#silver-the-socialist

[slyandthefamilybook]

fellas is it freeing Palestine to send graphic images to American Jews

[terrence-silver]

No because I don't understand why they made such a big deal of out community college. Community college is literally a great option if you don't want to go into debt, especially compared to big, expensive, universities(ahem...). I don't get it either.

Community college is just...a college. It ain't the plague.

You're not a loser for it. An education is an education.

It is always worthy by default of being an education.

It is just as valid and worthy as any other college. You can bring it up in your resume. Put it on your CV. It counts. You can apply to jobs with it. Start a career with it. Or not. What I mean to say is, a diploma is still a diploma and it is an excellent option considering many people don't even have that much available to them. Will never understand why characters in American-centric media always have to go some rich people adjacent private schools wildly above their budget or even lifestyle and they feel like they've failed in life if they don't get there. You wanna go to Standford and MIT when the pipes in your roof have literally leaked and collapsed, Miguel!? Your single working mom has a baby on the way and your stepfather is unemployed!? And you want Stanford!? You see the frat boys from the fancy school literally make Kyler eat off of the floor as punishment and you still see this as an aspirational learning environment you dream about!? Like, help me understand!?

[moniquill]

One of the socialist things I’d like to see ALONG WITH UBI (not instead of) is a government option for all basic neccesities. I am aware that the government option would -suck- and as long as it’s survivably functional, I’m fine with that. When I was a kid, we got monthly commodity food boxes. They’d be filled with food that looked like this:

And in lean months, it would be that and whatever we could get from the garden, or forage/fish, or trade with friends and neighbors. My mom had this awesome recipe for peanut butter balls that utilized the powdered milk, shit-quality peanut butter, and maple-flavored corn syrup that we routinely got in our box and actually made it good. 

I think that these things should be available for purchase at every supermarket, and that the prices should be fixed with relation to the minimum wage. All brands should have to compete with the government option - if SPAM is going to be more expensive than LUNCHEON MEAT in the silver can, then it needs to justify that cost by being better quality.

I want the same thing for housing. I want fucking Commie Blocks to be an option.

This would combat runaway inflation by putting a price cap on survival needs. It would guard against shrinkflation, because a consumers could compare the Government Standard portion to the brands. UBI ought to be such that it covers The Government Option for food, housing, clothing, transit etc. with generous wiggle room for emergency savings and little joys in life. 

Everyone should get their own UBI account in their own name at birth, along with their social security number. It should follow the individual regardless of guardianship. Parents/guardians should have incrementally less and less control over said funds as the child gets older, and should have to provide itemized receipts of how money taken from a child’s account is spent (Similar to what you have to do if you’re in control of an elder’s social security money).

https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-repayee-ussi.htm

'Each year, we will ask certain representative payees to complete a Representative Payee Accounting Report showing how they spent and saved the money they received for you during the 12-month report period.'

These are steps that would could easily institute tomorrow be reallocating funding, and they’d have a huge impact on cost of living for everyone.  

This rant brought to you by the fact that store brand canned luncheon meat in my local grocery held fast at a dollar for the better part of two decades but now costs $2.18.

[nuadaargetlamh]

One is a convicted criminal that wants to institute a dictatorship “on day one only” (with majority support from his party!), would give a greenlight to Project 2025, use a weakened Schedule F to install THOUSANDS of cronies, was just given immunity for “official acts” (what counts as “official”? whatever his Project 2025-instituted judges want, of course), wants to institute military tribunals for his enemies (and allies!), will 100% support Russia in wiping Ukraine off the map, will use the combo of the removal of the Chevron deference/the Supreme Court allowing people to openly bribe them/Schedule F to extend the far-right’s reach into every government agency and deregulate everything to the benefit of his rich capitalist buddies, has already taken away so many freedoms from racial minorities/queer people/women/anyone-that-isn’t-a-rich-white-man that it would take hours to list them all in this post, and so so so so SO MUCH MORE.

The other is a typical neoliberal politician.

Remember also, you’re not just choosing a president, you’re choosing their cabinet, potential Supreme Court justices, federal employees as well. With Project 2025 ALONE, Trump would do so much more damage than just what he can do himself. That’s not including everything else his Federalist Society Supreme Court would and have given him on a silver platter.

Project 2025 really deserves a part to itself just to list some of what it includes: complete abortion/contraceptive ban (no exceptions), destroying worker’s unions and protections, remove Social Security/Medicare/Affordable Care Act, eliminate the ENTIRE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, end civil rights protections in government, ban teaching the history of slavery, remove climate protections while gutting the EPA, end equal marriage and enforce the “traditional family ideal”, use the military to gun down protests, mass deportation of legal immigrants (especially Muslims), ending birthright citizenship, pack the lower courts, and plenty more. The far-right wasn’t able to take full advantage of Trump’s presidency the first time since it was so unexpected. They’re preparing so that they won’t make the same mistake again. THERE ARE OVER 900 PAGES OF POLICIES AND PLANS THAT THEY ABSOLUTELY WILL IMPLEMENT IF THEY WIN. READ IT.

Not to mention, if you care about Palestine (like I do, a lot), Trump would be MUCH WORSE for Palestine than the other candidate, supporting Bibi going “from the river to the sea” and already cut off millions in aid to Palestine in 2018 (which Biden reversed!). If you support a free Palestine and don’t vote blue, you have categorically hurt them more than if you did. There is no quick and bloodless peace deal that both Palestine and Israel would ever agree to. The road to an end of the Palestine-Israel conflict is going to be long and difficult, probably decades of dedicated de-radicalization in both states, and will involve far more than one person’s decisions in the end. Unless Trump takes power, and avoids all that by sending enough bombs to turn the Gaza Strip into dust.

There are a few reasons you would choose to vote third party in a FPTP system (support ranked choice voting btw) or not vote “in protest” while ignoring all the state and local elections that affect your area more than the president. Either you’re privileged enough to not be affected by what Trump would bring, you’re ignorant of the consequences, or you care more about doing nothing perfectly rather than doing something, anything that isn’t 100% ideologically “pure” to fight against the far-right fascist movement.

Every voter that still supports Trump is energized by every cruelty he enacts, while thousands of Democrats care more about purity tests and manifesting socialist revolution tulpas than avoiding a fascist dictatorship.

Have a brain, touch grass, and vote blue all the way down that fucking ballot.

[queenlua]

kate o’hare was a socialist + antiwar activist, jailed during WWI for promoting said views—and yeah this incident recorded in her journals is fucking me up

When her 14-year-old son visited, [Kate] O’Hare was upset that warders denied him permission to play his trumpet for her. But they had no control over what happened outside the prison’s walls. “Last night we were locked in our cells waiting for the lights to be turned out when suddenly I heard a sweet but wavering note that I instantly recognized as Dick’s cornet... Nothing ever sounded sweeter than the noble strains of ‘Lead Kindly Light.’ Before the first bar was ended a dead silence reigned . . . From cell to cell a whisper ran ‘Be still and listen—it is Mrs. O’Hare’s son!’ No artist ever held an audience more breathless . . . When he played ‘Silver Threads among the Gold’ I could hear the women sobbing.”

[thesunsethour]

Tumblr in Westeros (S2E02)

📜 oldtownstateofmind follow

if i had a silver stag for every time otto hightower was stripped of being hand of the king i’d have two silver stags which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice

18,458 notes

⚱️fireandperiodblood follow

sooooo funny when some bitches who live in the north try to tell us in kings landing how to feel about the war. the ravens take so long to get there they think the prince is still alive

🪱 pentoscore follow

but which prince?

⚱️fireandperiodblood follow

what

🪱 pentoscore follow

girl the funeral 😭 look out the window 😭

⚱️fireandperiodblood follow

SEVEN HELLS

488 notes

🐞 queenmotherrrrrr follow

getting socialist-baited by a targaryen king is like losing at chess to a dog

966 notes

🥀 fairmaident4t-deactivated follow

not to victim blame prince jaehaerys but it seems way too easy to break into the red keep lol

37,579 notes

🪻hardasacasterlyrock follow

unfortunately Rhaenyra the Cruel goes so hard lmao

🪻hardasacasterlyrock follow

me: sees a powerful and beautiful princess with ambiguous morality

me: i think i hauve greyscale

678 notes

🌑 castleblackparade follow

can’t believe in the last week two princes have died otto hightower has been fired dowager queen alicent served cunt at a funeral and daemon targaryen got dumped by rhaenyra. literally what else can happen

🌑 castleblackparade follow

FLORIAN THE FOOL JUST GOT SENT TO SUPER HELL FOR CONFESSING HIS LOVE TO JONQUIL???????????

68,589 notes

🌻eyriegoats follow

i hope that our few remaining friends give up on trying to save us i hope we come up with a fail safe plot to piss off the dumb few that forgave us i hope the fences we mended fall down beneath their own weight and i

🪷 knightdick follow

girl help they’re making a tragic lesbian romance out of the dance of the dragons

🌻eyriegoats follow

there are septs everywhere for those with eyes to see

10,589 notes

[ringneckedpheasant]

(transcription below the cut)

I made altars around the house:

feathers to remind us of flight, weightlessness.

this sacred skyline

a church that is poor and for the poor

and we,

you and I

as day chases day

through this labyrinth of warehouses and loading docks,

the capitalist cash and socialist sweat

until it blinds you like a spotlight—

a black market better world

free of the bottle

silver with leather and polished

The melody, so soft but clearly recognizable,

buried beneath the distended metropolis.

[izzysbeans]

percy is denim jacket with pins and patches, ripped black skinny jeans, socialist punk

thalia is black knee high boots, lether jacket with spikes and silver piercings early 2000's punk

and nico is ramones t shirt, black eyeliner, not queer as in happy but queer as in fuck you punk

they are all punk and so am i and i love them

[makingspiritualityreal]

Why Sun and Saturn are enemies

Something beneficial to take away from Vedic classics, and one of the reasons why I won't ever accept Vedic being just a different "version" of Astrology is how accurate Vedic descriptions of the Sun being a malefic are.

You can find more information in my podcast on my YouTube channel, but I will give you a brief description here.

The Sun is the king, and our kingdom. The king is the authority. He only has his designated piece of land to govern, but within his piece of land his authority is absolute. The king, just like the Sun burns anyone that contests his authority because he needs to maintain the integrity of his kingdom. Without this fierceness, the kingdom wouldn't survive or exist.

The same applies to our lives. We exist in this human body and we need to have boundaries and have a reasonable amount of authority and governance related to the self, or we wouldn't function and we wouldn't be able to exist in our individuality. That's why Sun is the natural Karaka for the first house of self. We do what we want with our selves and bodies, because ultimately this is our life, and we get to choose how we live it. So we are ready to "burn away" those who contest our individuality.

The problem in society is that when many suns clash together, there will always be some debate to overcome differences so that people could be themselves. That's why the Sun is a malefic. Maintaing one's kingdom is not something that people give to us on a silver platter, it's not about growth or abundance, it's about survival and basic existence and self expression.

The Sun's nature also explains its eternal war with Saturn. While the Sun is a monarch, Saturn is a socialist. Saturn rules justice, fairness to all and equality. When we express ourselves we do what is good for us, not for everyone else. Saturn doesn't allow that, because it always thinks of the world in the context of a bigger picture, leaving no space for individuality.

In reality, both energies are needed in this world. We need social order to avoid total mayhem, but we also need space to be ourselves without limitations so we can feel alive. In a healthy functioning chart, there is space for both. But when Saturn starves the Sun, which is especially bad when they're conjunct, the person feels like they need some sort of objective permission to exist and be themselves. As a result, they fall into depression as natural, spontaneous joy of life eludes them. They can end up frustrated, choosing to express themselves in toxic ways.

A healthy Sun won't let anyone step on their toes, but is unattached and doesn't interfere in anyone's business. Think of a person that has a healthy ego. They are sure of themselves, but they are calm in their confidence. They don't need to shout it from the mountaintops, because they feel secure on the inside and as a result they don't really bother anyone or seek anyone's approval.

A person with an afflicted Sun, especially starved by Saturn will feel like they have something to prove. They feel inferior, internally, and they project it on everybody else even if people don't really care to criticise them. They berate themselves internally, so they end up thinking they're inferior to others and resent others for it. But in fact, it's an internal problem that needs to be healed.

Over time, Saturn becomes our friend, even to our Sun, as these two planets ultimately need each other, something that is reflected in sister signs of Aries - Libra and Leo - Aquarius.

We need healthy egos to build a healthy society. A healthy society is built of healthy individuals. And vice versa, a healthy society fosters healthy egos. A good Saturn only seeks to eradicate what is out of balance.

To a Sun - Saturn person, that is a relief, because as they grow up they realise it is fine for them to be themselves and be confident in their uniqueness, as long as they are aware of the implications of their actions on another. They realise they have a natural born right to grow, be and contribute to society through their natural self expression, and they flourish within the universal limits of just limitations.

A strong Saturn realises, that perspective leads to survival, because it allows us to endure injustice, knowing the scales will eventually become balanced, as it is in everyone's best interest.

[beneaththemasks]

not to sound socialist, but I think the fact that people defend (not just like) kalim says a lot about why the world has become like this. think about it; kalim (unlike chenya and neige) goes to NRC and not RSA and is presented as someone involved in an overblot case. and while the RSA guys are also presented as characters involved in them, they're only involved as victims (although chenya's case is arguable in my opinion) which makes the whole point of those who go to NRC to symbolize/represent the side of "those who participated in the crime" that was committed in the og stories.

while we do know that this doesn't necessarily mean they're bad/problematic people (ortho, silver, epel, etc etc etc) it does mean that they take (or will eventually take) part in some sort of incident on the side of the perpetrators. sure, this doesn't mean that those who go to NRC are never the victims, but they do have a part in allowing things to get twisted (in other words, their silence or compliance has made room for someone else's downfall). so taking all these facts into consideration, what we players know is that, as far as NRC goes, the students (characters) that belong there are known for making morally/emotionally questionable decisions in contrast to their RSA counterpart (again, chenya's case being arguable imo). and this is why kalim's case, even though he's portrayed as someone with a "sunshine heart", can't be looked through a different glass as long as he remains in NRC.

yana's message is clear here: NRC students represent someone she (the author) considers a perpetrator (active or passive) in the og movies, and ignoring this equals to ignoring both the author and story's intentions. kalim's case is no exception, and the fact that his personality has been used to "redeem" him from what he's done was probably also taken into account by yana when she wrote him (which I think is her wonderful way of exposing all of us, like a good piece of media should do). but precisely because this character (or any character ever) is playing this specific role, doesn't mean we should just let the character be (less we become the active/passive perpetrators) and rather take on a more critic approach in which we recognize and stop trying to sweep under the rug all of its flaws like we would do with a pup that's too adorable to yell at for misbehaving. I know the comparison might seem unreasonable, but I use it because it's simplicity portrays exactly what happens when things aren't addressed and/or are looked over, even (especially) if it's not on purpose. as always, one's good intentions to preserve someone's pure and innocent reputation at all costs (in this case it would be to shift the blame on jamil alone or dismiss jamil's feelings when he expresses his anger for the people that have literally oppressed and robbed him of his freedom since childhood) will backfire and, in time, innocence will turn into ignorance.

I'm aware people will read too much into this so, just to be clear, I'm not saying all of this so everyone hates kalim (or any "evil" character) but rather to bring more awareness on why and where lines need to be drawn

[feckcops]

Starmer’s so-called “landslide victory” is built on sand

A deeply unpopular leader, Starmer has not secured the resounding endorsement his 412 seat tally would suggest, while record numbers of Green and independent MPs could pose a robust leftist challenge to Starmer’s Government ­– if they get organised

Keir Starmer, an ersatz Blair without a hint of his charisma or vision, is now Prime Minister, despite securing a vote share six percentage points lower than Jeremy Corbyn in 2017. These results expose the widespread disillusionment, if not outright resentment, towards both Labour and the Tories. Smaller parties and independents had a great showing, with shock wins for Greens and pro-Palestine independents, but also Farage's Reform Party (if indeed you can call a limited company with a CEO and no membership a party). However, a large minority of eligible voters chose not to vote at all, with turnout dropping to 60 percent. This matches the record low set in 2001, when everyone knew Blair was set to be re-elected on a landslide. In elections expected to produce a new government, turnout usually rises – but not so this time. Shockingly, Labour’s mantra of “false hope is worse than no hope” failed to inspire any hope for real change.

It is a damning indictment of our voting system that a party can win over two thirds of seats and celebrate a “landslide victory” after winning over just one in five eligible voters. (Out of the 60 percent who voted, Labour only won a third of the vote.) Thanks to our twee unwritten constitution, this technical win grants Keir Starmer the right to form an electoral dictatorship for the next five years. However, the results do offer some silver linings...

Corbyn won his seat as an independent with a 7,250 vote lead over Labour, after he was blocked from running as Labour’s candidate in Islington North, a seat he'd held for 40 years. Labour also lost Chingford and Woodford Green to Ian Duncan Smith, after Faiza Shaheen was similarly blocked by Labour on dubious grounds and continued her campaign as an independent – ultimately this helped IDS win with around 17,200 votes, compared to Faiza Shaheen and the Labour candidate who each got around 12,500 votes. Shadow cabinet minister Jonathon Ashworth lost his seat to a pro-Palestine independent, along with three other Labour MPs, while another pro-Palestine independent left prominent Terf and shadow health minister Wes Streeting clinging on by a thread. Israel's brutal escalation of its 75 year-long genocide in Palestine has not only dismayed Muslims and anti-Semites, as the media love to imply, but a diverse coalition of people united by their outrage at leading politicians excusing, if not actively cheerleading, such barbarity. These results prove there is an electoral cost for enabling rogue states to commit crimes against humanity.

Beyond the three largest parties, the balance of power in Parliament now lies with a socialist, environmentalist, pro-Palestine left. The Greens won all four of their target seats – not only in the young, urban constituencies of Brighton Pavilion and Bristol Central, but also in the rural, once solidly Tory constituencies of Waveney Valley and North Herefordshire – an achievement few really thought possible. (Greens and pro-Palestine independents also came second in a record number of constituencies, laying the ground for more gains next time.) Those four Green MPs, along with Corbyn and the other four pro-Palestine independents, make up nearly double Reform’s five MPs. As such, we will have a principled leftist grouping in Parliament, not beholden to the Labour whip, to hold Starmer to account.

There is hope the new pro-Palestine independents can put aside subtle philosophical differences and work together to offer a robust left opposition to Starmer. We could see Corbyn and other independents join the Green Party. This would be a strategic move; they could still reasonably claim to be independent voices for their constituents as Green MPs, as the Green Party does not whip its MPs like other parties. Meanwhile, they would benefit from this established party’s resources, networks and mass membership. The highly democratic structure of the party means, if they brought a lot of their voters with them, new Green MPs could even secure a change to any Green policies they disagreed with. As for socialist Labour MPs, we could even see some defect to the Greens now they've secured their seats, especially if Labour remains a deeply hostile environment for them. Defections from Labour seem unlikely at this stage, but they cannot be ruled out.

More than anything, we should take heed that our best chance of enacting real change lies in our communities, through grassroots organising and direct, solidaristic action. Green and pro-Palestine independents only won by rooting themselves in their communities, engaging with the voters they hoped to represent, and inspiring masses of people to join their campaigns. We cannot rely on career politicians, whose class interests are diametrically opposed to ours, to protect us and our interests.

There's more to politics than elections, which only come around every few years and, all too often, seem to yield no real change. Real progress does not come from above. It is not gifted to us by the powers on high. It is fought for, from the ground up. In the words of Frederick Douglass, power concedes nothing without a demand. We must keep faith, keep fighting and keep organising. This election shows us that hard work can bear fruit. We know a better world is possible, but we won't achieve it by just voting. It’s on us to bring it about.

[couldtransitionsaveher]

KOOPS from PAPER MARIO: THE THOUSAND YEAR DOOR

JUSTIFICATION:

":)" - @silver-the-socialist

Reminder: Submissions are always open! Submit here!

Did you make your daily click today?

[communistkenobi]

I’ve been re-listening to the Alex Jones depositions, as well as coverage of Jones generally, from the Knowledge Fight podcast, and in one of their episodes where they’re covering Jones’ evolving rhetoric about COVID-19, one of the hosts makes the argument that Jones was trying to downplay the virus but still keep people afraid of it, because if his audience was too scared they may be more inclined to follow public health guidelines, so Jones was pushing anti-vaxx and anti-public health sentiments in order to scare people just enough to buy his survival meal packs and colloidal silver toothpaste instead.

And I think this is a really good way to approach discussions of modern american fascism and reactionary thought - the perfect marriage between anti-intellectualism and the logic of capitalism. Every time you hear an absurd reactionary claim about covid, these are not claims about reality, they are advertisements for right wing wealth accumulation. Which is of course conducted with the long term goal of building right wing power and justifying the disenfranchisement and oppression of marginal populations, but these “problems” are framed in such a way as to encourage a consumerist solution. Their undergirding logic is capitalistic in nature - the idea that you can give your money to an authority in exchange for salvation, which comes in the form of a standardised unit of metal-infused toothpaste or vitamin pills.

This view also makes it much easier to understand why people were taking horse heart dewormer to treat covid - even if they were buying that shit in a local store and the people peddling it (like Jones) don’t directly financially benefit from it, the claim that you can individually purchase your way out of a global pandemic still benefits the right wing, because it’s the direct opposite of broad public health initiatives like free vaccinations and social distancing guidelines, which is viewed as a form of communism. Something I don’t actually disagree with (the logic of these public health programmes is basically socialist in nature, even if the government doing it is anti-communist) but this framing prevents people from ever accepting any kind of government social program, instead flocking to the right wing, who plaster promises of eternal life on their billboards

[hustlerose]

i love how disco elysium positions joyce messier and evrart claire as two sides of the same coin

claire is a slimeball. he's corrupt, despotic, and crooked. the perfect image of a soviet party politician, turning the union into his own petty dicatorship. but he gets results. where individual union members might be communists, social democrats, weird racists, slackers, or just hard workers living simple lives, claire calls all of them "socialists." many facets of the working class, all together under the banner of the dockworkers' union

maybe working under corrupt leaders, alongside people you don't fully agree with, is the only way to make socialism work on this scale. maybe putting up with a certain amount of evil is ok, if it means everyone's lives can get better. maybe evrart is justified in screwing over some nosy cops, or instigating a revolution, or facilitating a massive drug operation. what is socialism worth to a union member? is it worth evrart claire?

joyce is his foil in every way. she's one of the most immediately likeable characters. she's the only person in the whole game, besides harry, who has fond memories of disco. she's not a liar or a despot like claire. she represents a different evil. she's a good person who's chosen to become part of the machine of global capitalism. she's a liberal with a heart of gold, and her bosses have allied with fascists to crack down on the union

when you show messier your badge, it makes her trust and respect you. she believes in society and the law. she knows that capital will devour and co-opt everything in its path. she knows because it co-opted her too. she's a liberal and a monster, blood all over her hands. she has to tell herself all sorts of justifications just to sleep at night.a revolution and a free revachol would mean fighting back against people like messier. everything that makes her likeable also makes her poisonous and tragic

they're both silver-tongued, powerful, and never willing to tell the whole story; they're balanced on opposite sides of the brewing civil war; they both think they can use harry for their own ends.

being part of society and submitting to structures of power always means compromising your moral integrity. no matter what kind of cop you are, harry will always end up arresting a communist for the murder of a fascist. you can feel however you want about it, but you've done your duty. maybe living vibrantly within yourself and thinking deeply about your place is the whole point. maybe it's just pathetic. maybe all those inner thoughts and feelings were only justifications for all the times you had to compromise your morals to do what you were told.

is it even possible to be a good person while also being a cop? a union boss? a company rep? a cryptozoologist? a liberal? a socialist?

[sourcreammachine]

i love how the self-titled Effective Altruists and cuntbags like musk believe that the “demographic crisis” of the 21st century is like a massive insane problem that we need to solve by farting out babies 24/7, as they said in that recent Kurzgesagt propaganda video they produced

it is capitalism that’s the problem, again. growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell. we ‘grow’ when we produce more, and our investments are based around potential growths rather than what is needed - so when alleged ‘potential’ can’t materialise, the economy collapses

we will be able to produce less when there will be less workers. future spacex neuralink hyperloop tech might soften the blow but won’t be able to change that fact

this is coming towards capitalism like a high-speed train. most executives are essentially wagies visàvis their positions as gods of the world, so systemically cannot respond to a problem more than twenty years ahead of time. but oligarchs like musk and formerly bankman-fried, with their oligarchic status seemingly made permanent (lol), become weird nutters who’ve given themselves messiah complexes about “solving” it. we must increase production always at all costs, so we must increase babies at all costs

growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell. the economy is going to shrink and we must not let this cause a world-eating depression under capitalism. we have to accept that we’re peaking, stop investing resources into growth and start investing resources into efficiency, systemic resilience, and services, and drop dead-weight unsustainable overproduction that’s killing the planet. stop even trying to grow the economy during a period of global decline - the global Very Long Boom and global Baby Boom gave a economic dividend that must be repaid

socialistic economics, redistribution, and economic democracy can let this pressure. we have to do managed decline, work towards working better with less workers and less labour, and support untold masses of pensioners. capitalism simply cannot do this. if under capitalism the economy was recessing massively, but don’t worry, in many years the ageing recession will cease and growth should resume with stability - investment simply will not go towards what is needed to improve life under the status quo and will be hedged until growth resumes, and so nothing good will ever come

that’s why the so-called “effective altruists” and muskists are so bothered about preventing what they see as demographic collapse - should it occur it’ll wreak a huge economic recession, be it slow or as a crash, and lead to a world of impoverished pensioners starving on the street. so their solution is babies at all costs, when instead we could have a world where a period of managed decline spurs reinvestment in what we have, a silver age of planet earth, a global new deal beyond measure. and when the massive wave of pensioners dies, we will have good services and sustainable economics, and enriched communities with fruitful childhoods and good educations, and yeah, we can use our growth potential to not just prevent environmental destruction (capitalism’ll’ve already triggered a lot) but do our level headed best to fix it, become the stewards of Earth that we’re abdicating ourselves as, and fuck it, have enough money to reshape the world into a happy and good place to live a life

but capitalism cannot do that. because capitalism cannot accept decline. because capitalism must have growth at any costs, and will continue to beat the dead horse until the skies darken with soot and until the baby boomers who built the longest boom are left to rot without care or food and their children are enslaved to keep the fires burning. and to bring back the boom times, it must be babies at any cost

footnote: this was mostly about economics but there’s one more angle that would’ve made a bit of a tangent. musk’s side of the coin has a massive, massive misogynistic basis. musk, the individual, is famously a total creep. people with breeding kinks can breathe a sigh of relief because he is not one of you - his is a breeding perversion. he has an obsession with creating as many of his own children as possible and subscribes to the belief that a Man’s worth can be measured with his spawn. and so many of his ilk believe the same. this is how he can have child after child despite obviously not caring for them and doing his duty as a parent - parenting ten children should basically be a full time job. it takes a village: this is a village. and i don’t mean to point fingers, but with his first wife he had a set of twins via ivf and then a set of triplets via ivf, and many more children later, including after the birth of the human person he calls “X Æ A-Xii”, he had a second child with Grimes via surrogacy. this worldview undoubtedly affects his everyday misogyny and transphobia - women’s utility is as utility, trans men do iRrEvErSiBlE dAmAgE to their mere utility, and trans women go against womanhood due to having no utility. he abandoned his own fucking daughter for being trans. creepy, disgusting, indefensible - and this man is one of the gods of our world, enacting his poisonous worldview without oversight

and ragging on cunts like musk isn’t letting the ““effective altruists”” off the hook. their circles, as organisations or just general society, has an oft-reported massive sexism problem. multiple EA members have been accused of creating a toxic atmosphere hostile to women, of sexual misconduct, and of grooming with intention to form poly relationships. an ideology of reducing humans to utility, of stressing population growth, and of getting ants in your pants about demographic crisis does not combine well with latent misogyny and the patriarchal, male near-exclusive echelons of capitalism

[antiquatedsimmer]

Spring 1908 "She’s gone, Daniel."

"The hell do you mean she's gone?!"

"Josephine and Lucile! They’ve taken everything."

"The silver, the heirlooms—gone. I came home and found both of my properties empty."

Daniel’s eyes narrowed, his knuckles whitening as he gripped the edge of the desk. "You let my daughter run off? With your sister, no less?"

"I didn’t know she was planning this. They left without a word."

Daniel’s fist crashed down on the desk, the sound like a thunderclap in the confined space. "You imbecile! You were supposed to keep her in line, to watch over her. And you let her slip through your fingers?!"

"Do you have any idea how embarrassing this is for my reputation?"

"OUR reputation?"

Silas struggled to maintain his composure, the pressure bearing down on him like a vise.

"I’ve been doing everything I can to find out what direction they went, but it's difficult without a proper paper trail… I couldn’t have foreseen this."

Daniel’s face contorted with rage, his voice a low, dangerous growl. "Couldn’t foresee? You’re the man of the house! It’s your goddamn responsibility to keep her in line! I warned you about her hysteria!"

"You sound like one of those damned Socialists, ruining this country, making excuses. She was given to you. You were supposed to take care of her!"

Silas flung his arms up and took a big swing in frustration, pacing around the room.

"I’m struggling to understand why this is such a bad thing for us!"

"With Josephine out of the picture, you won’t need to worry about her tarnishing the family or the company’s reputation! Wouldn't it be reasonable to just let her fade away?"

"I did not give her to you just for you to allow her to fade away!" Daniel sighed massaging his temples. Silas persisted, "The pile of unopened letters? You already denied Jackson or Edith from visiting, and you mentioned before in the past her medicine was costly."

"It's not always about the money, Silas. She's my daughter."

"She's sick. It's all part of the process to cure her." Daniel sighed, catching his breath for a moment as he mumbled into his hand, “Clearly, sending her to an all-girls reformatory was a bad decision based on her current condition. "

"We've been over this! Her return was to be gradual, with her progress measured carefully. Your marriage was supposed to be a beacon of stability for her recovery. Which brings me to my final point."

“If you can’t even manage your own wife, how can I trust you to run a business with hundreds of employees? I took your family under my wing to work alongside my son because I believed in you, I believed in what was best for your family."

"You are a failure. A disgrace."

Silas’s face burned with humiliation, "I will find her, Daniel. I swear it. But you need to understand, she—"

"Understand?” Daniel sneered as he stood from his desk, “The only thing I understand is that you’ve failed. Get her back, Silas. Or your job, your livelihood—everything is on the line. Do you hear me?"

Through gritted teeth, a bitter "Yes, sir," escaped Silas’s lips as Daniel took his leave for the night, leaving Silas standing alone in the office.

"DAMN IT."