Galling how many people will not vote or speak up about an issue unless it directly—and I mean directly—impacts them. They don't care if it hurts their spouse, children, neighbours, colleagues etc. It must impact them personally in order for them to give a shit. Pathetic, eh?
I get it. I've worked in hardware my entire career and specifically worked in electronics manufacturing when Trump's 1.0 tariffs hit.
My spouse and I bought all the electronics we'd need for the next several years in November because we saw it coming. One of the first things I contacted my reps about in January was tariffs with Canada cause I live in Vermont, heating costs are already a major issue and we get most of our electricity from Hydro-Quebec.
So my (granted deeply jaded) reaction to people freaking out now was yeah this was coming.
Oh I can't edit but just wanna be clear, not yelling at poor people but mostly yelling at everyone else who all the sudden seems to be like this is a problem?
Those of screaming from the mountaintops about the transphobic creep during the Biden administration are hoarse and exhausted. (Biden himself was pretty good, but we just allowed a lot of cultural space for transphobia as an acceptable bigotry that rightwingers could have because it was niche).
As a woman in early middle age, all of my friends were theoretically upset by the news, but most shrugged and did nothing, using the difficulty of heterosexual parent life as an excuse for why they don't have energy for trans people.
All the same people bent over backwards to congratulate me when my (trans) spouse and I eloped in January, as if it's totally normal for me to give up my wedding plans to protect my wife.
By the way, straight people, when you meet a gay person who eloped this year because of impending fascism, the correct response is, "I'm so sorry you had to do that. The world is fucked up. Congratulations, regardless." It's not, "OMG CONGRATULATIONS!" with unadulterated joy, as if I had a regular run-of-the-mill heterosexual wedding. Have a fucking shred of self-awareness!
I’m not sure it’s that people don’t CARE, but rather that the systems are so broken that folks are in such survival mode that they lack the actual capacity to pick their heads up. This is part of the whole problem: everyone’s nervous system is so fried due to the intentional fire hose of horrors. Muzzle velocity is an attack on our emotions because our emotions are the place we act from. I don’t blame people for not “seeing it sooner” - I’m grateful for whatever makes them pick their heads up, no matter when in their lives it happens. Is sooner better? Yes. Is “later” (than you’d like) better than never at all? Yes.
“Are we not neighbors?” stopped me in my scroll. That’s the whole thesis in one sentence. It’s wild how people can be silent through so much systemic harm—but tariffs touch a wallet and suddenly the group chat is alive. I appreciate how you tied economic discourse back to moral responsibility, not in a shaming way but in a clarifying one. The economy doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and neither should our empathy. Thank you for saying it plain.
“Are we not neighbors?” is the question that troubles me the most. (The answer appears to be, "meh").
100%.
Galling how many people will not vote or speak up about an issue unless it directly—and I mean directly—impacts them. They don't care if it hurts their spouse, children, neighbours, colleagues etc. It must impact them personally in order for them to give a shit. Pathetic, eh?
lovely piece as always. p.s. i actually did know double entry comes from italy! shoutout to b.s. johnson and christie malry for introducing me lol
I get it. I've worked in hardware my entire career and specifically worked in electronics manufacturing when Trump's 1.0 tariffs hit.
My spouse and I bought all the electronics we'd need for the next several years in November because we saw it coming. One of the first things I contacted my reps about in January was tariffs with Canada cause I live in Vermont, heating costs are already a major issue and we get most of our electricity from Hydro-Quebec.
So my (granted deeply jaded) reaction to people freaking out now was yeah this was coming.
Oh I can't edit but just wanna be clear, not yelling at poor people but mostly yelling at everyone else who all the sudden seems to be like this is a problem?
I got you, no worries!
Those of screaming from the mountaintops about the transphobic creep during the Biden administration are hoarse and exhausted. (Biden himself was pretty good, but we just allowed a lot of cultural space for transphobia as an acceptable bigotry that rightwingers could have because it was niche).
As a woman in early middle age, all of my friends were theoretically upset by the news, but most shrugged and did nothing, using the difficulty of heterosexual parent life as an excuse for why they don't have energy for trans people.
All the same people bent over backwards to congratulate me when my (trans) spouse and I eloped in January, as if it's totally normal for me to give up my wedding plans to protect my wife.
By the way, straight people, when you meet a gay person who eloped this year because of impending fascism, the correct response is, "I'm so sorry you had to do that. The world is fucked up. Congratulations, regardless." It's not, "OMG CONGRATULATIONS!" with unadulterated joy, as if I had a regular run-of-the-mill heterosexual wedding. Have a fucking shred of self-awareness!
I’m not sure it’s that people don’t CARE, but rather that the systems are so broken that folks are in such survival mode that they lack the actual capacity to pick their heads up. This is part of the whole problem: everyone’s nervous system is so fried due to the intentional fire hose of horrors. Muzzle velocity is an attack on our emotions because our emotions are the place we act from. I don’t blame people for not “seeing it sooner” - I’m grateful for whatever makes them pick their heads up, no matter when in their lives it happens. Is sooner better? Yes. Is “later” (than you’d like) better than never at all? Yes.
“Are we not neighbors?” stopped me in my scroll. That’s the whole thesis in one sentence. It’s wild how people can be silent through so much systemic harm—but tariffs touch a wallet and suddenly the group chat is alive. I appreciate how you tied economic discourse back to moral responsibility, not in a shaming way but in a clarifying one. The economy doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and neither should our empathy. Thank you for saying it plain.
✔️😒😤