Tonight I shall channel my negative feelings into super gluing things to other things.

I really like Lauren Berlant’s idea of the juxtapolitical: the sense that *feeling* the correct way about something *is* political action instead of feeling leading to action, feeling substitutes for acting

And honestly, the global 40 and under population should be applauded, not castigated, for trying their collective best to drag the species kicking and screaming into this third millennium. Human life has always changed over time. From hunting and gathering to agriculture. From farming to industry.

We could use the "declining fertility rate" to rethink our relationship to capitalism and our human footprint on the planet. I keep seeing alarms about societies breaking down because of aging populations. "Five retirees for every worker!" That's not a fertility problem. It's a capitalism problem.

The Republican party of 2026 is pretty much the party for racism and misogyny (and the homo/transphobia that tends to come packaged with both) with no plausible deniability to speak of, and I think it's beyond fair to have serious reservations about people who still identify with the party.

The term “working class” in common usage today isn’t about income or type of work. It’s been superseded by a postmodern definition focused on aesthetics and culture war stances. A barista who puts pronouns on a nametag is an elite. So is every adjunct lecturer. I don’t think this is a good change.

Richard Dawkins becoming a "ChatGPT loves me" guy is both entirely predictable and yet has drained respect for him that I didn't realize I still had

I think that's the big takeaway for these people because their problem with stuff like The Hunger Games is that they're not invited to the big fun party going on, and being an outsider to their cruelty is just the worst thing imaginable

Class in the US is entirely a matter of aesthetics now. Rich suburban kids are “country”. Beard Dudes who look like they love IPAs are “working class.” Teachers who make $32,000 a year but have to dress up sort of nice in JCPenney clothes are “elites“. None of these words mean anything anymore.

This website is making me feel depressed again. It's like sticking head into the sadness freezer. The air is thick and stale with discourse.

Kyrie eleison.

What if Bonhoeffer’s plot against Hitler succeeded and he had a 30 year theological career afterwards.

@ejwillingham.bsky.social shoots down recent claims of an "autism overdiagnosis," and explains why what we really need is a tent big enough to accommodate and support all autistic people. In this week's TPGA newsletter. Share and subscribe if you can! tinyurl.com/BiggerTentTPGA #neurodiversity

I think I just figured out after a combo of therapy today & trying to articulate my frustrations with MET Gala discourse that one if the big reasons I couldn't get along in the local DSA is the vibe was very much that only *some* count as working class & the rest are bourgeoisie.

I honestly don’t think identarian deference is always totally bad, like it’s probably true that gay people or women or whoever are better equipped to ascertain the presence or absence of various prejudices. But the epistemic environment online if just so toxic you can’t extend that to randoms.

just so it’s clear, I’m PHIMBY (public housing in my backyard)

Principles are for Everyone or they are for No-one, including you if your adversary deems it.

This is your regular reminder that if you have a gripe with someone, however reasonable or severe, you do not get to take that as license to do to them all the things your oppressors do to you. You can be better than that. You should be better than that. You have to be better than that.

I know I’ve already reposted but…Trump I demolished a global refugee resettlement infrastructure in the name of vetting. Biden, somehow, genuinely rebuilt it. Trump II hasn’t just redemolished it but made a farce of it, by building an active recruitment pipeline which is the opposite of vetting.

SCOOP: The F.D.A. blocked the release of studies finding that Covid and shingles vaccines were safe. In the case of Covid, FDA staff had to withdraw studies heading toward publication: www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/u...

denigrating the craftspeople (who, since the industrial revolution have been OVERWHELMINGLY women, but maybe we got to the bottom of why sewers are seen as worse than welders) who make something is not good class solidarity, chums

the working class are allowed to experience comfort and joy. it is not being a good proletariat to deny yourself beauty, joy, comfort. having contempt for beauty only hurts yourself.

there's a pretty strong belief that poor people or working class people don't care, or shouldn't care, about aesthetics. that the sing of vanity is somehow the same thing as the pleasure one receives from comfort. even the slightest pleasure of seeing something not-ugly.

this whole thread is important. reminds me of @faineg.bsky.social saying earlier this year: anything feminine is seen as bourgeois. since the belief is that men wear "clothes" and not "fashion," "fashion" is therefore dirty feminine luxury, and against the working class. which simply isn't true.

A kind of tv show they don’t make anymore is “Guy Comes to Town, Then Leaves.” Kung Fu, Incredible Hulk, Highway to Heaven, things of that nature. We need more Poker Face, that’s all we have left.

the truest sign of machine intelligence will be when grok goes no contact

RIP freud. you would’ve loved whatever this is.

Super fun and cool that everyone hates the Met Gala "extra" this year, the year that disability is such a strong focus & they worked with actual disabled people and trained the staff and made the museum more accessible. But hey. At least you can remind everyone how much you hate the rich again.

Perhaps one day fashion will be taken more seriously. But the question of whether fashion is art, as posed by last night's Met Gala, is answered with a resounding "no" if you look at the community's response. For many people, these outfits are not art but signs of social decay.

The project to get people to take fashion more seriously is better done through research and long-form writing, which is thankfully being done right now by people who are much smarter than me. Such research is aided by the Met's Costume Institute, which is being funded through these galas.

Such views are shaped by centuries of Western beliefs around clothing, mercantilism, gender, etc. Any serious discussion would have to take place through other formats, such as books, not social media. IMO, social media is an inherently limited communication format, akin to skywriting.

Much like how knitting (a feminine-coded activity) is relegated to "crafts," while sculptures (a masculine-coded activity) is elevated to the "arts," it's assumed that this sort of stuff isn't "serious" and thus subject to harsher scrutiny.

— Fashion is a feminine coded interest and thus considered frivolous, whereas masculine-coded interests, such as architecture, are considered "serious." Doesn't matter if a tremendous amount of skilled labor or creativity went into making something, such as the handmade lace or shoulder line below.

IMO, there are two reasons: — Western societies have a long history of discounting clothing, partly because it's associated with the body and partly because it's considered too mercantile. Everyone from Shakespeare to Marx has used "fashions" as a pejorative.

All of those events involve spectacles, celebrities, and obscene amounts of money. Notably, the Met Gala is the only one that's a charity for a public institution. What upsets people isn't the actual money or celebrities, but the notion of fashion. The more unusual the outfits, the more outrage.

Farmers shaking their heads sadly, once again voting for Trump in protest of the mayor of Minneapolis not being vigorous enough in opposing ICE. But no, seriously, what are we doing here.

Also I am with out by any discourse that suggests it operates as if there is a ✨singular✨ cause of bad things we just need to defeat. Boy, I wish, but no. Plenty of the 99% are obstructionist asshats as well.

I'm honestly so bored of billionaire discourse at this point. We know their names. Boycott, arrest, etc. I think we are overlooking a lot of the people who are making our lives miserable locally who we can actually have a more meaningful impact opposing. They are more susceptible to pressure.

Reaching heretofore unachieved levels of Reddit: being an atheist for an nerd IP’s God.

ICE detainee found dead, 18th in-custody death in 2026. "Immigration & Customs Enforcement says 33-year-old Cuban immigrant Denny Adan Gonzalez was found unresponsive in his cell at the for-profit Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, last Tuesday." www.democracynow.org/2026/5/4/hea...

my heroes are dead and my enemies are in power

sorry to bring this back but

tired of all the shit that's going on

Speaking of "merit," time for a pop quiz! Who had the most experience arguing federal court appeals before becoming a federal appellate judge: Jackson, Kavanaugh, or Barrett? (Answers: Jackson 12, Kavanaugh 4, Barrett 0.)

While the world’s eyes are on fashion’s biggest night, we’re turning ours to the garment, retail, and warehouse workers who keep the industry running. From true love found on the picket line to a free tailoring school out of a Brooklyn basement — meet the New Yorkers who make it all possible.

From a new glass plate negative in my collection that arrived today, which happens to be International Respect for Chickens Day. 🐓 No info/date.

Someone walked into our church today because he felt called to do confession, but he’s a Protestant who thought only Roman Catholics did that. Welcome, beloved, you can do both here!

The trait of mine that will one day get me canceled as it were is I was raised in a cult, so I have a much better sense of group think/etc than someone who wasn't, & two of my neurodivergent symptoms are pattern seeking & commitment to truth/consistently applied morals (i.e. if it's wrong 1/3