when they're under occupation? No amount of aid will help them attain liberation). Palestinians don't want aid — they want America to stop funding the Zionist Entity.

Everyone in Palestine already knows that the Israel's biggest supporter, America, is also their biggest funder. If they just stopped funding, everything would be cut in half. There is no way the Zionist entity would be able to sustain itself. Even now, their economy is failing because they relied on Palestinians for much of their cheap labor. They cannot support themselves without USAmerica's direct intervention.

I am of the opinion that we should organize to change the way our government operates or else things like these will keep happening. It does not help anyone but the ultrarich and the people in power. Things like Cop City and the genocide in Congo and Sudan and Armenia only happen because the US has a vested monetary interest in oppressing them. This will not change between presidents. Biden will just be quieter about it.

I don't know how to organize stuff like this, or where to go to organize, but if we keep playing in the system they laid out where they always win, then there's no way anything can change.

#palestine #gaza

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zvtara-was-never-canon · 2 months

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There is 58 years between the first plane flight, and a human going to space.

Technological advancements happen very quickly, so yeah that argument is mute. Even if you believe Santos Dumant was the first person to do it, that's still 63 years between his flight and a human going to space.

Also I'm not sure in which universe is democracy a widely American concept.

Even before Ancient Greece in the Vajjika Republic in 6th century bce India is widely considered to be the first example of a democratic Republic.

Also democracy is literally only in Republic City, which didn't have real democracy until the end of Book 1, and the earth kingdom who was suffering under a bad case of fascism. And Queen Hou-Ting, what ever godamm name was, sucked dick and was a terrible ruler.

The water tribes kept their chiefs, they just get to vote on it. The northern water tribe chiefdom is hereditary. The fire nation kept their firelord

Korra did not spread democracy everywhere, unlike where you claim they forced it.

Poor earth kingdom citizens, they must miss being a selfish queen who never did anything to help them, and let theives go wild, and then the facist dictator, who put people into concentration camps.

In HISTORY leaps in technology have happened fast. In a STORY you need to be careful not to make the whole thing feel like it's set in a different universe - and when we go from rudimentary industrialization, some of which is openly treated as a PROBLEM by the original's shows narrative because nature's worth and it's key role in keeping balance are a central theme in several episodes, all the way to Ford 1s everywhere, big ass factories that would obviously cause a lot of polution, lightningbending going from rare to something common that is used to give everyone electricity, all because the writers wanted to change the aesthetic from Meiji Era Japan to Prohibition Era New York, I'm gonna say that shit went a bit too far.

I didn't say americans invented democracy, I'm saying it's very common for american writers to push their own way of life as the only correct one, because there's literally over a century of the government spreading propaganda about "The american dream" and "the american way of life" to EVERYONE, including people in the USA, where the writers were raised - which is why the city that is supposed to represent the all four nations suddenly goes from "Very obviously east asian" to "Very obviously USA stuff that was never present in the old show." The character of Korra isn't running around saying "The US is inherently better", but the show very much is by making the symbol of balance and harmony so PAINFULLY american.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Bryke or anyone involved in the making of Korra was actively trying to make propaganda, they were just influenced by it and repeated some of it without even realizing it - and so did you with the bizarre leap in logic of "If you criticize the way americans, knowingly and unknowingly, tend to push their way of life as the default/superior one in stories, that means you think the fascist villain had a point/is not that bad"

If you like Korra as a show, including the whole concept of Republic City, that's fine. It's none of my business. But as someone who literally had to study American propaganda pieces and the long lasting influence it had in media, there is NOTHING you or anyone can say to me that will convince me that is not a reflex of propaganda that breaks the world-building that had been very coherent and consistent in the previous show. Either deal with that, or block the tags/my blog.

#anti korra #anti legend of korra #anti lok

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madamtrashbat · 2 months

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It's that time again for political posts in America and I have some thoughts. Ignore if you want.

Sometimes I really feel like people get so caught up in fucking white knight political ideology that the ensuing inaction causing the creeping rise of fascism or conservative assholery is seen as an inevitable instead of as a direct result of internet leftists sitting with their thumb up their asses because there's no ideologically pure candidate they can throw their weight behind. When the flood comes they'll be so smug as they drown because they saw this coming, especially because the person who was trying to stem the flood was using outdated tools so obviously this was inevitable.

Complacency and plans for BIG GRAND SWEEPING GESTURES that will rework the system in one fell swoop are always going to fail, and beyond that it's always going to cause more harm. Always. Your leftist utopia isn't going to suddenly appear one day if you post enough hot takes, things aren't going to change if you decide you don't like that someone has a differing opinion on high-speed rail systems than you and therefore they're basically a fascist and cannot be supported. Black and white doesn't exist in politics.

Elections are not just the president. It does suck that we get a choice of only two, and it's a bummer that the Democrat option is Joe Biden! I don't agree with everything he does, and I am certainly not in agreement with a good deal of what he does, but that does not change the fact that I'm going to vote for him, because the alternative is unfathomable, and quite frankly, there is a good list of what he's done that I approve of.

"Voting doesn't matter!" Respectfully you are stupid. Elections are not just for president. Do you know what senate seats are up for grabs this term? What's on your local ballots? Do any amount of cursory research and then join the conversation. People wouldn't try to keep you from voting if it didn't matter.

"Biden is too old!" Yes, I'd love a younger candidate, too, but what is sitting this election out going to do to fix it? Are you just going to hope a younger candidate appears out of nowhere? Or are you going to do the work to support candidates you do like?

"Biden is a centrist!" I cannot overstate how behind we are politically that Biden is literally the most left-leaning president we've ever had and it's only by participating in politics that we can keep pushing it even further. Democrats are historically more open to changing their minds than Republicans; I watched Obama move from not supporting marriage equality to signing it into fucking law in real time. How much work are you doing to help push our politics left beyond just angrily posting about how shit it all is?

"Two-party system sucks!" Big agree! How will not participating in it change it? Are there any smaller candidates, like reps, who agree with you? Can you support them to get us closer to a multi-party system?

"Palestine matters!" Could not agree more! Absolutely agree with you that the atrocities in Palestine need to end. Biden has a shaky stance on this at best, with a weird position of still supporting Israel as an ally and also condemning what they're doing, but he is not the first president to have a weird, fucked-up foreign policy and he's likely not going to be the last. But how well do you think Palestine will fare under Trump? Al Jazeera reported that Biden at least views that Palestine should be self-governed and supports a two-state solution, meanwhile, Trump unequivocally supports Benjamin Netanyahu, and said through his nepotism mouthpiece Jared Kushner that Palestine doesn't deserve statehood. What hope would Palestine have under another term of Trump?

"Trump and Biden (or) Democrats and Republicans are all the same anyway" if you actually believe this, and I mean truly believe this, then public education was absolutely and thoroughly wasted on you and I want you to personally repay the taxes that paid for it. Four years of Trump saw the overturn of Roe v. Wade by cramming unqualified conservative stooges into the Supreme Court, the reduction of the assistance provided by food stamps, the mishandling of a global pandemic that killed many thousands in the US alone, the US stepping away from climate action, and actual problems of exposing state secrets. Less than four of Biden have seen the enactment of the massive infrastructure bill, approval of an OTC birth control pill, a reworking of redlining laws that expands protections for home loan borrowers, cracking down on predatory overdraft fees from banks, incentivizing farmers to reduce carbon emissions, and enacting stronger punishments for companies that interfere with union votes and enacting more union protections. I'd say those are pretty big fuckin differences.

---

Look.

I get it. This shit seems rough because we're going through it and we're tired. But refusing to be involved is a little like deciding to protest your quarterback being an asshole by standing still on the football field. Because the thing about that is that the other team's quarterback is ALSO an asshole, a huge fucking asshole, and even though he's not on the field right now, his line is still coming for you, and they're going to tackle you, despite you claiming you're not playing anymore. You're on the field whether like it or not. You might as well fight until you can convince your team to find a new quarterback.

You can't give in to despair. Anyone claiming Biden and Trump are the same are lying to you. A better future is possible, but only if you keep pushing. Stack the house and the senate with people that have the best policies and uplift them. Get involved in your community. Change starts at the smallest level, and it is enacted by you.

Remember how many states the Republicans lost that it took them gerrymandering to get back. We can do it.

But you can't think of it in black and white. You have to keep marching towards the horizon. Do not stop, ever. Keep pushing, and drag the people you can forward.

#a bit of a rant here #I'm gonna get called a liberal shill for this I absolutely know it

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blurrymango · 3 months

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"All art is political" is the creativity killer. Don't let that bitch trick you into thinking you have to have a statement in your art or writing. Art and writing and music =/= inherently political. Thinking that every piece is, is very dumb.

Eminem and Lil Darkie making songs about politics and drugs is different from Freddie Dredd making songs about killing people is different from Tool making songs about addiction and trauma is different from $uicideBoy$ making songs about addiction and suicide is different from Haken making songs about. Whatever the ffuck their songs are about. Is different from Crywank making songs about being depressed is different from Gorillaz making songs about society and/ whatever the ffuck Captain Chicken is about.

Ok. So. I listen to music about violence a lot. Huh. Anyway.

Porn art is not political. Hentai is not political.

I Hate Fairyland is a comic with cartoon gore satire about childish fairytale tropes and also a story about longing to grow up. Black Butler is a gothic dark manga about a child being thrust into a world of crime and choosing to commit down that path. They're both different in tone and execution and they both ROCK.

American Psycho is a satire on yuppie stock market men and vanity in 90s as well as a story about a mentally unstable man killing people and becoming more mentally unstable the more he tries to be normal. That is. Political. But it's moreso a commentary on society, rather than an overt political message.

Like there's a difference between drawing a character who is punk and drawing a character who is "punk" in the way hardcore leftists think of it as. There's a difference between art of girls kissing to "make misogynists mad" or whatever and making art of girls kissing because you like to draw girls kissing. There's a difference between racebending a character to "fix" them or "make racists mad" and racebending a character to see how they'd look as a different race.

"All art is political" is stupid, because someone drawing gore art of anime girls or someone drawing a shota getting his ass pounded is not in fact political.

You don't have to have characters saying "SCREW TRUMP" or "VOTE DEMOCRAT" you can just have them saying "man I want some dick" or "this weed sucks you gave me bad weed I'm not even slightly high I need to kill you." You don't have to have characters saying "TRANS RIGHTS" but you do need to have them saying "kill TERFs, every single transphobe and radfem needs to die."

Draw shota porn. Draw anime girl gore. Draw dudes with top surgery scars and tdicks. Draw girls with big tits and even bigger dicks. But don't claim it's activism. Because it's not. It's ok. You can draw trans characters without making it a statement.

Can art be political? Yes. Should all art be viewed from a political or ideological lens? No, and ffuck off with that shit.

#mango man speaks

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broadwaydivastournament · 17 days

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Audra and Bebe and Bernadette and Christine: The Good Fight

Diane Lockhart:

After slapping the shit out of Julianna Margulies in the series finale of The Good Wife, Diane Lockhart became the star of her own spin-off series The Good Fight. On the eve of her retirement, Diane finds out she's dead broke due to a series of financial schemes perpetrated by friend and client Bernadette Peters' husband (whose name I don't care enough to look up). Following this disastrous turn of events, Diane becomes a partner at a Black Chicago-based firm, and is later upgraded to named partner.

She's also a fashion icon, so jot that down.

Throughout six seasons, staunch-Democrat Diane spends her storylines addressing the social and political climate of the day. She handles cases revolving around fake news and the MeToo movement, briefly joins an underground anarchist group because Katie Finneran tells her to (understandable), gets SWAT-ed, has a few breakdowns, and enjoys the fun of microdosing. In short, she's living her best life.

Liz Reddick:

In the second season, Liz Reddick-Lawrence joins the gang at Reddick, Boseman, & Lockhart. Formerly a U.S. Attorney, and Boseman's ex-wife, she joins the firm following her father's death. Initially, she and Diane get off to a rough start with their professional and personal differences. White name partner, Black firm... You can understand why. They spend the series butting heads as often as holding hands, and when the chips are down, they'll support each other.

Liz, another fashion icon, has a young son, divorces her cop husband, has a romantic liaison with Wayne Brady, has another affair with her ex-husband (and perjures herself when asked about it in court), and fucks a workplace subordinate (a white man, which is the real crime here). She and Diane briefly put aside their fight-of-the-week to lean into the rumor that they're lesbian lovers in order to win a court case. And we didn't even get a fake dating kiss out of it, so if anyone wants to join my class action lawsuit for emotional harm, let me know.

Judge Claudia Friend:

Judges on The Good Fight, often have a fun little schtick that recurs throughout their guest appearances. Judge Claudia Friend is cursed to always preside over cases where the lawyers see fit to bicker like children the entire time. She is...so tired. (Hence why my multi-story saga about this minor character started with her getting absolutely railed over her desk by another judge--as played by Joanna Gleason).

In addition to three appearances in The Good Wife, including Audra McDonald's single guest appearance where they shared a scene, Claudia Friend presides over two episodes/cases in The Good Fight. And I, for one, would have liked more of this exhausted and exasperated judge in my life.

Lenore Rindell:

Mother of early-series protagonist Maia Rindell, Lenore is a co-conspirator of the ponzi scheme that makes Diane flat broke season one. While her husband fucks off to some island to avoid prosecution, Lenore has to stay and face the music. She's also having an affair with her brother-in-law, so there's that.

Okay, sucks for Diane and all that, but take a look at this woman and tell me you wouldn't let her do whatever she wanted? I support women's wrongs, and I really support the costume department putting Bernadette in this pretty little nightie. Anyway, Lenore is eventually prosecuted for her part in the whole financial scheme and her character is written out of the show.

Other Divas who appear on The Good Fight include: Brenda Braxton (Madeline Gilford - 16eps), Andrea Martin (Francesca Lovatelli - 6eps), Mary Testa (Amy Ann Howard - 3eps), Katrina Lenk (Naftali Amato - 3eps), Jayne Houdyshell (Renee Rampling - 2eps), LaChanze (Julius's Wife - 2eps), Carolee Carmello (Judge Eve Sebald - 2 eps), Linda Emond (Judge Leora Kuhn - 1ep), Katie Finneran (Valerie Peyser - 1ep), Judith Light (Deidre Quinn - 1ep), Joanna Gleason (Judge Carmella Romano - 1ep), Kelli O'Hara (Deirdre Kresteva - 1ep), NaTasha Yvette Williams (Juror - 1ep).

Other Divas who appear on The Good Wife include: Mary Beth Peil (Jackie Florrick - 49eps), Anika Noni Rose (Wendy Scott-Carr - 14eps), Vanessa Williams (Courtney Paige - 4eps), Joanna Gleason (Judge Carmella Romano - 3eps), Linda Emond (Judge Leora Kuhn - 3eps), Jan Maxwell (Camilla Vargas - 2eps), Debra Monk (Tracy Mintz - 1ep), Julie White (Selma Krause - 1ep), Susan Blackwell (Professor Jolie - 1ep), Tovah Feldshuh (Lena - 1ep), Karen Ziemba (Lina Banner - 1ep), Ann Harada (Isabel St. Jean -1ep), Donna Murphy (Judge Alice Adelson - 1ep), Victoria Clark (Shannon Janderman - 1ep), Jackie Hoffman (Judge Maria Felletti - 1ep).

And pretty much every other Broadway actor you can think of.

#christine baranski #audra mcdonald #bebe neuwirth #bernadette peters #the good fight #the good wife

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blackfilmmakers · 15 days

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there's a theory that the democrats are purposely sabotaging themselves so that come the 2028 election, they can blame republicans for how bad shit is now and will be worse the next 4 years so they can ask for bigger donations.

since most of the dems are moderates anyway, they only care about money hence why they're also easily bought off by the aipc (?)

and ofc biden just straight up sucks lol but the dems KNEW that and still pushed him to be the primary candidate so

I'm not a 100% sold with that theory, but it is clear they are putting all their money on the fact they promote themselves better than Trump's administration. They just aren't doing a convincing enough job on that as they are literally carrying out those policies we feared would go through

But I do know that regardless of how the elections turn out, these guys and their supporters will blame Black people, will blame Indigneous people, will blame Palenstinians, will blame every person of color that didn't lick biden's dusty boots personally

#anon #politics

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invisiblefoxfire · 18 days

Text

Seen an alarming number of people on my dash passing around a post insisting that Biden is just as bad as Trump, and listing some bad shit that has happened under Biden as proof of this, all framed as a "this is WHITE PEOPLE'S FAULT and just because you have white privilege and aren't being targeted by these things doesn't mean Biden isn't EVIL" and...

And these posts are being shared by people I have seen, recently, also sharing posts about how you need to watch out for psy-ops and propaganda, and you need to remember just HOW MUCH WORSE Trump is, and how anyone who can needs to vote for Democrats to prevent the US from becoming a literal overt christofascist dictatorship.

And it looks like the moment they saw a post that said "you only think that because you're white," their guilt over having privilege caused them to crumble.

I can't believe I'm having to write this. I can't believe the people I follow don't already know this, aren't already on the lookout for this. I can't believe there's a very serious chance that these campaigns will work and too many young people won't vote because "Biden is bad too" and the entire world will have to suffer under the christofascist dictatorship the Republicans are overtly, not secretly, but openly promising to institute under Trump.

Biden sucks in a lot of ways. He's done things he shouldn't which should make you angry. He's not done things he should have which should also make you angry. There are some things people think he should do which he doesn't actually have the power to do (which is why you vote the whole ballot, not just the president). He has also done a lot of really good things that people aren't talking about as much because anger and outrage get more clicks. (No, I am not going to list them here because I'm just one poor queer trans disabled guy who is mustering up the last of his energy to post this today, but I've shared lists of good stuff he's done before, and I will again whenever they pop up.)

Trump wants to burn down the world and start armageddon in the name of the evangelical christian religion. He wants everyone like me to die. He wants every queer person to die. He wants every disabled person to die. He wants every brown and black person to die. He wants to write Israel a blank check to nuke every last Palestinian. He wants to flood the air with deadly chemicals. He wants to get rid of no-fault divorce to trap people in abusive marriages. He wants to get rid of birth control and turn every person with a uterus into a baby producing factory. He wants to start fresh wars with everyone on earth. He wants to suck Putin's dick. He wants to burn down the rainforests. He has a rabid group of fascists, many of whom are fucking cops and military, chomping at the bit to make things so much worse than you could possibly imagine.

Things are bad. Things are bad right now. If you do not vote for Biden, you are saying you're fine with things getting unfathomably worse for the entire planet.

If you think it is more important to do nothing wrong than to do something right, if you think it is better to keep your soul~ pure by never voting for someone imperfect than to vote however you have to to stop far greater evils from taking power, then fuck you.

YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE TO PROPAGANDA. The propaganda will not come in the form of a MAGA red hat wearing skinhead trying to persuade you to join him. It will come in the form of a post that says "actually I'm OPPRESSED by the democrats and if you vote for them you are RACIST." It will come in the form of someone pretending to be on your side who is framing voting as somehow not woke enough. It will come in the form of someone who pretends to be just like you telling you that there's no point in voting, so just stay home.

They are putting SO MUCH EFFORT into trying to persuade young people not to vote, because voting MATTERS. But if you don't vote, and the Republicans win, then you might never get the chance to vote again.

Both parties are not the same. FUCKING. VOTE. Because if you can vote democrat, and you don't, and the republicans win, the horrors that will be unleashed as a result will be on your conscience for the rest of your life.

#vote #vote biden #vote blue #vote democrat #biden sucks but vote for him anyway #you are not immune to propaganda

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decolonize-the-left · 7 months

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You are literally going to get people killed by pushing them to vote third party. People voting third party is why Trump won in 2016, which allowed him to stack the Supreme Court with conservative garbage which is going to negatively affect us for DECADES to come (already has, since it led to the repeal of Roe v. Wade which has LITERALLY killed people). I'm baffled, because you've done so much good work on this website (like I still go back and regularly reread your posts on whiteness etc because they're so informative), but advocating for voting third party going into one of the most important elections in recent memory is actively harmful.

Like have you heard of Project 2025? In case you haven't it's literally like a 1000 page manifesto for the Republican party to reshape the federal government to essentially let the President become a dictator. It also expressly mentions plans to roll back rights for women, the LGBT community, and pretty much any other minority you can think of. I know things are bad now - not arguing that at all - but if Republicans win next year, things will get EXPONENTIALLY WORSE.

You can sit there and yell about Democrats being "just as bad" until you're blue in the face, but it's literally not true. The Democratic Party itself is obviously just another problematic institution and there are definitely Dems who showed their entire asses with supporting Israel, but like... Progressive Democrats do exist and while they're obviously not perfect, it's absolutely a step in the right direction. Not to mention Republicans literally need to cheat by gerrymandering and attacking voting rights for minorities in order to even get elected in a lot of places, whereas Democrats tend to win when more people are registered and actually show up to vote. They are not the same, and the harm they do is not the same.

Again, I have a lot of respect for the work you do, especially with your recent posts on the Palestinian genocide. But I vehemently disagree with your stance on voting third party in this upcoming election. Ideally I would love if we could vote third party and actually have multiple options that more accurately represent us as a population, but our current system is a two party one and unfortunately we literally do have to vote for the lesser of two evils, because one option sucks but preserves what little democracy we have (and gives us a chance of making it better) and one will literally bring genocide against trans people. I would personally rather not see that happen.

How can you say this and mention the Palestinian genocide in the same ask.

Democrats are getting people killed. In fact they're committing one of The worst crime against humanity possible and then only thing you're worried about is that things might get worse for gay people if a Republicans wins.

I'm the biggest queer I know. I'm native. I'm brown. I'm almost definitely on a watch list. And listen to me and understand the depth of my words when I say: my people have been oppressed the way Project2025 outlines.

And maybe you personally cared or helped us protest that. But most people didn't. In fact I can't remember the last time the US supported native rights at all.

But now that YOURE under threat I'm supposed to risk my life because the queer community can't be bothered to stop discoursing about neopronouns long enough to actual give an shit about saving the community?

Y'all got a lot of damn nerve, let me tell you.

Go bark up some other tree cuz this is not the one.

Also I'm not pushing anyone to vote 3rd party. I'm laying out facts. Facts are a Gallup poll says 63% of people would vote 3rd party. Facts are my Tumblr poll says that number is STILL at least 45% on the hellsite.

And since people are interested in voting 3rd party they should know their options. The people who say "I would vote 3rd party but they don't have support" also deserve to see the articles that said 63% of people would join them.

They deserve to know that 3rd parties currently hold a not insignificant amount percentage of support from the two main parties. 20% of votes. When 33% is an even split are good odds. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sorry, blue Fascists, but this country is in fact still a democracy and just because you Want people to vote blue doesn't mean they have to and you feeling they're the best doesn't make you right!

Other people aren't "wrong" for not wanting your conservative Jurassic party in power anymore.

They can vote how they want.

And if you see a poll that says 63% of people would rather NOT vote for either major party and your first thought is not: wow 63% is enough to elect someone we want, I'll support that.

And instead you go: how can I force them to vote for my party instead.

Then please understand it is not THEM splitting the vote. Biden will get MAYBE 40% votes. You gonna force 63% of the country to vote for someone they don't even want?

There's a name for that yeah?

How'd it work out in 2016 when y'all "forced" us to vote for Hillary by putting her on the ballot? She lost and she wasn't even actively commiting a genocide.

But you think Biden will not only earn votes from that 63% but he'll also win the election. Against trump. Which less blatantly shitty democrats have struggled to contend with?

Democrats are legitimately delusional.

Your problem is you see Democrats as being better than Republicans. While the rest of us see less and less of a difference every year. And you can only say you're "better" if you're different enough.

See this is what happens when you vote for the "lesser evil." Eventually that evil balances back out and you're left with the truth that your two main options are just evil.

Now the only people actually different enough to make that argument are third parties.

Coincidentally, that's what people are drawn to right now.

I know, go figure. It's almost like it makes sense to lose support when you consistently prop up shitty candidates nobody asked for every 4 years.

We do not have a two party system and you know that, that's why you sent this ask.

Cuz you're stressed dems might lose. Cuz you KNOW people have other options.

Good. Cuz they will lose if Biden is the democrat's nominee and Claudia de la Cruz stays in the race, which she will since she's running with PSL not democrats. So there's no competition. Her party is organized and chosen her and a VP already, she's guaranteed every one of their votes because her party works like a union does.

It's a wrap.

Biden can't use his "lesser evil" script with Claudia De La Cruz on the ballot actively challenging his genocide and imperialism.

Vote Claudia De La Cruz cuz you are a scooping water out of the Titanic trying to get 63% of Americans to think voting for a Genocidal warmonger is what's best for any of us, let alone the planet. And we didn't want him BEFORE he did any of this.

#asked #answered #voting

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txttletale · 9 months

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The "calling police is inherently immoral" takes feel… maybe a bit US-centric? All countries have structural issues with police that come as the result of the conflict of interests between individual people and the interest of the bourgie state, but not every country's police force is a highly-militarized, highly-armed trigger-happy murder force comprised of wannabe bullies the way the US's seems to be. Some do clear that very low bar. Hell, there are tons of countries where regular police officers aren't even armed.

In my life I've called the police twice over student parties past midnight so loud you could hear them two streets away, and once over someone's dog being trapped/forgotten in the trunk of car, distressed and barking continuously.

Even in a world after police abolition, the above kind of policing will continue to need to happen. Some people are dicks, and some situations need intervention. A shitton of civil law, not criminal law, exists for a very good reason and still requires some form of police to enforce. I like to think I have a pretty hopeful view of humanity, but the reason people in my country have stopped smoking indoors, and don't leave their trash in random places, and don't piss in the middle of the street, is that all of those things are illegal and can result in police being called and getting you fined. There is absolutely no way people en masse would obey those "don't be a dick" laws without that stick hanging over them.

In a country where police are so fucked up that calling them over a minor disturbance is likely to get people killed, yeah, I would probably not call the police and just suck it up and mourn the fact that the supposed justice system has become completely unusable for its intended purpose. But not all countries are like that.

(To be clear: I don't agree with calling police over someone doing drugs.)

even in countries where the police are not just outright death squads putting young people, especially young people of colour or working class young people, into a situation where they suddenly have to interact with the police is just not a cool thing to do. you've correctly identified that the role of the police is to repress the working class, no matter whether they're the white supermacist paramilitary groups of the US or the less militarized and better at PR police forces of Europe. like. the police in the UK are also 'not as bad' as the police in the US and yet they still do all kinds of horrendous racist violent shit and kill people. even the darling of democratic socialism norway, famous for its humane prison and policing system, actually still experiences police brutality, because no matter how 'professional' and disarmed the police force is its role is to enforce bourgeois property rights through violence. the idea that there is an 'intended purpose' to the justice is just buying into the police's hype.

& hey by the way you know who leaves their trash in the street and pisses there? homeless people. people who have nowhere else to put their trash or piss. the idea that the police are the only thing keeping society from descending into 'chaos' (i.e. visible signs of poverty and homelessness existing) is genuinely deeply reactionary. it's thin blue line shit. sure, it's cool that calling the police in your country isn't playing russian roulette with someone else's life but if you think that the police aren't 'a murder force' or 'comprised of wannabe bullies' wherever you live then i think you should probably look harder and pay more attention because there are almost certainly anti-police activists there who can tell you otherwise!

#ask

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grumpycakes · 7 months

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SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE VOTE 2, DISASTER BOOGALOO CONT.

DAY 4 • October 20, 2023 • Third Vote, bye bye Jordan

< Previous (Day 3 Oops No Vote)

HOOO BOY MY DUDES.

So for some reason they planned this vote at 10am (cause they hate the west coasters??? Oh. Oh wait yeah, they probably wanted to make it more inconvenient so people want to get it done.)

Also C-Span hecked up??? And didn’t come on till a bit into ten and while the ALTERNATE CHAPLIN WAS ALREADY PRAYING.

This guy is NOT NICE CHILL LADY CHAPLIN. He sounds chill, but he said shit about "We need more of you (God)," and "[Lord] Lead us in your will." which again AGAIN. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. AT LEAST nice Lady Chaplin asks god to lead us for what is best for the people. WHERE IS OUR NICE LADY CHAPLIN.

They do the pledge and then do their "Call of the House" (head count buzz in to make sure they have a Quorum/majority of the reps). This also serves to find out what the total number is to base the needed votes for a majority. This is why they let the timer lapse around as long as it was going, to make sure they have all the votes possible for better chances at getting majority.

C-Span actually had journalist/reporters going today??? Which they hadn't all week. But good info was had that I'll add in the takeaways. Made me jump tho during roll call rofl.

We hear that one Republican is out on a """Fact Finding Mission to Israel""" and he is one that votes Jordan so, not great for that. Apparently NORMALLY there are 435 seats for a majority of 218 votes needed, but there's been 2 vacancies so that's why it's been 433. 2 Democrat Representatives are out (V. Gonzales and Payne, no word why but not really an issue). Roll ends with 427 Present (Which would mean 214 to have a majortiy but by final vote it was 429 votes, so really only 4 ppl MIA instead of 6 and 215 needed)

SPEECHES

lolol So McCarthy gave this nomination speech for Jordan and like, I know they don't hate each other but I hope that hurt.

Says, contrary to Dem talking points, Jordoran is an effective legislator (WHICH GETS FUCKING LAUGHTER, AMAZING)

Continues that the Speakership is about compromise and working long hours to get it done (implying Jordan can and has done these things) GETTING MORE LAUGHTER AND CHATTER and McHenry even fucking calls us to order about it lol

"Democrats are attacking Jim" because they don't want secure borders (my dude it is YOUR PARTY not electing him)

Called Jordan selfless (DOUBTFUL)

Quotes people who worked with or under him (stupid and ofc only the good ones)

Goes into an example of Jordan and like, man I hate the way McCarthy speaks/tells stories/way he talks. Grates on my nerves

We've got a job to do (yeah, yet you seem incapable so far)

Does more Jabs at democrats cuase he's exhausting and desperate to blame anyone but his party

BLessedly not the longest but still annoying

Clark, Rep of Massachussets is here to give us a speech (OOOooo she's new to me)

Blah blah 212 consistently, we rock and are united

Republicans are disconnected from the people

Pointed out Jordan voted against healthcare for Mothers, chlidren, elderly and Veterans (haha which got angry dissent noises, sucks to suck)

Also notes he voted against lowering the cost of insulin multiple times

That he's a reproductive healthcare extremist

Reminds us Jordan's an election denier, misinformation spreader, and a threat to our democracy

American people want us to work for them and re-open the house, but the republicans keep fighting each other instead

blissfully short and with a good pace and snappy delivery, I like you Clark

The fucking dems started chanting Jeffries name again and this time McHenry tried to gavel them back to order but tHEY STARTED CHANTING LOUDER FASTER TILL THEY DEVOLVED INTO CHEERING. and Honestly, go off since you have to keep coming back to this bs

VOTING COMMENCES 429 Present • 215 To win •

Jordan can only lose 3 votes

NOTABLE VOTES (key: *change in voing, + same as last vote)

Bacon - McHenry * (Voted for McCarthy last vote, AND WE'RE OFF)

Bilirakis - Jordan +

Bost - MIA/Votes Jordan on recall

Buchannon - Donalds + (-2 votes)

Buck - Emmer + (-3 Jordan can't lose any more votes)

Chavez-DeRemer - McHenry* (-4 murmuring from crowd cause Jordan has lost)

Cohen - "For the 18th time Jeffries" (gets laughter about it)

Conolly - Did his long sentence for Jeffries

D'Esposito - Zelden + (someone tried to clap about it rofl)

Diaz-Balart - Scalise +

Elllsey - Mike Garcia +

Ferguson - Scalise +

Fitzpatrick - McHenry* (NEW DEFECTOR WEE WOO WEE WOO)

Fox - MIA/Votes for Jordan on recall

Garbarino - Zelden +

Gimenez -McCarthy + (loll one of the few that doesn't switch to McHenry)

Gonzales (T) - McCarthy +

Gonzales (V) - MIA/does not vote on recall

Granger - Scalise +

Hunt - MIA/does not vote on recall

Isa - Votes for Jordan but is standing in the democrat side, so the house is temporarily confused at a vote for jordan coming from there, laughter ensues)

James - Donalds* (Voted for Candace Miller of MI last time)

Hearty cheers when Jeffries votes for himself, lack luster cheers and polite clapping when Jordan votes for himself

Kean NJ - McCarthy (NEW DEFECTOR WEE WOO WEE-)

Kelly PA - Scalise* (Oh we decided against Boehner this time???)

Kiggans - McHenry* (haha i'm loving all these people dropping McCarthy for his bud)

Kilde - gets claps for voting Jeffries, unsure why

LaLota - Zelden +

LaMalfa - Jordan + (sticking to it)

Lawler - McHenry* (voted for Granger last time)

MccCarthy - Jordan (gets none attention haha)

Miller-Meeks - McHenry* (Voted Granger last time)

Molinaro - Zelden* (NEW DEFECTOR WEE W-)

Payne - MIA/does not vote on recall

Pelosi gets claps for voting but they're not crazy

Rutherford - Scalise +

Scalise - Jordan +

Spartz - Jordan +

Stauber - Westerman +

VanOrden - MIA/Does not vote on recall (out)

Vargas - yells Jeffries and gets laughter for it

Womack - Scalise +

Recall happens and McHenry does the normal, talk to vote talliers if you missed voting or need to change ur vote.

429 Voted • 215 to win

Jordan - 194 votes (HE LOST 3 MORE PEOPLE)

Jeffries - 210 votes (2 dems missing)

Scalise - 8 votes

McHenry - 6 votes (McHenry laughs as he gets cheers for it and does gently call for order)

Zelden - 4

Donalds - 2 votes

McCarthy - 2 votes

Emmer - 1 vote

Garcia (M) - 1 vote

Westerman - 1 vote

NO MAJORITY, NO SPEAKER CHOSEN McHenry immediately calls recess

TAKEAWAYS AND NEWS

The thursday closed meeting was 4 HOURS and Jordan had a SECONDARY MEETING with the holdouts for 2 MORE HOURS after that. DURING that meeting Jordan was REPORTEDLY told "He'd never be speaker."

Spartz had said that she'd back Jordan one more time, but if he lost again she would vote for someone else.

Jordan supporters said something to the effect of, It's not Jordan's fault Republicans who don't vote for him are getting death threats, it's their fault for not voting for Jordan. (AND LIKE HELLO???) Another Republican lady was like, I get death threats all the time, and I'm sorry for them but suck it up, so .. a lot of sypmathy.

Gaetz and the other 8 repubs that voted to ouster McCarthy (sealing his fates as none of the dems would vote for him) have come forwar offering themselves if that's what it takes to get Jordan nominated. Offering that they'd take sanctions and removal from the conference (basically getting kicked out of the party though they're saying they'd still be repubs??? and it would kick them off of their committee seats... so could we do it anyway??? llol). Gaetz says that he thinks this BS is actually GOOD GOVERNING (sure Jan) and tHEN ASKS, What else do they want, except a pound of our flesh?" (Which like... they want NOT FUCKING J JORDAN AS THE SPEAKER)

Jeffries did a Press conference and offers bipartisan stuff but like, man am I sicsik of that being kinda empty cause the Repubs will never and the Dems wont sacrifice human rights, so it's a moot point.

A lot of Republicans were defending this BS by pointing out how may times McCarthy had to run the vote but like THAT WAS ALSO BAD AND A SHIT SHOW

It was PROJECTED that Jordan would lose 5-8, 10max, voters, he only lost three but still

THE LAST TIME SOMEONE GOT THIS LOW OF VOTES WAS 1923, FINNIS GARRET GOT 195 VOTES. JORDAN SURPASSED HIM... MAKING HISTORY....

Brian Tyler Cohen made a interesting correlation of Jordan being an election denier making sense as he was refusing to accept his losses.

AFTERMATH

The Republicans held another closed door meeting (THEY'VE BEEN CALLING THEM ""FAMILY MEETINGS"") where they held an anonymous vote as to whether or not Jordan should continue as the nominee. HE FUCKING LOST in his OWN PARTY'S MEETING.

HE HAS removed himself as a nominee. We are back to square one.

McHenry announced that they were taking a 72/weekend break and would be back on monday to do a candidate forum (to some dissent, and many lawmakers just WANT THIS DONE WITH)

The repubs that have offered themselves as tribute

(With the assumption that they are boilerplate Repubs. over LGBTQ+, Abortion, Taxes, Immigration, etc etc. *Election denier means they have made statements, did not support the ratifying of the electoral college votes, voted against impeachment and investigations.)

Tom Emmer - not an election denier at minimum, current GOP Whip (assistant leader)

Kevin Hern - Already tried before Scalise got nominated and dropped out (election denier)

Austin Scott - Was close to Jordan in numbers for the repub speaker nominee (didn't argue electoral college shit and has said USA voting is solid, but didn't go after Jan 6/trump)

Byron Donalds - the dude the Fuckaround 8 kiiinda backed against McCarthy in JAN. (election denier)

Jack Bergman - apparently wanted to challenge Jordan but didn't, JUMPED when jordan was out (election denier)

Jodey Arrington - only said he was considering, but apparently others have brought him up as an option (election denier)

Mike Johnson - has been calling around to see if ppl support him as speaker (election denier)

Pete Sessions - ALSO jumped when jordan was out (election denier)

FINAL THOUGHTS

So ends our sordid tale of Jim Jordan. May he feel stupid about this for the rest of time.

No Republican speaker is going to be good but jfc can we not have literal government destroyers????

I guess the pass on the budget was for 45 days, we have spent 18 (to be 20) of them on this bs.

SHOULD I KEEP NAMING THESE VOTE 2, DISASTER BOOGALOO since it is still technically the 2nd speaker vote of this congress, or should I name it something else now that Jordan is out?

Next (Starting Over) >

#speaker of the house vote #disaster boogaloo #us politics #us congress #118th congress #mel does political reports now????

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southshoretides · 8 months

Text

Type of Guy Who Fears The Void

On the object level, I think this DeBoer piece correctly identifies a certain type of person (aging white man who self-consciously and showily hates all aging-white-guy pop culture in favor of trying to stay hip), but as the commenters implicitly/explicitly point out, that type of guy is concentrated among the east-coast-grad-educated-tastemaker-social-media-part-time-writer set, i.e. Freddie's milieu, which he often tricks himself into believing is the only milieu in the world. Go to any bar in the Midwest and poll the natives on BTS-vs-Pearl Jam and you'll get different results. (Freddie is of course interminably contrarian relative to whatever his local milieu is, and if fate had brought him to Kansas instead of Brooklyn, he'd be the most red-tribe-hating, pining-for-Brooklyn's-loving-embrace guy on the internet.)

But the meta level of "People recognize that the world naturally puts them in stereotypical boxes and either fight to escape that or wholeheartedly embrace it" is something I think about a lot. That first paragraph was all about different Types of Guy, and that's all it is these days, isn't it? Type of guy, type of guy, type of guy. A whole generation of internet-raised autists can pinpoint your political beliefs based on how you dress or what kind of car you drive. "Guy who makes youtube videos while driving his SUV and wearing wraparound sunglasses" is a different type of guy than "Guy who insists that Carly Rae Jepsen is the best songwriter of the 2010s" but they are politically and culturally opposite Types of Guy, even though there's no rule that says Democrats can't drive SUVs or Republicans can't like Carly Rae Jepsen. But the trend-lines are strong enough that people notice anyway.

@max1461 occasionally gripes about how quickly and thoughtlessly people transpose is-statements with ought-statements, or in other words, take objective factual data about something and try to force it into a prefab narrative. And it certainly is annoying, but to an extent it's like making fun of cavemen for thinking every rustle of grass is a tiger. That's what their environment is giving them, and it's what their brains adapt for. What our environment is giving us is an endless parade of people who eagerly and effusively promote their political and cultural opinions, and eagerly and effusively identify those opinions with such and such group, so no wonder it's so easy for even an amateur to unearth a Type of Guy. No wonder you can look at someone with a Roman-statue avatar and predict with reasonable accuracy his thoughts on young women who dye their hair. And I think this is something the internet makes worse, not better.

I think any objective accounting of the situation would have to conclude that it's easier to be an eccentric in 2023 than in 1993. The internet has allowed weird people to find each other, talk to each other, understand each other and themselves in a way that simply didn't exist before. At the very least, you don't get that "Am I the only human on earth who's like this?" feeling. And the cheap, Hallmark version of diversity/eccentricity is still a popular cultural value: those wall-hangings and birthday cards your aunt buys say "Be Yourself: Everyone Else is Taken", not "Yourself sucks, Be Someone Else." No one wants to be seen as the stodgy, bitter old fart. Part of it, I'm sure, is a cultural thing--Americans seem to obsess over individuality and being one's truest self more than others.

And yet...there's also this ambient sense that eccentricity-in-itself has been devalued in 2023 relative to 1993, at least in my circles. Everything from eccentric tastes in art ("What are you, some kind of hipster filmbro?"), sex ("Of course I'm sex-positive but weird creepy shit doesn't count!") or politics ("You don't really think that, you're just being edgy.") People who value weirdness and eccentricity for its own sake feel hemmed in by people who either openly see it as a threat to their own culture's local hegemony. A lot of the internet really does seem to live by the 'nail that sticks out gets hammered down' and sees that as a good thing. Seems paradoxical.

(For the record, I'm not laying the blame here at any particular subculture. Conservatives blather on about freedom and liberty and then say anyone who refuses to lick an HOA's balls is a dangerous subversive. Progressives say everyone is valid and beautiful and then plaster their spaces with various 'freaks DNI' equivalents, 'freak' status being determined by vibe-centric whisper campaigns. Liberals will Celebrate Diversity up to and no further than the point where it damages quarterly profits. No "name" group is immune to this, really, but certain subgroups are.)

A theory: the normie-weirdo ratio isn't particularly different than it used to be, but the way they interact is different. In the pre-internet days, the weirdos were well aware they were weird, and in having to navigate normie-land with psychological armor on, at least they might come to understand it somewhat. Now, for those who want it, there's an unending stream of validation and insistence that you're perfect the way you are. Without shading into the "can suffering be a good thing if it leads to change for the better?" argument, I think even people who are all-in on the answer being "no" have met at least one person defined by their self-actualization curdling into selfishness and narcissism, to the point where you can't understand how they function, in a way that is directly attributable to a having a stable of pseudonymous online enablers. That's a real phenomenon the way that "Shut up and repress, you freak" is a real phenomenon. They can both suck. They can even both suck in ways that make the other one worse.

The post-mainstream, pre-social-media 'Golden Age' of the internet was when it was basically a playground for weird people. Now everyone's on it by necessity, the weirdo-in-a-small-town dynamics are back, but now the whole world is the small town with the added "no one can ever really escape for good" dynamics of the internet tracking and recording and monetizing every aspect of human interaction.

The weirdos who are old enough to remember when the internet was their turf close ranks and start watching each other for the first signs of Turning Normie--itself something that's antithetical to actually following one's own star and drawing from whatever cultural tradition you find satisfying. The weirdos who aren't old enough grin and bear it because "you're constantly being judged by everyone" is just normal life for them. The stuff that's so popular that liking it puts you in the biggest box possible will benefit; stuff that was never gonna be popular under any circumstances will keep trucking. It's the cultural middle class, as usual, that suffers the most. Again, as I keep emphasizing, this cultural panopticon being both unending and global is unprecedented in human history.

I really think a lot of current cultural neuroses are due to this, although I can't really prove it and don't have the resources to research it. This sense of modern technology revealing to people how fundamentally uninteresting they are and rebelling against it explains a lot to me--the tendency of people to ideologically self-sort to narrower and narrower levels, the uncanny ability of observers to categorize even the relatively-novel versions of those self-sorts, the tendency of some people to just give up and openly embrace everything the hivemind says about them, "be yourself" as a zombified and omnipresent cultural meme when millions of people are struggling existentially with exactly that, every culture absorbing ambient victim-mentality and thinking they're the only right-living people in a world gone mad, the 'cultural class' getting deeper and deeper into objectively-adolescent pop-cultural obsessions and lashing out at the idea they should try something more challenging, the aging-out-of-relevance hipsters Freddie discusses being mortified by the idea of being perceived as exactly that.

The problem, for me at least, is that I understand there is a way out, and if anything it feels worse. I may be a bit younger than the type-case Freddie describes, and am not in an industry where I have to constantly prove my relevance to myself and others, but I am doing the opposite of aging gracefully. Instead of constantly trying to convince my social circle (I don't have a social circle) that having the political, cultural, and artistic preferences of a 21-year-old means I still am one at heart, I engage in the much-healthier practice of spending every waking moment fantasizing being 21 or 18 or, shit, even 14 again. I know nobody really likes getting older. I also think that if everyone was as obsessive and self-loathing about it as I am, society would cease to function. My regrets and pining are definitely unhealthy, obsessive and all-consuming, but I don't really talk about them because there's no way it ends other than "Yeah, that sucks."

But a lot of the people in Freddie's comment section are saying things like "Once I realized I was fundamentally unimportant and my opinions didn't really matter, I could get down to raising my kids/doing my job, which matters more than my feelings." And maybe ten years from now I'll be OK with that. Hell, maybe I'll actually have kids, unlikely as that sounds now. Right now that mindset sounds like a self-administered lobotomy. Maybe I'd be OK with it if I'd actually lived it up in my teens and twenties, tried to become an actual person and discovered what I like about myself, instead of just vaguely Following Rules and assuming there was a payoff to that. Maybe I'd accept that there comes a point in life where my destiny is to be a good parent/worker and that necessarily implies shaving off the hard bits of your personality. Or maybe even the people who were good at being young struggle with getting old. Maybe our cultural/technological moment is just making that a struggle for everyone. Guess I'll never know.

But as we creep closer to no one's parents, then no one's grandparents, remembering a world without the eternal and all-consuming Now of the internet, I suspect I won't be the only one aging with a complete lack of grace, and I suspect we as a culture are completely unprepared to deal with it.

#discourse #aging #culture #the internet

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