Serenity

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I never wish for serenity. And knowing that, I should not be surprised that I never get it. But even when I reflect on this omission on my part, I never seem to change my wishing ways.

I see serene people in my life, I know that it is a possible thing. But the people I see who are content bring up bile in the back of my throat: the wealthy, the lazy, the willfully ignorant. Nothing could be further from my heart's desires than to settle for *this*, to set down my megaphone and shake the tension out of my fists, to decide that this is good enough. I am a malcontent, and I know it will kill me in the end.

I never wish for an end to the fight. There are days I cannot even imagine what an end would look like. Other days it's all to clear to me: a boot on the face forever and ever, we all love Big Brother, a tiny upper crust making merry on the backs of billions as the world burns. And to say that all the danger is external would be a lie, I know too that I have my inner struggles, my own dragons to slay.

I wish for a better sword. I wish for a stronger shield. I wish for a pitcher of water and more ammunition, for you at my side at the end of the world. Forever.

[Doktor Howl]

They need to pump 13,000,000 gallons/day of water out of NYC just to keep the subway running.  To move poop, it takes 1,100,000,000 gallons/day.  For drinking water purposes, 1,200,000,000 gallons.  Non-sewer drains are another 70,000,000 gallons.  This is a total of 2,383,000,000 gallons of water pumped per day.


The potable water is swiped from the surrounding land in a 125 mile radius. 

The total electrical cost of pumping that much, and for half if it that far per day, comes up to 445.6 gigawatts.  Per day.  By comparison, the Hiroshima bomb was 17 gigawatts.

This is one part of the world that is non-hostile that we have to deal with, while looking over our shoulders at the Nazis.  And you only get to drop the ball once.

This is my argument for beating the mortal fuck out of Nazis as the first response to their arrival.  Because we have more important things to worry about, really.

So the fist stays up.  Serenity is for the sons of Mary.  The sons of Martha are busy. 

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

They say you become the things that you fight and it's true in a sense, but you can take control of it, if you overcome the fear. There is something you have in common with your enemy, when you know it you can prevent it from becoming a slippery slope and turn it into another barricade.

I have this in common with the nazis: I believe the future is in danger. I believe the future is worth fighting for.

When you don't admit you're in a war you can't understand why the other side is fighting, can't define victory conditions, can't mount a proper attack or defense. When you admit to yourself that the culture wars are a kind of war and you'd better get your head around that fact, things become clear.

I believe in things other than what I have in common with my enemy. I believe the future is worth investing in. I believe the present is worth investing in. I believe the past is worth recording and dissecting and understanding.

I believe the future is worth a 70% marginal tax rate on the wealthy. I believe the future is worth paying teachers a living wage and covering classroom supplies. I believe the future is worth jackhammering fatbergs and waking up at three in the morning to make sure that beeping really is a false alarm.

I believe the future is worth belaying the nuclear counterstrike, worth punching every tank, worth decades of fruitless peace negotiations. I believe the future is worth rebuilding and repaving and reinforcing and reinventing, worth the labor and expense and materials to make it happen. I believe the future is worth sorting my trash and recycling.

[Doktor Howl]

They say you become the things that you fight and it's true in a sense, but you can take control of it, if you overcome the fear. There is something you have in common with your enemy, when you know it you can prevent it from becoming a slippery slope and turn it into another barricade.

I have this in common with the nazis: I believe the future is in danger. I believe the future is worth fighting for.

When you don't admit you're in a war you can't understand why the other side is fighting, can't define victory conditions, can't mount a proper attack or defense. When you admit to yourself that the culture wars are a kind of war and you'd better get your head around that fact, things become clear.

I believe in things other than what I have in common with my enemy. I believe the future is worth investing in. I believe the present is worth investing in. I believe the past is worth recording and dissecting and understanding.

I believe the future is worth a 70% marginal tax rate on the wealthy. I believe the future is worth paying teachers a living wage and covering classroom supplies. I believe the future is worth jackhammering fatbergs and waking up at three in the morning to make sure that beeping really is a false alarm.

I believe the future is worth belaying the nuclear counterstrike, worth punching every tank, worth decades of fruitless peace negotiations. I believe the future is worth rebuilding and repaving and reinforcing and reinventing, worth the labor and expense and materials to make it happen. I believe the future is worth sorting my trash and recycling.

Our opponents, by their very nature, cannot invest in the future, because they cannot see, care about, or even conceive of a world that does not include them.  When they are gone, who fucking cares about the future?  If you've even wondered why rich pricks are willing to shit in their own nest to gain more money they couldn't possibly spend, this is why.  The pobuckers are the same damn thing, except with chili dogs and bowling alleys and meth.

This is why arguing, cajoling, and reason do not work.  You are appealing to something that is for them as imaginary as their big goddamn skydaddy is to us.

So you don't have something in common with the Nazis.  They aren't here for tomorrow, they are here for 75 years ago.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I'm gonna disagree, because they're fighting for THEIR future. A future full of white babies and prosperity gospel and coal fire electricity forever and ever and nuts to anyone who disagrees. They're fighting for a DEAD future, sitting there with the paddles refusing to let go while everyone else in the room slowly backs away and the time of death has been discretely noted on a pad for the authorities. They are fighting a STUPID fight, one that's already lost but that doesn't mean they can't kill a future worth having in their rage and denial.

And yeah, there are some among our enemies who know that their future is dead, but they believe they can rebuild it from the ashes of the Coming Aftermath if they just prep right. That when the fucker finally burns down but good this time, they can make SURE we don't let in any smudgy brown people or queers or mooslems or whatever they choose to represent The Wrong Kinds Of People. If they just stock their bunkers and garages and outhouses properly and hold onto their guns and ammo they can outlast the folks with the Wrong Values and dance on our corpses. But saying that out loud would be as unthinkable as actually shooting up a Synagogue yourself, when you could merely imply that Jews are responsible for every evil in the world instead.

[Doktor Howl]

I'm gonna disagree, because they're fighting for THEIR future. A future full of white babies and prosperity gospel and coal fire electricity forever and ever and nuts to anyone who disagrees. They're fighting for a DEAD future, sitting there with the paddles refusing to let go while everyone else in the room slowly backs away and the time of death has been discretely noted on a pad for the authorities. They are fighting a STUPID fight, one that's already lost but that doesn't mean they can't kill a future worth having in their rage and denial.

And yeah, there are some among our enemies who know that their future is dead, but they believe they can rebuild it from the ashes of the Coming Aftermath if they just prep right. That when the fucker finally burns down but good this time, they can make SURE we don't let in any smudgy brown people or queers or mooslems or whatever they choose to represent The Wrong Kinds Of People. If they just stock their bunkers and garages and outhouses properly and hold onto their guns and ammo they can outlast the folks with the Wrong Values and dance on our corpses. But saying that out loud would be as unthinkable as actually shooting up a Synagogue yourself, when you could merely imply that Jews are responsible for every evil in the world instead.

As I say, they are fighting for the past.  The good old days of white men, before women.

They may think it's a future, but you and I know it is not.  It is the decomposing body of the middle of the 20th century, which needs to be wrapped in a tarp and thrown down a wash in the Santa Ritas.