039 A - We seem to be in a lot of trouble

We seem to be in a lot of trouble. Not so much me personally, but like all of us. But also me personally, because like all of us, I've lost my fucking mind.

I had this reverie where I was going to re-monetize this newsletter by borrowing a page from the privatization of the commons:

Starting in December, Friday posts will be “bonus” posts be for paid subscribers. Everyone who is currently on to the email list (aka “free” subscription) will be upgraded to a free one-year “paid” subscription as will anyone that joins the email list before December 1, 2020.

Holy shit. I’m not doing that, but goddam that I can even think it freaks me out. Incentivize more people to pile in before we close off access and buy off the original folks via giveaways and grandfather clauses — usually with a veneer of utopianism via technology and investment which really just masks individualistic greed and cultural suicide brought about by twenty years of preceding austerity.

Normal came back so hard that I have whiplash. But also, normal didn’t come back even a little bit. Power is strong enough to contain bitching, not actual issues. So on one level there is no pandemic, on the other we’re all going to get it.

I am sitting in the back seat of the car. I tell my dad, “There’s a knife wielding maniac back here”.

“Shut up, I’m driving”

“But no really!”

He reaches back and smacks my leg, “And there’s more when we get home if you don’t shut the fuck up.”

I am obedient. I am silent. I am dead. When the maniac kills him too, he’s going to be so mad. That’s gonna be so funny.

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Sofa Flower Moon - Ambient soundscapes

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