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“I bought a typewriter today and Ben hates it“ 

“Ahhhh yes, that’s the spot” 

Example drug abuse. A person uses drugs for may different reasons. It may be to combat despair from depression, or from a life of hopeless drudgery or to deal with physical or emotional pain or even as cheap entertainment. And each of these reasons requires a different solution. Installing a park with playground equipment and setting up arts and crafts and sports  programs will address those who are seeking entertainment and may even alleviate some of the drudgery from people’s lives, but it will do nothing to help those who use drugs for other reasons.

Conservatives thinking is all or nothing. To end drug abuse,  imprison people selling or using drugs and eventually no one will use drugs. Its a simple answer that does noting to actually address the causes of drug abuse. Its also insanely expensive in both human suffering and material costs. And it doesn’t work. the conservative answer? Do it more brutally.

The US has lots of problems. Racial inequality, gender inequality, wealth hording, police brutality, environmental destruction and a host of others. Liberal thinking addresses each of these problems and tries to come up with solutions that will actually fix the problems. Recognizing and rooting out institutionalized racism, higher taxes for the wealthy, increased wages, free healthcare, funding social programs aimed at helping people instead of jailing them. Making the police accountable for their actions. Investing in clean energy and putting teeth back into the laws against polluting.

A revolution addresses none of these and only makes everything worse. The wealthy can easily flee to other countries taking their wealth with them. The poor and marginalized people will bare the brunt of casualties and the aftermath. Racists will use the rhetoric of revolution and any conflict to justify even more horrendous attacks against people of color and to recruit revolutionists to their ranks when the revolution eventually fails. Its a traditional conservative all or nothing answer. Its using mass murder to attempt solve a social problem. And as we can see from numerous revolutions world wide, it won’t work. 

“Our choices are lemonade, or battery acid. Which do you want?”

“I don’t like lemonade!”

“Then you’re picking battery acid.”

“I don’t want that either! I want sparkling water!”

“That’s not an option. You can pick lemonade, or battery acid. If you don’t pick lemonade you get battery acid. Which one?”

“Neither! I want sparkling water!”

“You are not getting sparkling water. It is not on the menu. It’s not an option.”

“Then I just won’t drink anything!”

“Well, if you don’t pick anything, something will be picked for you and it might be battery acid.”

“I hate lemonade! It’s not even healthy! It’s full of sugar and calories! Besides, it’s got citric acid in it, so isn’t it basically the same thing as battery acid?”

“…no. No, it is not the same thing as battery acid. Not even slightly.”

“Well, it’s still terrible! You should pick the sparkling water! If everyone would just pick sparkling water, we’d all be happier!”

“Yes, if everyone asked for sparkling water they’d put it on the menu, but hardly anyone asks for it so it’s not available! Lemonade or battery acid!”

“They’re the same. I’m not picking anything.”

Hold onto the fact that, even in this utter hell year, things keep happening that you could not have predicted. (Like, we joke about the bingo cards, but literally no one had murder hornets on their bingo card.) Even when the surprises are terrible, hold on to that feeling of startlement, that jolt where the world becomes something other than you expected.

That jolt is you realizing that you do not know what the hell is going to happen. Not tomorrow, not in a month, not in a year. That jolt is what reminds you that things can change.

Because right now–when it’s, so, so easy to give in to despair; when it’s so easy to give up because we know how this will play out, we know there’s no fixing any of this–it’s more important than ever to remember that actually? We don’t know shit. Anything could happen. Even change. Even success. Even happiness.

Like someone who spends $200 on a practical purse is not the problem with capitalism

John Boyega having a net worth of $6 mil after multiple high profile years in the film industry is not the problem with capitalism

The enemy is the billionaires that hoard wealth and banks and companies that control entire swaths of the economy

Don’t let the guy with $200 billion convince you, who makes less than $30k a year, that the doctor making $150k a year is the enemy