There’s a general feeling, I think, that people don’t care about something unless it directly affects them. I believe this is true, but I think sometimes, humans are so depraved, that even when an issue is dumped on their doorstep, they still can’t find it in their cold, dead hearts to care.
Fuck the immigrants. They are stealing our jobs and living off our largesse. Well, except that they aren’t, because they work all of the jobs that most white folks have decided are beneath them. And sure, there is something to be said for the migrant workers tending to crops, and kitchen help at nearly every restaurant, oh and don’t forget the individual who cleans your home or tends to your personal shit. But still, fuck them. But…really fuck them? Will you go out and find some clean-cut twenty-something who is willing to slide right into those jobs? I’m guessing not, but if you do, I’m betting you are going to have to pay them more than the pittance you were paying people who feel like they don’t have a choice but to take what you are willing to give.
Fuck the LGBTQ+. They are perverse and predators. They are grooming and preying on our children and most vulnerable. Don’t worry if someone near and dear to you reveals that they are a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Don’t worry if it’s a neighbor or a friend or the owner of the coffee shop you’ve frequented for over a decade. Cling fast to your hatred and your small-mindedness and your QAnon values that fly in the face of reason and science and FACT. Don’t do business with them and make sure they don’t have equal rights. Ever. Make sure they feel ostracized and loathed when going to the restroom or seeking employment or, well, walking down the street. See to it that there is nothing good that comes their way. Ever. Decide they deserve nothing but the fiery pits of hell that your religion has contrived. Do tell them to mind their business when they run into members of the religious community that have committed untold atrocities. Let’s let sleeping dogs lie, shall we?
Fuck anyone who has a skin color that isn’t some dewy shade of alabaster. They are criminals and thugs and rapists and worst of all, they hold fast to a FALSE narrative that they have been wronged by all the ways in which we’ve marginalized them and harmed them and killed them and imprisoned them. I mean, can we take a moment to give Florida a good pat on the back for all the good work they are doing right now to shine a bright light on all of this nonsense that has occurred for too long? William Allen and Presley Rice, the genius architects of Florida’s new enlightening and warm and fuzzy educational shift were quoted as follows: “Florida students deserve to learn how slaves took advantage of whatever circumstances they were in to benefit themselves and the community of African descendants” (https://www.reuters.com/world/us/florida-introduces-new-guidelines-teaching-black-history-critics-give-poor-grade-2023-07-20/_). Exactly, amiright? Slavery was good because it provided opportunity. Right? Isn’t that the story? Forget the harm that occurred and CONTINUES to occur. Forget about the skewed justice system and systemic racism that denies equal opportunity. Forget the murders and slights and slams. Forget the people whose skin doesn’t resemble a sample of Benjamin Moore White Dove and who are living, breathing, intelligent, kind, caring, funny, special humans. Forget your neighbors and friends and co-workers. Look away from those who have been maligned so egregiously.
Forget that all of these folks, the immigrants, the LGBTQ+, the non-whites, are JUST LIKE US. Sometimes, better. Mostly, better.
I mean, who has time for that kind of deep analysis that would point a finger inward? Who has time to highlight the flaws in the system and acknowledge that we can be good and also, terrible? Who wants to explore the ways in which we need to change and grow and learn? It’s so much easier to lean into the same shit we’ve always known and always been told- EVEN WHEN THE TRUTH IS LAID BARE IN FRONT OF US. Even when it means something. Even when the choice is destruction and disablement and separation. No worries.
So, does it surprise me that very few people give a fuck about the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike? It does not. In fact, you may have just cringed reading that question. Here I am talking about discrimination and racism and homophobia and transphobia and now, actors? What?
Yes. Actors. But also, people. Like the writers. People who are working very hard to make a living. People who are not getting paid a fair wage based on their contributions. Does that sound familiar to you? It should. Look back. Read up. It’s the same shit, over and over again. The upper echelon are telling the rest of us who to deem worthy and we are lapping it up like it’s our last drink of water, ever.
We have decided “they” are unworthy. Well, hang on. The multi-bazillion dollar studios and high-on-the-mountain organizers have decided that the actors and writers who MAKE these works come to life are unworthy, and we’ve followed suit. As usual, we have bought into a hard-peddled tale that’s been spun in front of us.
Let the peons be grateful that they’ve gotten anything at all. It doesn’t matter that their work is their lifeblood. It doesn’t matter that what they give to us, on a silver platter, the actors and writers, is creative force. It doesn’t matter that creativity is arguably the most precious and hard to replicate gift. It doesn’t matter that we spend our days talking about what we are watching and what we are reading. Imagine a full week without a chat about a streaming service? Can you? I can’t. Imagine never seeing a meme again about Schitt’s Creek or Succession. Can you? Nope. I didn’t think so.
The actors are paid as a one-shot deal. Same goes for the writers. And then when we, the adoring but useless public, watch these shows en masse. When we binge and gorge and feast upon the brilliance that they have brought to our living rooms, the only folks who make out in that deal are US and the studios. That’s it. Everyone else gets fucked. Does that make sense?
Well, yeah. It does. It does in a model where employees do no better when a corporation thrives. It does in a country where we celebrate the merits of slavery. It does in a world where we hold fast to our hatred and anger, despite clear evidence that it is indeed, misplaced.
Imagine caring because it’s the right thing to do? Can you? Imagine caring not because it’s an issue that matters TO YOU, but because it’s a human issue. A human rights’ issue. A human consideration issue.
No? Okay. Live in your fucking bubble. Go for it. But don’t you dare turn on Netflix, you fucking hypocrite.
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