Hello Wetterheadz. I miss you all. The following passage was written on the ferry back from Ladysmith. We’re down to our last week of filming, and the week before last I had to do a week where I worked every day. Every day! I do not know how anyone does this. I guess it’s easier if your job isn’t crying intermittently for three hours at a time but then again based on what I know about office jobs, maybe it is. Anyway, do excuse the deafening silence when there’s spotty newsletter service right now, it will get a little more regular once I am back to my regularly scheduled 0 schedule of any kind.
Quick update about the background man: I did not end up talking to him about his weird question because last time I saw him seemed fine and also I didn’t really have a good opportunity. But he is ok. One day I will tell you all who it was.
Ok this part is from the ferry:
The internet will not let me do my favorite thing (12 things at once) So I am forced to write in silence punctuated by the man behind me coughing oldly like he’s a member of Congress. If I could make the internet flow freely I would be listening to Dean debate Trump* supporters on tiktok which is quite simply the least comforting thing you can imagine. I don’t prescribe to the “we’re cooked lol” mentality, it’s too pessimistic and smug for me. Pessimism doesn’t isolate you from suffering, it’s just a shitty little costume you wear to pretend you were ahead of the curve when things go to shit. No thanks! I was ahead of the curve on Elon Musk and that experience has me never wanting to correctly anticipate anything ever again. There is very little reward in being right about something awful before everyone else. Ask pretty much any black woman ever. Even if the entire world had heard what I had to say, the best possible example of vindication is just… Hillary Clinton. Maybe in two thousand years Hillary will be like Joan of Arc and descendant of Chappel Roan will write a song about her before being credibly accused of something atrocious like assaulting a robot. We have but one life on spaceship earth and I have become pessimistic about pessimism. I would rather experience life as a goldfish.
Half the people who voted in 2025 are experiencing the sensation of existential I-fucking-told-you-so and I think we can all agree that it’s the itch that cannot be scratched. For every farmer or firefighter losing everything as a direct result of having done the thing we told them not to do, there are multiple innocent people who are F.O. in spite of not having F.A. Especially when most of the people that put us in this situation are not able to make the logical leap necessary to understand their mistake. Which brings us back to Dean. This little 20 year old person Dean Withers streams on TikTok for about 5 hours a day debating the supporters of the bad man. It’s a lot like listening to talk radio in the 90’s except instead of ads he thanks listeners for direct donations in between “calls.” Which reminds me! Thank you for subscribing! I love you! Welcome Paul Dickinson, thank you for becoming a subscriber!
In addition to listening to the Sarah Longwell focus group podcasts, I listen to Dean every week take calls from people who threw their vote into a festering garbage disposal filled with mystery goo because it wasn’t a black woman. Both Longwell and Withers demonstrate immense patience with what I can only describe as the stupidest people on the planet. It’s not comforting or satisfying, in fact it’s a bit like a radiation bath for your mental health. But it’s informative.
And folks! When I say stupid, I mean goofy. Misinformed on almost every issue, intellectually incurious, emotionally stunted and selfish as fuck. It’s certainly a product of our broken education system that people are stupid, but it’s cultural too. I don’t think we should blame poor people for being poor, uneducated people for not being educated, or lonely people for being isolated. But I don’t think we should treat people who have access to google like they are hapless victims of a system when they are actively supporting said system. Stupid is almost a nice term for people like the guy who said “illegals” should not enter the country because it would be like “letting intruders into your home.” Dean asked this man if he believes there should be open borders between Ohio and Indiana. When the man said yes, he asked if the people from Ohio should be allowed to enter the man’s home uninvited. The man said “Letting people into your home is different than having open borders.” Sir? Sir. Come on.
Let’s do both things. Lets not gentle parent the nation. We need to expect better from our neighbors. But we also can’t just dunk on people on instagram or laugh at them on tiktok and expect them to warm to the idea that there’s a better way. I listen to Trump voters because I am looking for humanity where I assume there is none. The bar is in hell, so we’re not going to call on our better angels (see what I did there) to fix this. It really sucks that a mentally ill narcissist has activated the worst impulses in such a large group of people, but they are just people. And so, instead of asking ourselves and whoever is in screaming distance what the fuck is wrong with people, I am trying to remember 1. That people are people 2. So WHY should it be, that you and I should get along so awfully? I mean it. What’s up with people? This election cycle has made me want to know more and listen for the things I missed in the past, especially from anyone I disagree with. I miss things when I get angry, and some opinions make me really fucking angry, justifiably. But as I am not personally being rounded up and deported or made to hide my gender identity so that I can stay out of jail, I have the freedom to choose whether to dwell in my anger and my hatred, or be more curious about whether and how people can change. And if Rocky Balboa can solve the cold war with boxing like he did in Rocky IV, I can stay open to the possibility that all is not lost. As Rocky says “If I can change, you can change. Everyone can change!”
*Am I going to get targeted for talking bad about Trump in my Patreon newsletter? Should I stop saying his name?