#the problem of democracy

[kemetic-dreams]

In 1830 a newspaper in North Carolina, the Newbern Sentinel, ran an article about an unpublished dictionary, titled The Cracker Dictionary. The work appears to have remained unpublished (perhaps the title had something to do with this), but in reporting on the words contained in the book’s nascent form the article provides early written evidence of a number of 19th century Americanisms. Among these is absquatulate, which is spelled with an initial O, rather than A, and defined as “to mosey, or to abscond.”

In addition to absquatulate, the reader is informed of the meaning of a number of other similar terms, many of which have retained some degree of currency in our language; flustrated (“frustrated and prostrated, greatly agitated”), rip-roarious, (“ripping and tearing”), and fitified (“subject to fits”) have seen enough continued use that we define them in our Unabridged Dictionary. Other words contained in this never-realized dictionary, such as ramsquaddled (“rowed up salt river”) and spontinaceously (“of one’s own accord”) appear to have been lost with the passage of time.

Two of the loafers, we understand, were yesterday taken and committed to prison; the other has absquatulated. — The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), 13 June 1837

Cracker, sometimes cracka or white cracker, is a racial epithet directed towards white people, used especially with regard to poor rural whites in the Southern United States. Although commonly a pejorative, it is also used in a neutral context, particularly in reference to a native of Florida or Georgia (see Florida cracker and Georgia cracker)

The exact history and etymology of the word is debated.

The term is "probably an agent noun  from the word crack. The word crack was later adopted into Gaelic as the word craic meaning a "loud conversation, bragging talk" where this interpretation of the word is still in use in Ireland, Scotland, and Northern England today.

The historical derivative of the word craic and its meaning can be seen as far back as the Elizabethan era (1558–1603) where the term crack could be used to refer to "entertaining conversation" (one may be said to "crack" a joke or to be "cracking wise") The word cracker could be used to describe loud braggarts; An example of this can be seen in William Shakespeare's King John (c. 1595) "What cracker is this same that deafs our ears with this abundance of superfluous breath?"

The word was later documented describing a group of "Celtic immigrants, Scotch-Irish people who came to America running from political circumstances in the old world". This usage is illustrated in a 1766 letter to the Earl of Dartmouth which reads:

I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by Crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia, who often change their places of abode.

The label followed the Scotch-Irish American immigrants, who were often seen by officials as "unruly and ill-mannered" The use of the word is further demonstrated in official documents, where the Governor of Florida said,

'We don't know what to do with these crackers—we tell them to settle this area and they don't; we tell them not to settle this area and they do'

By the early 1800s, those immigrants "started to refer to themselves that way as a badge of honor" as is the case with other events of linguistical reappropriation.

The compound corn-cracker was used of poor white farmers (by 1808), especially from Georgia, but also extended to residents of northern Florida, from the cracked kernels of corn which formed a staple food of this class of people. This possibility is given in the 1911 edition of Encyclopædia Britannica, but the Oxford English Dictionary says a derivation of the 18th-century simplex cracker from the 19th-century compound corn-cracker is doubtful. A "cracker cowboy" with his Florida Cracker Horse and dog by Frederic Remington, 1895

It has been suggested that white slave foremen in the antebellum South were called "crackers" owing to their practice of "cracking the whip" to drive and punish slaves. Whips were also cracked over pack animals, so "cracker" may have referred to whip-cracking more generally. According to An American Glossary (1912):

The whips used by some of these people are called 'crackers', from their having a piece of buckskin at the end. Hence the people who cracked the whips came to be thus named.

Another possibility, which may be a modern folk etymology, supposes that the term derives from "soda cracker", a type of light wheat biscuit which dates in the Southern US to at least the Civil War. The idea has possibly been influenced by "whitebread", a similar term for white people. "Soda cracker" and even "white soda cracker" have become extended versions of "cracker" as an epithet

A 1783 pejorative use of crackers specified men who "descended from convicts that were transported from Great Britain to Virginia at different times, and inherit so much profligacy from their ancestors, that they are the most abandoned set of men on earth".

Benjamin Franklin, in his memoirs (1790), referred to "a race of runnagates and crackers, equally wild and savage as the Indians" who inhabit the "desert[ed] woods and mountains".

In his 1964 speech "The Ballot or the Bullet", Malcolm X used the term "cracker" in reference to white people in a pejorative context. In one passage, he remarked, "It's time for you and me to stop sitting in this country, letting some cracker senators, Northern crackers and Southern crackers, sit there in Washington, D.C., and come to a conclusion in their mind that you and I are supposed to have civil rights. There's no white man going to tell me anything about my rights."

[isawthismeme]

REBLOG THIS!!

[writerbuddha]

Some people just cannot think outside of the oppressed-oppressor binary: you’re either “the Man” the obvious villain or you’re “kept down by the Man” who is “sticking it to the Man,” the obvious hero. As a writer/illustrator put it, criticizing George Lucas’ work: “the OT films were the little guys fighting an oppressor… but in the PT, the Jedi had all the power. They were the oppressors. That “fight the power” spirit was gone.” The Jedi Knights are cool as long as they’re hunted by the Empire of the Sith, because they’re “sticking it to the Man.” But if they’re respected by people, if they’re working with the Senate of the Galactic Republic, they’re “the Man” and the Sith and Anakin Skywalker (or somebody else, this Underdog or Little Guy who is supposedly oppressed by guardians of peace and justice is never properly identified, in order to avoid the easily disprovable specifics) are the one who’re “kept down by the Man,” and by default, they’re the ones who’re “sticking it to the Man,” because in their heads, empowered and respected are the characteristics of Evil. And this reveals a deeply troubling mindset: “fight the power” and being victimized by “the power” is what makes you a moral, ethical, good person, even if that power is held by democratically elected officials with checks and balances or fairy tale monks who dedicate their lives to psychological and spiritual progress and to make sure that everyone is protected and there’s peace and justice in the world.

And herein lies the problem: people who only feel secure in their identity as "Good People" if they're fighting against an oppressive power cannot function without it and sooner or later, their desperate yearning for it will create it - and then, they will never be motivated enough to demolish it.

[thedepressedjuggalette]

The Destruction of the Chevron Deference is the Beginning of Project 2025.

[captainpirateface]

[darthmatthewtwihard]

“The first people a dictator puts in jail after a coup are the writers, the teachers, the librarians—because these people are dangerous. They have enough vocabulary to recognize injustice and speak out loudly about it.” —Madeleine L’Engle

[rocketqueen1989x]

my beautiful boy

[abs0luteb4stard]

Trump: "You have to get out and vote. You won't have to do it anymore. Four years, it will be fixed, it will be fine. You won't have to vote anymore.. In four years, you won't have to vote again."

LIVE WEST PALM BEACH, FL

Can you believe he's just openly saying he's planning on becoming a dictator, never having to vote again? And these Christians are just eating it up. They're happy. They're insane.

America isn't perfect, but by God, the search for that perfection is dead under Donald Trump and these White Christian Nationalists nightmare theocratic dictatorship.

This is sickening.

[benjaminallhope-fulltimemind]

this is voter suppression plain and simple, innocent people and organizations are being harassed and targeted for the crime of supporting democracy and the Democrats. Of course Republicans will make outrageous and uncertified claims that voter fraud is widespread or that there's some grand conspiracy at play which isn't true. It's just a ploy and excuse to erode democracy as conservative policy doesn't have widespread support necessitating the subversion of popular willpower through the targeted harassment of those that do not support them. It's disturbing how they can use the police and legal system to their advantage, democracy doesn't matter as long as it fits the Republican's agenda. Never forget that Christian Nationalists and Neo-Nazis do not havy any respect for America nor it's democracy, they would gladly burn the constitution in order to preserve the 'white race' and 'Christian values' which is as clear as day. So vote blue even just to reduce harm and prevent Trump from winning and enacting Project 2025.

[lady-raziel]

Guys while I’m calmed down a little from yesterday I do realize I have the opportunity once again to do the funniest thing of all time at this point in my job search

[ngdrb]

[psycohousecat]

UT oh... Your handler is callin Marj..

[midnight-stalker]

The wolf in disguise

(Author’s note: Let’s see how this goes 😄👍)

He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing except the wolf is terrible at playing dress up. Instead of soft, curly, white wool the wolf used thin, fluffy, white chicken feathers to mimic the wool of a sheep. But he didn’t fully cover his body in feathers. His long nose, pointy ears and grey tail stuck out like a rose in a field of bluebells. He’s obviously a wolf yet the sheep still believe he’s a sheep despite his major differences. The guard dog warns them about the wolf in disguise, but the sheep think they would know if they see a wolf in disguise. The guard dog tries to chase the wolf off yet the sheep defend him and say he’s a real sheep. The sheep refuse to let the guard dog chase away the imposter. They threaten to run away if the guard dog chases the sheep away. The guard dog continues to protect the flock despite the major danger among them. The guard dog could only hope the sheep realize the danger they’re in.

[thedepressedjuggalette]

Why Republicans and Christians want to Destroy "Save" America and What They Mean.

[captainpirateface]