Born Free
I meant to link this yesterday. Now, that’s not me. The Curvy Wuffess is her own thing, but the t-shirt was inspired by my post.
The artist is amazing, btw, even if his art gives me reflexive back pain.
I have a guest post for later, but yesterday was a loooong day and I haven’t had enough coffee yet.
If you wish to send us books for next week’s promo, please email to bookpimping at outlook dot com. If you feel a need to re-promo the same book do so no more than once every six months (unless you’re me or my relative. Deal.) One book per author per week. Amazon links only. Oh, yeah, by clicking through and buying (anything, actually) through one of the links below, you will at no cost to you be giving a portion of your purchase to support ATH through our associates number. A COMMISSION IS EARNED FROM EACH PURCHASE.
*Note that I haven’t read most of these books (my reading is eclectic and “craving led”,) and apply the usual cautions to buying. – SAH*
FROM DALE R. COZORT: All Timelines Lead to Rome
A dead woman’s cell phone chip leads to a mystery spanning the U.S. rustbelt, a surviving Roman empire and a North America without Europeans.
FROM NATHAN C. BRINDLE: The Lion of God
John Wolff has been handed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Again.
He’s already saved the love of his life from an early death – thirty years after she died.
Now, a beautiful young woman, who is clearly his daughter, has appeared from the timeline branch where that same love of his life survived and married his counterpart.
She says they need his help fighting off invaders from the far future. Who, by the way, are looking for him. Why? Because they want the starship drive he and a friend invented, the precursor to their time machine. Problem is, in her timeline, it hasn’t been invented yet.
What man can resist a cry for help from his own daughter?
Particularly when the invaders think she’s a saint. Or possibly, a devil wearing saint’s clothing. And they’re looking for her, too.
Thus begins the Timelines Saga, and the story of the Lion of God.
FROM C. CHANCY: Oni the Lonely (NOW IN PAPERBACK, TOO)
A grieving mountain cove doctor. A pair of wayward oni. A curse borne on the black wings of crows.
The Rivertown Shopping Village has seen a lot of strange proprietors. An oni painter on the run from a bad breakup is a new one. Maple Leaf Studio opened with blazing color, but will a haunting end Kyosai Momoji’s dream before it begins?
At the south end of Rivertown, Rain McKee delivers soap and perfume with a hint of mountain blessings, picking up her life in the wake of her grandparents’ deaths. Deaths that may have been from a firstborn curse….
Kyosai’s a firstborn, and oni attract trouble like lightning strikes. If either of them want to survive, they’ll have to face haunts, monsters, and a curse so ancient no living mortal knows its name.
The Appalachians are old; the evils lurking there, older still….
(If you want ancient folklore, modern magic, and a love story that prioritizes friendship first, this is the slow burn for you!)
First in the Hidden Coves series!
FROM CLAYTON BARNETT: Princess’ Crusade
After nearly a generation the city-state of Knoxville is beginning to thrive following the collapse of the United States. However, its closest outlet to the sea, the port of Savannah, over the mountains and downriver, is occupied by the Chinese Army who impose crushing tariffs. The city fathers have only one person to turn to for help.Growing up trained by her military father and with a nervous system vastly modified by the Thinking Machines, Faustina Hartmann builds a private army of two brigades – called legions – to march on the Savannah garrison and liberate it, for her city and herself. But the Chinese have many technological advantages, not the least of which is their orbital bombardment battle station.Calling herself demi-human, Faustina’s ambition far outstrips the liberation of one port city. As the interior of America comes back to life it will need a strong guiding hand and she sees that hand as her own.
FROM D LAWDOG AND CEDAR SANDERSON: The Ratel Saga
All they wanted was to dig a pit trap and get a pet. The local African wildlife didn’t agree to either part of this plan…
A riotously funny activity book, field guide to (some)African fauna, and a story of growing up.
We strongly recommend that you do NOT try any of these things at home. However, you should definitely read where you can laugh out loud, as you should color outside the lines.
From the team that brought you Taskforce Chiweenie: The Poultry Liberation Front, The Ratel Saga is a (mostly) true story illustrated by a certified natural history illustrator who wants you to know this is moderately child friendly, even if the events depicted were a little hard on the adults involved .
Parental Supervision Advised
FROM SAM SCHALL: Destiny from Ashes (Honor & Duty Book 8)
Colonel Ashlyn Shaw is on a collision course with an enemy determined to destroy her and all she holds dear. Honor demands she not turn away from the upcoming battle. Duty requires her to do whatever is necessary to protect her command and her home system. The Corps and her family stand with her, ready and willing to do whatever it takes to finally bring this war to an end.
But when the enemy turns out to be closer than she thinks, how will Ashlyn react? Will this finally be what breaks her or will it see the might of the Fuerconese Marine Corps raining death and destruction down on all who would stand against Fuercon and her enemies?
Honor and duty. Corps and family. These are the hills upon which Ash and every Marine in her command will live and possibly die as they fight to protect Fuercon and her allies.
FROM LAURA MONTGOMERY: Relief Afar: A Martha’s Sons Short Story
Even on a lost colony world, secret enclaves have something to offer—but not when an insider sees a newcomer as the enemy.
Twenty-year-old Peter Dawe’s exile gets worse. Not only is he forbidden the lost colony’s city and his family’s freehold, but even his brother’s isolated farm no longer offers refuge. Of necessity, he heads north, away from humanity’s terraformed valley towards the hidden enclave where pioneers push back the forbidding flora and fauna of the planet’s native terrain. They call it Kentucky
Young volunteers from First Landing’s northern families work to terraform the plains beyond the mountains. They’ve known each other all their lives and spent the summer working together. Peter’s presence should be a welcome addition to the small group.
After what he did to protect his brother’s family, Peter has resolved not to fight again—at least not for a good long time. When another man seeks to test himself against Peter and Peter’s past violence, Peter faces a choice. Does he confront what he’s tried to leave behind, or does he show he understands the hard lessons life insists on teaching him?
Relief Afar offers another window into the lost colony world of Not What We Were Looking For. If you wonder what it’s like to build a new life on an unwelcoming planet, and if you want to see what lies in store next for this son of Martha, you’ll want to jump right into the newest tale.
Buy Relief Afar to transcend exile today!
FROM DAVE FREER: Cloud-Castles
Augustus Thistlewood was an idealist. The youngest scion of a vastly wealthy family, he’d come to help the poor, deprived people of the strange world of Sybill III – a gas-dwarf world with no habitable land. The human population, descendants of a crashed convict transport, lived on a tiny, crowded, alien antigravity plate they called ‘the Big Syd’, drifting through the clouds in the upper atmosphere. It was a few square miles of squalor, in a vast sea of sky, ruled by the degenerate relics of two alien empires.
The problem was that the people of the Big Syd wanted to help themselves, first – to his money, his liberty, and even his life.
Only two things stood between them and this: the first was his ‘assistant’ Briz, – a ragged urchin he’d picked up as a guide. She reckoned if anyone was going to steal from Augustus, it was going to be her, even if she had to keep him alive so that she could do it. And the second thing was Augustus himself. He didn’t know what ‘giving up’ meant. Actually, he didn’t know what most things meant. As a naïve, wide-eyed innocent blundering through the cess-pit of Sybill III, he was going to have to learn, mostly the hard way. Some of that learning was going to be out in the strange society that existed on the endless drifting clumps of airborne vegetation, and the Cloud-Castles of the aliens who hunted across them. Most of it was learning that philanthropy wasn’t quite what they’d taught him in college.
FROM ANNA FERREIRA: A Capital Whip: A Pride and Prejudice Sequel
An invalid for much of her life, Miss Anne de Bourgh has precisely one accomplishment: carriage driving. She is proud of her skill with reins and whip, and justifiably so.
But when another young lady moves into the neighborhood, and challenges Anne’s place as the most accomplished driver in Hunsford, Anne must prove to herself, to her beloved horses, and to her family that she is worthy of the name de Bourgh, and she does not shrink away from a challenge.
So what’s a vignette? You might know them as flash fiction, or even just sketches. We will provide a prompt each Sunday that you can use directly (including it in your work) or just as an inspiration. You, in turn, will write about 50 words (yes, we are going for short shorts! Not even a Drabble 100 words, just half that!). Then post it! For an additional challenge, you can aim to make it exactly 50 words, if you like.
We recommend that if you have an original vignette, you post that as a new reply. If you are commenting on someone’s vignette, then post that as a reply to the vignette. Comments — this is writing practice, so comments should be aimed at helping someone be a better writer, not at crushing them. And since these are likely to be drafts, don’t jump up and down too hard on typos and grammar.
If you have questions, feel free to ask.
Your writing prompt this week is: geese
Sorry, guys. I emailed myself the wrong one, and that’s the one that went up because it was the only one on the travel computer.
This Picture was created by Sarah A. Hoyt and is released under
This Picture was created by Sarah A. Hoyt and is released under CC BY
And now I’ll put up promo post.
A note about the fundraiser: our mailbox service has told us we have…. 14 to 15 checks waiting. I will report on the full amount of the fundraiser in a couple of weeks.
Also, for those who have asked me if they can contribute later: I’m not leaving the fundraiser up. Sufficient onto the day the evil thereof and all that. Besides we start fulfilling the pledges next week. However, any funds received or (snail) mailed before the end of the month will get the reward. Also, if you’re one of my subscribers and have subscribed for a year at the tier amount, and WANT a reward, email me at the bookpimping address, and we’ll do our best to send it.
I have worked for …. 15? 16 years at this blog, providing new content ALMOST every day (A bit less through the crazy move, though that was a lesson in what not to do, I guess) for…. very little. Even after you guys got me to put up a donation button, the most I ever got in a year was 4k, and lately it’s been around 2k, counting the commission from Amazon.
Now, I know times are tough (here too) but since the reason I started the blog didn’t work out, (the intersection between those who read my fiction and those who read my blog is sliver-thin) and since I’ve put my family through contortions, on weekends and vacations and all because “I have to put up a post.” I figured I owed it to them, more than to myself, to get something back for my effort.
Also, I’m trying to do too much in too little time.
I’m trying to get a fund that will allow me to hire (mostly friends) to do some of it for me, so I can both write more and make more money, which in turn will (maybe) allow me to get through what’s staring us in the face. (And it ain’t pretty.)
Tier 1– $10 or more – A shout out on my blog, all with all other the supporters, by name, in one massive “Thank you” post. [Jokey or offensive names will not be included at author’s discretion.]
Tier 2– $25 or more – Email jpg of certificate with funny fish saying “I Was Carped at according to hoyt.com” and a Certificate of being a member of Hoyt’s Huns, cultural wars sapper battalion, in good standing.
Tier 3– $60 or more – Exclusive ebook collection of USAian SHORT stories. (Including a new, original, never published story.) Estimated delivery August 2023
Tier 4– $100 or more – Your name will appear in a mass death/other mass event/list in one of Sarah’s books. [estimated delivery up through July 2023. All indie books, as no others are guaranteed.]
Tier 5– $150 or more – A sound file of Sarah saying “Moose and Squirrel.”
Tier 6 – $250 or more – Will send a signed copy of trade paperback Gentleman takes a chance and one large postcard with book covers, also signed. (USPS- continental US only. All others, let’s talk.) [estimated delivery Sept 2022]
Tier 7 – $350 or more – Three signed books (of our choice), plus two extra items from “Sarah’s Garage”, (also of our choice) which might very well be a small rubber fish. (You’ve been warned.) USPS only. Continental U.S. only [estimated delivery Sept 2022]
Tier 8 – $500 or more – Personalized tuckerization. You will become your very own zany character, with at least a line or two of dialogue, and physical description. Physical safety and life of character not guaranteed. If you perish, it will NOT (repeat not) be in a mass death event or a list of other kinds. [estimated delivery up through July 2023. All indie books, as no others are guaranteed.] [Jokey or offensive names, descriptions and personalities will not be included at author’s discretion.]
Tier 9 – $1000 or more – A CHOICE OF:
Option 1 -Will read the first 10 pages and outline of your novel and provide timely critique, with the understanding that I am not infallible. (A skype, zoom or other video call to discuss the work for an hour or so.) [estimated delivery Winter 2022 – Spring 2023]
Option 2 – Large box of ten signed books, plus items ranging from a con badge, to a mini dinosaur skeleton or a print of Sarah’s original art, or other items from Sarah’s garage. USPS only. Continental U.S. only [estimated delivery Sept 2022]
Option 3 – Signed copy of Sarah’s old copyedited or page-proof manuscripts. [estimated delivery Fall 2022] (5 limit.)
Tier 10 – $5000 or more – You will become a major character on one of my books, and I’ll try to reflect your appearance, and chosen personality. [estimated delivery up through July 2023. All indie books, as no others are guaranteed.] [Jokey or offensive names, descriptions and personalities will not be included at author’s discretion. You don’t get to have someone else be an offensive character. (Sorry!) Your actions will be altered to serve the plot if needed.] – Limit 5. (You’ll be informed if this has been claimed, and given a chance for a refund or of a comparable reward.)
Tier Insane – $25000 or more – My husband and I will travel to a city in the continental US and have dinner with you and your plus one. (Continental US only.) – Limit ONE. [Delivery up to July 2023.] (You’ll be informed if this has been claimed, and given a chance for a refund or of a comparable reward.)
ALL TIERS INCLUDE ALL PREVIOUS TIERS EXCEPT FOR THOSE THAT ARE NUMBER LIMITED.
If you want to be thanked/mentioned by a name different from your regular one, please email to: bookpimping at outlook dot com.
DONATE TO ACCORDING TO HOYT TAANSTAFL DAYS (The previous words are a link!)
FOR CHECK DONATIONS:
Sarah A. Hoyt
Goldport Press
304 S Jones Blvd #6771
Las Vegas, NV 89107
THIS IS PINNED TO THE TOP OF THE BLOG. THE DAILY POST APPEARS BELOW THIS. (WELL, TODAY IT APPEARS BELOW THE LIBERTY CON ANNOUNCEMENT.)
This Picture was created by Sarah A. Hoyt and is released under CC BY
And now… RELEASE THE BATS!
And my very favorite bat meme!
LibertyCon 2023 tickets go on sale TODAY AT NOON EASTERN.
The site is https://www.libertycon.org/ and it typically sells out in half an hour, so you have to be ready, set, go.
According to Chris mouse: They’re doing it through a third-party, so make sure you have an account setup with that third party vendor in advance. This is the vendor: https://www.eventeny.com. Registration is quick and easy.
I will be there in 2023, barring disaster.
Be yourself. First, because who else are you going to be? Second, because it’s easier.
Note this is not an encouragement to give in to your own worst impulses, or to do things that hurt you and others. All of us, given the opportunity, have the ability to destroy ourselves and the entire world. That’s not necessarily your “true self.” That’s just…. your own worst impulses. The darker self that Jordan Peterson goes on about. The monster within. Weirdly, it’s not easier to give in to that. It’s seductive, sometimes, but it always takes a piece of you.
This is more about….
We’re all social apes, right? Know where the dividing line is between “making it easier to live with others” and “going along with trends that bring me no enjoyment or I despise.” “Embracing new things that make my life easier” and “embracing new things because they’re new things.”
And sometimes, be yourself just because you’re yourself.
Terry Pratchett said that you find success when you’re “yourself as hard as you can.” And to an extent he’s correct.
Partly because of the fundraiser, partly because I’m away from home but was intending to wake up early and feed the blog, yesterday I was thinking about this blog: how it started, how it went on, and its surprising success (Yes, I do realize it probably won’t fund completely this year. Given the rescue last year, a lot of people probably feel they more than funded me for a year from November. And that’s fine. I’ll fundraise again next year. (Does it have to have bats?) At least if we’re all still here, as grandma used to say. It is still success in influence and levels of engagement.)
When I started the blog, besides its being supposed to be a vehicle to promote my blog, it was widely known “blogs are done” and the time to start a blog was ten years previously. But, required to do it every day, I was forced to become more myself.
There is no possible way — none — you can have an idea and post at least a page of it every morning, unless it’s something that speaks to you. So I started stretching a toe into being opinionated — or often simply mulling on — on culture and social trends, and of course, politics. And the more I dipped, the more I realized I wasn’t alone. And….
I’ll be honest, I thought I was a lot more of an outlier than I am. without this blog, I might never have had the courage to come out of the political closet.
But the blog is more successful than others started before, after or at the same time. Massively more successful.
Part of it is because younger people (and there’s a good contingent of them here) really prize “authenticity” by which they mean honesty. Understandably so, because most of them have been forced to hide their entire school/work career. And they sense phony a mile away.
And in part of coming out of the political closet, I lost even more patience for doing “what everyone is doing.” Mind you, we were never very good at it, Dan and I.
For instance, we ping younger than most people our age online, because we both immediately adapt tech that makes our lives easier. However, we were late adapters of smart phones (until we needed some of their functions) and some parts of our lives are stuck in the nineties, because we bought down-stream tech, and it hasn’t broken yet (I only recently gave up my sansa mp3 player, and I still use it for audiobooks when walking, for instance.)
There is no rhyme or reason to it, beyond “we can use this” and “Not worth it.” And sometimes “No, that makes me uncomfortable.”
My kids grew up with the best gadgets when needed, but ten year old games. (And no game system.) Mostly because we bought games in thrift stores.
We were reading ebooks before it was cool, but we used repurposed old … gah, I only remember the Pratchett term! — disorganizers to do it. We just came across a throve of old Nokias we used for the purpose in the nineties. (Mostly we used them away from home, so I didn’t have to carry twenty books in my luggage. And so the kids had thier own libraries.) At the same time, our kids (and us) dressed from thrift stores, and I couldn’t tell you the fashionable brands/clothes if they bit me in the fleshy part of the back.
I’ll admit those kinds of decisions were always because we were either very stressed and needed to find a way to do things faster/better, or because we were broke. But still we did what we felt comfortable with. No more. No less.
So, why tell you that now?
In the comments, Steve and Bob C. were talking about people who just playact at being whatever the trendy thing is right now, including “woke” of course.
I don’t think most of you — never having lived through a revolution — realize how large a percentage of people that is, or how many will quite literally change their politics overnight.
Most humans are VERY social apes. Part of the reason the borderline incoherent ideas of the left have held such social sway for so long is because of the perception that they were “normal” and that to dissent was “weird.”
Most people don’t analyze their beliefs, and frankly couldn’t care less about such big things as ethics or economics or how things work. They’re too busy living day to day. They only adapt such “beliefs” to fit in with others. Because if “everyone thinks this” they probably aren’t wrong, right?
In fact, if things go on as they’re already going, with the sense of “left consensus” vanishing (which is confusing the heck out of the true believers of the left, who never understood their “dominance” was an illusion caused by the megaphone they held) and a sense of some sort of “right wing” consensus settling in (I’m hoping and there are signs that in America that will mostly be a sort of Constitutional Libertarian consensus, while in Europe it’s going to be the old “blood, G-d an soil” which to be fair it’s still better than what they have now.) most people will turn on a dime. I know that, because I’ve seen it before. And it’s going to be really hard for you to be sure of who your friends really are, who are right now making vague woke mouth noises. Because in two or three years, they could be telling you that no, they were always on the right, they just weren’t as brave as you are. And how can you be sure? Since in fact there are any number of people in hiding, and we know that for sure. (Some of you are, out of necessity.)
This is why it’s very important for you to know who you are. And what you believe in.
I still don’t know if this is all going to tip in the pot for a few years of maximum instability, or if we’re simply going to potter along, and then overnight everything changes. The only thing inclining me to the first, is that hunger looks likely this winter, and hungry people are unstable by definition.
But I do know that all our institutions will either be reformed or fall. So it’s going to feel like the whole world is falling apart.
In the middle of that it’s really easy to fall for fads, and social enforcement/ostracism. “Everyone says that people who play accordion are responsible for the corruption of legal institutions. Let’s get them.” (You only think I’m joking, but read about any kind of time when things are under deep stress.) Don’t do that. Not even if you always hated accordion players. (I’m meh on it. For some reason it was THE accomplishment of properly brought up young ladies my generation in Portugal. Thank heavens my parents didn’t follow fads.)
Know who you are, and what you believe. Your best friends, and even your family might do a couple of double reverses, and it might leave you feeling dizzy. But if you know who you are and what you believe, you’ll at least deal with them honestly, and you’ll have nothing to apologize for.
Even if you’re weird, even you’re eccentric (weird with money. I aspire.) Even if you think people will look at you askance…. Be yourself.
Being someone else is too much work, and takes away energy you’re going to need, as we build over, build under, build around.
And frankly, we need to hurry up. Because the sense things are shaking harder and harder is unavoidable.
Go be yourself and build. And get ready to take the weight when the collapse comes.
Okay, first I’m sorry this is so late. We’re getting ready for an unexpected trip. (No, nothing bad. And the trip is not unexpected. I just thought it was tonight, not this afternoon. Argh. Also we’re staying longer than expected. Younger son stays here to hold the fort, though. So cats okay, etc.)
Second, no, you can’t tell me you don’t like bats. Look at that total. LOOK AT IT.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO DONATED!
*The total is probably at least somewhat higher (maybe all the way up if some billionaire donated ) because we’ve been informed there are several envelopes in the mailbox. We’ll try to get them before the end of this, but if not, I’ll report afterwards.
I have worked for …. 15? 16 years at this blog, providing new content ALMOST every day (A bit less through the crazy move, though that was a lesson in what not to do, I guess) for…. very little. Even after you guys got me to put up a donation button, the most I ever got in a year was 4k, and lately it’s been around 2k, counting the commission from Amazon.
Now, I know times are tough (here too) but since the reason I started the blog didn’t work out, (the intersection between those who read my fiction and those who read my blog is sliver-thin) and since I’ve put my family through contortions, on weekends and vacations and all because “I have to put up a post.” I figured I owed it to them, more than to myself, to get something back for my effort.
Also, I’m trying to do too much in too little time.
I’m trying to get a fund that will allow me to hire (mostly friends) to do some of it for me, so I can both write more and make more money, which in turn will (maybe) allow me to get through what’s staring us in the face. (And it ain’t pretty.)
Tier 1– $10 or more – A shout out on my blog, all with all other the supporters, by name, in one massive “Thank you” post. [Jokey or offensive names will not be included at author’s discretion.]
Tier 2– $25 or more – Email jpg of certificate with funny fish saying “I Was Carped at according to hoyt.com” and a Certificate of being a member of Hoyt’s Huns, cultural wars sapper battalion, in good standing.
Tier 3– $60 or more – Exclusive ebook collection of USAian SHORT stories. (Including a new, original, never published story.) Estimated delivery August 2023
Tier 4– $100 or more – Your name will appear in a mass death/other mass event/list in one of Sarah’s books. [estimated delivery up through July 2023. All indie books, as no others are guaranteed.]
Tier 5– $150 or more – A sound file of Sarah saying “Moose and Squirrel.”
Tier 6 – $250 or more – Will send a signed copy of trade paperback Gentleman takes a chance and one large postcard with book covers, also signed. (USPS- continental US only. All others, let’s talk.) [estimated delivery Sept 2022]
Tier 7 – $350 or more – Three signed books (of our choice), plus two extra items from “Sarah’s Garage”, (also of our choice) which might very well be a small rubber fish. (You’ve been warned.) USPS only. Continental U.S. only [estimated delivery Sept 2022]
Tier 8 – $500 or more – Personalized tuckerization. You will become your very own zany character, with at least a line or two of dialogue, and physical description. Physical safety and life of character not guaranteed. If you perish, it will NOT (repeat not) be in a mass death event or a list of other kinds. [estimated delivery up through July 2023. All indie books, as no others are guaranteed.] [Jokey or offensive names, descriptions and personalities will not be included at author’s discretion.]
Tier 9 – $1000 or more – A CHOICE OF:
Option 1 -Will read the first 10 pages and outline of your novel and provide timely critique, with the understanding that I am not infallible. (A skype, zoom or other video call to discuss the work for an hour or so.) [estimated delivery Winter 2022 – Spring 2023]
Option 2 – Large box of ten signed books, plus items ranging from a con badge, to a mini dinosaur skeleton or a print of Sarah’s original art, or other items from Sarah’s garage. USPS only. Continental U.S. only [estimated delivery Sept 2022]
Option 3 – Signed copy of Sarah’s old copyedited or page-proof manuscripts. [estimated delivery Fall 2022] (5 limit.)
Tier 10 – $5000 or more – You will become a major character on one of my books, and I’ll try to reflect your appearance, and chosen personality. [estimated delivery up through July 2023. All indie books, as no others are guaranteed.] [Jokey or offensive names, descriptions and personalities will not be included at author’s discretion. You don’t get to have someone else be an offensive character. (Sorry!) Your actions will be altered to serve the plot if needed.] – Limit 5. (You’ll be informed if this has been claimed, and given a chance for a refund or of a comparable reward.)
Tier Insane – $25000 or more – My husband and I will travel to a city in the continental US and have dinner with you and your plus one. (Continental US only.) – Limit ONE. [Delivery up to July 2023.] (You’ll be informed if this has been claimed, and given a chance for a refund or of a comparable reward.)
ALL TIERS INCLUDE ALL PREVIOUS TIERS EXCEPT FOR THOSE THAT ARE NUMBER LIMITED.
If you want to be thanked/mentioned by a name different from your regular one, please email to: bookpimping at outlook dot com.
DONATE TO ACCORDING TO HOYT TAANSTAFL DAYS (The previous words are a link!)
FOR CHECK DONATIONS:
Sarah A. Hoyt
Goldport Press
304 S Jones Blvd #6771
Las Vegas, NV 89107
THIS IS PINNED TO THE TOP OF THE BLOG. THE DAILY POST APPEARS BELOW THIS.
So, why are there two pictures, today? Well, I’ve been shorting those of us who like to look at guys. Also…. well, I wanted to.
This Picture was created by Sarah A. Hoyt and is released under CC BY
This Picture was created by Sarah A. Hoyt and is released under CC BY
Now, the important part:
What a piece of work is Man. And that goes double with mustard for woman. And when both are involved, hold up.
Going on the assumption that we were created, by an Author or something else with some intelligence up to and including Fate (yes, I know it’s a big assumption for some of you, but grant it to me for the sake of argument, okay?) have you considered perhaps it was so we’re used to dealing with aliens before getting to space?
Okay, so, no: we’re not entirely alien to each other. While I don’t think it’s possible to absolutely know what it’s like to be in the other’s body (the young man in the back can stop sniggering or stay after class to clean the erasers) in the same way that it’s impossible to absolutely tell what it’s like to be someone else (but a little harder when it’s the opposite sex, with different hormones and pre-verbal socializing), it is possible to understand…. how the other half lives. Enough at least to write them and to understand social trends and what the other sex does in certain circumstances.
A lot of what I’m going to say here is going to upset some of you, but bear with me, okay? (Those offended because I’m talking of only two sexes, can take a powder already. A lot of this is historical/evolutionary, and most of history humans didn’t have the excess money and time to be as absurdly neurotic as we’re now. Deal.) I’m not talking about the way I’d like things to be. I’m talking about the way things are. In an ideal world, males and females would function enough alike that having one prevail or having been the ones in a certain field of endeavor from the beginning. This is not an ideal world, and both sexes were shaped both by the biology of Great (or at least moderately good) Apes and by evolutionary pressures that allowed us to select for things which made us the dominant and allegedly sentient (we have our moments) life form on this planet.
Men were shaped not just by hormones necessary for reproduction, but by the hunting band. A guy who tried to play f*ck f*ck games while a mammoth was bearing down on the band might get away with it. He might even push enough buddies in front of the mammoth to eventually become leader. But sooner or later the other guys are going to catch on and put an end to the sorry bastage, after they lose half or more of the band. Now, whether he reproduced is something else.
So male confrontation tends to be obvious and physical, conflicts can be resolved that way, and guys can form friendships after the hierarchy is sorted out. Also there tends to be a hierarchy and a code, either overt or not. There needs to be because you can’t have continuous infighting, if you’re going to get something done.
This was brought from mammoth hunting into civilized pursuits, and physical confrontation averted as much as possible by what I’ll call “being a gentleman” which is something males (and some females) used to be taught, at least by the class that expected their kids to achieve something and get somewhere. A lot of it is encoded in western civ via Judaeo-Christianity. Don’t stab your brother in the back. Don’t covet what’s not yours. Don’t gossip. Etc.
Oh, and the stiff upper lip is there somewhere. In subsistence hunting, war or for that matter business, a guy who dissolves in tears and wants to talk about his feelings probably got left for the mammoth to trample long before he had descendants. I am sick and tired of all the feminists (and movie, story plots) that are all about a man “showing his feelings” and “learning to cry.”
Men do cry and show their feelings, but for men worth a good d*mn, when they get to that point, you’d best be taking cover, or otherwise dealing with something major. (And males feelings are often expressed as anger, because it would help if the last survivor of the band could kill the mammoth before it kills him. Yes, I’m exaggerating but I can see it.)
Women, on the other hand, while having competition the same as anyone else, mostly — historically — were competing by the males. And who the heck can understand males, with their codes and pacts and weird aggression? The most we can hope for — if we’re older, not as pretty, etc — is to trick males into treating us and our kids really well.
So our competition and our methods tend to be those of the seraglio. Words are our weapons (though trust me, we’re also quite capable with sneaky and evil physical aggression come to it, which is why poison is the weapon of female mass murderers. (And children are the most common victims, but that’s something else.)
I don’t actually need to tell you how women function. Go read any of the polygamous families in the Bible and history, and by the end you’ll have a good idea of how women fight. When women have it in for you, no reputation or relationship is safe.
But we’re good also at alliances and social, even those of us who aren’t tend to be better than males who aren’t. Because the women, the gathering group, the village, needed to mind each other’s kids at least a bit for the kids to survive. Or they had to refrain from pushing each other’s kids down the well.
A female truly disastrous at social stuff didn’t leave descendants.
However, we know that the structure of the queen bee and the bullied exists also in our Great Ape relatives. Often females are bullied enough they die. And their kids die shortly after.
Female competition isn’t pretty, and the fact that males think we’re sweet, forgiving and caring (more than them) is one of those instances of blindness between sexes.
Then we get to sexual behavior. Males are — sorry guys — sperm delivery systems with legs. Yes, they’re also more than that. Civilization, big brains
What the heck brought this post about? Well, now we get to it. Yesterday in the comments someone said something or other about the danger of homosexuality getting “above around 8%” and how that made society effeminate.
First of all, homosexuality has always been with humanity and probably will always be, absent some radical “cure.”
Scientists have speculated it exists in all great apes because of the low differentiation of form between male and female, but also because — some scientists speculate — at least for males, they tended to be useful to the tribe. In early primate terms, these were the males you could send to negotiate with the other tribe, who might not get killed outright, because they wouldn’t immediately jump to aggression. In the same way, because not reproducing, they would be the males who could accumulate wealth or whatever, but leave it to their families. (there are several instances of this, historically.) And therefore the gene didn’t go extinct because the band/family/group that had this show up periodically had an advantage.
I don’t know. I know it exists, and also that it’s more or less constant through history. And it’s not anywhere near 8%. More like 2%. So, not enough to endanger population. Yeah, I know, I have read those surveys too. I understand for younger females the proportion is showing up something like 50%. Forget it okay? That’s not homosexuality, that social signaling, and females are always more susceptible to fashion. (In fact, historically, female homosexuals tend to be rarer, but it’s harder to know, since most women are more sly/cunning than most males.)
I very much doubt there has been an increase in homosexuality. The attitude that if you ever experimented/ever had a single vaguely gay experience you’re homosexual forever is responsible for the appearance that it has increased. (Most humans, at least when developing, are susceptible to “one-off” experiences. And there’s at least for males homosexuality of deprivation. See jails and all-boy schools.) The other part of it is, as I said, signaling and maneuvering for advantage in a society that practically gives out prizes for strange sexualities, because it confers immediate victimhood which is the social currency of our time. (This is also why the left is convinced the white race is going extinct. Why, in surveys people identify as minorities at a much greater rate. Coughs in Elizabeth Warren. Those who believe these surveys go under a highly technical term: idiots.)
On the other hand there’s truth in the fact that the public spaces and public life have become dangerously feminized.
Why dangerously?
Because they aren’t designed for females. And no, they can’t be designed for females. (I did say I was going to offend everyone, right?)
The politics and behaviors that make you successful in the seraglio also do make you successful today in politics, business and science, that’s true. Partly because your male rivals are curiously defenseless against them. And so are the females who care about the endeavor and the success of the politics, business and science.
You see, the politics of the seraglio are designed for PERSONAL survival. As long as you, and by extent your kids, survive, everything is peachy. They don’t extend to building the thing, or establishing a better society, or finding out the truth of anything. That’s secondary, and frankly a tool to use against your rivals, to achieve your personal (and kids, though most women today repress that) survival.
Also the politics of the seraglio and women in general (because physically weaker) are far more ruthless than any man. Everything will be sacrificed for the sake personal survival. And personal survival means getting to the top, so you’re the “queen bee.”
Also they have nothing to do with conventional intelligence, btw, only the type of social intelligence that allows a woman to climb to queenbedom. Which explains the success of quite nonintellectual women like Kamala Harris. And btw she provides us with the best example of how these behaviors allow women to defeat males in competition. In the debates with Biden, who had been a sort of mentor and helper to her, she went for the jugular in public, accusing him of supporting segregation. It was the only time I ever felt sorry for the old pedophile. He looked utterly stunned and wounded, because Kamala had just violated an almost instinctive code of males “don’t betray the mentor.” But women don’t have that code, and so women get the advantage over men. This scene is repeated in corporate life everyday.
The problem again, is that ability in women has nothing at all to do with the ability to do the job or even to start doing the job. And also that women instinctively pay very little attention. It’s all group dynamics.
This is why, in general, when a place/institution gets taken over by the left which, male or female, by socialization tends to female behaviors, it collapses. Fast or slow, it collapses. The cooks are all stabbing each other and clambering over each other, and no one is minding the soup.
Now, does this mean that women can’t be in business, science and politics without destroying everything?
Oh, h*ll no. Women can contribute and be brilliant, provided their socialization has included a heavy dose of “be a gentleman when in business.” Explicit training. (Because even if it’s almost instinctive for males to a certain point, it certainly isn’t for us.) Explicit rules on fair play.
The problem of course is that feminism has not only stopped that training, but penalizes any teachers or institutions telling women they have to behave in public life. This is you know, calling them “bossy” and is mean, evil bad. Also that the stereotype that has been pushed as a “strong female” is in fact “queen be on wheels” and brings out the worst possible attitudes in females. (And the males that have to survive in the midst of these females.)
Also, forgive me, but the American culture is messed in the head when it comes to daughters. Yes, I get it, okay. In a pioneer society women are incredibly valuable and must be protected at all costs. And that’s our roots. But every single American man sees his daughter as his “little princess” who can do no wrong. (Okay, other western cultures too, but America is most like that.) (It will tell you something about early-Sarah that my dad never called me a princess. His endearing term for me was “Indian.” (feather, not dot. Different word in Portuguese) mostly I think because like most boys I was noise with dirt on it and perpetually up to some kind of adventure involving getting in trouble. And calling your daughter your “little savage” would have raised eyebrows, no matter how nicely said.)
Girls raised to feel they can do no wrong are more likely to indulge their deepest instincts, which don’t play well in groups that are supposed to do anything else at all.
If we really want women to succeed in business, we are doing very wrongly by them by not teaching them to function in public life as though they were males, who mostly care about the “thing to be accomplished.” And not being the queen bee.
At the same time, and bizarrely (or not, since we’ve been infected with the Marxist mind-virus which destroys civilizations) we’re also indulging the worst, pre-civilization instincts of male.
The male instinct is to “f*ck anything.” Females care about surviving and having the kids survive, which tends to limit our instinctive sexual predation. We usually sleep with males we think can protect the children. (Which, yes, is why billionaires have an easier time getting laid, no matter how gross they look.)
Males on the other hand care about passing their genes on (at the base. Instinctively.) This means sleeping with as many partners as possible, so everyone in the future is descended from you. (Think Genghis Khan.) This used to baffle females, and still baffles me somewhat. I can appreciate male beauty and even imagine kissing a beautiful guy (well, my husband is very good looking) but unless I have some kind of relationship, I don’t REALLY want to kiss a stranger.
But male sexuality has been overlaid on society as the default. The idea that you should sleep with everyone to be “healthy” is a bizarre bit of Freudian nonsense and was pushed on me (unsuccessfully, because I’m Odd) 55 years ago, when I started talking to people about relationships. It’s pushed even harder now. And it breaks society, females, and families.
Look, just like men created civilization by working in groups to “do the thing” females civilized and domesticated men to bond to one woman and look after her and her kids.
The opposite isn’t good for anyone or any family. Particularly when you’re also penalizing guys for being guys.
A lot of the #metoo nonsense was “He looked at me funny.” Look, the poor dears can’t help it. Even the best of them, who would never do anything to a non-consenting female are still males, with all the instincts thereof. They are visual, and they appreciate…. most female forms. (What Heinlein said about there being no homely women, some simply more pretty than the others, applies to most males.) They are going to look. Stop busting their chops about that while doing the crazy stuff that leads to the rest of #meto: using your female bod to get ahead.
Yes, most males will take advantage of that, given a chance. Yes, it’s toxic. Yes, some women had no choice, if they wanted to succeed.
But what you have to ask yourself is how did we get to this point, where most women are willing to trade on sex and aren’t even vaguely ashamed of it.
Well, since we taught women that having sex indiscriminately is what will make them as successful as men. Yes, men are going to take advantage of that, at least the bad ones. (The good ones will just get run over and marginalized.) And bad women are going to use sex as a weapon, because …. they always have.
It’s up to society to say that’s not all right, but if it’s not all right for men to take advantage of it, it’s also not okay for women to go along with it, or in most cases offer it (let’s be honest.)
For some reason, the left really wants to force both sexes to act like the worst examples of the other sex. To a great extent, they’re succeeding.
This has absolutely nothing to do with homosexuality. Some of the worst mean girls I’ve dealt with in my career were heterosexual males, acting like females in the seraglio. And some of the worst predatory males are — looks at Kamala Harris — sexually speaking toxically masculine.
This is what is unmaking society, and what we have to stop. And frankly it’s a lot harder than pushing gay people back in the closet.
Society-wide, they’re an almost irrelevant minority. How they behave (and remember most of them aren’t the activists) can be annoying, but it is not what’s unmaking civilization.
What’s unmaking civilization is forcing men into women roles, women into men roles, and demanding that everyone rely on the government to keep the inevitable train wrecks from happening.
That is a really huge problem and one which all of us have to fix.
And perhaps I’m being too hard on the Marxists — yes, it is possible — because part of this might be humanity meeting industrialization (which minimizes the need for physical force) and contraception, both of which opened doors previously closed to women.
But humans are the self-taming species. Which means self-civilizing. And is time to do it again:
Business and science and public life are enterprises that come about to achieve something other than personal safety and power. Therefore women venturing into it should go carefully, and behave like gentlemen. And so should men (Most of them at this point are behaving like mean girls.) Personal loyalty and the unspoken code matter.
And sex is powerful medicine. It not only creates the next generation, but it builds strong bonds that, when broken, rip families and societies apart. I don’t care who you sleep with, or what number. I do care that you be loyal to them, establish rules of the relationship, and keep your contracts and your promises. No, it’s not natural to behave like dogs in heat, whether you’re male or female. You’re a human being. Keep your brain on when the gonads come calling. Freud is dead, and society doesn’t feel so good itself. A little repression and sublimation in the right place is what communal hunts and spaceship launchings are made of.
And yeah, it’s got so bad, it’s going to be a hard slog getting out of this hole. Here, stop digging, and let’s see if we can make a ladder out of these shovels.
The results are in. Post cute bats, get around $3k. Post hedgehogs, get $300. You guys are batty and have brought this on yourselves! ;)
(Or I want an excuse. It’s one or the other.)
ON THE SERIOUS SIDE, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everyone who donated!
I love you guys.
*The total is probably at least somewhat higher (maybe all the way up if some billionaire donated ) because we’ve been informed there are several envelopes in the mailbox. We’ll try to get them before the end of this, but if not, I’ll report afterwards.
I have worked for …. 15? 16 years at this blog, providing new content ALMOST every day (A bit less through the crazy move, though that was a lesson in what not to do, I guess) for…. very little. Even after you guys got me to put up a donation button, the most I ever got in a year was 4k, and lately it’s been around 2k, counting the commission from Amazon.
Now, I know times are tough (here too) but since the reason I started the blog didn’t work out, (the intersection between those who read my fiction and those who read my blog is sliver-thin) and since I’ve put my family through contortions, on weekends and vacations and all because “I have to put up a post.” I figured I owed it to them, more than to myself, to get something back for my effort.
Also, I’m trying to do too much in too little time.
I’m trying to get a fund that will allow me to hire (mostly friends) to do some of it for me, so I can both write more and make more money, which in turn will (maybe) allow me to get through what’s staring us in the face. (And it ain’t pretty.)
Tier 1– $10 or more – A shout out on my blog, all with all other the supporters, by name, in one massive “Thank you” post. [Jokey or offensive names will not be included at author’s discretion.]
Tier 2– $25 or more – Email jpg of certificate with funny fish saying “I Was Carped at according to hoyt.com” and a Certificate of being a member of Hoyt’s Huns, cultural wars sapper battalion, in good standing.
Tier 3– $60 or more – Exclusive ebook collection of USAian SHORT stories. (Including a new, original, never published story.) Estimated delivery August 2023
Tier 4– $100 or more – Your name will appear in a mass death/other mass event/list in one of Sarah’s books. [estimated delivery up through July 2023. All indie books, as no others are guaranteed.]
Tier 5– $150 or more – A sound file of Sarah saying “Moose and Squirrel.”
Tier 6 – $250 or more – Will send a signed copy of trade paperback Gentleman takes a chance and one large postcard with book covers, also signed. (USPS- continental US only. All others, let’s talk.) [estimated delivery Sept 2022]
Tier 7 – $350 or more – Three signed books (of our choice), plus two extra items from “Sarah’s Garage”, (also of our choice) which might very well be a small rubber fish. (You’ve been warned.) USPS only. Continental U.S. only [estimated delivery Sept 2022]
Tier 8 – $500 or more – Personalized tuckerization. You will become your very own zany character, with at least a line or two of dialogue, and physical description. Physical safety and life of character not guaranteed. If you perish, it will NOT (repeat not) be in a mass death event or a list of other kinds. [estimated delivery up through July 2023. All indie books, as no others are guaranteed.] [Jokey or offensive names, descriptions and personalities will not be included at author’s discretion.]
Tier 9 – $1000 or more – A CHOICE OF:
Option 1 -Will read the first 10 pages and outline of your novel and provide timely critique, with the understanding that I am not infallible. (A skype, zoom or other video call to discuss the work for an hour or so.) [estimated delivery Winter 2022 – Spring 2023]
Option 2 – Large box of ten signed books, plus items ranging from a con badge, to a mini dinosaur skeleton or a print of Sarah’s original art, or other items from Sarah’s garage. USPS only. Continental U.S. only [estimated delivery Sept 2022]
Option 3 – Signed copy of Sarah’s old copyedited or page-proof manuscripts. [estimated delivery Fall 2022] (5 limit.)
Tier 10 – $5000 or more – You will become a major character on one of my books, and I’ll try to reflect your appearance, and chosen personality. [estimated delivery up through July 2023. All indie books, as no others are guaranteed.] [Jokey or offensive names, descriptions and personalities will not be included at author’s discretion. You don’t get to have someone else be an offensive character. (Sorry!) Your actions will be altered to serve the plot if needed.] – Limit 5. (You’ll be informed if this has been claimed, and given a chance for a refund or of a comparable reward.)
Tier Insane – $25000 or more – My husband and I will travel to a city in the continental US and have dinner with you and your plus one. (Continental US only.) – Limit ONE. [Delivery up to July 2023.] (You’ll be informed if this has been claimed, and given a chance for a refund or of a comparable reward.)
ALL TIERS INCLUDE ALL PREVIOUS TIERS EXCEPT FOR THOSE THAT ARE NUMBER LIMITED.
If you want to be thanked/mentioned by a name different from your regular one, please email to: bookpimping at outlook dot com.
DONATE TO ACCORDING TO HOYT TAANSTAFL DAYS (The previous words are a link!)
FOR CHECK DONATIONS:
Sarah A. Hoyt
Goldport Press
304 S Jones Blvd #6771
Las Vegas, NV 89107
THIS IS PINNED TO THE TOP OF THE BLOG. THE DAILY POST APPEARS BELOW THIS.
This Picture was created by Sarah A. Hoyt and is released under CC BY
Did you ask for this? I don’t know, but I LOVE YOU SOOOOO MUCH.
You’re as adorable as this little guy.
I’d wiggle my ears for you if I could.
See you tomorrow, for a batty update!
Popular entertainment may be derpier than it seemed, when looked upon from the future.
So, I have a confession to make: when I first came to the States, I spent a lot of time watching sitcoms. Mostly because they provide a counterfeit of everyday life in the US and I was curious about that (and didn’t fully — though I suspected — realize it wasn’t a good counterfeit.) Partly because they’re brain candy I could get Dan to sit in front of in the evening, and we could cuddle. Look, this was our first five years of marriage. After that we gave up TV for lent and lent lasted 15 years. (The truth is I was usually reading while “watching” so not much has changed.)
One of our regular ones was family ties, even though the politics annoyed me, even back then (both sets because the “conservative” son was a caricature. As are all of these.) In fact part of the fun was heckling the screen, and now I think back, it was probably the beginning of Dan’s political conversion. (Not that he was ever left, but you could say when I married him he was a RINO, mostly through not paying a lot of attention to politics.)
Anyway, I always knew the show was bizarrely political and frankly delusional, but now, when we find ourselves with one of the tv services with an entire channel devoted to family ties, we sometimes have it on in the background while Dan is reading, and I’m doing something or other on the computer in the evening. Mostly honestly, so we can go “wow, we wore that stuff, didn’t we? Oh, remember when no one had cell phones?” That type of thing.
We don’t pay close attention, because when we do I tend to start screaming, and Dan remembers all too clearly the 2012 presidential campaign and the shoe that almost broke the TV. (Not that I’d get that worked up over an old sitcom, though I wish they’d have a WKRP in Cincinnati channel.)
However here’s the thing: I remember Family Ties as being political particularly around the elections, but I didn’t remember HOW political it was, nor how ridiculously clumsy.
We’re used to thinking of message writing now as being over the top, and the writing employed in those not very good, assuming the conclusion, instead of having the reader live the message.
After the episode we watched (me with dropped mouth and occasional cackles not at the points the writers’ expected) yesterday, I wonder if it was always that bad, and we just didn’t notice because everything was that bad. We were receiving all our fiction all our tv and all our movies from one side, so shows like Family Ties, which assume that every decent caring person is of course a leftist loon seemed middle of the road.
In other words, I wonder if entertainment has gotten that much worse and more politicized (other than the fact that the left has dived full throttle into clown world, but even that I’m not sure is new) or if we’re noticing more because we in fact have other alternatives.
(Kind of like cancel culture was always around. Even back in the eighties I knew that whispers of my being “right wing” would mean I’d never work in writing. (Okay, whichever company Jim Baen worked at at the time excepted, but not too strongly, because the distributors were still left.) I think a lot of other people, including in places you wouldn’t think of, had the same secret knowledge. You just couldn’t talk about it aloud, because no one believed you. Or everyone pretended not to. Now the masks are off. And therefore, to the unaware, things seem much worse, but its being public actually makes it better.)
So, yesterday it was the Equal Rights Amendment episode probably done as the deadline for ratification was closing.
I had a very vague memory of what it was — look it up. I couldn’t find a source that really explained why it was a bad idea, other than the fact that women already have equal rights under the law (And frankly I could write why it’s a bad idea, but we’ll just get lost in the weeds) — and quickly looked it up, and then my jaw dropped as I watched the craziness and incompetent story telling.
The conceit is that Alex — conservative son — is trying to date the hot high school feminist (even in the eighties, this was very much a fiction. At least when it came to activism.) So he pretends to be a supporter of ERA which she’s pushing for.
After myriad farcical developments, they go to a political action meeting. In which things that concern the feminists of today terribly, like the fact that women “don’t have equal pay” (a complete lie) are brought up. (One painfully huge canard is that a college educated woman back then made less than a blue collar guy. Uh uh. I’ll give you a secretary made less than say an undersea welder, but that’s a highly specialized profession requiring training and visual acuity, not your average blue collar profession.) I was highly amused at hearing the injustice that women aren’t paid by domestic labor brought up. This amuses me because old communists are still stuck on it. This is because communists don’t understand economics and never will. Women are paid for domestic labor when they do it for pay and for other people to whom it is a value to have the women do it. When they do it in their own houses, and for their own families, they’re paid too in a way. It’s a savings not to pay someone else to do it. It’s also a savings (in health, mental and physical, if nothing else) not to live in filth and refuse. If women — and I suppose men — are going to be paid for improving their own surroundings, who is going to do it? who has enough of an interest in it to pay for it? The government? So, what you’re proposing is that the government confiscate money from taxpayers, regardless of gender, and then give it back to taxpayers in return for performing every day tasks adults do anyway. How would this be administered? “Honey, the sink inspector is here! He’ll give you a shiny dollar if the sink is clean!” The entire thing is farcical.
BUT more farcical of all is the fact that the amendment wouldn’t in fact do any of that. The amendment was a bit of a dead letter, guaranteeing women equal treatment under the law. Which, last I checked they’re allowed as citizens of the United States. So at best the amendment was unneeded. At worst it was handing the government another mallet to beat us with by bringing it where it didn’t belong. Which is why it was opposed mostly by women who realized it could be brought to literally erase the privileges of womanhood. What privileges, you ask: well, things like not being drafted. Or getting maternity leave, instead of having to drop the kid on the factory floor. Or having a dedicated bathroom, and dedicated sports teams.
The amendment shouldn’t have endangered those, but we’ve seen what lawyers do to things, and well, equal under the law is equal under the law. You want to be equal, right, comrade? Procrustes never sleeps.
But none of this is ever mentioned in the episode. Instead you get fairytales about women being paid for folding laundry and going grocery shopping.
At the political action meeting, the conservatives who oppose the amendment are of course caricatures, shouting about women going back into the kitchen. Even the supposedly activist speaker against, is this grandmotherly woman who is an obvious strawman to be knocked down, and mutters something about how women shouldn’t want to be equal to men, or some such rot.
So, of course, the unwashed opponents, who want women to just shut up (by that point I was on their side, with respect to the women characters in the episode) start throwing things, and Alex (still intent on the score, as a teen boy should be) defends the feminist speaker.
And then suddenly all the brave feminists are in jail. Not the people who threw things, mind you, but the brave and oh, so leftist speakers.
And I’m sitting there blinking. “They’re in jail for what? For being complete twats? I wish that were a crime.”
Dan was laughing his head off at my commentary. But seriously. What sense does that make, other than leftists cosplaying victimhood. “America is evil and throws women who want to be paid for doing the dishes into jail. Oh, woe!”
This is never explained, of course. It is all dissolved into Alex’s need to come clean, so he’s not deceiving this woman. In the end, he confesses and she leaves and he says he’s lost a “really good woman, committed and smart.” And I’m going “She should be committed. And smart as compared to what sack of rocks.”
This isn’t the first episode that had this effect. (Don’t get me started on when the parents talk about their activist past. Don’t.) It was however the most egregious, both in being about a political theme, and in not bothering to actually tell a story that supported their point, possibly because in their addled Marxist minds, “All right thinking people must agree with us. We just need to encourage them.”
Their story telling was always broken, apparently. It’s part of their broken logic and not understanding how the world works. It’s just more obvious today, because they’re not even pretending, and because we have alternatives.
Oh, as a final funny: when I was looking up the amendment, I came across the fact Virginia ratified it (50 years after the deadline expired!) because well, you know, women need equal rights, to prevent #metoo. Because, apparently, standing up against unwanted and unethical behavior from men requires a constitutional amendment saying you’re equal.
They’re really convinced that “Let it be written, let it be done” is a thing and words are magic, aren’t they.
There will always be bad men. There will always be bad women. Some of their badness will be sexual. Defending yourself against that doesn’t require the federal government. I could defend myself against that type of behavior at 12 by kicking, slapping, punching, and using a very long hat pin that grandma had given me.
I can’t even begin to understand people who want the government to pay them for shining their sink and come tut tut the bully who just tried to feel them up.
Their headlong flight from adult responsibility brought us here. And things are going to get very ugly before they can be brought to a semblance of reality.
But hey, it’s now crystal clear they were always that stupid. We just couldn’t see it, because we had no means of communicating, were isolated and thought we were alone.
In some ways, for all its worries, today is better than yesterday.
May the trend continue.
According To Hoyt 