Well, it’s revolution time in America again! What took it so long?
Around the nation, the Black Lives Matter movement has inflamed the nation and swept around the Earth. While I don’t hold out hope that much permanent will be gained, let me go on the record as saying I support it 100%, and Civil Rights for anyone, anywhere, at any time. Pictured in the banner: Graffiti in the Seattle “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone,” summing up the national attitude right now.
But in the meanwhile, I’m scrambling to select topics in my usual venues that are both on-point for the clients’ interests and relevant to today’s headlines. For instance, did you know that geek culture was founded on Civil Rights activism? From Star Trek to The Munsters to Night of the Living Dead, promotion of equal rights for all races, genders, beliefs, and lifestyles has been at the root of our most cherished institutions of sci-fi and fantasy fiction.
UPDATE: Actor Tim Russ gives his thoughts on what makes Star Trek tick, points out exactly the same parts I do without saying the phrase “Civil Rights.”
Geek Culture is at least 50% Civil Rights lessons
Science fiction, you see, is a safe way to teach your Aesop about Civil Rights, while dodging around censors and presenting your message in a form that is irrefutable to the opposition. When bigots protest your diverse cast, you can repaint it into Klingons, Elves, Martians, and Mermaids, and then the bigots won’t notice because – this is the important part – BIGOTS ARE STUPID. Case in point: Fantastic Planet, a classic sci-fi animation which delivers a mighty Civil Rights sermon which nobody mentions because they’re too busy raving about “dude, the trippy colors!”
Getting back to that Seattle Autonomous Zone: It’s been fun watching this develop, because this is exactly the kind of attempts to establish enclave communes we watched 50 years ago. Literally no less than the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) has come out endorsing the Seattle CHAZ, which is just about the most stunning blast from the past you could get. In contemplating the clash between Capitalism as practiced by the United States (AKA Fascism without running the trains on time) and the other far extreme of Abbie-Hoffman style Yippies taking over a park in Washington, I couldn’t think of a better game series to review than AdVenture Capitalist and AdVenture Communist, two idle tycoon mobile games which barely know what they’re talking about but are the closest we have to an analysis.
So that’s three in a row for Geeky Domain addressing our current news through the lens of geek culture. I don’t mean to toot my horn (who am I kidding, I started this whole blog just for that), but that was some nimble blogging there.
Protest if you must; please don’t loot
Mind you, last month – May 15th to be precise – I already decreed America in a state of zombie apocalypse, thanks to a viral pandemic punctuated by skirmishes at retail outlets from entitled zombies who don’t want to help stop the contamination. I include multiple videos there of confrontations with clerks.
That was ten whole days before the death of George Floyd. Three weeks ago at this writing. And I was talking about people fighting in the streets then! Boy howdy, what a sweet summer child I was, eh? Amid the massive wave of riots – still ongoing – I was over at my cannabis culture gig and decided to tally all the cannabis dispensaries hit by looters, only to discover that you can’t count them all. Worse yet, at least a couple appear to be straight knock-off burglaries, deliberately using the fog of civil unrest to do coordinated smash-and-grabs.
I beseech everyone, stop using a Civil Rights protest for your own greedy benefit, and second, have some mercy on the cannabis industry already! The right to enjoy cannabis freely and use it for much-needed medical treatment is an important factor in the liberal world you all want to live in. We have fought long and hard to get this far, and to the point, cannabis prohibition is a reason a lot of those black lives are going to jail in the first place. I know that I can’t count on reason prevailing during the current panicky bedlam, but I’ve got to try.
A lesson in White Privilege
What can I contribute to the discussion? Counters to Black Lives Matter respond with “but what about ALL lives?” Yes, all lives matter, of course, dummy! But it’s the black lives that get mowed down, as if they did not matter. Let me show you a great example of White Privilege which you all forgot about already:
Operation Gridlock was an April 15th, 2020, protest against COVID-19 lockdown measures. Before we were protesting for Civil Rights like it was 1965 all over again, a bunch of armed rednecks in Michigan stormed the state capitol to complain because, wah, they couldn’t get their hair done.
See this man?
He is at that protest, and he is getting in the cops face yelling at them all nasty and feral. Notice anything different? He is not getting teargassed, nobody is firing rubber bullets at him, and nobody is kneeling on his neck. The cops just calmly stand at attention and take it. The nasty yelling hick has no fear for his safety. That is White Privilege.
See these guys? The National Guard is not being called out on these guys. They are storming the capitol ARMED WITH DEADLY WEAPONS which they are brandishing in open public, and they lived through the day without a scratch on them. That is White Privilege.
This secure, clueless ninny is free to stand on top of his car and wave his idiot banner around all day. Nobody is tazing him, firing rubber bullets at him, or even bothering him politely to come down. Stand there proudly making a fool of yourself, middle-class Republican guy who has never had to sweat a day in your life. You’ve “earned” it, thanks to White Privilege!
If you’re black, you can’t even fall asleep in your own car at a Wendy’s drive-through. That’s the lesson of Rayshard Brooks, in Atlanta, Georgia, just days ago. Cops came for him and there was a tussle and he got shot. Granted, he was intoxicated and gave the cops a fight, but they shot him and he’s dead now. Tell me with a straight face that this would have happened to a white guy? But meanwhile this snowflake has a pressing problem she would like us all to be aware of, and nobody is even pointing out how ridiculous it is to protest about a freaking HAIRCUT. That is White Privilege.
What song sums up the first half of 2020 best? I’ll vie for this one until we get a better suggestion:
