Will Shetterly's Blog, page 18

shared on May 26ths: prequels

A prequel is a sequel that's set before the story that inspired it.

The best prequels tell us our assumptions about the original story's history are wrong. The worst assure us we already knew all we needed to.

At some level, the audience knows prequels are stories that didn't matter enough to be told first. We prefer sequels because they might matter as much or more.

shared on May 25ths

Why I'm not an intersectionalist: There is no intersection of the rich and the poor, the ruling class and the working class, the exploiter and the exploited.

Most people accept the side life puts them on. Some choose one. I've chosen mine.

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Adolph Reed uses a term I'm likely to adopt: race-baiting.

“It's particularly galling to see the Wall Street, Clintonite wing of the party attempt

shared on May 24ths

How can people be outraged by terrorists bombing children and shrug off nations bombing children?

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Human (n): a creature that can get upset about anything

shared on May 23rds

I just saw a robin on the fence. As I was thinking how beautiful it was, it shat. Nature mocks my romantic impulses.

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Some people see similarities first; some see differences. I hope I'm in the first group.

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It may be easier for libertarian socialists and capitalists to get along than it is for authoritarians—right and left libertarians want to free people in fairly similar ways while right

shared on May 21sts

The apology police criticize apologies because they do not want apologies. They want groveling.

shared on May 20ths

If you think Jews are a race, you either think converts aren't Jewish or it's possible to be transracial.

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Dear internet, when you notice dozens or even hundreds of Americans being idiots online, remember that the US population is 322,762,018.

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In times of outrage, good people try to hear what’s said and wise people try to hear what’s not.

shared on May 19ths

Humans have two attitudes toward history: some like rewriting it, some prefer the rewritten version they were taught.

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When cheering the symbolism of removing statues, remember the Taliban bombing Buddhas and the US staging the toppling of Saddam's statue.

shared on May 18ths

How to know you're talking to a race reductionist: If you say "class trumps race today," they respond as if you said race doesn't matter. "Trump" does not deny the second thing matters. It only means the first matters more. - Robert E. Howard explains the internet: "Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split." - I

shared on May 17ths

People I half-agree with are less annoying than people I 95% agree with. - The rich have no incentive to make a better system for usit works well for them. - The neoliberal take on the family is that both parents should be working to pay for nannies and cleaning services. They call that being pro-family and pro-feminist, perhaps because many of the nannies and maids are women who have

shared on May 16ths

Some say the Communist Manifesto calls for the abolition of the family, but it doesn't. It calls for the abolition of the bourgeois family as part of the abolition "of prostitution both public and private". Its meaning is simple: no one should have to serve another to survive. - Has a boycott on a US state ever done more than ensure people who would share a better message won't perform there? A