Will Shetterly's Blog, page 38

Things I shared on earlier November 5ths

Adolph Reed's definition of neoliberalism: “capitalism without a labor opposition” - I thought a little less of Dumas when I heard that he sometimes had a collaborator create the first draft. But I don't now. Many writers create solid first drafts. Few create great final drafts. - Today's sign I'm trapped in a stupid dimension: Bank wanted proof of ID before letting me log in on my desktop.

Wait, you're writing a Civil War novel now?

Yeah. I wish I could merge the superhero book and the YA fantasy that I was working on and make a novel out of them, but since I can't, I'll set them aside and plan to work on them if the Civil War novel gets stuck. But, I say at risk of jinxing myself, I don't think the Civil War novel will get stuck because I am sticking closely to the actual Civil War. History has made many of the hard

Things I shared on earlier November 4ths

So far as I know, I am the only High Priest of Seshat. Therefore, this is my first decree: To worship her, support your local library. My second decree: By supporting your local library, you can be a High Priest too. - I hate it when I go to a site like Oglaf that asks if I'm an adult. I don't want to think about hard questions before seeing a dirty joke. - If giving people money creates a

Things I shared on earlier November 3rds

The Third Man would make a great double bill with Casablanca. - The 21st century has been disappointing, but I like the Marvel movies. - ...Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose message appeals to white liberals partly because of the moralism that lets you feel good about yourself in a particularly Protestant kind of way—in the sense of publicly performing one’s moral standing." —Adolph Reed - "I had a

Things I shared on earlier November 3s

Saw The Third Man tonight (thanks, Netflix) because two friends mentioned it today online and I can take a hint from the universe. It would make a great double bill with Casablanca. - Like everyone, I want to be liked, but people who want to protect their walls cannot like the people who want to tear them down. Defending the people with walls has many rewards, but I just can’t pursue them. So I

Why Americans don't like academics who call themselves Doctor

During the American revolution, we rejected the idea that people should have titles. We like job descriptions and think people who use honorifics are putting on airs. I wouldn't call someone with a master's degree "master", so I'm not about to call someone with a doctor's degree "doctor". "only people of the medical profession correctly use the title of doctor socially" —Miss Manners

Things I shared on earlier November 2nds

To people who say X doesn’t mean (a) racism does not exist or (b) we’re in a post-racial society: The only person I’ve found who said we were in a post-racial society was Bill Bennett, who got carried away on the night that Obama was elected. Is there a racist still alive? Then racism exists. * Capitalism is the system that racists use—racism has not had its own system in the US since the

Things I shared on earlier November 2s

To people who say X doesn’t mean (a) racism does not exist or (b) we’re in a post-racial society: The only person I’ve found who said we were in a post-racial society was Bill Bennett, who got carried away on the night that Obama was elected. Is there a racist still alive? Then racism exists. * Capitalism is the system that racists use—racism has not had its own system in the US since the

Thinking about class and race on November 2

To people who say X doesn’t mean (a) racism does not exist or (b) we’re in a post-racial society: The only person I’ve found who said we were in a post-racial society was Bill Bennett, who got carried away on the night that Obama was elected. Is there a racist still alive? Then racism exists. * Capitalism is the system that racists use—racism has not had its own system in the US since the

Wil Wheaton demonstrates the liberal identitarian's obliviousness to class

My name is Wil Wheaton. I Live With Chronic Depression and Generalized Anxiety. I Am Not Ashamed has important things to say about mental illness, but it also has this: as a white, heterosexual, cisgender man in America, I live life on the lowest difficulty setting — with the Celebrity cheat enabled It's the standard identitarian list that straight white male neoliberals feel obliged to cite,