another one

[solarbird]

I've been playing in my head with a short writeup of how angry I am about Penny Arcade Expo

not the show itself, mind you

but the new metal detectors and controlled access and emptying backpacks and purses and how not even any sharp tools are allowed and the loss of the outdoor cosplay hangout areas in the park and the meetups and how much all of this sucks

all due to the fucking epidemic of fascist-influenced angry white men shooting everything in sight

and how i've been at events where gamergate motherfuckers phoned in bomb threats and it's just like "whelp there's another one"

and the fucking airportisation of the whole fucking country and how I'm just so angry about it

and i pop onto my computer after my workout to work on it and before i even get the document open here i am looking at

another

fucking

mass

shooting

and we don't know who this is or what motives he may have had or anything about him and we have no idea whether this is political at all or whether he was politicised at all and getting ready for something and got set off early or just, you know, happened to be carrying a semiauto rifle and ready to go

and we just

can't

fucking

do

this

any

more

...but we will.

Until one way or another we can't.

and i'm so appalled by that. i'm so disgusted. i'm dismayed. and yet that's the reality. and we all know it.

i've said a lot, "fascists ruin everything." and they do. and some of them even know it, they just don't care, they want to put boots in faces a few times before everything falls apart, and that's the whole point of it for them.

but fuck, fascists ruin everything.

Comments

[rmd]

We've fallen into Brunner's "Stand on Zanzibar" and are afflicted by Muckers.

I've been saying that for years

[ng_moonmoth]

Stand On Zanzibar started feeling like way too good a fit sometime around the turn of the century. I'd love to see "muckers" catch on. The section of the book that starts, "IT'S NO COINCIDENCE we have muckers" describes the phenomenon to a T.

Re: I've been saying that for years

[ckd]

It was set in 2010, and unlike all the classic SF with 1997 Mars missions was pretty well matched to the actual timeline.

Re: I've been saying that for years

[ng_moonmoth]

Yes it was -- and by 2010, we were pretty much there. There was tech he missed -- there always is -- but a lot of the sociological extrapolation was dead on. It's still a worthwhile read, and there are a lot of people who might benefit from having their consciousnesses raised that way.

[solarbird]

I've read it, but I have very little memory of it and the only impression it made on me at the time was "ugh," so I'll have to take your word for it.

[vostoklake]

This is my theme song at the moment:

"You ask me why I'm weary, why I can't speak to you
You blame me for my silence, say it's time I changed and grew
But the war's still going on, dear, and there's no end that I know
And I can't say if we're ever...
I can't say if we're ever gonna be free"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGKNaIXtBZQ