Love is real
Stick to your hottest trot, babes
If you are unfamiliar with the wisest sage of our time, may I introduce you to Dr. Chuck Tingle? You’ve probably seen screenshots of the completely unhinged books that come out in the Tingleverse and asked yourself if you’d accidentally been dosed with something in your morning coffee.
I personally think the Tingleverse is an excellent litmus test— can someone look at Angry Man Pounded By The Fear Of His Latent Gayness Over A Dinosaur Transitioning Into A Unicorn and say, “Hell yeah, that exists,” even if it isn’t for them?
I love that someone alive on this earth has a brain that works this way and brings joy and sentient manifestations of things most of us would never otherwise conceive of to the masses.
There are people who look at something like this and immediately think, “JAIL. JAIL FOR DR. TINGLE FOR 10,000 YEARS!”. Those are the people who have tried to make everyone else live exactly like them (in misery) for thousands of years because homogeneity gets them off, I guess.
(You can have that one for free, Chuck!)
Revisionist history
The thing is, no matter how tightly you try to control the narrative, you can’t. Even if you’re the victor and you write the history books and mandate the teaching of them, the truth will still slip out. In quiet corners, in other places (see: America is not the entire world). In people’s hearts.
Human beings have never— at any time in history— lived in one specific way. And they never will.
You see this in arguments about historical relationships (“They were obviously very close friends!”) or how “inaccurate” it is for media to include a diverse cast in works of historical fiction. As a side note, I am constantly baffled by the people who seem to believe everyone in Europe was white1 until some sort of widespread airlifting Diversity Event happened in the 1960s.
But I digress.
The reaction to cultural shifts of “Well, nobody was like this WHEN I WAS GROWING UP!!” tells you a few things:
More people feel safe being their true selves now, which should be a good thing, asshole
You were or are not a safe person for anyone to share their true self with!
If you fall into the Default American Stereotype category and you don’t know anyone all that different from you? Congratulations on either being very sheltered or being the second kind of person2. I would also like to emphasize that I mean “know someone” outside of a customer service relationship where they are forced to maintain a veneer of civility with you to make a living. Your hairstylist or favorite postman doesn’t cut it.
America is not the main character
Please do not tell Sam the Eagle this, but one thing I’d really like to emphasize is that America does not control the narrative of history. Even if we go full Regression To The Dark Ages one day, we are one nation among many others on this earth waiting to be overthrown by our aquatic overlords3.
I’m amused and a little sad contemplating an entire nation getting sonder-pilled, realizing that many of the other nations might, in fact, be sick of our shit. How many who think of themselves as Cap are looking in a very twisted funhouse mirror instead?
This illustration is *checks notes* almost 12 years old but feels very fresh because we are far from the day when we wake up in a Himbo Utopia where everyone is wise and good and true, giving each other gentle forehead kisses as needed for morale.
The good news is that we’re closer than you might think. Only 20% of the American population voted for an aspiring dictator, and I’d say it’s safe to argue most of those were operating from misinformation vs. being rabid true believers. Sure, that’s still depressing, but in a very different, we-need-to-fight-disinformation way!
Most people don’t need their souls rehabilitated. Most people just want to vibe in their limited free time and do not have the time and energy to dig into world politics (even if it’s true that world politics will dig into them regardless). They make the choices they think will keep their family safe based on the information they have.
It’s rarely “pure evil” that you come up against every day; it’s indifference. My greatest hope is that we figure out how to rebuild the things that already are or that get broken in the next few years in a better way. We need to Kintsugi this bitch.
So find your little piece and fill in the cracks with gold whenever you can.
Get Rec’d
What I’m reading, watching, being haunted by.
What I’m reading: I just started this month’s book club pick— By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult. It’s 500 pages, and I need to finish it by Monday. Ha ha.
What I’m watching: I binged Nobody Wants This because I am contractually obligated to do so as a woman in my 30s, and yes, that was made for us in a lab.
Reality: Raw milk is a great example of why I feel like I am going insane every single day: “The fact that this ‘debate,’ such as it is, even exists speaks to the kind of yawning gulf between realities that puts us at this grim precipice…If we can’t even agree that boiling milk for ten seconds or so to kill germs and save kids is a good thing—what the fuck is consensus reality even about anymore?”
I cannot emphasize enough that pasteurizing milk helped infant mortality drop by more than half from 1890-19154. But enjoy your American right to watch your child get fatal diarrhea, I guess!!!Escapism: WHO ELSE IS READY FOR MOTHER’S NEW HOLIDAY FILM???
Wildcard: I’m very into the latest issue of Chronically Online Mag
Until next time.
Related: being the kind of parent who tells your child, “You can tell me anything!” and acting in a way that lets them know this is actually true!
Orcas, cephalopods, take your pick; I, for one, welcome them
Say it with me, everyone: REGULATIONS ARE WRITTEN. IN. BLOOD.