Will Shetterly's Blog, page 29

Things shared on Feb 2nds

The question is not "Why do the rich owe us anything?" The question is "Where's the guillotine?" - In the capitalist utopia, workers give the profit from their work to their bosses out of gratitude for the opportunity to work. - Politicians should be forgiven for who they were decades ago. The important question: what is their relationship to Wall Street now? - Marx was right about history

Things shared on Feb 1sts: censors are like murderers, life advice, more

We're in life for the long haul. Stop regularly for maintenance. - I wish censors would stop saying what they're doing isn't censorship. But I shouldn't be surprised. Murderers often claim self-defense. - People who say they will use their privilege for good rather than work to end it show the logic of noblesse oblige. - When leftists knock the white working class, they reinforce the idea

Things shared on Jan 31sts: Israel's "right to exist", awards, LeGuin, 32 questions, more

Treating Europe and Asia as separate entities is stupid. I think Asia meant to the Romans, "the area that keeps beating our butts." - Supporters of Israeli expansionism talk about Israel's "right to exist" because they do not believe Palestine has one. - How ideologues argue: Kicking babies is bad. We can end this if we all stop walking and hop instead. You won't hop? Baby-kicker! - I hope

Things shared on Jan 30ths: Pavlov's Web, trophy hunting I could support, comfort food, more

I am tempted to start calling the internet Pavlov's Web. - Trophy hunting of lions and bears should be legal, but only if you cosplay Tarzan in a loincloth with a knife. - Quick comfort food I invented last night: Instant Thanksgiving Leftovers Make stovetop stuffing, stir in green peas and chopped slices of turkey. Surprisingly satisfying on a cold night. - Every group in poverty has a

Things shared on Jan 29ths: religious wars and terrorism, etc.

If you blame Islam for Islamist terror, blame Judaism for Deir Yassin and the bombing of the King David Hotel. If you blame Islam for Islamist terror, blame Catholicism for IRA terror. If you blame Islam for Islamist terror, blame the Church of Latter-Day Saints for the Mountain Meadows Massacre. If you blame Islam for Islamist terror, blame Christianity for every crime committed against the

Things shared on Jan 26ths

People who say "ending poverty won't end racism" don't want to end poverty. They want to talk about racism instead. - The political internet: where sociopaths go to feel self-righteous about their lack of empathy. - When the authoritarian left opposes a human right as fundamental as free speech, they make the right look better. - If you’re brave enough to enter a monster’s den, some cowards

Things shared on Jan 27ths

Capitalists who think socialists should never celebrate anything the USSR did right should never celebrate anything the US did before ending Jim Crow. - I'll give Azealea Banks credit for this in her rant about the Irish: 'You lot are a bunch of prideful inbred leprechauns who have ZERO global influence and ZERO white privilege". It's nice to see an identitarian admit privilege theory has

Things shared on Jan 26ths

What I love most about the web: asking about things I don't know and having strangers do their best to help. - When intervention makes a problem worse, you become the bad guy no matter how good your intentions were. - Why didn't Nancy Pelosi thank the air traffic controllers and the flight attendants who brought Trump to his knees? Because a Wall Street Democrat does not dare to acknowledge

Things shared on Jan 25ths

The most powerful workers in the US may be flight attendants. When teachers strike, the rich don’t care—their kids go to private schools. But when flight attendants threaten to strike, Trump has to reopen the government. - On the internet, there is no distinction between news, entertainment, and gossip. There is only clickbait. - Authoritarians on the left and right insist our choices that

Things shared on Jan 24ths: the symbol of the hijab

I don't get the idea that a hijab being mandatory in some places makes it a symbol of oppression everywhere. I'm not oppressed by my pants. Where the hijab is mandatory, it's not a symbol of oppression—it's a manifestation. Where it's not mandatory, it's a symbol of choice.