andros_rex

There are quite a few restrictions on starting unions and what they can do - I was part of a teachers union, which essentially was just one of those were they give you insurance coverage. Teachers Unions in my state are barred by law from striking (since I successful strike in the 90s).

Often trying to organize any form of Union at all will get you fired - remember, “at will” makes that they don’t need a reason to fire you.

For smaller groups, it’s a lack of people willing to take leadership roles. Being a leader is a lot of work, and it’s hard work. You do need gumption - it’s also not going to be paid. It can be a lot of sitting at meetings where the discussion goes in circles and is endlessly tabled for the next, you often want to institute things like Roberts Rules (but you have to teach that). People also don’t like showing up to things they feel like they “have to” - the incentives to get people to come like food are going to cost you money.

The churches are really the main remaining community small groups in the US - but unfortunately, the most powerful and effective ones are aligned with the current regime. Conservative evangelical churches are structured as businesses and have ample financial resources - the small churches of Unitarians, Presbyterians, Methodists, etc actually likely to fight this shit are the people who have to fundraise for months to get a leaky roof patched. I think the LDS Church could potentially grow a spine if some sort of line was crossed - they were powerful enough to get gay marriage nixxed in California back in the day - but they’ve also been training their members to be preppers and might just be happy for the opportunity to create Deseret.

The school lunch stuff fucks me up.

I got booted from free lunch when my mom remarried and my step dad made too much. They didn’t want to pay for my lunch/buy food for me to pack, so I just didn’t eat. Sometimes I’d find some dimes in the vending machines and could get like a Vitamin water or something.

Like yeah, my family could have afforded to pay, and they probably should have been made to pay, but if school is mandatory then feeding you should be too.

I’d get dizzy and feel sick by the end of the day. I still struggle with disordered eating.

Anyone against feeding children is a monster.

Remember the meltdown over “Obamaphones”?

Is being a COBOL dev something that can get you jobs?

I’m pretty good at FORTRAN and would love that kind of “you have invaluable skills so we can’t get rid of you for being queer” gig.

Thats how Bowling for Columbine presented it as well.

I don’t think it’s controversial to see a direct line of descent from militia -> slave patrols -> police.

As a trans and possibly autistic New Vegas fan, I resemble that remark.

I think trying to police strict categories though is a problem - reality doesn’t fit genre. People don’t fit genre. My Bejeweled loving grandmother got hella into the newer Civilization games, my FIFA addicted ex would dabble into furry romance games.

Even within the same game, there’s vast differences in how people can approach gameplay - I play the Sims for fucked up historical roleplay. Other people use it as a wish fulfillment vehicle where their self insert characters live their dream lives - others cheat to give themselves lots of money and just build gorgeous houses.

Video games are a combination of art and toys. There’s no “right way” to appreciate art, and no one likes when someone else tells you how to play with your toys. Thomas Kinkade paintings makes me want to vomit, while Cy Twombly paintings intoxicate me - others will not have the same reaction, and that’s part of the beauty that makes us human.

(How on earth can human beings listen to Sargon for more than 15 minutes? Even the clips I’ve heard excerpted in Hbomberguy etc make me want to claw my ears out lol)

That kind of categorization just seems to lead to a kind of elitism. (Victoria 2 players are of course the most elite gamers)

I think it’s time to recognize that “video game” is a medium. Being a “gamer” is the same as being a “reader” or “someone who likes watching movies.” Specifying genre is what might make things more clear.

Like I’m a “gamer” that plays mostly obscure indie art games, isometric CRPGs, Bethesda RPGs, and will try an FPS/adventure game if the story looks compelling enough. I’m not the same kind of “gamer” as someone who plays the Ubisoft releases, or sports games, or hero shooters.

Like ultimately all of this is shit we do for fun - why do we need to categorize and judge people?

I think a big difference between then and now might be the lack of community organizations.

When I look at US history pre-1980 or so, it seems like there were a lot more little clubs and organizations. Things like Kiwanis or Lions Club would be sort of backbones of the community (also involved in one’s route to political success - my grandpa’s plan before his mysterious/very controversial death was military -> lead the Kiwanis -> get into politics), or even tiny ass small towns might have a organizations for the local immigrant populations - like Krebs, OK used to have an Italian organization large enough to do parades.

These organizations would provide support to their members. They’d do fundraisers for the sick, they’d organize meal trains. Unions also did a lot of that.

(The second Klan, ie 1920s, was primarily one of these types of social organizations. Some folks joined for the baseball matches and parades).

Like keep in mind most of us are a paycheck or two away from eviction. And once you drop out of the system it’s difficult to get back in. We don’t have support networks (even the way the nuclear family atomizes individuals - parents aren’t expected to support you after 18). Those were support networks that could step in if you lost your job after an unfair imprisonment or if you needed to find someone to babysit during a rally.

Also goes with the lack of third spaces - these kinds of meetings or events were places to meet others in the flesh. I think the political discussion of a chautauqua was probably less vulnerable to foreign bad agents (although certainly not domestic ones).

We just have a lack of community in general - I guess a “lack of class consciousness” ensues. We view our struggles against our landlord/boss/grocery stores as individual and still somewhat of our own fault, that we are still “temporarily embarrassed millionaires” who haven’t worked hard enough to earn it yet.

I’ve known (rich) people who think people without health insurance who can’t afford their treatment deserve to die. When you don’t know poor people, they aren’t human to you. When you don’t know other people, their struggles don’t matter.

We’re too exhausted from working to socialize, organize or really being able to give a shit about anything.

Yeah - there are a shit ton of Joker’s epic boners.

Also a lot of funny stuff with Superman and Jimmy Olsen. The Bronze Age is… something.

DRMless digital is great - I have a calibre library of thousands - but still more vulnerable.

Canticle of Lebowitz is a great post apocalyptic novel. After the nukes, Catholic monasteries preserve the ancient tradition of copying down manuscripts. Text doesn’t require any form of infrastructure.

There are also many texts/other media that are not available in any digital format. Obscure or older. For as much of an Information Age we are in, a lot of knowledge is being lost through neglect.

The best true crime podcast will always be Criminal. Very little sex/murder, more like a This American Life for crime.

I think in part it’s hyper vigilance and some bits of “Just World” falllacy. When you are raised female, you’re constantly taught shit like always keeping a key ready between your knuckles when you’re walking outside at night, or where best to kick someone, or the debates on whether to shout “help” or something else - to be female is to be taught you are in danger. My mom was fucked up but the shit where she would obsessively show me where all the sex criminals in our neighborhood were wasn’t maybe that unusual.

The “Just World” aspect is maybe if you learn enough you can protect yourself. Listen to enough true crime podcasts and you’ll crack the pattern and protect yourself. Look at all the weird women on Facebook who post about their “close calls” with human trafficking - or even how police departments will feed into that shit.

Then perhaps a more complicated aspect - the most awful crimes are committed by those closest to us. Stranger danger is very appealing as an alternative.

I think there’s also something to be said about fascism as a comfort. There are many people I’ve seen argue that it’s somewhat of a happy ending for Florence Pugh’s character. These also seem to be the types of TERF radical feminists who are more likely to be in lockstep with the current administration based on its treatment of transgender people.

When you have been hurt in that way, burning it all down can make sense. The movie does make you feel comfortable with the deaths of the characters I think - they all very much come across as more “deserving” of what happens to them than is typical in most horror films. I think that’s another amazing aspect of that movie - you don’t feel bad about them dying and maybe that should concern you?

Hereditary is another movie that has so many layers to it. The problem there is that it’s basically impossible to watch more than once to form a proper analysis of it lol