numb3r_5ev3n: Dragon pendant I got at a renfaire. (Default)
numb3r_5ev3n ([personal profile] numb3r_5ev3n) wrote2025-07-22 09:45 pm

Myth And Meaning.

This post is mostly in response to this video.

When Post Modernism and the remnants of the the Enlightenment declared the cultural myths of our collective past anathema or meaningless, those of good faith abandoned it all, and left it lying on the battlefield; obsessed with clinging only to what was verifiably true or verifiably real in "real reality."

"We've left myth and superstition behind," they congratulated each other, with relieved smiles that were also maybe a touch too smug and self-satisfied.

But they left myth and meaning on the battlefield for Gmork to seize. For Fascists to pick up and use. And the Nothing grows stronger.

We should have learned this lesson 80 years ago, but we ignored it. We let it slip through our fingers. And now it's begging us to listen, to pay attention, and to understand.

Now, the reactionary creeps imagine themselves to be the defenders and gatekeepers of myth, and they've exploited the mythic image of the Golden King in order to seize control of the world. But *myth* is all the reactionary creeps have. People of good faith at least have Verifiable Truth, which is something that the reactionary creeps will never have. So they fight for myth and symbolism as if it's the only thing worth fighting for - because it represents the totality of their reality and experience.

But now, women and girls, and young people of color, or people with their gender in transition, are finally seeing themselves represented in our modern myths as protagonists, as more than secondary characters, or villains, or cautionary tales, or comic relief, or prizes to be won. And the reactionary creeps wail and shriek in weepy, snotty, indignant outrage that they're being robbed, because myth is literally all they have.

They could just shrug, and return to their own gallery of pleasing, ego-soothing Heroic/Solar-Phallic myth-images; because despite their wails, they are still represented in a pandering majority. But they can't let anyone else be seen or heard or represented, because myth is literally all they have.

The winning move is not to leave myth behind. For people of good faith need to take it back, to reclaim it. Because when we take it from reactionary creeps, they won't have anything left but the hollow reality of their own empty souls, their own barren constructs; voids containing nothing but cheap, cracked mirrors designed to reflect their own warped self-images back at them. Only then will they *have* to face reality for what it actually is.
numb3r_5ev3n: Dragon pendant I got at a renfaire. (Default)
numb3r_5ev3n ([personal profile] numb3r_5ev3n) wrote2025-07-22 09:33 pm

RIP Ozzy Osbourne.

Purveyor of wicked tunes, you were the cool stepfather of all teenage rebels when I was growing up. And everyone who remained a teenage rebel in their hearts. RIP, sweet Prince Of Darkness, and thank you for the music.
conuly: (Default)
conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-24 01:48 pm

And another interview today

It never rains, but it sure does pour.

(Although this really is a somewhat archaic construction and doesn't mean what I've formed it to mean here. I do know that.)

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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-22 12:34 pm

I scheduled two interviews today

With a generous leave at one commute schedule and 2 hours between them


But then it turned out the first one had inexplicably been scheduled in GMT so I didn’t eat and barely made it out the door. And I’ll have to jog to get from one to the other, too!
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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-20 11:39 am

Glancing at Trump's tantrum-of-the-day

I guess today's coin flip has landed on "pivot to popcorn". If the world is burning we may as well get some use out of it, right? Popcorn all around!



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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-19 06:25 pm

Can't believe those storms did nothing about this heat or humidity

Blech.

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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-18 10:59 am

Robben Island by Pamela Sneed

The only antidote I may have to Trump’s election
is in a small ferry to Robben Island
one that shuttles you to the former prison
where those who fought against apartheid were held
The only answers may be in one wool blanket
a basin
toilet
cell
and the tiny windows of  Robben Island
in the discarded artillery
the rock and the limestone yard
where many were blinded
driven mad
Now the survivors former prisoners
give tours
their faces carved like tree roots exposed
The only answers may be in the surrounding peaks of Table Mountain
its Twelve Apostles
all now standing as testament to what
through years of struggles
can be defeated
overcome


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Link
conuly: (Default)
conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-15 07:27 pm

Something that's always interested me

is when an organization feels the urgent need to say something both in officialese and also everyday talk. I can think of three very relevant examples in NYC:

1. Every time you do your taxes or do almost anything that involves interacting with the state government, you'll have to pick your county, and if you live in Brooklyn or Staten Island that means they list the county with the coterminous borough in parentheses.

2. If you have a kid in school, every year they send you a form reminding you to fill out your Emergency Contact Card, and every year they include the phrase "Blue Card" right afterwards. Because that's what we all call it. Because they're blue.

3. And here's one I haven't thought about much since adolescence, but if a job is apt to hire teens then they will ask for their Employment Certification and then, inevitably, add "Working Papers" right afterwards, again, because that's what everybody calls them.

There must be other examples I'm missing, as well as non-NY examples. I sometimes wonder if it'd be easier for them to just cave to the inevitable and start listing the everyday term first and then list the "real" term afterwards.
conuly: (Default)
conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-17 07:09 pm

Thunderstorms!

Gosh it's thunderstorming out there!

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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-16 02:35 pm

Today's five second mini-rant:

Nonstandard and informal are not synonyms. Dialectal and informal are not synonyms. Regional and informal are not synonyms. You can speak formally even if you're speaking a nonstandard regional dialect.

Everybody needs to stop saying that dialect words are, ipso facto, informal.

Edit: On a different note, omfg this dude.

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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-15 04:45 pm

Hm. I thought we got a big bag of cat food

but it turned out to be a big bag of dog food.

This is... not so great, really.

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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-14 01:09 pm

Well, I'm (probably?) hired pending the results of this background check

and completion of orientation. They really are taking anybody with a pulse, as judged by the extremely detailed list of instructions for appropriate behavior during orientation. I'd be more insulted, but that's good for me, I really need a job. If they had higher standards they would hire somebody with formal work experience, or at least an associate's degree.

(Don't think I've stopped applying other places, mind you, but I'm really not in a position to be picky, either.)

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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-13 10:59 am

The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association

Well... if you're interested in reading a book about how living in an over-privileged Connecticut town is terrible and nobody should ever do it (especially if that's going to intersect badly with their terrible childhood) then this is a book you'll like. I preferred Dreadful - the realism : magic ratio in this book leaned a little too realistic, also, I just do not believe that the only school choices are a. fancy schools for wealthy overachievers that have massively high standards and high stakes testing b. xenophobic schools with very low standards and c. homeschooling. Even if there are no public school options there still have to be artsy fartsy schools for wealthy people who know that their kids cannot do the pressure cooker thing starting in kindy.
conuly: (Default)
conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-12 01:52 pm

Trying to read Dogs of War

Adrian Tchaikovsky is amazingly hit-or-miss for me, but this looks like it's coming up "hit". The sapient arthropods are a swarm of bees. If there are any spiders, I haven't met them yet!
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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-11 11:20 am

Points for honesty in this job description....

"Why work here?"

"Weekly pay!"

Yup, that's why I would like to apply for any and all jobs!

(On a side note, A has been sending me a lot of job links today. I'm a bit inundated, but I somehow don't think that "Great, please don't send them to me, just fill them out with my resume for me" is going to go over very well.)

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