From a draft I started prior to the student protests –

A confusing thing that the false “health freedom” opposition has repeated from about 2021 when the ruling class was really trying to make covid stick is this hand wringing worry expressed in a number of ways about legitimacy. How they worried about us little people lacking confidence in “our institutions”. And it can be dangerous place to be when they are no longer legitimate, but it is more than a matter of faith. RFK Jr and pals really want to make a boatload in the coming years and that actually depends on a facade of institutional legitimacy to do so. Of course it’s always been a facade when discussed in terms of what “the public” seeks. Most people you talk to on any given day have no faith in american institutions, and covid wrecked that even further. They may rely on them to an extent, but most adults willing to go the mile to have their grievances really heard and acted upon know the battle and limitations. It goes without saying that it’s crazy making by design to boot. So this crisis of confidence or legitimacy rhetoric from that quarter doesn’t give us anything insightful or actionable, it just leads to more of the same. And maybe worse!

A “crisis of legitimacy” isn’t strictly academic though. This was evident from the very beginning of lockdowns in the US, as comprehensive and all-encompassing as the fascist vanguard wanted it to appear. For all the authoritarian apparatuses that cover this continent, not one was willing to take up the mantle to enforce it as a single entity even though those were the orders from the top. [And I would argue that’s also not happening now; there are protests on campuses throughout the US and there is still not a single entity coordinating everything, at least to the public eye. There is a patchwork response from various offices, but they are either not responding as a continuous bloc or they have not been given orders to. What is up with that?] They were perfectly legitimized [back then], right? No one wanted the deadly coof. Some of these entities filled skate parks with sand and some nailed boards over basketball hoops, real tough shit. State policing institutions like highway patrols were in no way going to stick their necks out and stop and arrest people “not abiding” lockdown and several smaller county offices refused to enforce governor-issued diktats as they viewed them as unconstitutional.

As much damage that was done and that we’re still reeling from, legitimacy was a huge problem for them. They know this and all the domestic military installments are running drills for whatever is next. Nothing new but nothing to scoff at because of idiotic movies made by utterly clueless pampered “edgelords” (see: that “civil war” dreck. or not!).

As usual, I’m in the middle of three other posts of which maybe one will be published on this here blog. But I wanted to take a moment to write a few words on Beyoncé Knowles’ ass, believe it or not. I noticed that with her latest, she has promotional shots with it hanging out there under her ridiculous stars and stripes getup. Of course, it is against the law to speak harshly of Knowles in a majority of the contiguous US as it is both Sexist and Racist, and You Probably Don’t Get What She’s Doing anyway. I think I may be exempt in this jurisdiction, so let me go on. And as we all should know by now, her ass is bigger than its position on her backside; it wouldn’t be in our faces without the work of a lot of people – financiers, skilled professionals, and manual laborers alike – all part of humiliation and demoralization campaigns collectively known as the “entertainment industry”.

It is often said to be internalized misogyny to speak negatively about what other women wear, but it is the most internalized misogynist when such speech happens to be directed at women whose net worth is between seven and around twelve figures. Last month, I made some comments on a vexingly popular influencer’s outfit and was accused of internalized misogyny for noting that she was likely wearing it to receive a certain kind of attention on a certain trip she was verifiably husband-free on despite their newlywed status. In fed-ridden internet spaces (what isn’t any more, unfortunately), such sentiments are tantamount to saying any woman being flashy or daring is deserving of sexual assault, and all other behavior is to be factored out of such observations as well. She, whoever she may be, has the mystical, sacred ability to appear from nowhere for no one and “express herself”.

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