"In a small town, there may be no venues for performing arts aside from country music bars and churches. There may only be two doctors in town — aspiring to that job means waiting for one of them to retire or die. You open the classifieds and all of the job listings will be for fast food or convenience stores. The "downtown" is just the corpses of mom and pop stores left shattered in Walmart's blast crater, the "suburbs" are trailer parks. There are parts of these towns that look post-apocalyptic.
I'm telling you, the hopelessness eats you alive.
And if you dare complain, some liberal elite will pull out their iPad and type up a rant about your racist white privilege. Already, someone has replied to this with a comment saying, 'You should try living in a ghetto as a minority!' Exactly. To them, it seems like the plight of poor minorities is only used as a club to bat away white cries for help. Meanwhile, the rate of rural white suicides and overdoses skyrockets. Shit, at least politicians act like they care about the inner cities."
I'm telling you, the hopelessness eats you alive.
And if you dare complain, some liberal elite will pull out their iPad and type up a rant about your racist white privilege. Already, someone has replied to this with a comment saying, 'You should try living in a ghetto as a minority!' Exactly. To them, it seems like the plight of poor minorities is only used as a club to bat away white cries for help. Meanwhile, the rate of rural white suicides and overdoses skyrockets. Shit, at least politicians act like they care about the inner cities."
The liberal instinct is to blame human misery on environmental factors, and tell those affected that they have nothing to be ashamed of. (There are no bad boys, Eleanor Roosevelt said, only bad schools.) But it is impossible to keep the logic from working in both directions: People who have nothing to be ashamed of are left with nothing to be proud of. If living irresponsibly is not really our fault, then a conscientious, disciplined life is not really to our credit. [...] The goal of a truly humane social policy will be to provide the poor with opportunities for escaping poverty, not excuses for remaining impoverished.
— Poverty And The Victim Ploy
, by William Voegeli
, by William VoegeliJanet Van Dyne: If you're trying to make up for the way things panned out against the Hulk, you're just being silly. You were amazing back there, sweetheart. Really, really brave.
Henry Pym: Don't patronize me, Jan. God, why do you always do that when you know it drives me absolutely nuts?
(To Takeaki) Kind to you? (laughs) You really believe their hypocrisy? Human kindness is merely a sham. Humans always feel superior to those they see in need. They are only kind to absolve themselves of the guilt they feel. That is the essence of "good will towards others". Let me show you the true nature of the human heart!
—Munchhausen II, Urotsukidoji II: Legend of the Demon Womb
Powerful metallic dragons that serve good in the world can still pose threats to heroic characters. A good dragon might choose to destroy a band of heroes to defend some site or artifact, to fulfill an ancient oath, or to prevent a great evil. Given their long lives and their overwhelming pride and confidence, dragons think little of making the hard choices for lesser creatures and sacrificing the few for the good of the many. True compassion is rare indeed among dragonkind.
— Dungeons & Dragons Draconomicon:Metallic Dragons.
"I hope you've all learned a very important lesson today. Just because Mordechai's people are different from us, and just because they may appear strange to us with their furry hats, beady eyes, and long sideburns, not to mention their bizarre customs and unnecessarily guttural funny-sounding names; just because they control ALL of the world's money, yet they are too cheap to buy their children anything better than spinning tops for presents, does not mean that we can't learn to love and respect them as our equals. Happy Chanuyakah day seven, Mordy!"
—Mrs. Highsmith, The Hebrew Hammer
They had all of them in their families heard talk of La Blanchotte; and, although in public she was welcome enough, the mothers among themselves treated her with a somewhat disdainful compassion, which the children had imitated without in the least knowing why.
Terezi: I appreciate your intention, Karkat. Maybe...maybe it would be better if you weren't sitting up there in that backwards chair while you talked to me?
Karkat: What? Why?
Dave: Yeah, dude, you should probably ditch the chair.
Karkat: What the fuck is wrong with my chair.
Dave: Or at least sit on it frontways. Or offer her another chair? I dunno, it's kind of a dumb affectation in this context.
Karkat: No, look. It's casual and relaxed. Like, it visually conveys that my presence in the conversation is humble and nonthreatening, yet frank and attentive. What the fuck do you want from me?
Dave: To sit on the goddamn floor.
Karkat: Why should I squat on the dirty floor, what difference does it make!
Dave: So you can be on the same vertical plane as your friend while you exhibit compassion for her grody clown problem.
Karkat: What? Why?
Dave: Yeah, dude, you should probably ditch the chair.
Karkat: What the fuck is wrong with my chair.
Dave: Or at least sit on it frontways. Or offer her another chair? I dunno, it's kind of a dumb affectation in this context.
Karkat: No, look. It's casual and relaxed. Like, it visually conveys that my presence in the conversation is humble and nonthreatening, yet frank and attentive. What the fuck do you want from me?
Dave: To sit on the goddamn floor.
Karkat: Why should I squat on the dirty floor, what difference does it make!
Dave: So you can be on the same vertical plane as your friend while you exhibit compassion for her grody clown problem.
Bag Lady: Who the fuck do you think you are?! I don't need no goddamn help from some bleeding-heart cameraman, my life's not for you to make a name for yourself on!
Angel: Easy, sugar, easy! He was just trying to-
Bag Lady: Just trying to use me to kill his guilt! It's not that kind of movie, honey! Let's go! This lot is full of motherfucking artists!
Bag Lady: Just trying to use me to kill his guilt! It's not that kind of movie, honey! Let's go! This lot is full of motherfucking artists!
Fun tip: Being told “I kept you in the dark to protect you” is not only frustrating, but condescending as well. It’s a truly economical way to demean someone; if you’re looking to fit more denigration into an already busy schedule, give it a try.
"The West Wing is a fairytale about good vs. evil disguised as a realistic portrayal of Washington D.C's inner-workings. It sold many different fantasies, one of which was that politicians ever acted in good faith, but the other big one is that policy could be achieved if you just 'did the right thing.' When the characters faced opposition, the solution was to always summon their inner good-guy strength like Goku charging up for a Kamehameha, and then deliver an earth-shattering speech that changes hearts and minds through its pure goodness. [...] Maybe this is fine as escapist television, but the problem arises when the Chuck Schumers or the Michelle Obamas apply this good-guy vs. bad-guy dichotomy as an actual ideology in our real world. It sucks for two main reasons, one of which is that if you're a politician that sniffs your farts long enough to actually assume you're 'the good guy,' then you end up not doing enough self-reflection and listening to realize that wearing a kente cloth in a show of solidarity for Black Lives Matter isn't actually helping."
Dog girl: I've read everything James Baldwin's written. He has a true sense of the problems with black people.
Cat girl: I worked for Head Start for free last summer. Black kids are so much groovier!
Dog girl: I went to a couple of Black Panther mettings. The time for non-violent revolution has passed! More power to the people!
Fox girl: I'm taking a course in African studies at school; I had no idea you people were so civilized!
Cat girl: Did you know that property values actually go up when a black family moves in?
Dog girl: Freud didn't write for the black man.
Fox girl: Why does such a great actor like James Earl Jones always have to play black men?
Dog girl: Don't you hate it when people say "colored" or "Negro", and not "black"? Black is beautiful.
Cat girl: It's so great that black people are wearing their hair natural, not emulating the image of beauty that white people try to inflict upon them.
Dog girl: I had a black girlfriend once, who said that Jewish people were the closest to black people. I'm Jewish, you know.
Crow: (having spent the past minute being forced to listen to these three girls' above attempts to flirt with him) I ain't no jive-ass black nigga, honey. Who do you think I am? Geraldine?
Cat girl: I worked for Head Start for free last summer. Black kids are so much groovier!
Dog girl: I went to a couple of Black Panther mettings. The time for non-violent revolution has passed! More power to the people!
Fox girl: I'm taking a course in African studies at school; I had no idea you people were so civilized!
Cat girl: Did you know that property values actually go up when a black family moves in?
Dog girl: Freud didn't write for the black man.
Fox girl: Why does such a great actor like James Earl Jones always have to play black men?
Dog girl: Don't you hate it when people say "colored" or "Negro", and not "black"? Black is beautiful.
Cat girl: It's so great that black people are wearing their hair natural, not emulating the image of beauty that white people try to inflict upon them.
Dog girl: I had a black girlfriend once, who said that Jewish people were the closest to black people. I'm Jewish, you know.
Crow: (having spent the past minute being forced to listen to these three girls' above attempts to flirt with him) I ain't no jive-ass black nigga, honey. Who do you think I am? Geraldine?
