Category: politics

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 A surprising note of sanity

I read this op-ed by a conservative politician about Harvard, and I very much appreciate it. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/12/08/harvard-eric-holcomb-indiana-governor/

The way some media personalities talk about college campuses is absurd and fear-mongering, and I don’t appreciate it. I didn’t appreciate it in 2005 or so, when my own university was in the cross-hairs of the national conservative media apparatus, either. 

There needs to be more recognition of nuance in the world. Harvard is not a “woke lions’ den,” as this guy puts it. We can and should continue to disagree on some subjects – nobody is advocating for groupthink! But the disagreements need to be based in reality and our shared humanity, and in a non-strawman understanding of what the other person thinks. (And I almost wrote “the other side,” but I also think it’s important to remember that these are *people* we are disagreeing with.) 

This paragraph about his political strategy really stood out to me: 


We approved a 1,500 percent increase in public health spending, expecting that a novel set of solutions — designed and driven by people who trust each other at the community level — will better reduce overall spending on health care. It costs less to keep people healthy than to intervene when they’re sick.

This is the way. And it’s heartening to see a Republican finally recognize that pre-emptive health care spending can save money AND lead to better lives for Americans in the long run. The myopic “does this benefit businesses in the next spending quarter?” attitude needs to go. 

Contrary to my side’s worst fears, I found students from a wide range of circumstances. Harvard’s freshmen hail from all 50 states; one in five is a first-generation college student; half pay no tuition thanks to Harvard’s endowment; and 16 are military veterans.

However, this part made me laugh. Sir, your “side” thinks that level of diversity is a bad thing. It is their worst fears. (And they can’t keep the story straight about whether my “side” is Rich Woke Elitists or Greedy Resource-Hogging Poors, either.) So…clearly, he’s got some beams in his eyes that he still needs to work on. But overall, I applaud his spirit and attitude here. And this paragraph just goes to show, once more, the weakness of looking at this as “sides” rather than individuals. 

I’m glad he gave Harvard a chance. And I’m glad to see sanity in this op-ed from someone I disagree with on most issues; and I’m glad to see that I agree with him on at least one issue.

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It is okay to have low ambitions.

I agree STRONGLY with this Tumblr post. People should be ABLE to work at the grocery store and make enough to support a family. That is how a functional society works. Grocery store workers (and other people in the service sector) are absolutely essential members of our society, and should not be disrespected and told that their jobs are only suitable for children.

Screenshot of a Tumblr post discussing societal expectations regarding job ambition and income, featuring comments about working at Taco Bell and personal definitions of success.
A reflection on the value of low-ambition jobs in society, emphasizing the importance of fair wages for essential work.

(U) I used an AI assistant to generate alt text and a caption there. It did a good job. Interesting.

I used Google Drive’s Optical Character Recognition to OCR the text, so here’s that, too:

User “youthincare”:

people should be allowed to have low ambition, and also be able to feed a family on the salary of a cashier at a convenience store.

User “kidsomeday”:

My very first job was at Taco Bell, and most of us working there were horrible young adults with horrible young adult problems, but one of my coworkers was a woman in (I think) her 50s.

And us horrid young adults would ask her why she still worked at Taco Bell, because it was starter job and who would want to stay there forever? Her response?

“I make enough money to make sure I always have roses in my bedroom.”

This answer changed me as a person. It changed the way I thought about what makes someone successful, and made me step back and realize that I was so caught up in what I thought success and

happiness should mean that I didn’t know what I wanted them to mean.

Which is to say that sometimes ambition is making enough money to keep fresh roses in your bedroom, and you should be able to do that working at Taco Bell.

I like that.

And yes, low ambition means this person will never have a 7-bedroom house. That is OKAY. It is okay that not everyone will always be able to have the nicest and biggest things. But people should be able to have basic things on a basic salary: an apartment, health care, enough food to eat, access to information and education. It is a problem when people cannot have those things.

(And I know nobody argues with me anymore now that I’ve moved to this blog instead of Facebook; but if you want to go toe to toe on “frivolous” expenses, bring a real life budget and let’s dissect.)

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Incrementalism

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine described herself as “incrementalist.” I think that’s a very good word.

Today, I saw this skeet. I’m going to copy the text here in case it gets deleted.

The way I’ve heard it explained is that there are people who are
1) actively against you
2) passively against you
3) don’t care
4) passively support you
5) actively support you

You’ll never get from 1 to 5 in one jump, so you want to move each person 1 notch more supportive. 1→2, 3→4, 4→5, etc

And that’s a very good explanation of how I view political discussions.

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Omelas

Many years ago (high school?), I read “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas,” by Ursula K. LeGuin.

I have been appreciating (perhaps “enjoying” is the wrong word) the recent short stories that build on this concept.

Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid In the Omelas Hole


by Isabel J. Kim

https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kim_02_24/

The Ones Who Stay and Fight

by N.K. Jemisin

https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-ones-who-stay-and-fight/

They are worthy reads.

I think of Omelas as a sort of koan; I think this is because I cannot bear the responsibility of what it would mean to accept the reality of the world we live in. I can try to reduce my dependency on items manufactured with slave labor, my need for things that objectively make the world a worse place; but I don’t know if I can rid myself of all that entirely.

I am not a follower of Christ. I have not sold all my possessions to take up my cross and follow him. I chose a different path, many years ago. Around the same time as I read Omelas, in fact.

But I can still try to get as close as I can to that ideal, in reasonable small incremental steps.

It’s not enough. But it’s not nothing, either.

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Ghazban Ogress

I had never heard this story before today. This is a real bummer from Magic’s history. I hope they can make an apology.

The Story of Ghazban Ogress
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Reposting someone else’s thoughts on Skrmetti today

My friend shared this (itself a copy of another post), and I wanted to signal-boost it, because I think it’s important.


Skrmetti just came down and obviously it didn’t go our way, but listen to me. Listen.

I am not a parent but I have parents in my life and one thing I have learned from them is that young people will take their cue from you on how freaked out to be about things. If a young person falls down the best response is not to go “oh no oh my god you’re hurt,” because then they go “oh no oh my god I’m hurt” and it makes everything worse — the best response is to go “sick wipeout dude totally tubular” and high five them.

And the non-profit industrial complex invariably describes gender-affirming care for young people as “life-saving” because the subtext is “if trans young people can’t get puberty blockers they WILL kill themselves.”

Not having access to gender affirming care before puberty is not a death sentence BUT if we all uncritically repeat the fear that it is, the young people will take their cue from us on how freaked out to be, and they will believe that all they can do in response to Skrmetti is die.

It is really important right now that we make sure our trans young people hear other stories than that. They hear “there is a future for you” and “there is community for you” and “you don’t have to pass to be loved” and “not having access to gender affirming care before puberty IS NOT A DEATH SENTENCE.”

That we show them that we are trans adults and we almost invariably didn’t have gender affirming care before puberty and we are loved and beautiful and happy. The story of trans joy and trans beloved community NEEDS to be louder than the story of trans suicidality today.

Our kids are depending on us to tell them the story they need to hear. Don’t let your panic override that responsibility.

There is a future for you. Your Elders survived this. Yes, it will suck more this way. But: this, too, shall pass; even if it does so like a motherfucking kidney stone.

Or, for the Cosmere fans in the audience: You will be warm again.

This Blue sky post may be the source:

https://bsky.app/profile/andyeyeballs.bsky.social/post/3lrvbrowlds2z

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Reddit on the markets today

I just wanted to highlight this comment that I saw on Reddit this morning.


https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/s/F8ntmtttGp

There are two things that could ultimately happen with the S&P 500.

1. It could stabilize and continue to increase over time as it’s done for the last 68 years.

2. It could crash, along with the US economy, and never recover.

It’s important to note that if #2 happens, you and I will have far more things to worry about than the value of our retirement as it indicates the total collapse of the US economy (S&P 500 represents 80% of US market cap). In that case, it wouldn’t matter if your money were in the market or in a box in the backyard, it would be similarly worthless.

So, given that there is nothing you can do to protect the value of your money in the event of #2, you might as well continue to invest believing that #1 is much more likely (cause it is).

Don’t panic. Don’t sell your stock. Hunker down and wait it out.

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The menswear guy explains tariffs

This Bluesky thread was really excellent.

Hello! The US housing market has gotten very expensive, but I still dream of one day owning a home in a walkable neighborhood. In that spirit, I'm offering my consulting services. If you support the Trump tariffs, I can help you find US suppliers. Let me show you some examples. 🧵

— derek guy (@dieworkwear.bsky.social) 2025-04-05T02:44:35.545Z

I wear a lot of Actually Rather Expensive clothing, that I bought ten years ago, because I do try to buy and wear American…when I can.

But again: it’s expensive.

We can’t “just” move manufacturing here. There is no “just.”