Bland as fuck CIS white guy here. They deserve as many throat punches (though maybe just a death stare is safer) as possible.
Also cats are better than most people.
I’m so sorry that we as a people seem to be hell bent on both halting progress and undoing what little we’ve had in the modern era. You deserve better.
As an elderly person who has been online 30+ years, I am so unbelievably exhausted by the endless sea of power hungry technophobes that somehow float to the top of government.
I hate to go for the tired old saw of ‘no more old people’, especially since we have a fresh crop of younger (under 50) people who are just as stupid, venal and completely lost around anything more technologically complex than a cup of water… but maybe we should stop electing and re-electing people who are old enough to have considered retirement in the private sector a decade or two prior?
As for the Heritage Foundation. Other than the very small handful of ‘reasonable’ conservative groups (aka those being targeted by the GQP as a whole such as Log Cabin Republicans), they’re all going mask off. And have been since 2016.
I guess I’ve been ‘lucky’ to be formerly part of an almost completely outsourced profession (IT) since right around when it was getting outsourced. So it’s all sadly old hat to me… not an endorsement, simply a tired observation.
The last 7(ish) years of watching people in my life who appeared ‘normal’ slide into full throated endorsement of fascism has been both fascinating and absolutely horrifying. I hate the thought of cutting some of them out of my life, but haven’t hesitated for a moment to do so.
It sucks and I’m so sorry you’re going through this.
In a similar vein, I vaguely remember a sociological tract detailing the value of psychopathy in ye olden times (think at the tribal level) as they both want power and are willing to make the hard choices that others might be too empathetic to do.
But their continued existence and proliferation among certain sectors (business, politics, religion) has become a detriment.
I recently listened to a delightful pair of Behind the Bastards episodes (a podcast I can’t possibly recommend enough) about Jack Welch, the darling of the modern C-suite and those aspiring to such.
The way he shaped modern capitalism to the detriment of all is terrifying. But the hilarious aside is much he was like Trump, Musk, Zuckbot, spez and all the rest. A raging little boy who has been dealt some insignificant slight, generally imagined, who wants to burn down the world as a result.
But, since this was entirely in the pre-Internet era, and he was mostly a darling of the press when interviewed for his pithy anecdotes about how to business, it mostly flew under the radar. The modern hyper toxic tech bro CEO or his presumptively dumber and louder counterparts who have still stumbled into social media is nothing new. They are just airing their dirty laundry in the public square with a much bigger megaphone.
Her ads are EVERYWHERE in Southern California now.