#lbr this man is going to live well over a hundred if he continues taking advantage of the far-future medical advancements

[doctorbrown]

holy shit doc's birthday is on the twentieth fjal;sdkfj

[jyndor]

paul krugman and the art of doubling down on shitty takes

so on september 11th, famed nyt editorial writer, keynesian economist and fave of your racist liberal uncle, paul krugman, wrote one of the shittiest takes I have ever seen on twitter, which is SAYING SOMETHING.

krugman famously tweeted this:

and got a million virtual shoes thrown at him for being so ignorant, because anti-muslim hate crimes did actually escalate after 9/11, and the bush administration eagerly fanned the flames of islamophobia in order to make their illegal wars in afghanistan and iraq popular with the public. muslims, sikhs, indians, literally anyone vaguely brown, and lots of black ppl too, were terrorized by their neighbors, (former) friends, classmates, coworkers, etc. and anyone with a muslim friend knows this happened because they've told us about it. and these attacks were reported on. they were, I remember reading about them when I was a kid.

(paul krugman works for the new york fucking times, and while I think the nyt is warmongering centrist garbage, they do actually report on things that happen in the world. he writes editorials for them, surely he reads the damn paper once in a while).

so today, I log on to twitter and see he has decided not to apologize, but rather do the ol' double down, which always works out well.

here are some highlights:

okay so first thing's first, no apology (obviously) since this is a double down. but we got a chart, and liberals do love a good chart when they are being racist and ahistorical.

he admits that the chart is actually inaccurate because it excludes all the other victims of anti-muslim hate crimes who weren't actually muslim (read: the innocents). okay. so already he is losing credibility because he is using an inaccurate chart as the basis of his double down, and really, we love to see it.

after this there's some shit about how he didn't say there wasn't an outbreak of white americans attacking muslims and people mistaken for muslims, but rather that it could have been worse. lol well anything can be worse than it was, as 2020 has taught us. it’s a pedantic mess and I didn’t feel like that was the meat of the double down.

so first off, the iraq war was definitely started for many reasons, but islamophobia was part of it. the bush administration wanted to invade iraq and depose saddam hussein, and steal iraq’s oil for multinational oil companies lbr, and so they exploited americans’ fears about muslims by propagandizing about how it was important for us to attack them over there before they attacked us over here with their weapons of mass destruction, and of course they would attack us over here if given the chance. why? because they hate our way of life here, our freedom. those things were LITERALLY said by bush people and also by their stans at fox news and the wsj, and yes, in the editorial pages at the nyt.

so to someone like paul krugman, who knows lots of conservatives who don’t seem racist, or are educated and distinguished and just... like war? idk but to him, he sees people like them and says, well... they’re not like uneducated filthy poors in west virginia, not that kind of racist.

but what he doesn’t get, or he is being deliberately obtuse about, is that in order for the bush people to dehumanize muslims the way they did, they had to personally place less value on the lives of iraqis than on the value of that sweet crude oil. they were willing to go to war, sacrifice hundreds of thousands of civilians in the process (as well as thousands of american soldiers, but this isn’t about them) because they didn’t see them as anything but collateral damage. and that is fucking racist.

and while I have no interest in playing the “which racist is worse” game, when the west virginia uneducated racist endangers those around them, the politician rich harvard educated racist writes policy and lies us into illegal wars that endanger millions. both are bad, both are racist.

and by the way, him “sticking his neck out” to speak up against going to iraq was brave and necessary, especially because the nyt was pushing the invasion. but when you put it like that... you just sound like a tool. like it was a burden to call out the liars and imperialists. bitch, you’re paul krugman, a nobel laureate and renowned economist. I do not want to discount the IMMENSE pressure and blacklisting that opponents of the bush administration experienced, because showing any opposition to the wars at the time was risky. but idk the way he put that just irked me, especially since he didn’t even lose his job like many in the media did when they spoke up.

usually what liberals do when they fuck up publically is a fake ass apology and a few hail marys, and I assumed he would be on twitter begging for forgiveness on this one since his garbage take went so viral and pissed off so many people. and of course was wrong.

but then he does this:

yeah. your eyes are not deceiving you. that chart is measuring anti-black, anti-lgbtq and anti-”islamic” (lmao who says that bro just say anti-muslim or islamophobic) hate crimes. shut up leftist twitter, black people have it worse than muslims according to my inaccurate chart. so stop attacking me, a rich white man who doesn’t really care about anything other than my reputation.

there is a lot to unpack here, namely that paul krugman is using faux concern for black people as a way to deflect from his shitty ahistorical take about how much restraint white americans showed after 9/11 towards muslims. maybe krugman doesn’t know any black muslims, but they exist. also oppression olympics is stupid even when used by well meaning essentialists, let alone by milquetoast academics.

not to mention that he has already discounted his own shitty chart by saying it doesn’t show the full picture of what happened in these anti-muslim attacks. but even if we take this chart seriously, it actually does not really support his point. look at how many more hate crimes there were against muslims in 2001 than there were in 2000. there are significantly more black people than muslims in the united states. I am not good at math, and surely I am no nobel laureate, but it seems to me that hate crimes against black people increased a little, and hate crimes against muslims increased a lot. and this chart only takes into account three years, and only two of which are post-9/11. so... idk man maybe we should look at what happened in, say, 2003? 2004? how about all of the 2000s?

(source: https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-09-12/data-hate-crimes-against-muslims-increased-after-911)

oh, that is actually pretty consistently bad! yes, there was one spike in 2001/2002, but it isn’t like we went back down to pre-9/11 numbers afterwards. and I am not sure if this information includes non-muslims targeted for “looking muslim” but I would say it is unlikely, since the data seem pretty similar to krugman’s olympic shit.

I am not writing this because paul krugman is particularly shit-for-brains, or because I hate him more than like... idk any other moron on twitter. there were plenty of anti-muslim takes on twitter friday like there are every 9/11, and every day. but krugman is actually someone liberals respect. he is, after all, a nobel laureate and a keynesian economist, and fairly mild mannered. when people in the media like krugman write these ahistorical shitty takes they are, as chomsky wrote, MANUFACTURING CONSENT. it is a deliberate tactic, and it works. and if you want to learn more about this theory, check out this short clip by al jazeera narrated by amy goodman (of democracy now). the media manufactured american consent when they pushed the wars. they continue to do so when they try to rewrite george bush’s history by making trump seem uniquely terrible to muslims.

elites in the press and in government have been trying to whitewash and rehabilitate george bush’s reputation for YEARS, and they are succeeding. and why would they want to do that? well, there are a lot of reasons. one, a lot of people in washington are complicit in bush’s crimes. two, democrats think they need to appeal to moderate republicans (lol) in order to win elections, and I guess they think there are moderate republicans left (lol!), and that those moderate republicans like george bush (LOLLL). three, they want to make trump look uniquely terrible. if they do that, then no one but trump needs to be held to account for his government’s failings. but these are just my speculation.

do not let them rehabilitate george bush any further than they have. it is a fucking shame he will never be held to account for war crimes, but an extra slap in the face to all of his victims when we act like he didn’t do things he did. like stoke anti-muslim hate. he invaded muslim countries with a smile on his face, and that is pretty fucking hateful.

paul krugman doubled down and tried to use Black Lives Matter like a human fucking shield. seems a bit racist imo.

[fortress-of-iserlohn]

i tripped and accidentally more of soulmate verse i guess? why was this a good idea iono but i added an extra pairing lel

still snippeting all over the place - i’m trying to straighten up things in my mind. that’s my excuse haha

so like technically, my au is set post the end of the war where everyone lives and no one dies & reuenthal & lutz get sent to iserlohn on behalf of their kaiser to negotiate with the 13th fleet

the previous snippet linked above would have happened after this mhm, once reuenthal managed to corner yang alone to verify their bond

leave me to roll in my trash heap thanks <3

soulmate!au - reuenthal/yang & lutz/attenborough: ~850w

Lutz is the only one in the Imperial fleet, barring Mittermeyer, who knows whose name is written on Reuenthal’s skin.

“How do you deal with it?” Lutz asks him once when they’re both two bottles deep each and dawn is starting to creep over the horizon.

His own mark is an unmistakable slash of black just below the sharp jut of his left collarbone. It lies hidden neatly by the layers of sleek imperial uniform, even as it’s owner serves in the Alliance’s 13th Fleet - Lutz has managed to glean this much at least.

Reuenthal stares at him for a moment, gaze evaluating and still steady despite the lateness of the hour and the amount of alcohol that he’s downed. His glance shifts to the window of the balcony after a few seconds, through which the pale pink light of dawn is slowly filtering through.

“You don’t,” Reuenthal murmurs eventually, long after Lutz stops expecting him to answer.

There’s the barely-there smile curving the corners of his lips and it’s an honest expression and an even more honest answer, much more than Lutz had expected to get.

*

Attenborough’s laugh is joyous and bright and the first time he hears it, Lutz has to turn and literally walk away in the opposite direction.

He turns the corner, ducking out of sight and takes a moment to close his eyes, leaning against the wall. It feels like something in his chest reverberates with the echo of that sound in his mind, tugging at his heartstrings for the first time.

*

Yang Wenli shifts uncomfortably from where he’s standing at the front of the room. From the moment that he had stepped through, Reuenthal had ceased to notice anything but Yang, gaze fixed on him.

Attenborough chooses this moment to walk through the door, a tiny swagger to his step as he takes stock of the situation, gaze flickering over Reuenthal and then Lutz before coming to a stop. He salutes and it’s almost deliberately imperfect, his eyes glinting challengingly beneath the bright artificial lights of the meeting room as he faces them.

Yang clears his throat and clearly does his best to ignore Reuenthal.

“This is Vice Admiral Dusty Attenborough of the 13th Fleet. He’ll be your go-to if I’m not available.” Yang says, voice remarkably unshaken despite being the focus of Reuenthal’s attention.

Attenborough moves forward a couple of steps, touching Yang on the shoulder and making him startle a little. He leans in close to murmur something in his ear and Lutz takes hold of Reuenthal’s elbow discreetly, as the other man’s eyes narrow dangerously, holding him back before he can do something regrettably rash.

Yang colours faintly at whatever has been said and studiously stares at the floor afterward even as Attenborough rocks back a little on his heels, looking pleased with himself. He glances over at Reuenthal again and gives him a slow once over, thoughtful consideration in his eyes. This time, Lutz is the one who finds himself curling his free hand into a fist, nails biting into his palm.

“Your one’s going to be a handful,” Reuenthal murmurs to him quietly, too low for them to be overheard, obviously having taken note of his reaction when his other hand, still around Reuenthal’s elbow, had tightened.

“My apologies,” Lutz says stiffly, voice pitched just as low, letting go and straightening up.

Yang and Attenborough are both watching them and their exchange, Yang with a polite blankness and Attenborough with a cautious sort of curiosity.

Lutz finds that his eyes are drawn to the tiny curl of a smirk that plays on the corners of Attenborough’s generous mouth. He only notices that he’s staring when Attenborough side-eyes him a little strangely and takes a step back, falling behind Yang’s position, partially out of both imperial admiral’s line of sight.

He looks away then, lowering his head, unnerved and feeling odd like he had somehow been caught out.

Yang does an excellent job at ignoring all the complicated undercurrents in the room as well as Reuenthal’s blatantly fixated stare, continuing on after an awkward silence.

“Admiral Attenborough,” he says, gaze darting from the two of them to his fellow Alliance fleet mate. “This is Fleet Admiral Reuenthal and High Admiral Lutz, both of whom will be staying with us for a short while here on Heinessen.”

The flush from before has mostly receded by this point, with only the barest hint of colour remain on his cheeks. Still, though, Yang is distracted enough that he doesn’t notice how Attenborough freezes when he hears Lutz’s name.

“High Admiral Lutz?” he repeats slowly, his attention finally fully directed at Lutz, eyes wide.

Attenborough’s eyes are a pretty mossy green speckled with grey, Lutz notes at the back of his mind even as he tilts his chin up and meets that gaze straight on, taking two steps forward.

“Cornelius Lutz,” he says and doesn’t hold out his hand for the customary non-military greeting, knowing better than to try and initiate any sort of contact. Instead, he offers a brief nod before settling into parade rest back in his previous position in line with Reuenthal.

Attenborough pales noticeably the moment his full name is out.

*

and then attenborough runs away and lutz angsts a lot - imo he’s not as forward as reuenthal is and also has basically no experience in wooing someone (they usually ‘trip’ and try to fall into his arms - he tends to let those ones drop to the ground). 

also he doesn’t want any help from reuenthal even when it’s offered geniunely, not that he doesn’t like and respect reuenthal’s opinions/methods, but lbr he doesn’t want to be arrested for harrassment thank you very much lmao

on the other hand, attenborough also doesn’t know what the fuck to do, there’s a blonde imperial admiral (who’s name is coincidentally inked across his hip) kind of awkwardly lurking in his vicinity all the time and sure, he’s very nice to look at and his violet eyes are really beautiful and look, it’s really not his fault his heartbeat was pounding a hundred miles an hour the one time he turns a corner too fast and runs into him literally - it was from the scare okay!

bonus:

yang: *tilts head* if you like him then why not give him a chance? so few people get to meet their soulmates and here you are -

attenborough: *intense gesturing* so. what! it doesn’t work like that in real life!! we’re not living in a bad rom-com :<

yang: but -

attenborough: take your own advice, senpai!

yang: *thinks about reuenthal kissing his hand yesterday and immediately goes red*

attenborough: ewwwwwwwww TMI