#society?

[talonpaw]

i used to think the ‘character succumbing to insanity while maniacally laughing’ was a strange and overly specific trope but i’ve been living what might be the most difficult consecutive week of my adult life (?) dealing with multiple Situations at once, extremely sleep deprived, stressed to the max… and shit is Funny. i keep laughing for no good reason. i’m the Jonkler baybee!

[pinkeoni]

Oh no, I’m gonna start overthinking Will’s ambiguous naming of Henry as just “him” aren’t I

[jwood718]

What I was listening to the other day I can’t recall, but the subject under discussion was the late trend of wealthy people “prepping” by building entire compounds underground or in converted Minuteman missile silos.  I’d read about converted silos before, but in this instance I thought “Ah! So that’s where the Morlocks get their start!”

Morlock carrying an Eloi from H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine by Virgil Finlay, 1950, via wikipedia.

As described in the segment, what money can deploy against some “doomsday” scenario far outstrips having a garage full of freeze-dried food. Instead, the thinking seems to be that after everything falls apart, these bunker dwellers will just keep going in their bunkers (a bunker mentality if ever there was one) and develop the “next thing” there in their, um, silos.  The rest of humanity may burn, but the rich will be around!  Of course there’s no plan for fixing anything that might break, or simply wear out, and if the world turns into a complete hellscape, who will they call?  Amazon?  EBay?  Nope, they’ll be gone, too.  3D print a replacement?  Maybe.  Sooner or later, though, the lack of supply chains or “economies of scale” will tell on them.

Yvette Mimieux menaced by a Morlock in MGM’s 1960 film version.

That’s when it occurred to me that it sounded like a possible scenario that would lead to the Morlocks of Wells’ The Time Machine, that, having been separated from any other survivors of the apocalypse (if there are any) and settling in for the really long-term under cover of dirt, eventually they’d just go all mutant human, afraid of the sun.

[stupidstarrr]

I fucking hate how being female includes pretty much obsessing over your appearance 24/7

[jwood718]

How’s this for a theory for ya’: the far right wants people to work at age 12, or maybe younger, so that they’ll always be compliant, ignorant, scared, and easily replaced through the whole of their working lives.

9 year old girl carrying garments down Blackstone Street, Boston, Mass., to a Hanover Street home.  She finishes 8 pairs of trousers a day and gets 8 cents a piece...  Lewis Wickes Hine, 1912 (Library of Congress)

In many states (pick a news story) the far right is bucking for votes by enacting legislation to prevent abortion, ostensibly to “protect the children.”

In those same states (again, pick a news story) those legislators are enacting, or at least attempting to, laws demanding schools eschew teaching “woke” subjects--i.e.: they should stick to patriotic history (or no history--or art for that matter--at all), avoid anything to do with gender or sex that is not WASPy cis/het and promotes “traditional family values”--and so on, ostensibly to “protect the children,” and to engender “parents’ rights.”

Again, in those same states, legislatures are attempting to, or are passing, laws that loosen child labor laws, (listen to this segment from WAMU’s 1A) which would allow more young people to take on more hours--even overnights, or take on more dangerous labor.  Ostensibly this is good for children as it teaches good work ethics, so it’s “good for kids,” while also being good for businesses given the so-called lack of employable people.

My take?  By making abortion illegal, or very difficult to obtain, neoliberal thinkers and actors are attempting to increase the population of the people who are least able to obtain abortions or other family planning options.  By restricting what is taught to those children when they reach school age, those young citizens will be ignorant of how democracy is supposed to operate, they will not question their “leaders,” and they will be pushed to become “good employees.”  Then they will be allowed to start working at as young as age twelve, doing menial but dangerous tasks (loading meat trucks on the graveyard shift, for instance) when they are too young to understand that they could be seriously injured but are also so young that they don’t want to advocate for better so as not to upset their bosses and maybe get fired.  By the time they’ve been on the job for a couple of years, they’ll be too tired to pay attention in school, and drop out--and so need to keep working, still ignorant of safety regulations or that laws exist (or used to) to protect them and keep exploitation at bay.  In the end, they’ll be compliant workers, unquestioning of the overseers, taking what little pay they’re given, and completely unlikely to organize.

Bessie Blitch, 15 years old. Sewing curtains on machine at Boutwell, Fairclough & Gold, 274 Summer Street Extension. Lewis W. Hine. (Mr. Fitzgerald, Manager.) Location: Boston, Massachusetts, 1917. (Library of Congress)

In a generation, the top echelon of the population will have a huge worker pool to draw from that is not equipped to push back on unfair and dangerous conditions--and that pool of people will be living in conditions that are unhealthy due to deregulation of industry, unable to access health care, and easily replaceable since there will always be a line down the block of potential hires.  All of which sounds much like the 19th Century.

I could work in something about fear, anger, right-wing media, and the 2nd Amendment, but that post would be way too long.

[jwood718]

Yesterday, Matthew Shepard’s ashes were finally “welcomed home” at the National Cathedral.  The 4,000 seat cathedral was filled to capacity.  A serious suspect in the mailing of pipe bombs to prominent critics of President Trump was arrested in Florida.

This morning, among other things, an active shooter is reported at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh.  At least 7 people are reported as dead, as well as injuries to 2 police officers.

I -- words fail me.

[bookishbrigitta]

Freaking love the eclectic and almost opposing mix of customers at a Subaru dealership. People in the waiting room with me:

Teenage girl in pink, fuzzy slides

Old dude in cargo shorts, a fishing shirt, a fishing hat, and tube socks pulled halfway up the calves

Person of indeterminate gender with a faux-hawk and a rainbow phone case that says "alphabet mafia"

Dude with multiple neck tats playing with his wife and baby

Old lady reading a Stephen King novel and talking about horror books with a blue-haired employee with a lip ring

Bonus: Salesman in pinstripe suit talking to a young couple in front of a cardboard cutout of a moose.

So many car companies really lean into the whole "this kind of person buys our cars/buy our car to be this kind of person," and I feel like Subaru's strategy is more like "Hey. You there. You're like 80% normal, 20% weirdo, right? You need a way to get from A to B. Maybe that's from pilates to your daughter's soccer game. Or from home to your ice fishing shack. Or from a Pride parade to a state park. Or from the vet to Comic Con. Look, we really don't care where you're going. Just get in the car, and it will run. Subaru: It does the shit you need it to. Whatever that is."

In fairness, Toyota is very similar, but less outdoorsy and less gay