BLOCKED ON TWITTER: I Finally Made It?

They say when someone blocks you on Twitter, it is some kind of honor. People out here bragging about "I got blocked! I made it!" Having experienced getting blocked for the first time, gotta say, that's not what it feels like at all. Maybe it feels good if it's a certain kind of Twitter personality. In that case I think mine is a dud.

Here's what happened. This young woman posted on the topic of UnFriending over Politics. Her very strong stance is that, if you UnFriend due to difference in political opinion, that means you are, and I quote, "an imbecile." She insists that "Political opinion doesn't define character."

Oh dear. Well. I've recently written on the topic after much thought, and my thing is that we have to stand up for what's right. We're in a time when there need to be consequences. Friendship has to matter. If you place value on the idea of Friendship, presumably you think yours is worth something. Your time, attention, care and kindness...those matter. I wanted to say, "I used to be like you" and then share what I have learned over the years. I thought, a possible teachable moment in action. Once you cruise past the age of 40, they give you the Experience Card and you can pull it out and lay down some sweet Elder Magic. The disconnect is that, while you get to pull your Experience Card, that doesn't mean shit to Arrogance of Youth, on social media or anywhere else in life. I know it didn't mean shit to me when I was young and arrogant. Well sometimes, but not in most cases—I rolled my eyes at certain advice from older women that, boy howdy, do I wish I'd taken. So I get it. 

I replied, "Political opinion does in fact define character. In rather large part, actually. You're young, you will learn. Took me awhile too. It matters, kiddo."  Okay, I could've been less of an Old Auntie with the "kiddo" but I was feeling it just then. Still: THAT gets a block? What I'm feeling now is, after she blocked me, is...Hey kiddo, you just posted with a great urgent insistence, doll-face, that a person who can't simply disagree with another opinion is an imbecile, buttercup. Take a selfie, champ, that's a photo of a person who doesn't know how to disagree politely, love. Trust me. Honey.

Alright, that's out of my system. As you can see, I was a bit hurt.

But can we discuss the irony of being so quickly blocked. If stepping away from a Friendship because of "political opinion" means you're an imbecile, then what are you for blocking a total stranger for suggesting there might be some validity to it...I mean...?

I have been singed and suffocated by the heat of the exhaust from the energy expended trying to remain friendly with terrible, awful racist, self-centered assholes who call their bullshit "political opinion" and just call everybody else rude names. I'm done. The whole "He's my friend, not my fault" stance, well it's hard work for me, not for them. They get to be simply terrible, while I have to keep working to burn fuel keeping the peace, keep making excuses for their awfulness. Years, I did this. Then, I got some self-respect and simply stopped making excuses for keeping these people as friends. What for? We have to stand up for what we believe in. It matters. Stand for something, or sit the hell down. One thing this Trump beast has done is bring them all scurrying out into the light. I learned I don't have to stand by and abide "Friends" behaving in this terrible way, trying to "other" and marginalize other people. So, political opinion very much does, in fact, define character. We ARE our politics. In my opinion, it matters. ∎

Related: Yes, I UnFriended You

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Penny Fox is just about finished

See some in-process photos on Instagram

I make thrift store "upcycled" dolls often starting with a baby onesie and building from there. I use kids clothes, fabric scraps a NY friend sends, broken pieces of vintage accessories, beads, yarns etc. Again, silk neckties are great for these characters. 

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In Other Words: You're Posting Wrong

It is November 27th 2019, and I've re-activated Facebook after one full calendar year. To the day. Know what I've noticed? It's still a mess. Having said that, I've missed almost everyone. I wish the platform hadn't gotten so revolting. It seems there could have been a sustainable business model that didn't require vanquishing the very soul of the nation, but Zuckerberg gonna Suckerdrag. Truth is I'm better without the bitch, so I'm only back briefly. I'm giving myself six weeks to gather contact info for Friends I want to keep in touch with, and then I am deleting Facebook. But while I'm here...

Among the lesser trials of having Facebook in one's life is watching in real time the devolution of written communication. Can you believe how lazy everyone's getting about...well, words? People out here subbing out words for other words that aren't the right words...and worse, making up new meanings. I saw someone say something is "timely" and only through careful consideration of her post did I realize she meant "time sensitive." Girl. You don't want to mix those up. People using words and expressions they don't understand gets me right in the gonads. You guys, can we be more sure about what we're saying?

"Hear, hear!"

Don't type "Here! Here!"  "Hear, hear!" is the missive you're looking for when in strong agreement with a Friend's post. "Here, here!" doesn't make any sense. You can look it up or you can trust me, I'm a writer. To wit: "Everyone deserves clean air, water, affordable nutrition and health care as a human right."
"Hear, hear!"

For all intents and purposes 

This speaky-speak qualifier is what I call "junk" and as editor I'd cross it out hard. But if you're gonna use it, at least use IT, not its muddy inbred cousin "for all intensive purposes." For all intents and purposes, the clause modifies the content of whatever you just said, presupposing every possible intent and purpose. Don't say "for all intensive purposes." What would that even be.

All of a sudden

The first person I ever heard say "all of the sudden" was my then-future husband Joe, but I have since heard it from other people. Not a lot of people. But enough to show me it wasn't a Joe-only thing or a New Jersey (where he's from) thing. I don't know if "All of the sudden" is grammatically incorrect, it just sounds weird, doesn't it? The sudden what. Implies there's only one "sudden."

By accident

I theorize as follows: people who say something happened "on accident" do so because they're using a certain prepositional logic: because we say "on purpose" when we purposely cause an event, surely  it's "on accident" when we blunderbuss our way to disaster. Dude, no. It's "by accident" and "on purpose."

 

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Stop what you're doing, Jane Fonda said a thing

According to everyone older than me, every living individual is required, right now apparently, to be outraged, because by Boomer logic: Jane Fonda.

JANE SAYS!

Jane Fonda has been happening for my entire life. I can't help but wonder what the young people must be thinking every time Jane  trends. "You mean the bony one from the old lady show?" That would be Grace and Frankie (Netflix) and yes, that's her, kids. Hey, old guys? Jane seems like a nice enough woman, she makes me laugh, she is a right proper movie star, and she is entitled to voice opinions. You're just mad because she's famous and happens to be right and you hate that, don't you, Guys Who Want To Own Water and Sell It Back To Us at a Premium? No. We DO need every person to have clean water as a human right, and all of us should rally behind climate change, thank GOD Jane Fonda is amplifying this message. What is wrong with these mostly-old-men hating on Jane Fonda my whole life. Boomers being angry. Boomer angry. Chill out, Boomer-angs. ∎

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Tee Shirt Sale Time

All Body Types and Sizes $40.  

Paypal with your address and size, allow about two weeks.

HOW TO GET A SHIRT

Email me! I answer all my emails, please send any questions anytime...it's my full name @ gmail

DM me via Twitter @SuperLowBudge. 

Of course no problem if you'd like to have a phone call with questions or special to-order requests! 

857 203 1436

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Amanda Fucking Palmer

Right now on the Internet there is an Amanda Palmer hatefest.
Another one, and it's a doozy. As a onetime music writer and promoter, I don’t know what to make of the truculent, sneering Amanda, or her weird, brill fame. This latest wave of #AmandaPalmerIsACunt started I guess with a muckety muck at The Guardian having an odd sort of go at Amanda on Twitter, and once there's a splash of Palmer blood in the social network seas, forget about it—Frenzy. My eyeballs can actually feel in a physical way the super-cool drawl of the Boston scenesters trying to out-casual each other as everybody competes with how early in Amanda's rise to fame they hated her. One person tried to win with "I hated her upon sight having never heard a single note of music." A surprising number of tweeters replied with "Same." Well...weird, I guess. I will come back to this later when I feel more Write-y. Or at least more Amanda-y. Love her or despise her "on sight," I tell you what, the chick can trend. 🦈

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13 "Cunts" on a Monday

In my experience, older ladies (retired, grannies) are the ones who lose their minds when you use the word "cunt." Men and younger women (practical, busy surviving) don't even blink. So this one is for the ladies. My message is simply this: cunt happens. It just does, I'm sorry if you're offended, but what should offend you, ipso facto, is cunts—not the word used to talk about cunts. If I am talking about a cunt and I use the word cunt, then trust me, I'm a writer. I know what word to use. I'm like a surgeon with the things. The word exists because cunts exist. Cunts are...well, cunts are dicks but worse. Cunts are such dicks that we have this super-specialized word to describe, encapsulate and convey their extra-special flex of dickishness. It's a good word. Supercharged. The word so good that here you are clutching your pearls when presented with the word itself. Cunt happens. Don't be a Karen about it. 🙋

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