Originally, I tweeted this, but I think I may wish to expand upon a couple of points.
The unrolled tweet for those who can’t be assed to read it on Twitter (not that I blame you):
A thought, in several lengths:
I’m nearly 40. I am considered a millenial or xennial, though I come in on the decidedly early side of things. I remember the Challenger disaster. I had graduated from high school before Sep 11 happened. I got screwed by the ’08 recession: paycuts.
As a ‘millenial’, I’m being handed the keys to a broken kingdom, with so much that needs repair. Rights that have been shat upon need rescuing. Equality that we’re aware of its needed existence being stripped. Our collective noses are in locations that don’t serve the need.
To make things more concerning, it feels like the previous generation or two is out to actively take the keys back from my generation, wanting to hold that control for as long as they can manage. It fees as if there is no room for improvement being allowed, and that isn’t right.
So, bluntly:
Black Lives Matter. We say it not as an exception to the process that suggests all lives matter, but as clarification and reminder, since America seems to forget this.
Trans Lives Matter. They are no less a person than the next soul sauntering down the sidewalk, and if you disagree with this statement, they are frankly greater than you. These are folks that already know the truth.
Electric Vehicles are one such future.
Fuel cells are also coming. You’d think America would be leading the way to fuel self reliance with our blatant as hell xenophobia, but oh, making sense, I know better.
Alternate Protein sources are another future for us. You want sustainability? You should be looking at things like Impossible, Beyond, and the like.
A thought. I label it “Microphone drop.” and stop tweeting.
Originally tweeted by Xial, better heard on vulpine.club/@xial (@Xial) on 24 Jul 2020.
On the Lives Matter bits, as I tweeted, it’s not an exception to the thought that all lives matter. It’s a reminder, because we all know that there are folks out there who will preach all lives matter in one breath, and in the very next one, except <insert group here>. Sad thing is, I am not wrong on that statement. We’re having to verbally highlight that Black Lives Matter. Trans Lives Matter. Latinx Lives Matter. because there are so many people set in the thought that “all” is mainly them, their family, their friends, and folks who give them money.
People seem to forget that we’re all sailing around in space on this big rock that has the necessary conditions for us to exist, and we don’t have the luxury to just leave when we want, be what we want, see where we want. Instead of spending money on space travel and science, and medicine that benefits all humankind, we’re engaged in pointless dick-waving conflicts for the last two decades.
Instead of being able to work on the next great battery chemistry that could bring big solutions to renewable energy, we’re spending cash on killing each other. I mean, could you imagine your local utility offering affordable PODS-sized batteries that can reside on your property, and a discount for being host to one or two so that excess renewable power can be stored and released into the grid as needed? Especially once you get to chemistries that are less likely to be a firefighter’s nightmare?
And hell, find some room in an apartment complex to stick four or eight of these things, which would be amazing.
I can imagine things like that, but I have little hope of seeing something like that come to fruition before I break this body’s uptime score.
We want things like this. We have a lot of these capabilities, if we could just stop getting slapped down for daring to do different things.
An extra thought: I, a ‘millenial’ or ‘xennial’ was raised by a parent from the Greatest Generation and a parent from the Silent Generation. I was raised to work hard, refuse to be told that I cannot do something great.
I felt a little like I was failing my parents, but when you sit down and analyze everything around yourself and realize how much of it is opportunities denied, it makes you think, “Screw this. I’ll make my own damned opportunities. You’ll never give me good ones anyway.”
Be safe out there. Remember: If you’re going to protests, generic masks are the best. The gas station specials will serve you much better than that super special Etsy designed mask: no facial fingerprint. Also, clear reflective tape. You know why. And leave your actual cellphone at home. You still may wish to have a phone with you, but you are safer not using your actual daily device.
With love and safety,
Xial