My political views have been more or less the same for years, although I do have to say that the fact that so many conservatives seem to now openly wish for genocide has gotten me to reconsider many things…
The big change is that, in what has literally become a meme with how often it’s come up, Conservatives are now ‘Mask off’/‘Saying the quiet part out loud’/etc. They’ve always felt these things, they just didn’t say them because we’d slap them back down. Over time they managed to make it more and more acceptable to shove countries to the right, until people woke up and went “wait a second, why the fuck am I talking about the testosterone count of a boxer when we have a few decades until climate change kills most of us?” Capitalists via Conservatives have made this happen, and a lot of the ‘centre-left’ parties around the world moved to the centre, while right wing parties went more right wing. Neo-Liberalism let fascism fester, and then we got Donald Fucking Trump in the most powerful position on the planet, and Putin is fucking invading countries, Israel is literally committing genocide, and we’re going “wait a second, what the fuck happened?” And now, you’re seeing a huge upswing in left and ‘far left’ numbers, because we’ve done this dance before, and we know the outcomes, especially women.
Yeah, a self-described “moderate” conservative acquaintance recently told me that the world would be a better place if all of us LGBT+ folks just stopped existing.
My kids have been telling me they have some ‘enlightened centrist’ friends who are currently battling with their own right-wing thoughts. They have lots of friends who are queer, and at least two trans friends, but they keep trying to justify their plan to vote Conservative. They’re desperate for it to be okay, because that’s what the right promises, ‘vote us and everything gets better, once we deal with (whatever scapegoat).’ But then they hear that their friends are the scapegoats, and they can’t fully connect it. So they will literally waffle between full on Conservative, and pretty left-wing.
Sadly, the more they’re online the more they go Conservative, but when they’re outside and talk to people, they are clearly battling away those thoughts.
The big change is that, in what has literally become a meme with how often it’s come up, Conservatives are now ‘Mask off’/‘Saying the quiet part out loud’/etc. They’ve always felt these things, they just didn’t say them because we’d slap them back down
I guess I was just holding out hope that more of them would turn out to be, well, something other than fascists. Not that I expected something other than, well… what we’re seeing right now.
And now, you’re seeing a huge upswing in left and ‘far left’ numbers, because we’ve done this dance before, and we know the outcomes, especially women.
Ain’t this the fucking truth. I’m no spring chicken so I’ve Seen Shit™ over the years, and growing up in a conservative area as a neurospicy queer femme enby (yay intersectionality bingo) wasn’t exactly what I’d call a picnic – any deviation from accepted norms meant violence. Lots of violence. Being nonbinary wasn’t even an option I was aware of until the past decade or so, which conservatives naturally take to mean that I just started “pretending” I’m now something else than my assigned gender instead of having always been this way and only now even having the terms to describe myself.
The past 15 – 20 years did make me feel like maybe shit actually can get better and we wouldn’t have to do this fucking dance anymore, but nooooooo.
I guess I was just holding out hope that more of them would turn out to be, well, something other than fascists. Not that I expected something other than, well… what we’re seeing right now.
Well we have good news and bad news. The bad news is it’s going to get a bit worse. The good news is it will then get much better. Conservatism is at a point where it needs to either completely take over, fuck everything up, and have it all come crashing down, or people will realise that’s what is coming, and we’ll see a wave of progressive governments across the world. (I imagine a particularly deadly Climate Crisis Summer in a first world nation will prompt this).
Ain’t this the fucking truth. I’m no spring chicken so I’ve Seen Shit™ over the years, and growing up in a conservative area as a neurospicy queer femme enby (yay intersectionality bingo) wasn’t exactly what I’d call a picnic – any deviation from accepted norms meant violence. Lots of violence.
Ugh, I’m so sorry you had to grow up like that. I cannot imagine being ‘neurospicy queer femme enby’ in a Con area. Seriously, I’m so sorry, I’m fourth generation atheist in a Left-leaning household, so I only saw that in my friends. My heart goes out to you, sibling.
Being nonbinary wasn’t even an option I was aware of until the past decade or so, which conservatives naturally take to mean that I just started “pretending” I’m now something else than my assigned gender instead of having always been this way and only now even having the terms to describe myself.
This is pretty much their modus operandi – they make something impossible, and then when it’s made possible people struggle, and that’s their ‘proof’ it wasn’t needed/necessary/etc. See: Women in sports. I’m glad you’re finding yourself, and if it is any consolation to you, despite growing up in a rather accepting household, I’m discovering a lot I had hidden as well, bordering on the ENBY/Femme front. And I’m in my 40’s, haha. It was my son coming out as queer that did it, because suddenly I’m doing makeup, clothes shopping, and nail art with him and going… “wait a sec… this is really fun.”
The past 15 – 20 years did make me feel like maybe shit actually can get better and we wouldn’t have to do this fucking dance anymore, but nooooooo.
Well I have some good news! Sadly it begins as all of these with bad news: Men (and boys) are way behind. The conservative illness has infected them quite badly. The good news is that women, as always, come to us as saviours; we just have to get my fellow men the fuck out of the way so we can actually progress forward.
Good luck, and if you ever need to talk to someone, message me, I’d be glad to :)
The big change is that, in what has literally become a meme with how often it’s come up, Conservatives are now ‘Mask off’/‘Saying the quiet part out loud’/etc. They’ve always felt these things, they just didn’t say them because we’d slap them back down. Over time they managed to make it more and more acceptable to shove countries to the right, until people woke up and went “wait a second, why the fuck am I talking about the testosterone count of a boxer when we have a few decades until climate change kills most of us?” Capitalists via Conservatives have made this happen, and a lot of the ‘centre-left’ parties around the world moved to the centre, while right wing parties went more right wing. Neo-Liberalism let fascism fester, and then we got Donald Fucking Trump in the most powerful position on the planet, and Putin is fucking invading countries, Israel is literally committing genocide, and we’re going “wait a second, what the fuck happened?” And now, you’re seeing a huge upswing in left and ‘far left’ numbers, because we’ve done this dance before, and we know the outcomes, especially women.
My kids have been telling me they have some ‘enlightened centrist’ friends who are currently battling with their own right-wing thoughts. They have lots of friends who are queer, and at least two trans friends, but they keep trying to justify their plan to vote Conservative. They’re desperate for it to be okay, because that’s what the right promises, ‘vote us and everything gets better, once we deal with (whatever scapegoat).’ But then they hear that their friends are the scapegoats, and they can’t fully connect it. So they will literally waffle between full on Conservative, and pretty left-wing.
Sadly, the more they’re online the more they go Conservative, but when they’re outside and talk to people, they are clearly battling away those thoughts.
I guess I was just holding out hope that more of them would turn out to be, well, something other than fascists. Not that I expected something other than, well… what we’re seeing right now.
Ain’t this the fucking truth. I’m no spring chicken so I’ve Seen Shit™ over the years, and growing up in a conservative area as a neurospicy queer femme enby (yay intersectionality bingo) wasn’t exactly what I’d call a picnic – any deviation from accepted norms meant violence. Lots of violence. Being nonbinary wasn’t even an option I was aware of until the past decade or so, which conservatives naturally take to mean that I just started “pretending” I’m now something else than my assigned gender instead of having always been this way and only now even having the terms to describe myself.
The past 15 – 20 years did make me feel like maybe shit actually can get better and we wouldn’t have to do this fucking dance anymore, but nooooooo.
Well we have good news and bad news. The bad news is it’s going to get a bit worse. The good news is it will then get much better. Conservatism is at a point where it needs to either completely take over, fuck everything up, and have it all come crashing down, or people will realise that’s what is coming, and we’ll see a wave of progressive governments across the world. (I imagine a particularly deadly Climate Crisis Summer in a first world nation will prompt this).
Ugh, I’m so sorry you had to grow up like that. I cannot imagine being ‘neurospicy queer femme enby’ in a Con area. Seriously, I’m so sorry, I’m fourth generation atheist in a Left-leaning household, so I only saw that in my friends. My heart goes out to you, sibling.
This is pretty much their modus operandi – they make something impossible, and then when it’s made possible people struggle, and that’s their ‘proof’ it wasn’t needed/necessary/etc. See: Women in sports. I’m glad you’re finding yourself, and if it is any consolation to you, despite growing up in a rather accepting household, I’m discovering a lot I had hidden as well, bordering on the ENBY/Femme front. And I’m in my 40’s, haha. It was my son coming out as queer that did it, because suddenly I’m doing makeup, clothes shopping, and nail art with him and going… “wait a sec… this is really fun.”
Well I have some good news! Sadly it begins as all of these with bad news: Men (and boys) are way behind. The conservative illness has infected them quite badly. The good news is that women, as always, come to us as saviours; we just have to get my fellow men the fuck out of the way so we can actually progress forward.
Good luck, and if you ever need to talk to someone, message me, I’d be glad to :)