one of the things that's the most fucking frustrating for me about arguing with climate change deniers is the sheer fucking scope of how much it matters. sweating in my father's car, thinking about how it's the "hottest summer so far," every summer. and there's this deep, roiling rage that comes over me, every time.
the stakes are wrong, is the thing. that's part of what makes it not an actual debate: the other side isn't coming to the table with anything to fucking lose.
like okay. i am obviously pro gun control. but there is a basic human part of me that can understand and empathize with someone who says, "i'm worried that would lead to the law-abiding citizens being punished while criminals now essentially have a superpower." i don't agree, but i can tell the stakes for them are also very high.
but let's say the science is wrong and i'm wrong and the visible reality is wrong and every climate disaster refugee is wrong. let's say you're right, humans aren't causing it or it's not happening or whatever else. let's just say that, for fun.
so we spend hundreds of millions of dollars making the earth cleaner, and then it turns out we didn't need to do that. oops! we cleaned the earth. our children grow up with skies full of more butterflies and bees. lawns are taken over with rich local biodiversity. we don't cry over our electric bills anymore. and, if you're staunchly capitalist and i need to speak ROI with you - we've created so many jobs in developing sectors and we have exciting new investment opportunities.
i am reminded of kodak, and how they did not make "the switch" to digital photography; how within 20 years kodak was no longer a household brand. do we, as a nation, feel comfortable watching as the world makes "the switch" while we ride the laurels of oil? this boggles me. i have heard so much propaganda about how america cannot "fall behind" other countries, but in this crucial sector - the one that could actually influence our own monopolies - suddenly we turn the other cheek. but maybe you're right! maybe it will collapse like just another silicone valley dream. but isn't that the crux of capitalism? that some economies will peter out eventually?
but let's say you're right, and i'm wrong, and we stopped fracking for no good reason. that they re-seed quarries. that we tear down unused corporate-owned buildings or at least repurpose them for communities. that we make an effort, and that effort doesn't really help. what happens then? what are the stakes. what have we lost, and what have we gained?
sometimes we take our cars through a car wash and then later, it rains. "oh," we laugh to ourselves. we gripe about it over coffee with our coworkers. what a shame! but we are also aware: the car is cleaner. is that what you are worried about? that you'll make the effort but things will resolve naturally? that it will just be "a waste"?
and what i'm right. what if we're already seeing people lose their houses and their lives. what if it is happening everywhere, not just in coastal towns or equatorial countries you don't care about. what if i'm right and you're wrong but you're yelling and rich and powerful. so we ignore all of the bellwethers and all of the indicators and all of the sirens. what if we say - well, if it happens, it's fate.
nevermind. you wouldn't even wear a mask, anyway. i know what happens when you see disaster. you think the disaster will flinch if you just shout louder. that you can toss enough lives into the storm for the storm to recognize your sacrifice and balk. you argue because it feels good to stand up against "the liberals" even when the situation should not be political. you are busy crying for jesus with a bullhorn while i am trying to usher people into a shelter. you've already locked the doors, even on the church.
the stakes are skewed. you think this is some intellectual "debate" to win, some funny banter. you fuel up your huge unmuddied truck and say suck it to every citizen of that shitbird state california. serves them right for voting blue!
and the rest of us are terrified of the entire fucking environment collapsing.
3K notes
·
View notes
if i see one more person say something like “teachers are quitting because the kids are getting meaner, so parents need to learn how to discipline your kids” i’m going to fucking scream.
the kids are not getting meaner because they’re spoiled. the kids are not getting meaner because of gentle parenting. these are not spoiled children, they are traumatized children. these are trauma behaviors.
they have to go to school every day with the knowledge they might get shot up. almost four years ago people started dying and becoming disabled from COVID, it never stopped, and they’re told to ignore it. for all they know, the earth might become uninhabitable in their lifetimes, and they are powerless against all these things. they are traumatized. stop putting the blame on innocent kids and individual parents.
350 notes
·
View notes
My job is fun because half the year it's like, this is amazing, I can't believe I'm getting paid to do this little. And the other half of the year is like, what if I quit and went to work 60 hours a week doing repetitive tasks that were the same every day.
26 notes
·
View notes
GUH. BEANNARY. ARE YOU A TMA FAN???????????? 📼📼📼📼📼📼📼
YEAH I AM!!!!! I know I havent like talked about it at all recently but man its wild to me that people dont know how obsessed I am with tma lol the last fandom I was in (Tales of Arcadia) I wrote what was supposed to be a massive tma au fic and that I had planned extensively till the turtles consumed me and before that I was super into the tma fandom and drew a bunch of fanart
I dont have much of my tma fanart anymore since my last laptop like completely imploded and i couldnt salvage my art from before 2020 from it but heres some of the tma fanart that I still have!
(plus a bonus ghoulia from monster high)
I also had some tma ocs!
I cant remember their names but i had one oc who was an avatar of the web who I think had been partially paralyzed by some accident that led her to being an avatar of the web? I remember drawing her in a wheelchair and posting a picture of her in a tma discord server sometime in 2020 or 2019 but I dont have that picture on my laptop so she has been lost to time unless someone from that tma discord server happens to have that pic saved but i highly doubt that i would be that lucky
But I also had another who I still have a drawing of! Her name is valentina and shes an avatar of the buried who is a snowboarder and works as a search and rescue volunteer to help recover people after avalanches! (She doesnt you know actually help any of the people that she finds but you know she avatar of the buried them)
i havent listened to the magnus protocol yet so NO SPOILERS I'm waiting till spring break when i have more mental energy for it but i do plan to listen to it and i am very excited for it
27 notes
·
View notes