May Update: Where To Even Begin (Patreon)

Hey team.

The Basics

We put out two videos this month. (Thanks to Radek for the excellent suggestion of naming them CO-VIDs.) I also wrote up my thoughts on Outer Wilds (be warned, they get a little heavy).

There's not going to be a CO-VID today. I was working on something about the semiotics of "cuck" that I had to scrap, might revisit it later. Then I wrote and recorded something about adventure games. Then my country fucking erupted into massive protests and a whole lot of overt police fascism and 10 minutes on why adventure games are cool seems almost profane in context.

There's a video on the politics of violence I've wanted to do for a long time. I wanted to go about it in my usual essay fashion: research the hell out of everything, definitely get through This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed, be huge and comprehensive. But, given what's going on at the moment, you might be getting the shorter, messier version of it as a CO-VID in the near future. I feel like I need to talk about what's happening before I go back to yelling about how good Mutazione is or whatever.

(Mutazione is really good, though, don't sleep on that one.)

The General Crisis

I'm not sure how to talk about what's going on. I can recite the bullet points - how George Floyd was murdered by cops in broad daylight, how protests against police violence have swept the nation, how Trump tweeted "when the looting starts the shooting starts" (a quote from a famously racist, segregationist, anti-Civil Rights police chief), how I've gotten many angry Curious Cat questions asking me to condemn looting that seem more offended about broken windows at Target than protestors getting blinded by rubber bullets or citizens on porches getting paint canisters shot at them or nine-year-olds getting maced my cops.

But going through the narrative almost feels like re-traumatizing people.

This is happening amid a pandemic, an election year between an absolutely garbage Democratic candidate and an out-and-out fascist, and a number of personal crises that have exploded in the last week. If you're feeling overwhelmed, I assure I am, too.

I'm gonna do what I do and make a video about it, and also bake some cookies. Remember: do the work, and also take care of yourselves.

That's It

I think that's all I've got, folks. We're gonna keep on with CO-VIDs for at least another month. Support each other, support the Minnesota Freedom Fund, and, if you can, bake yourself some cookies.

-I