Blackmoor Vituperative

Trying to find a reasonable conversation in 2015 is like trying to stand between raindrops to stay dry. There is no context. There is no humour. There is no spectrum between virtuous and despicable. There is only self-righteous rage, and the imperative to vent it… somewhere.

Ten things I learned from Mad Max: Fury Road…

1. Bad people are ugly; good people are pretty.
2. Pretty redheads have the power to turn a bad person into a good person (if the bad person was not actually that ugly to begin with).
3. Gasoline and bullets are mandatory; food and water are optional.
4. Breast milk can be used as a medium of exchange. (Eeeuuw.)
5. Spitting gasoline into a carburetor makes a car go faster.
6. Pouring thousands of gallons of water on the ground in the middle of the desert is not ridiculously wasteful: it is performance art (see #3).
7. Never leave your citadel undefended.
8. When starting a post-apocalyptic cult, marketing is essential. A simple but distinctive logo is vital; a thematically similar mask is also helpful in establishing the “brand”.
9. When running a post-apocalyptic cult, it is important not to get personally involved in “away” missions.
10. Being a pretty young woman in a post-apocalyptic cult is horrible. Being anyone else in a post-apocalyptic cult is worse. If you can’t be the one who started it, it’s best to just stay away.

My opinion on ethnicity and religion: they are, at most, as important as being a fan of a sports team or a film franchise.

If it causes you to share good times with people in the same group, great. If it entertains you and a competing group to be opposed in a safe and friendly contest, that’s great, too. If it’s an excuse to be mean to other people, or take something away from some other group, or reserve some benefit solely for your group, you are doing it wrong.

I have seen a meme going around lately to the effect of, “I had to get drug tested to get a job, so you should be drug tested if you are on welfare”. There are so many things wrong with this.

First, I don’t think anyone should have their medical privacy invaded in order to earn an honest living. Also, I think “I have been mistreated, therefore others should also be mistreated” is a terrible foundation for public policy.

Second, in municipalities that have instituted this plan, they have found that the rate of drug use among those on public assistance is generally about one-ninth of the national average. It actually costs taxpayers more to institute this mandatory invasion of privacy than it would to just accept that some tiny percentage (generally less than 1%) of those receiving assistance have used recreational drugs. So it’s not only insulting, unkind, and uncharitable, it’s also a waste of taxpayer’s money.

Finally, the people who receive TANF benefits are the caregivers for minor children. The benefits that would be taken away would directly — not indirectly, not eventually, but directly — result in children not having food to eat. So even if you are willing to spend extra in order to be deliberately unkind to people who are already having a rough time of it, do you really want to make children go hungry as part of that? Really?

If you are a Republican, the answer is an unequivocal “yes”.