Will Shetterly's Blog, page 15

shared on July 9ths

The problem with thinking of capitalism as a pyramid with most of us at the bottom: Capitalism is an upside-down pyramid. Most of the wealth at the top.

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To people who think the US's poor should be grateful:

No one suffering at the bottom of a pyramid of wealth is grateful for being denied enough wealth to end their suffering, even if they know it would be worse to be at the bottom of another

shared on July 5ths

Two things you should never do without being asked: Criticize a parent's parenting or a writer's writing.

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Philanthropist (n): A very rich person who gives less than they could to a cause that many people admire.

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The class struggle isn’t “the working class versus the rich”; it’s “us versus capitalism”. Some working-class people oppose the class struggle out of ignorance; some rich people

shared on June 26ths

Civility is not niceness or etiquette. It is only the most formal form of politeness. It is loved by diplomats and hated by people who love war.

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The rightwing and leftwing fans of incivility have confused changing the world with having a hissyfit.

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I long thought the "civil" in "civil disobedience" meant "polite" because Gandhi, King, and Malcolm X were polite, even—or especially—when they

shared on June 25ths

Insults are how arrogant people admit defeat.

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Anyone who claims to be objective is a liar or a fool. The latter is the safer bet.

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To people who see the world in black and white, gray is evil and color is madness.

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Batman's greatest foes should be Broom Guy and Tennis Racket Girl.

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Stereotypes come in three forms, the idealized, the demonized, and the comic.

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In English,

securing your garage

 A simple trick that thwarted someone who tried to break into our garage

Yesterday, I found the handle of my garage door was broken. Someone had twisted it hard to get in.

But we had put a bolt in one of the holes of the door's track so it couldn't be raised. A more committed thief would've broken a window or broken the door down, but most thieves want to get in and out fast. The bolt was enough to make this thief move along.

Obviously, putting a pin in the track adds a little nuisance if you have ...

securing your garage

A simple trick that thwarted someone who tried to break into our garageYesterday, I found the handle of my garage door was broken. Someone had twisted it hard to get in.But we had put a bolt in one of the holes of the door's track so it couldn't be raised. A more committed thief would've broken a window or broken the door down, but most thieves want to get in and out fast. The bolt was enough

shared on June 22nds

We are all prisoners of subjectivity. People who claim to be objective suffer from Subjective Stockholm Syndrome.

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What offends me most about bourgeois black fans of reparations like Coates is they live in luxury and push for a program that will give them even more while it only helps 1/4 of the Americans in poverty.

King wanted Basic Income because it ended poverty.

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If Trump won because

shared on June 21sts

I wish people who say civility is a tool of the upper class would go up to the biggest guy in a working-class bar and be rude to him.

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You cannot shame the rich. You can only make them furious at the idea they are not as admired as they think they should be.

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Why I don't like the term "gaslighting".

1. If someone's lying, be blunt: say they're lying.

2. If you say someone's gaslighting

The Astonishing Ignorance of Nathan J. Robinson

This is a collection of tweets I made today:

Instead of writing "The Astonishing Ignorance of @NathanJRobinson", I will make a thread about Isn’t “Right-Wing Populism” Just Fascism?

"Socialists like Martin Luther King and the Black Panther Party have believed in radical economic equality but have also made it clear that specifically racial harms cannot be considered secondary issues. Their

shared on June 19ths

I wish people who say "It's not my job to educate you" would stop trying to educate me.

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Annoying phrase of the day: "and you know it." When I hear someone use it, I wonder if they're in the habit of saying what they know isn't true. I'd rather be called ignorant or stupid than a liar.

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Only safe ideas are permitted in safe spaces.

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You're offended? That's fine. #FreeSpeech includes the