A Macaron of a Person

Too often, Democracy is presented to us as the boring, moderate option, only chosen by conformists and the indecisive masses. I am here to tell you:

Democracy is not Moderate. Democracy is Radical.

Democracy is the last major political ideology to insist that legitimacy rises from the many and not the few.

Every other system - no matter how it dresses itself up - rests on the same grim foundation: that power must be concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite. Sometimes it is in the hands of The Party's Politburo, sometimes it's the Guardian Mullahs, sometimes a Noble Bloodline, sometimes it's the President-for-Life and his pathetic cadre of sycophants.

It doesn't matter what ideology props up Tyranny. The labels differ, but the structure is identical - a small group decides, and the rest of us obey. Strip away the slogans and you find the same contempt underneath: a profound distrust of humanity as a whole.

And that is how it has always been - in most places, and for most of human history. But Democracy is the rejection of that structure at its root.

Democracy is not tidy. It is not efficient. It is not comforting. It is a stubborn, defiant insistence that ordinary people - in all their conflicted ignorance, prejudice, generosity, and brilliance - are entitled to govern themselves. Not because they are perfect, but because they are human.

It assumes that the people are not livestock to be managed, nor children to be shielded from dangerous thoughts, but moral agents capable of judgment, disagreement, and correction.

There is nothing moderate about that.

And that is why Democracy and Freedom of Expression are inseparable. A system that depends on the people’s consent must allow the people to speak - to argue, to offend, to be wrong, to be foolish, to be alarming. Either you trust the people or you do not.

Democracy cannot survive on curated truths and sanitized discourse. It requires exposure to bad ideas so that better ones can defeat them in the open. It requires citizens who can hear something repulsive and reject it for themselves.

Authoritarian systems have no need for Freedom of Expression. They do not require educated citizens, only compliant ones. They do not need critical thinking, only discipline. Speech is dangerous to them precisely because it invites comparison, skepticism, and refusal. So the Authoritarians of all colors regulate it - not for any public good, but for their own survival.

Here in America, Democracy is strained. The public sometimes chooses poorly. Demagogues rise. Falsehood spreads. But the system is showing its cracks precisely because it allows us to see them.

The answer to bad democratic outcomes is not to abandon democracy - it is to defend it more fiercely. A system that permits error is the only system that permits correction.

I know that the temptation, in moments of fear and frustration, is to reach for guardians - to wish for someone stronger, smarter, cleaner to take the wheel so that you do not have to confront it yourself. That temptation is ancient, but it has always led to the same place: The surrender of voice. The criminalization of dissent. The quiet suffocation of truth.

Democracy asks something harder of us. It asks us to believe that people, together, can learn - can improve. That exposure to ideas does not inevitably corrupt. That sunlight does more good than silence. That freedom - including the freedom to create and consume shocking, offensive, unsettling ideas - is not a threat to legitimacy, but its foundation.

Democracy is not easy and it is not perfect. Democracy rejects the fantasy that some flawless leader will come along to save us. It does not falsely promise us good outcomes every time.

She is the Earth, from the claws of winter to the bloom of spring. Eva, Gaia, feels everything—every sandcastle and forest fire, every brilliant smile and wail of grief. If Grace knew the magnitude of suffering and love that she feels in every second of her existence, she believes he would go of his own accord. Maybe she can show him what is worth saving…

he spent his whole life being strong and threatening, someone praised for their aptitude for violence. now that he's trying to move on from that, i think he'd be afraid to indulge anything close to those impulses. the butcher was mean and physically aggressive and commanding; simon is gentle and loving and sweet. it's difficult to reconcile those two sides of himself when he so thoroughly hates one of them.

he'd need to really warm up to domming. grace would be so encouraging, reminding him that what he does during scenes doesn't make him a monster, but he'd still start off as the gentlest of doms, highly focused on grace instead of himself. he can't bring himself to physically harm grace, not even a swat to the ass. he can't restrain grace without having flashbacks to being restrained himself, how scared he was, and panicking at the thought of making grace feel the same way.

for a long time, the most he can do is be a little demanding, telling grace not to move, overstimulating him, a bit of verbal teasing. even then, he drops hard after; he needs to lay his head in grace's lap or be spooned up in a soft blanket and reassured over and over that he's not a bad person, he has nothing to be guilty for, grace loved everything he did.

Within a 10-15min walk, I could get to 2 different larger malls that had facilities such as a library and connects directly to the subway station, a light rail station and a bus interchange.

I could literally wake up at 2a.m. and walk to the 7-Eleven to get a slushie and a sandwich if I wanted. That was how convenient it was. I didn't need to spend hours commuting to and from the doctor's if I didn't feel well enough for work.

Grocery shopping is a part of many people's daily routine. We go to the market or supermarket on the same day we plan to cook.

And this is common here. We're a small city state, true, so the closeness of everything is kinda forced on us, but even so, neighborhoods are planned in such a way that everyone can easily access a variety of goods and services without too much hassle. And we do use little carts! They're useful and practical things!

it’s not as clear in the movie, but eva stratt does not seem to be a scientist. at least not at the level as the others on PHM. in the book, she seems to purposefully bring grace along to various meetings because she needs his input and his translation. there are several times that a scientist will propose a solution to her, and she turns to her snarky teacher friend second in command and asks his opinion. he’s there because he is incredibly smart and, if needed, can explain things to her so she can understand. before grace? i bet she was largely doing this alone. i’m sure others would explain things to her if she asked, but it comes so naturally to grace. it’s his fucking job. it’s his second language, AND he doesn’t think less of her for it. he knows what she’s capable of, and thinks she’s still right for the job, even if the science of it all is over her head

i’m sure that it started out early, when they were still learning what astrophage was. grace was a leading mind in it, and was needed. but then she brought him along to help translate other things for her. and then because she trusted his judgement. and then because, deep down, he was her friend.

like it starts with sharing passwords and whatnot, but then they have the keys to each others' rooms. grace is glued to her side like they're conjoined twins. she brings him along to meetings to science translate like he's her emotional support dog. he brings her lunch because she always forgets. they both fall asleep working in one office or lab or another all the time.

eventually they straight-up form their own way of communication. grace can say something on the same level of incomprehensible as "carl and i made a baby" and stratt will respond with some obscure hand gesture, and both of them will completely understand. they hold entire conversations like that. one day ilyukhina pops her head in the door to ask grace a question, witnesses this, and wordlessly backs away. she'll ask dubois.

there's a betting pool going on on whether they're hooking up, but one day someone finds out that grace is aroace or something, and it becomes immediately and violently clear that something much more concerning is going on with them.