For me its gotta be the pang of fear and anxiety whenever I see my local pigs. Protect and serve, my ass, more like harass and terrify
The increased savage enthusiasm for "justice served" type videos, where a black man stealing something is assaulted or murdered, and it's deserved because a hundred bucks of store property is more valuable than the life of a man of color
I wonder how these people would feel about summary execution of white collar criminals
(Actually I don't)
Just ask them about whoever the last billionaire China shot was and watch them go off.
Hearing normie conservalibs talking about the homeless, immigrants, and natives in the most callous, ignorant ways. And knowing way more people want fascism and virulent racism but civility is the only thing holding them back.
The increasingly common genocidal rhetoric. The way people talk about Russians needing to pay or Chinese being a threat to humanity. Reminds me of post-9/11, and we did a Holocaust in the Middle East after that.
that video that got recommended to me constantly for a few weeks, "Walmart shoplifting mastermind gets OBLITERATED" or whatever. just a broad daylight murder, published on the internet for the world to see. Comments full of "got what he deserved !! 🤣🤣🤣"people are so jacked up to murder, all to protect a tenth of a penny from being stolen from the Waldens. :deeper-sadness:
The "Better Things Aren't Possible" mentality wherein self-described optimists and pragmatists act like those of us who would prefer the world were otherwise are either eye-rollingly naive, tediously histrionic, or unnecessarily negative.
Dehumanization of the unhoused. People are your neighbors, they are right there, they're hungry, thirsty, cold, tired, trying to deal and eke out a little joy here and there. I have to try really hard to not spend all of my money and time doing things to stop it. I have trouble imagining forgiving the people who aren't outraged by the fact that someone near them is hungry or unhoused in the first place. Someone they could feed, someone for whom they could come together and provide more stable housing for.
I like to think about how humans have been able to organize themselves and their cultures in different ways. Built societies where the idea of not feeding a hungry person is revolting. And how other forces, primarily capitalist ones, killed them off either directly or through cultural assimilation. And I live in a place where that happened, where that fascistic othering and social murder was imposed by genocide, and the essence of that culture pervades daily life.
Got into an argument with a lib about what NYC is doing is going to traumatize and harm the homeless individuals involved as well as medical staff by kidnapping, drugging, and holding someone. All they said in return was bullshit about a family member dealing with schizophrenia and "it's better than nothing". Like mfer all they wanna do is hide the only sin neoliberalism cares about and that is "highly visible homeless" being seen in public spaces.
About 90% of people who have ever been sectioned will tell you that it's the worst, most traumatic thing that has ever happened to them, and even if they didn't lose their job and their home from being kidnapped and held without recourse for a month it leaves scars that last for the rest of their lives. There are people who are actively suicidal who are still alive bc they got sectioned, but the way people are tormented and dehumanized in psych wards means that only in literal life or death situations can it be at all justified.
This right here, it literally feels like we are at the end of the rope for the neoliberal system in which it can't conceivably imagine giving housing or free medical treatment (or even just fucking subsidized) to pick up the slack for its rampant reaping and privatization of services. Instead it has, with a straight face, told the public it will incarcerate you if you fall outside of it's "acceptable" populace group, and everyone just goes through with it cuss they already expect so little from this hellworld.
Yeah. Nimbys screaming for homeless blood have no self awareness that they're one medical crisis or missed paycheck away from being in one of the encampments they're screaming about.
I've come to the conclusion they don't go quiet because they don't have a solution but because it's one they know they can't utter in polite society.
Literally desert concentration camps are the ideal for the liberal and conservative pathologies. The difference is that liberals are ashamed to say it
The "thin blue line" shit I see every where. We live in a police state and we like it.
There’s just that many police. It’s a violent cartel and patronage network, with millions connected to the financial gravy train they extort for “protection”
Those police camera towers trailers with the flashing lights that now festoon every Grocery Store, Pharmacy, Target, Walmart, Home Depot, etc. Some of them even have a little recording that tells you it's watching you every five minutes.
I think about that every time i pass some kind of surveillance device.
Idk about favorite but the the proliferation of homeless folks and people begging. Literally everywhere you go, it's gotten worse and it's not normal. It's clear that the system is falling apart, reminds me of the great depression or something
Edit: also the amount of people who structure their lives around trying to make homeless folks lives worse
I'm trying to remember what the phrase is, but it was something like participation in capitalism is a moral injury. Some people become completely callous to the vast suffering and either deny it or ignore it or blame the victims. But if you have compassion and empathy in any degree the vast, horrific suffering slowly drives you mad.
Being around older family for the holidays, and being exposed to cable television commercials for the first time in eons.
It's literally all either for
- prescription drugs for depression, or presented as a magic bullet for some horrible health condition you should be regularly seeing a specialist for (:if-i-had-one:), or
- a close-up on the dead-eyed, determined, self-assured stare of a white person firing a gun (that is, attempting to end the life of a human being)
and theypay for the right to watch the ads
TV dramas about the military or police, military or police recruitment, campaign ads for politicians whose platform is military and police support
I keep thinking of my local queer spaces and I keep looking around wondering "When some fashy bastard barges in with an assault rifle on a murder spree, what's your plan of action?" and I have to sincerely think about that because it's becoming more and more of a real possibility every day
I have the same thought but at movie theaters and on public transit
The increased number and variety of "ghost cars". Growing up, it used to be super easy to spot the unmarked cop cars, they were all crown vics in a single shade of brown. Now they have a variety of SUVs, trucks, and cars in all sorts of colours. When I was younger I never understood why they had unmarked cars in the first place, I always thought they should be highly visible in case someone needed to find one (lib take I know)
Somehow I'm always brushed off as paranoid and overreacting when I start ask why unmarked cop cars exist in the first place, let alone that they're getting better at hiding. Remind me again, when do they start being secret police?
Edit: also my local police union flew a blue line flag for a long ass time. They might still be doing it, but I no longer drive by it going to and from work
Absolutely. Neither should exist. And don't even get me started on the shit they're allowed to do like Mr. Big ops
And that's not even touching the secret army. I have a feeling we'll be hearing about them in the next few years.
Yeah. Did we ever learn anything more about those DHS troops that were abducting people during the 2020 protests?
They use civil asset forfeiture to steal cars from people. Then they either sell them for profit, steal them and take them home, or use them for secret police shit or bait cars.
the regular cop cars by me are black ford explorers with grey decals, so even the regular cruisers can take a second glance to spot
A majority Chinese city in SoCal gets weekly deliveries of that rag. They know how to target
Sunshine throws one into the lobby of my office every Tuesday
I saw one for New Tang Dynasty Television, which gave me the same feeling, but at least it was different
brands skating by on image alone. a lot of gun companies, such as remington, ain't what they used to be. they rely on boomer nostalgia and old product placement to keep their guns in circulation. my buddy was telling me about some cartier rings that they sell for $1k that only have about $115 worth of gold in them. i know shysters have always been a thing but hey you asked for a current fave
Remington is an example of the decline in product quality going on in a lot of companies. Apparently Pyrex isn't actually made with the famously durable Pyrex borosilicate glass that made them famous. Doc Martens are another example. The days when they were high quality working class boots that would last forever are long gone, now they're fast fashion.
Same with Corningware. Before 2000, it was made of the same stuff used in the nose cones of ICBMs and could be dropped or submerged in water while hot without breaking. Today it's just generic stoneware.
