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The irony of jokes about clueless “boomers” from Millennials and Gen Z is that we’re at a time where a lot of 60s counterculture elements, political, social and cultural and so on, are having this big resurgence among young people, just under slightly different paint. (We have different names for music that sounds suspiciously similar to 1960s psychedelic rock, for instance, LSD is big but now it’s specifically “microdosing” etc.) And while I think that we have improved on some of the most rancid parts of the 1960s version – like the greater emphasis on meaningful consent, on at least trying to shift focus away from the needs of middle-class white straight men – we still seem to make lots of “workarounds” for this that make it clear there’s a long way to go, like the idea that it’s somehow immoral to reject someone’s sexual advances if they have certain marginalization points over you. And every intra-left debate on Facebook is just recycled from the 1960s, which was recycled from the 1930s before it, which was recycled from the Progressive era… half the time they don’t even update the philosophers they cite!

What inspired this post is my thinking about the resurgence of this quasi-religious investment in astrology, another thing that was huge in the 60s and 70s… I have a book on it from then that reads like one of today’s astrology queers wrote it, just maybe without the mention of “Virgo/Gemini safe spaces.” And that’s a relatively harmless and goofy part of it, but it just feels like the latest drop in the bucket that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree here. And this is why you goofuses need to study history so you don’t repeat its mistakes. 

I remember when I was a teenager and super into the sunnier version of 60s counterculture I’d been sold through rock magazines and the kinds of history books you get bought as a kid when you have lefty parents, wishing my generation was more like it because I was frustrated with how apolitical my peers were and how they liked the “wrong” type of music. Well, be careful what you wish for, 14-year-old Rose. The monkey’s paw definitely heard you.

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It’s a social movement, quintessentially romantic, the kind that recurs in times of real social crisis. The themes are always the same. A return to innocence. The invocation of an earlier authority and control. The mysteries of the blood. An itch for the transcendental, for purification. Right there you’ve got the ways that romanticism historically ends up in trouble, lends itself to authoritarianism. When the direction appears. How long do you think it’ll take for that to happen? is a question a San Francisco psychiatrist asked me.

-Joan Didion, “Life Styles in the Golden Land” from Slouching Towards Bethlehem

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Stranger Things Theory:

This is primarily going off the titles that were dropped recently: The Vanishing of ***** Wheeler and Escape from Camazotz.

I took note yesterday that Camazotz is the name of a planet in the novel A Wrinkle in Time. It's a world controlled by the main antagonist IT, a malicious brain that subjugates the inhabitants to its will, similar to how Vecna/The Mind Flayer uses the hive mind to control the monsters of the Upside Down.

In the novel, Meg Murray (the protagonist) has her father go missing while working on a scientific concept called a tesseract. It's later revealed he's being held prisoner on Camazotz, and (with the help of Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Witch) Meg undertakes a journey with her brother Charles Wallace and her love interest Calvin to rescue her father.

Now, in regards to the title referring to a Wheeler vanishing, there is a possibility it could refer to Nancy or Holly, or even Karen, just based on the number of asterisks. However, this number could also be misleading, and it might actually be referring to Mike (I seriously doubt it's Ted).

What if Vecna somehow takes Mike prisoner to a Camazotz-like location (either in the Upside Down, or a different location that will be revealed in S5 as Camazotz) as a means of luring both Will and El into a trap to either kill them or enslave them? The journey both characters could undertake to rescue Mike could have parallels to the journey Meg undertakes to rescue her dad (and later to rescue Charles Wallace when he falls under ITs influence).

Maybe the Duffer Brothers plan to use parts of the novel as a blueprint for S5's story? It's always a possibility.

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I had to put these two images together. Just too ineffable. 🥂

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I find it ironic that the Hamasnik protestors are so obsessed with their “1st Amendment rights” to tresspass and menace, when for more than half a year they’ve been shouting down and crossing out everyone else’s free speech.

There is no right to monopolize the commons. There is no right to a heckler’s veto. Your free speech does not extend to depriving others of theirs. Once you cross those lines, you lose your protections.

You’d think a fancy education would include this basic fact.

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Stranger Things Spoilers on X: "BREAKING: According to Jeff Sneider, these are the episode titles of the next 6 episodes of #StrangerThings5: Episode 1 - The Crawl Episode 2 - The Vanishing of ***** Wheeler Episode 3 - The Turbow Trap Episode 4 - Sorcerer Episode 5 - Shock Jock Episode 6 - Escape From Camazotz…" / X

So.........which Wheeler? Mike or Nancy?

I could see Vecna coming after Mike as a way of hurting both Will and El, and even using Mike as bait to lure them into a trap.

However, I could also see Vecna coming after Nancy as revenge for how her plan to take him down the season 4 finale nearly resulted in him being killed.

Also, isn't Camazotz the planet IT controls in the novel A Wrinkle in Time? 🤔

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THE GILDED AGE 1x02 - Money Isn't Everything

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i think the world doesn’t know what it really means to live in a theocratic dictatorship. Let me tell you about our experiences living in the islamic regime of iran.

1. Your parents were born to muslim parents so they’re automatically muslim. You’re automatically a muslim too. You didn’t choose your religion and you can’t opt out of it or you will be executed.

2. The compulsory hijab law makes you a criminal if you choose not to wear hijab even tho you didn’t choose to be a muslim and you don’t consider yourself a muslim but the regime has forced you into that role whether you like it or not. And when you ‘break that law’, they can do with you as they please.

3. little girls as young as 7 yrs old are forced to wear hijab at school even tho the islam itself says the age is 9. and all the schools are gender segregated so imagine how they force you to get used to hijab even when you’re just surrounded by other girls. And all day long at school they tell you horrible stories about what will happen to you in hell if someone sees even a strand of your hair.

4. the regime modifies all the textbooks, story books, cartoons and movies to represent the ideal woman with full on hijab. The iranian media is ordered to photoshop every photo of a woman that may be showing a little skin. And if they’re iranian, no hair is supposed to be seen or that will be photoshopped away. Women are mostly excluded from billboards and tv commercials.

5. imagine going to work or meeting up with a friend when suddenly the morality police kidnap you in broad daylight and force you into a van to take you to a station where they will treat you like a criminal and if you don’t agree to get humiliated and do as they say, they will put you in prison. And in case of Mahsa Amini and so many more before her, they will beat you to death. My sister was barely 18 when she got kidnapped and they didn’t let her call home and she’d been so fucking scared and we had no idea where she was. Imagine all the psychological trauma.

6. If you’re in a car and not wearing hijab they will fine you and seize your car. So when u get into a taxi the driver will ask you to keep your hijab on otherwise they’ll get fined. And if you refuse they’ll ask you to get off the car.

7. And its not just about hijab. In Ramadan, they get even more vicious. If they catch you eating or even drinking water on the street they will give you lashes as punishment and even imprison you for breaking the law. If you work in a state-owned company it’s even worse. They will close the cafeteria and take away the water dispensers. All restaurants are banned from delivering food before iftar. It’s a fucking mess. Everyone has to pretend they’re fasting or they’ll be severely punished.

8. And how could I forget about this! iranian women are banned from singing! the islamic regime prohibits women’s singing voices to be heard by men so imagine the horror of having 50% of the population banned from ever becoming a singer. If they identify a female singer in iran, they will take her to jail and force her to repent her sins in the most humiliating way so that she will never dare sing again.

9. And every time the regime gets wind of a private gathering of men and women trying to have fun and live their fucking private lives, the police crash the party and take everyone to jail bc the Islamic regime bans iranian men and women from having fun.

10. Did you know that the islamic regime doesn’t allow women’s faces to be printed on their obituaries or headstones? They put a flower for our faces instead and if they see a headstone with a woman’s face printed on it they’ll smash it to pieces. That’s how religious dictatorship continues to oppress and erase women even after their deaths.

11. For some reason, women aren’t allowed to ride motorcycles and the government won’t issue any license for them. In some cities, women are barred from riding a bicycle.

So if you see Islam has become for many iranians a symbol of oppression and torture and discrimination, that’s why. The regime uses islam as a weapon to silence and punish anyone who opposes them. You can love islam all you want from the safety of your home in a free country and talk about how kind and benevolent the religion is, but in iran, it’s a whole different story.

Our economy is fucked. All govt officials are corrupt as fuck. Most websites are banned in iran. Even tumblr is banned. The world has cut the iranian ppl from many services. We don’t have intl credit cards like visa card. Amazon doesn’t do delivery to iran. We cant get netflix, spotify or even a gamepass subscription. we don’t get any Apple services here. iran isn’t listed as a country you could choose when signing up for a lot of services. and when we decide to leave iran and escape this hellhole, every country out there will make it sooo much harder for us to get a visa just bc we had the misfortune to be born in iran at the wrong time.

This is the story of iran for the past 44 years. Held hostage by a corrupt regime that uses religion to suppress and torture the people and being abandoned by the rest of the world bc our lives don’t matter.

Please be our voice. Once they shut down the internet completely and silence our voice, they will start slaughtering us to stifle the protests just like they did in 2019. Please help us. We want this fucking regime gone.

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"they're taking away our free speech and silencing our peaceful protests on campus!" you stabbed a jewish student in the eye. you stabbed a jewish student in the eye. you stabbed a jewish student in the eye. you stabbed a jewish student in the eye. you stabbed a jewish student in the eye.

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Harvey Weinstein’s conviction was overturned in NY 😡😡

Ugh, I saw. If there are silver linings, it's that 1) it was thrown on a technicality (which means going forward there's got to be much more diligence, and yeah, it's not easy), and 2) he'll remain in prison, because he was convicted of another rape in LA in 2022.

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Passover meal at a Kurdish-Jewish family's home, Jerusalem, 1979

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