Eclectic

Happy National Coming Out Day

Gay people know Reagan as the president who laughed at AIDS and did nothing because “all the right people” (aka us gay people) were dying from it.

Reagan is the president under whose auspices the incarceration rate of Black people on drug charges ballooned to caricaturishly high levels.

Reagan is the president that abolished the air traffic controllers’ union.

Reagan is the president who espoused the flawed “trickle down economics” theory, cut federal funding for state welfare programmes by 80%, froze the federal minimum wage while taxes and costs skyrocketed, and established the capital gains tax cuts that set our corporate feudal state into motion.

Reagan is the president who gutted federal assistance programmes, purging the Social Security disability rolls, and caused my own grandfather to die because he could no longer afford to buy both food and medicine.

Then of course, there’s the Iran-Contra Affair, Star Wars (not the film, but the space based missile platform), school prayer, blah blah blah

He took a pay cut. I’m not doing all of that. Ima just pay my people well and give top notch benefits.

He sold stock, houses, and changed his spending and as a result, his employees were overall happier and the way they worked improved. They all bought more shit and had more kids and did all the consumption people want for us while also enjoying their work and their boss enough to band together and buy him a fucking Tesla as a thank you.

And you know what he realized after taking his pay cut? He didn’t need the champagne or the girls or the “lifestyle” of being a billionaire. He feels fulfilled in his work and with the people he’s surrounded himself with and he feels that he’s made a step in the right direction that other businessmen and billionaires should follow.

He was only ever a fraction of a Bezos.

I think people aren’t giving the internet enough credit.

You grow up being told how great capitalism is and then you get online and find out that people in other countries have the same standard of living we do but without the constant fear of bankruptcy.

You grow up thinking “going to the doctor is expensive, don’t get sick and if you do don’t go until you’re sure you HAVE to” and then you find out most of the developed world can go to the doctor for free, or at least for a very affordable rate.

You grow up thinking “Work hard and be successful and you can retire at 65 and travel a little.” and then you get online and find out pretty much all of Europe gets weeks and weeks of vacation time a year and is doing their travelling in their 20s and 30s and loving it.

The list goes on and on. I grew up in the conservative south and it wasn’t an uncommon conversation starter when I was a kid for people to open up with things like “What church do you go to?” and so that’s what I thought the world was. Church and working for the weekend and be careful to save your pennies and not splurge and don’t get sick. It wasn’t until the internet appeared that I realized how differently a lot of people live and how much more appealing a lot of that sounded.

On September first I'm unemployed again, if I don't find a job.

I'm not worried. My healthcare for the year is paid. I'll get unemployment benefit for the (hopefully short) time I'm between jobs. So I'll be able to pay my mortgage and other bills. I have a college degree, savings, I've paid all my hospital bills without issues. I can afford my ADHD meds without any issues.

I see all these deprecating posts joking about millennials never bring homeowners. But half my friend are homeowners. I'm 29. I bought my apartment when I was 27.

So there has been a bit of “what if humans were the weird ones?” going around tumblr at the moment and Earth Day got me thinking. Earth is a wonky place, the axis tilts, the orbit wobbles, and the ground spews molten rock for goodness sakes. What if what makes humans weird is just our capacity to survive? What if all the other life bearing planets are these mild, Mediterranean climates with no seasons, no tectonic plates, and no intense weather? 

Human: “Honestly we can tolerate anywhere from -40 to 50 Celcius, but we prefer the 0 to 30 range.”

Alien: “……. I’m sorry, did you just list temperatures below freezing?”

Human: “Yeah, but most of us prefer to throw on scarves or jackets at those temperatures it can be a bit nippy.” 

Other human: “Nah mate, I knew this guy in college who refused to wear anything past his knees and elbows until it was -20 at least.”

Human: “Heh. Yeah everybody knows someone like that.”

Alien: “……. And did you also say 50 Celcius? As in, half way to boiling?”

Human: “Eugh. Yes. It sucks, we sweat everywhere, and god help you if you touch a seatbelt buckle, but yes.” 

“Yup, with blizzards you cant see through every other day just about.”

“Amazing! when did you manage to send drones that could survive such temperatures?”

“… well, actually…”

“… what?”

“…we kinda……. sent……….. people…..”

“…”

“…”

“…what?”

“we sent-”

“no yeah I heard you I just- what? You sent… HUMANS… to a place one hundred degrees below freezing?”

“y-yeah”

“and they didn’t… die?”

“Well the first few did”

“PEOPLE DIED OF THE COLD AND YOUR SOLUTION WAS TO SEND MORE PEOPLE?”

aka The History of Russia

aka Arctic Exploration

1. Learning to recognize all forms of animal tracks in the wild so you can avoid bears and moose and search out rabbits and other small animals to eat.

2. Extensive swimming and climbing on glacial pieces with competitions to see who could last the longest, followed by a group sit in the sauna so we wouldn’t get hypothermia (no, not kidding, I really did this many times as a kid!)

3. How to navigate using the stars to get back to civilization.

4. How to select the right type of moss from the trees to start a fire with damp wood (because, y’know, you’re in a field of snow. Nothing is dry.)

It only takes one try before the reality of the situation sets in: human definitions of ‘taming’ and ‘habitable’ are woefully incomplete.

“Why did you not eliminate the venomous plant life?” Grahssk’ti moans, clutching one limb.

“Those?” The human laughs. “Why bother? They’re not that bad. And they eat the mosquitoes.”

Grahssk’ti shudders. The ‘mosquitoes’ are… not to be mentioned. Just one swarm of them caused a landing shuttle to crash three planetary daylights ago.

“And the acid storms? Why did you not warn us of them?”

“I mean, they’re annoying,” the human says, shrugging, “but we figured the cool sunsets made up for it.”

Grahssk’ti flails helplessly. “What about the ten-meter tall Fanged Death Bringers? They can eliminate an entire settlement in under an hour!”

Without fail, a decent number make it a point to settle there because “Fuck You That’s Why.” It doesn’t matter how uneconomical it is, how difficult the conditions are, how utterly ridiculous it may seem, there will be at least one human who will attempt to do it only because someone else regardless of species says it is improbable or WORSE impossible. 

“Well yeah, but only up to about Category 3 strength.  Then it’s time to pack the car and head inland for most people, although a few hardy souls stick around and ride them out.”

“Oh good.  Category 3 is what again?  Winds up to 75 kilometers per hour?”

“It’s a planet completely made of ice.”

“Yeah! Let’s send some scientists! Or I could be the youngest person there!”

“You’d die, it’s below freezing level!”

“But the blizzards are so pretty!”

“No, of course not.  Nobody ‘sent’ anyone, they just went up there on their own.”

Because with $1,000, that might be the money you need for rent - $65 could be the prescription you need til the end of the month. Despite being 6.5% of the amount, it could be the difference between you actually eating that week.

But a person with $1 billion has their every need and desire met. They don’t have to worry about rent or food or medicine. They could fund the research for the cure if they caught a never-before-seen disease. $65 million may be 6.5% of that, but it will make no difference in their ability to support themselves.

pokemon

Your neighbors got into a loud spat a few weeks ago and without fear or hesitation, called a domestic assistance number. A counselor arrived and was able to talk the couple down and suggest solutions for their disagreement. No one was hurt, the kids participated in the discussion, and it's been quiet ever since.

Your friend has been struggling with addiction and you fear they might be a danger to themselves or others. You call a substance abuse specialist and they talk you through ways to help your friend get treatment. They offer to send an agent out to speak with your friend directly and provide information on harm reduction centers in your area.

Black and brown people are no longer being exploited through tickets and fines to pay for police. Trust is slowly being fostered in the community.

Teachers are being paid a living wage and students are being given more time, attention, and education. Books are up to date and classrooms are optimized to keep up with technology.

Trump is out of office.

It’s been a very long time since the name of a murdered black person was used as a hashtag.

Casual racism is no longer tolerated. The KKK has been classified as a terrorist organization. The Confederate flag isnt flown and has been removed from any official state flags or insignias. Most Confederate monuments have been taken down and placed in storage or museums.

You trust the investigation force to deal with crime the same way you trust firefighters to put out fires.

That's what 'defund the police' looks like. What we've seen in the last few weeks shows how overreaching and power-drunk many officers are. We asked too much of them and then called them heroes despite evidence to the contrary. We let them think that they could get away with anything, including murder. Its time for change.