Floccinaucinihilipilification

So, in terrible news, Trump's trying to pull some strings to pass this massive internet censorship bill, featuring all the kinds of internet censorship we're terrified of, including mandatory ID for accessing basically any website, specifically to crush state regulation of AI, because apparently this man will always see the moral bottom of the barrel and start digging.

It is important to consider the culture of the person who created the piece, absolutely; but the different perspectives offered by the viewers is fascinating in and of itself and does not always detract from the message.

As an example, when I was younger, I watched Schindler's List. This movie is famously shot in black and white except for one section, concerning a little girl in a red coat. The camera follows her until her eventual death.

I am Turtle Island Indigenous and I was always taught that the only color spirits could see was red, because it is the color of life and blood.

So the second the girl in the red jacket came on screen, something inside me chilled with fear.

The only color in the movie was that red. At some point, I, the viewer, had died.

I remember sobbing at the sight of the burning human piles that were shown, convinced I was buried in there somewhere. The reason I had only seen red on the girl was that my death was recent. I was the ash in the air mistaken for snow. I had died before her and had followed her, helplessly, until she followed me.

The message I got for that was maybe not what the creator had intended: that there was no "being clever enough" or "good enough" or "kind enough" that would shield or protect you from such a massive tidal wave of evil.

You are not exempt from tragedy, that red jacket whispered. You are not special.

When I told some of my white friends about my experience with viewing Schindler's List, some were shocked and the rest just out-and-out mocked me for my "media illiteracy".

"it was just a filming trick to make you feel something," I remember one saying, which terrified me. How had he not felt anything even before she showed up?

And Data saying things like "I would gladly risk feeling bad at times, if it also meant that I could taste my dessert."

And Bashir saying things like “You can't go through life trying to avoid getting a broken heart. If you do, it'll break from loneliness anyway."

And Odo sayings things like "It has been my observation that one of the prices of giving people freedom of choice is that sometimes they make the wrong choice."

Get big boobs and start sleeping around with anyone I found attractive by age sixteen.

Become a veterinarian.

Breed Turkish Vans.

Get married, and then divorced, repeating until I had married all the cute boys in my class at least once.

Have several children.

Start a hippie commune. With goats and chickens.

Be famous, but for no reason people could put their finger on. Like, she's written a book, but we already knew about her because she was on a chat show, her paintings are recognisable but probably wouldn't be if not for her book. Probably did bad standup at one point. Something like Carrot Top but pagan.

Some of the details of my plan at age sixteen:

Never pursue mental health treatment.

Go to college for animation.

Leave home and cut myself off from all my loved ones so the final step of this plan would hurt them less.

Never date.

Write a single book.

Hit age twenty-five.

Kill myself.

Some of the details of my current life:

Am thirty-seven and receiving mental health treatment. Currently debating if it's statistically likely I will die by suicide, given I've wanted to for a long time but never committed to it.

Still living with a family I love and have a good relationship with.

Have written three books and am working on the fourth in the series.

Sells illustrations that are generally better received in person than on the internet.

Has never dated, married, or reproduced.

Animates as a hobby.

Briefly had a handmade fashion line, which is more than the three girls in my class who wanted to go to school for fashion design can say.

Has a pretty nice bosom, for what that's worth.

There are many scripts online you can follow, many ways to tweak your message to fit your senator (ESPECIALLY if they are up for reelection this year). Whether it's a recording you reach or a real person, be straightforward, don't argue, just let your rep know that you are a constituent and you oppose the KIDS act, etc.