Will Shetterly's Blog, page 49

A little about Warpship Victoria

I'll be posting a web comic, Warpship Victoria, on this blog, starting tomorrow. It launches with the complete first scene in the hope that'll make you return for more. After that, I'll share a page or two a day for several weeks, and then I may commit to a less frequent schedule. If this sounds familiar, it's because I started the story for my own amusement on another blog. Since it was only

The Triumphant Return of the Red Marvel, a short story by Will Shetterly

The Triumphant Return of the Red Marvel by Will Shetterly “I am sorry,” the woman said, as he expected and feared she would. “The shelter is full.” He nodded to reassure her. She was a kind woman. She was as much a prisoner in this world as he. “There are other places,” he lied, and he turned, knowing he could not find any place to take him in tonight. “Wait,” she said, and handed

Two socialist implications of "Render unto Caesar" and the odd logic that God thinks you can keep your wealth if you don't want to share

Capitalist Christians say we should not make laws forcing them to share their wealth because God wants sharing to be voluntary. They seem to think being required to do what the Bible recommends means they don't have to do it. By their logic, we should not have laws about murder or theft—we should just wait until murderers and thieves feel like stopping. The Bible's filled with inconvenient

On Dr. Strange's choice and the paradox at the end of the Avengers: Infinity War

Warning: spoilery AF. I was annoyed with two things at the end of Infinity War, but I now think the Russo Brothers played fair, though they may have created a paradox they did not see. 1. Dr. Strange choosing to surrender his stone looks like he's choosing to surrender. 2. Killing off franchise characters who we know will return suggests the next movie will undo everything in this one, which

On trolls, free speech, and private censorship

I blocked someone on Facebook today, something I almost never do. I said in the comments at Useful data, but it begs a question: Like many trolls, he thinks he has a right to say anything he wants anywhere he wants. I'm always a little surprised when believers in property act that way--it at least makes sense when anarchists do, even though they're being bad anarchists who fail to respect their

Class Trumps Race — Nine examples

Nine facts you will not hear from race reductionists: 9. Black and white women from the same economic background do equally well economically. From The massive new study on race and economic mobility in America, explained: ...conditional on their parents’ income, black women actually outperform white women in terms of individual earnings. ...the fact that fewer black women grow up in

The best thing Robert E. Lee ever said, and how he's like modern liberals

"So far from engaging in a war to perpetuate slavery, I have rejoiced that slavery is abolished. I believe it will be great for the interests of the south. So fully am I satisfied with this, as regards Virginia especially, that I would cheerfully have lost all I have lost by the war, and have suffered all I have suffered, to have this object attained." -Robert E. Lee (Statement to John Leyburn (

Why "intersectionality" is identity reductionism

People who cite "intersectionality" claim socialists are class reductionists. In theory, that makes sense—the names say socialism is only about class, while intersectionality is about every form of social identity. But if you think names tell the whole truth, you think Delicious Apples are delicious and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is democratic. Kimberlé Crenshaw coined "

Move to Hawaii--or any Multicultural Environment--to Become Less Racist

Move to Hawaii, Become Less Racist - Pacific Standard: New research does just that, taking advantage of the existence of a multicultural American environment: Hawaii. A group of young white adults demonstrated a decline in racist beliefs and enhanced cognitive flexibility after living in the state for nine months. These promising findings, reported by a team led by psychologist Kristin Pauker

Evidence that ending poverty will end racism

I'm boosting this from an earlier post because I may begin sharing more posts about the ways ending poverty reduces racism. This bit from Sons of Rich Black Families Fare No Better Than Sons of Working-Class Whites - The New York Times is important for those of us who want to end racism: The authors, including the Stanford economist Raj Chetty and two census researchers, Maggie R. Jones and