Will Shetterly's Blog, page 117

Why feminists should support Basic Income

This City Eliminated Poverty, And Nearly Everyone Forgot About It:


One woman called to say she remembered the Mincome project. In the early 1970s, she was a single mother raising two girls on welfare – then calledMothers’ Allowance. She said she had always been treated respectfully, but there was one thing case workers said that bothered her.

“She said she wanted to get some job training.

James Gunn understands what George Lucas did not

James Gunn Clarifies Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers Crossover Remarks - ComingSoon.net: "And, regarding the bigger picture, we all agreed on one thing, and that was to keep huge chunks of the Guardians separate from the Marvel heroes of earth, because they have a whole galaxy to explore. We wanted to use them as a way to make the MCU bigger, not smaller. "

Universalist individualism versus identitarian collectivism

@iamcuriousbluegot me thinking about universalism, identitarianism, individualism, and collectivism by tweeting this in response toIdentitarians versus Universalists:

The thing with identitarianism is that it's such an oil-and-water mix of individualism and collectivism.

Individualist in the sense of centering everything on micro aspects of self. Collectivist, though, in its language and

Identitarians versus Universalists

Most attempts to divide humanity into two groups come from an assumption that there's an eternal war of us versus them, and the only way to end the war is for us to defeat them by any means necessary. The common grounds for "us" are social identity groups based on race, gender, religion, and, in all its forms, tribe.

I reject identitarianism. I'm with Thomas Paine: "My country is the world, and

Question of the day: Why aren't women's bicycle saddles the default for bicycles?

I've ridden on women's saddles because Emma and I share bikes sometime, and I've never thought a woman's saddle was less comfortable.

I fear I have a bit of environmentalist in me

Warp! has a bit of dialogue that I've loved for decades. If I remember it correctly, it goes something like this:
Character A: He wants to destroy the universe!
Character B: But where will he live?I don't think of myself as an environmentalist, but I probably am. I hate science fiction stories where people assume the right or inevitable thing to do is to exhaust the Earth and move on. I really

The recursiveness of "believe the victim"

If you thought it was possible an accuser might be mistaken or lying, you would say, "Trust the accuser." But because you have presumed guilt, you know the accuser is the victim and express yourself accordingly.

ETA: Tweaked this in the hope of clarity.

How "believe the victim" caused Rolling Stone's rape article debacle, or How "believe the victim" = "presume guilt"

When Rolling Stone publishedA Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVAby Sabrina Rudin Erdely, people who were familiar with traditional journalism noticed something odd: the other side of the story was entirely absent. When they began investigating, they discovered something else: the most basic fact-checking had been ignored.

The reason comes from the ethics of the

Dennis Moore socialism, "money-baiting", fighting for justice by making the ruling class more diverse, and always getting fooled again

Nick Mamatas jumped into my twitter feed yesterday, which is always entertaining, though usually for the wrong reasons, but I'm especially grateful this time, because he made me realize there are a great many Dennis Moore socialists.



Dennis Moore socialists take many forms—and I'm sure there are those who'd say I'm one—but the most obvious ones are identitarian socialists who help the rich in

What privilege looks like: Brianna Wu

I tweeted back:

Leadership is about being born rich? @Spacekatgal
— Will Shetterly (@WillShetterly) December 4, 2014
I love the notion that accepting money from your parents is initiative.