What if, instead of a POTUS and VPOTUS, we elect two presidents. Those two presidents then take shifts fighting on the frontline of any war we're fighting at the time. Always one on the field, one at home, alternating.
If we're not fighting a war, the two alternate shifts working the frontline of a Civilian Corps rebuilding this country's infrastructure and providing vital social services.
Feels right, yeah?
I mean, we could also do away with presidents entirely, that'd probably be better. But, you know, if we're gonna keep 'em around anyway...
Ever have a song stick with you for a year? You hear it once, and the song has something for you that maybe you can't put into words, something powerful that has you going out of your way to play the song again and again. You know that kind of song?
The cut is really just Hobo Johnson reading excerpts from Einstein's essay in Monthly Review with some chill musical bits; but I dig that understated feel, and I love Einstein's essay. I keep coming back to it, and to the song, over and over again. When Einstein makes a powerful point and Hobo Johnson chimes in with a “fuck yeah,” I'm there at 💯
My favorite passage of the essay, also read aloud in the song, is this short paragraph near the beginning:
But historic tradition is, so to speak, of yesterday; nowhere have we really overcome what Thorstein Veblen called “the predatory phase” of human development. The observable economic facts belong to that phase and even such laws as we can derive from them are not applicable to other phases. Since the real purpose of socialism is precisely to overcome and advance beyond the predatory phase of human development, economic science in its present state can throw little light on the socialist society of the future.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, fuck yeah.
Don't tell me you can't imagine a better world because of the way this shitty one has always been made to work. Imagine the world made to work a different way, a better way. Imagine boldly.
I always end up shaking my head when I see regular folk writing “fascism is [insert focus of ire here]” posts. I think most people get it wrong. I think most of it is liberals and conservatives complaining about this one thing the other side is doing and saying “that, right there, that thing I don't like you doing, that's fascism!”
Fascism is not government by the few, for the few.
Fascism is not government control of economy.
Fascism is not suppression of speech and ideas.
Fascists can and do use those things to achieve their goal, but those are simply tools and methodologies. Fascists will use any tool, any methodology—even those that are used for good by people who are not fascists—to accomplish their goal.
So what is their goal? What is fascism?
Here's what I think:
Fascism is the belief in a hierarchy of personhood. It is the belief that some people are more human than others—and, inversely, that some people are less human than others. Fascism is the belief that those who are more human have every right—a duty, even—to subjugate and/or exterminate those who are less human, by any means necessary.
A fascist's goal is dominion over all things by his preferred in group, and the enslavement or eradication of everyone else, including other fascists who do not fit into the fascist's preferred in group.
Why do I think it's important to make a distinction between the tools and methods fascists use and this ideology I see at the core of fascism? Because I think that if you see fascism for what it really is rather than trying to define it by how you've been told it behaves, you'll also see that fascism is in less of what we're told it's in, and it's in a lot more of what we're told it's not.
Came across a post in my social feed today that went something like:
“I'm tired of Pride, why do these people get a month-long celebration because of who they have sex with?”
That person caught an instant block from me. I didn't comment because I've learned that it's pointless to argue in online spaces with people like that. I've learned that arguing with them can even do harm by increasing their visibility and reach, so I won't be naming the person or linking to the post. However, I've also learned that it can be productive to call that sort of shit out and explain why it's shit for the “I'd never thought about it” crowd. So here it is, a little explainer from me to you:
The “I'm not a bigot, but why does it matter who a person fucks” take is a bad one because it ignores the context of Pride. Like, a metric fuck-ton of context. It ignores the long and awful history of cis-het people's oppression of queer people. It ignores the many, terrible examples of hateful bigots murdering queer people for their queerness. It ignores the American Right's ongoing fascist project to erase queer people, especially (right now) trans people.
Pride is not, nor has it ever been: “Yay, I'm a man who likes to have sex with men!” Pride is: “We are queer, we are here, we will support one another, and we will not be terrorized into silence. We will never let you fucking fascists erase us.”
Whether the author of the shit opinion that prompted this writing ignored all that context intentionally or not is beside the point. Context matters. Always.
Not too long ago, I wrote a little something to explain why “all cops are bastards” rings true to me. With recent news focusing on billionaires and whether or not we should be celebrating when one of them bites the dust, I want to expand on that blog post just a bit:
All capitalists are bastards; or: every billionaire is bad.
The more popular hashtag is #EveryBillionaireIsAPolicyFailure. While I don't disagree that we, the regular people of the world, should create and enforce rules that prohibit the sort of wealth hoarding that we see today, that hashtag shifts responsibility for the shittiness of wealthy fuckos off of them and onto us.
Fuck that.
Just like a good person chooses to be a bastard every time she puts on her police uniform, billionaires choose to be bastards by hoarding their wealth and using it to rig the systems of the world in their favor. Sure, there's nothing to stop them from being billionaires—but there's also nothing forcing them to be greedy, sociopathic bastards. That, my friends, is a choice.
So, no, I'm not sorry for celebrating every death of every one of these fucking fascist overlords who are bleeding our planet dry and causing human suffering on a scale that boggles the mind. May every one of them meet their end sooner rather than later.
And, hey, if they want me not to hate them for being awful parasites, they can always choose not to be billionaires anymore 🤷🏻♂️
Some will read that statement and dismiss this idea out of hand. “We need cops,” they might say, “and some of them are good.”
Some cops are good people outside of their work. Some of them do good things while at work. But, in the end, the very nature of policing makes all cops bastards.
Here's a rhetorical example:
Suzanne grows up being taught that she should always help her neighbors, that she should work for her community. She's a good kid with a good heart, and she decides that she can best serve her community by becoming a cop. Little Suzy grows up, goes to school to study criminal justice, becomes a cop. Her heart is 100% in the right place.
Suzy isn't just a cop either. She's a person with a conscience. She sees injustice in the world, and it bothers her. She sees corporations poisoning politics and the planet, and she protests against that on her own time. She sees racist legislators passing racist laws, and she wants to undo them. (The laws, not the legislators—Suzy doesn't actually want to hurt anyone.) Suzy, the human being, is a good person. Everybody who meets Suzy, the person, likes her. She just wants to help everyone.
Suzy, the cop, has a job to do.
Sometimes that job entails arresting peaceful protesters who have chained themselves to the business doors of major banks whose capital is being used to proper fuck our planet. Suzy, the person, agrees with the protesters. She doesn't want to arrest them. But Suzy, the cop, has a job to do.
Sometimes Suzy's job entails clearing out encampments of unhoused people. Ripping tents so they can't be used properly, taking people's stuff and trashing it, arresting unhoused persons who are understandably upset that a squad of armed and armored officers are tearing through their things. Suzy, the person, has so much compassion for those unhoused people. If she could, she'd give every one of them a home. Suzy, the cop, has a job to do.
Sometimes Suzy's job entails evicting people of color from the homes they can no longer afford in neighborhoods that have been gentrified. Sometimes that means taking all of a person's belongings and dumping them on the sidewalk for the city's waste collection teams to trash. Sometimes that means arresting homeowners who refuse to leave, who have nowhere else to go. Suzy, the person, understands that racists and elitists have conspired to push these poor folk out of their homes with unjust and inequitable zoning laws and policies. Suzy, the person, hates every eviction she has to enforce. Suzy, the cop, has a job to do.
Suzy, the human being, is a good person. Suzy, the cop, is a bastard.
Here's another way to think about it:
We could build an all-Black police force of the most compassionate, helpful people we could imagine, but if the laws it is tasked with enforcing are written by white supremacists, that all-Black police force will end up enforcing white supremacy.
I could go on, but people reading this who can't now see my point never will.
The police do not serve us.
The police protect and serve the system—and the people in power whom that system benefits.
This is not something that reform can fix. That doesn't mean reform efforts are entirely pointless—making a shitty thing a little better is, well, better than nothing. But as long as our systems are designed to protect some people's rights before and instead of others', to serve capital rather than human beings, all cops will always be bastards.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about this over the past seven years, and I've come to the conclusion that capitalism is fascism. Not a tool of fascism, but actual fascism.
Here's my reasoning:
Fascism is many [awful] things, but a defining feature of fascism is the hierarchy of personhood: the belief that some people are less human than others and that it is right—necessary, even—for those “lesser” humans to be subjugated or eradicated by “real” humans. Fascists believe that their in-group is inherently stronger, more intelligent, and better suited to rule than any other group. Establishing and ruthlessly enforcing the supremacy of the fascist in-group is the ultimate goal of any fascist movement, and fascists will use any and all means to achieve that goal. They are particularly fond of violent means, but fascists are happy to use legislation, economic pressures, and social engineering to achieve supremacy when violence is socially or politically impractical.
Now, consider capitalism:
Capitalism cannot exist without a social hierarchy. It is a system defined by a small capitalist class that sets itself above the vast working class by securing private ownership of everything, hoarding the wealth that comes with owning everything, and by using that hoarded wealth to leverage influence and power that can only be matched by the working class when we all stand together. (Which is why capitalists invented the idea of the “middle class” and why they do everything they can to keep the working class distracted and divided.)
Capitalists believe that their wealth proves they are inherently more intelligent, more hardworking, and better suited to steering the course of civilization than the rest of us. They've created a system that uses one set of rules for them and an entirely different set of rules for everyone else—different legal frameworks, different healthcare systems and outcomes, different rights and freedoms—and they use all the means at their disposal to protect that two-tier system. Often, that means using their unmatched wealth to exert political influence to get what they want through government policy and legislation, but they are equally willing to use violence to get what they want, whether indirectly—as was the case when American fruit companies enlisted the aid of the United States government to overthrow socialist-leaning governments in South America—or directly—as has been the case whenever corporations hire thugs to enforce their agendas.
Fascism is capitalism plus murder.
Upton Sinclair
Capitalism can only exist with the subjugation and exploitation of some people by other people. In one sense, those of us who are not members of the owner class (the majority of humans on this planet) are all part of that exploited group; unfortunately, there are layers of social hierarchy implicit in capitalism that makes even working class citizens of wealthy and powerful nations complicit in the fascist nature of capitalism.
The device you're using to read this? The way capitalism works, you wouldn't have been able to buy it as cheaply as you did without the unjust resource extraction and unfair labor practices capital imposes on the poor nations of our world. (I haven't spent any time writing about the racist nature of capitalism because that could be another post entirely on its own, but it's no coincidence that the poor nations of this world that capitalism built are mostly populated by black and brown humans.) Same goes for the coffee you drink, the clothes you're wearing, and basically everything you buy on a regular basis, unless you go out of your way to find and pay more for items that are sustainably sourced and fairly traded. Even if you do go out of your way to shop conscientiously, you will find that there are some things you simply can't extricate from the shittiness that is capitalism.
This is not a judgment coming from some smug hipster who only shops at coops and farmers' markets; this is an observation from someone who is as complicit as everyone else who has ever shopped on Amazon, or bought a drink from Starbucks, or who owns a nice Samsung tablet. It fucking sucks to know that living a “normal” life in the United States of America means that I am implicitly supporting a fascist regime that puts the lives of some people—especially white, cisgender, heterosexual, neurotypical people—above the lives of others.
It's not easy or pleasant, but I think facing that uncomfortable truth is the only hope we have of unmaking this blood machine the capitalists have designed and that we have helped to build. It means changing our lives as much as we can on a personal scale, and then doing the much harder work of changing our lives on a global scale. Because it's long past time that we be perfectly honest with ourselves:
If we are anti-fascist, then we must be anti-capitalist as well.
Nothing is more important than stopping fascism, because fascism will stop us all.
Finished the last episode of His Dark Materials last night, and I’m giving the show a perfect 5-star rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Yes, it was somewhat altered from the books that I love so much; but the changes made sense for a TV adaptation, and I don’t feel that any of those changes detracted from the story in any substantial way. All the most important elements are present; casting and acting are superb; sets, costumes, and effects are top-notch; and I love seeing Lyra and Will come to life before my eyes.
The end broke my heart just as much as it has every time I read the books 💔 Any story that has the power to touch me so deeply is a masterpiece in my book. Just as the novels are some of my favorite books of all time, this adaptation has earned its spot in my list of all-time favorite TV shows ❤️
In the remote part of the world I called home for the past 3 and a half years, there’s a small store with a political poster displayed prominently on the front door. It’s a meme you’ve probably seen online: Donald Trump pointing at the camera, accompanied by text that reads something along the lines of “In reality, the Democrats aren’t coming for me, they’re coming for you.”
A few weeks ago, NBC News published a story about the National Conservatism Conference. NBC reports that “the broader American left was repeatedly denounced as ‘the enemy’…”
I don’t consider myself a partisan—I vote my values, not a party; however, it’s increasingly the case that my values align more closely with the Democratic platform than the Republican one. For some, I’m sure that makes me as good as a diehard Democrat. A leftist. The “enemy.” So I want to speak directly to anyone who feels that way:
I am not your enemy. I don’t think of you as my enemy. I don’t vote the way I do because I want to take things from you or oppress you. I don’t vote the way I do because I hate you. I vote the way I do because I love you.
I want you to have world-class healthcare for free. I want you to be able to live comfortably and support your family with just one job. I want your children to go to college, if they want, for free. I want you to have the freedom to practice your faith in your home and in your places of worship without fear or prejudice. I want your queer and trans kids to live their lives free of the same. I want you to continue to have the right to own and enjoy your firearms, and I want to keep your children safe from those who would abuse that right. I want your elected representatives to listen to you and work to advance your interests rather than the interests of corporations and the ultrawealthy. I want your children and their children to grow up in a world full of all the natural wonders we can still save. I want the best for you and your family. I want the best for all of us.
You may read all of that and think that I’m hopelessly naive. You may think that what I want is impossible, that it can’t happen unless it’s at the expense of others. Maybe you’re right. But, as one of the wisest persons I know frequently reminds me when I talk about the future, you can’t know. No one can. That’s not the way the future works, and the fact that something has never happened before is not proof that it can’t ever happen. Just because something feels inevitable does not make it so. You can make every argument imaginable to show that I’m wrong to vote and act the way that I do, but what you can never do is take away my intention. That’s mine. That’s inviolable. And my intention is this:
To make the world a better place. Not just for me or people who look like me. Not just for my family or people who live in my country. For you. For everyone, everywhere, all over the world. We are all in this together. In the world’s darkest times, you are never alone. In your own darkest hour, I am with you. We are all with you. Always. We are, all of us, neighbors on this beautiful planet we call home.
So be good to yourself, be good to your neighbors, and—together—we can shine brighter than the sun. Together, we can banish the darkness that seeks to turn us against one another. Together, we can build a better future for all of us.
I was thinking about weasels—because they’re cute and fierce, also because I’m watching His Dark Materials and, having read the books, I know how Pan settles—and about the descriptive noun, “weasel.” The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a weasel as “a sneaky, untrustworthy, or insincere person.” Clearly, the people who first started using “weasel” to describe someone as “sneaky” knew nothing about weasels.
Every member of the Mustelidae family is a super predator for its niche. Anything the same size or smaller than any one of these furry murder slinkies is a possible meal, and sometimes animals many times the size of the mustelid are also on the menu. A common weasel, which in some parts of its range can be as small as a mouse, might hunt and kill a much larger rabbit. Honey badgers, about the size and weight of French bulldogs, famously don’t give a fuck and will fight lions for their shit. Giant river otters will fight and kill crocodiles. A wolverine, about the size and weight of an English bulldog, might hunt and kill a moose 😳 Humankind should count itself very lucky indeed that wolverines never took to living and hunting in packs like their otter cousins do 🦦
All of this 😅 to say:
A “weasel” shouldn’t be a “sneaky, untrustworthy” person.
A weasel is a small badass who will fuck up your day if you give ’em half a reason.