Despite my age and its attendant painful levels of maturity, I always look forward to this as the time of year when I get to have a box of tiny dinosaur clowns in my bathroom for three weeks. Regular readers will remember that the bathroom is the best place to raise them; it’s warm, safe from cats, and in a location where everyone in the household can set eyes on them several times per day. When I go in to wash my face first thing in the morning, I can change their water and top off their food (if necessary), and I always like to spend a few minutes watching their silly antics (running around banging into each other, standing in the corner peeping as if unable to turn around, etc). In just a few weeks they’ll be gawky pullets, well on their way to chickenhood, but in the meantime they’re terribly cute for a painfully-short time. And that’s OK, because let’s be honest: if they stayed baby chicks for long, pretty soon their constant peep-peep-peeping would be just another background noise like dogs barking or floorboards creaking. Some of life’s greatest pleasures are pleasant precisely because they’re so ephemeral; if rainbows were always a feature of the sky, few would ever bother to look up at them in wonderment and appreciation.
Archive for the ‘Philosophy’ Category
Diary #663
Posted in Diary, Philosophy, tagged animals, Sunset on March 14, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Midwinter Tweets
Posted in Miscellaneous, Philosophy, tagged Believe Them, blogging, Canada, consensual crime, cops, dating, ethics, Florida, imaginative fiction, language, politicians, robots, STEM, Tennessee, Texas, Twitter on February 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Like something Bill Theiss would design while very drunk. https://t.co/KzYdGrNeut
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 24, 2023
Clearly a very important discovery for building solid machines with no electronic parts which can escape from cages as long as there's a mold handy. 🙄
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 26, 2023
For "deleted", instead use "memory-holed" for greater precision. Things can be "deleted" for many reasons, but when it's due to political embarrassment "memory-holed" is more specific. https://t.co/rpYkpTDiyB
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 27, 2023
Ray Bradbury was one of the great souls of modern times. He will be remembered when every contemporary power-hungry politician has been reduced to a footnote in history texts or a name in a list of fallen, buried, forgotten "rulers". https://t.co/pFIQDdzYv3
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 27, 2023
Your regular reminder that "proactive policing" actually means "terrorizing people who haven't committed any crimes, under the pretext that they *might*". https://t.co/wx4Z4lEyil
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 28, 2023
Also, about #5: "Not allowed to listen" is a very different thing from "are unable to listen". https://t.co/0ZurrNGJEc
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 29, 2023
Amateurs are so cute. https://t.co/DHsG6jTkvi
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 30, 2023
Cops acting as though they're in the entertainment business should be a summary firing offense. https://t.co/FVsep5DmoL
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 31, 2023
I'm sure she believes that the sailors on the Flying Dutchman are happy because they have job security. And like the Wandering Jew, they get to travel to many lands on a sort of eternal vacation!
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) February 1, 2023
“I think that people see police as a part of the government”
Yes, that's because they ARE part of the government. The most visible and violent part, the hand of the state that holds the gun, whip, or club. https://t.co/PkPkr3iATP
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) February 3, 2023
We *do* understand discretion, honey. After all, it's part of why you pay us, remember? https://t.co/oAVtft9K8q
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) February 4, 2023
The rise of trucks as passenger vehicles in urban areas is largely the result of government fuel efficiency "regulations" which made station wagons and other large (but low) cars illegal.
This is a striking example of the Law of Unintended Consequences at work. https://t.co/uMH85IhtVk
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) February 5, 2023
…elaborate protections. Near the end of the cycle, even opening a tap results in a flood of disgusting filth spewing out in every direction, coating walls, floor, and ceiling of the bathroom or kitchen and suffusing everyone's house & clothes with an unbearable reek.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) February 5, 2023
"Vascular neck restraint" is a scientific-sounding euphemism for "choking somebody to cut off blood flow to the brain so they pass out".
"Pass out" is itself euphemized as "slip into unconsciousness". Choking a victim to within minutes of death depicted as a lullaby. https://t.co/CsKD5MJrR3
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) February 7, 2023
An orbit is a path described by mathematics; it is not a physical object that can be "crashed into".
Please can we at least have SOME science "reporters" who aren't less scientifically literate than the average @BillNye viewer? https://t.co/3N05AUiYbk
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) February 9, 2023
Many criminals are entrepreneurs; it's just that their business happens to be illegal. https://t.co/nMqBcW3CmK
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) February 10, 2023
I don't think it would be bragging to say that I probably have more cerebral capacity than most. And yet, I *still* don't have enough space there to allow various public figures to live rent-free in my head as so many otherwise-intelligent people seem wont to do.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) February 11, 2023
Cops constantly demonstrate *exactly* what they are; why don't you believe them? https://t.co/Ipnk6dS3Rr
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) February 12, 2023
Isaac Asimov once described computers as "high-speed morons". He was correct, ad anyone who blathers about artificial "intelligence" is wrong. https://t.co/EzyEU9CdsX
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) February 14, 2023
And as for "dating apps", I think the less said the better; they concentrate the toxic aspects of both "dating" culture and "looking for relationships" and add a heavy component of superficiality.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) February 14, 2023
"From behind" doesn't sound nearly as bad as "in the back".
Journalists need to start using those words, rather than mealy-mouthed softeners. https://t.co/DugFSaRgx6
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) February 15, 2023
This phrasing sounds so much nicer than "cops abduct drunk woman, rip off her clothes, then take nude pictures without her consent." https://t.co/8knRR6TU2z
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) February 17, 2023
How much longer will Americans allow cops to use robot guns and cars that go berserk and attack people on their own? https://t.co/pW3gzG4ADO
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) February 18, 2023
Experts: The Drug War increases deaths by overdose and has been catastrophic to civil liberties.
Economists: The Drug War has cost trillions and had absolutely no positive effects.
Civil libertarians: End the damned drug war already!
Your "leaders": https://t.co/OuV6nM5dfJ— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) February 19, 2023
Many scientists used to claim that the sci-fi concept of a murderous Frankensteinian computer was impossible. https://t.co/cRidQsQwMu
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) February 21, 2023
Little Puppets
Posted in Miscellaneous, Philosophy, tagged adolescence, psychology, teachers on February 16, 2023| 4 Comments »
As a kid who was so far ahead of “regular” classes she regularly fell asleep, got punished, or was sent to the principal due to the stunning boredom, the kind of smug, self-important attitude displayed by the woman in this recent Slate feature (and to a slight extent, by the columnist as well) makes me want to vomit. Your kids do not belong to you; they are not little puppets for you to virtue-signal with so your friends can see how much you support the vile but popular doctrine, equality of outcomes. They are individuals whose whole lives will be shaped by your refusal to give them an education that will challenge them, teach them to use their abilities, and prepare them to make a life for themselves outside of your moralistic shadow. Denying bright kids honors or AP classes doesn’t make you a champion of the proletariat; it makes you an abuser.
Tweets from the Darkside
Posted in Miscellaneous, Philosophy, Words, tagged activism, animals, blogging, censorship, child "protective" services, comics, consensual crime, cops, drugs, ethics, Google, language, left-right myth, Louisiana, politicians, porn, psychology, surveillance, teachers, Twitter, Washington (state) on January 23, 2023| 2 Comments »
THIS RIGHT HERE. If you want to understand why so many overdoses nowadays involve fetanyl, look up "Iron Law of Prohibition". Here, I'll help: https://t.co/Dh0b0CSmpT
Prohibition CAUSES overdoses. Period. Only cops & badgelickers find this controversial. https://t.co/Xme8s5jcMJ
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 25, 2022
Imagine cheerleaders hopping around chanting rhyming nonsense about how THEIR color is GREAT and will BEAT those OTHER COLOR players, RAH RAH RAH! And you'll get a sense of how this childish nonsense sounds to sensible people.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 27, 2022
From MAD Magazine, September 1969: pic.twitter.com/yyXw4wbQId
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 29, 2022
This is why every animal and plant falls in "love" and they all have marriages. Every honeybee is a licensed and ordained minister of the Christian religion, even dozens of millions of years before Jesus. https://t.co/CPwPKm4viE
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 30, 2022
Why did anyone ever imagine that something called a "cloud" would be safe and permanent? https://t.co/ZhCuxmm3Ud
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 31, 2022
I hate when journalists try to make it sound like state violence is something that "just happens".
No, these people don't "lose" their children like one "loses" socks in the wash. Their children are forcibly abducted by the state to serve its own agenda. https://t.co/Kh6mYRgOqC
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 1, 2023
Well, be fair; "one who is completely unable to mind his own business" would be a pretty useful working definition of "politician".
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 2, 2023
And you can ALSO fully embrace your sexuality without being "dirty", "horny", "little", or a "monster". https://t.co/YlZQ3htFL8
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 3, 2023
My bank recently thought it was "suspicious" that I filled up my car at a Wal-mart gas station that I've frequently used in the past, then proceeded to buy about $300 worth of toys at that same Wal-mart, a few weeks before Christmas. https://t.co/A3cJI0oDZg
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 4, 2023
WHY IS TWITTER SO OBSESSED WITH ME EVEN THOUGH I DIED 12 YEARS AGO? pic.twitter.com/bUo0JhPB8F
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 5, 2023
Another idiot who not only can't read, but thinks tall, big, fat, or rich people should have more votes than short, small, skinny, or poor people. https://t.co/bCgcXrrZVz
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 6, 2023
The mob will always agree with those advocating mob rule.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 7, 2023
Long, skinny, and wet? https://t.co/w5Os3wHBtk
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 8, 2023
Why don't we send this eccentric burglar to the home of that eccentric billionaire who's always giving away huge sums for childishly-simple tasks? https://t.co/F4riEigI2A
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 9, 2023
"Links", indeed. That's like saying our ancestors "linked" disease to sin, astrology, or witchcraft. https://t.co/h90bK2FfCh
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 10, 2023
…always been immune to the supposed omnipresence of porn. I cannot recall a single instance in the past 20 years where porn suddenly appeared before my shocked eyes in some venue where I didn't already know it might conceivably appear.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 11, 2023
Addendum: "Excited delirium" is not a real medical condition, but a lie made up by cops to pretend people they murder were actually killed by a medical condition. It's as real as the magic fentanyl that causes cops to OD by merely touching it, with no actual opiate OD symptoms.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 12, 2023
Yes, the Fossil Fuel Industry has a Death Star. https://t.co/8TZU4ZkNmQ
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 14, 2023
I think this image is going to haunt me. https://t.co/cbJIdwWWfY
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 14, 2023
Today's perfectly ordinary word Google doesn't know: "numerological".
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 15, 2023
"Sell their bodies" to mean sex work is a weird take.
"Sell their bodies online" to mean selling nude pictures is a completely deranged take.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 17, 2023
SO MUCH THIS.
If you want people to have the freedom to create content you like, you need to support them so they don't have to spend time in more lucrative pursuits. https://t.co/1JbNHzabW1
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 17, 2023
I hope her settlement is more than she'd have made in 20 years of shitty adjunct pay. https://t.co/g0yMqGyXe2
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 18, 2023
Minding other people's business. https://t.co/B6sJ53DiJh
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 20, 2023
As long as he had the money and references, why not?
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) January 21, 2023
The Road to Hell
Posted in Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged cops, language, politicians, psychology on January 12, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Reporters: could y’all please stop making claims about what politicians and bureaucrats “intended” some awful civil liberties violation to do? One: You are not fucking psychic and do not actually know what they intended; you just know what they claim, which for politicians means less than nothing. Two: Nobody outside of a philosophy class should give a damn what was “intended”; if people’s lives are being ruined by extensive criminal records, sometimes before fucking puberty, the “intent” of those who inflict the police violence is of absolutely no consequence. This “good intentions” shit is nothing but an excuse for evil, and anyone with the even the most basic education should be able to grasp this. It’s not like we don’t all know the saying about the Road to Hell.
Life As It Is
Posted in Biography, Music, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged fantasy, holidays, psychology, video on January 2, 2023| 3 Comments »
You can’t always get what you want. – Mick Jagger
People would be a lot happier if they could truly learn the difference between “I want” and “I reasonably expect to get in the actual world that exists”. Corollary: “Follow your dreams” is text for a Hallmark card or a poster on a ’70s teenager’s wall, not serious life advice for adults with a realistic view of the world. Like most people, I started out as more emotional than rational; unlike most, I learned to actually become rational rather than merely convincing myself that my irrational wants, desires, “dreams”, etc were not only actually rational, but that I “deserved” to get what I wanted and had the “right” to use violence, either directly or by the State acting on my behalf. I wasn’t able to accomplish this due to some superhuman cognitive capacity or divinely-granted moral superiority, but rather because childishness ideas about “fairness” were ground out of me by the world at a fairly early age, and when I was 13 I realized that I had to adapt or die. If anything, my pragmatism was the result of a disability rather than a superior ability: I was absolutely unable to deceive myself in order to conform to either square society or “normal” nerd society, so I had to find the only strategy that ever could’ve worked for a brain like mine.
January second has always been an important day in my life; over the years, a number of life-changing events have happened on the date or very soon thereafter. So over the last decade, it has gradually developed into a day when I think about the Big Picture. Coincidentally, this song was only about a decade old when I recognized the wisdom in it; if you don’t really dig what I’m trying to tell you, perhaps Mick can make it a bit more clear.
Yuletweets
Posted in Miscellaneous, Philosophy, tagged bad customers, BDSM, blogging, Canada, Catholicism, censorship, drugs, ethics, games, language, left-right myth, Mars, New York, politicians, psychology, robots, Twitter on December 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »
TFW the name of a dude you blackballed from your escort service suddenly seems very popular on Twitter.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) November 23, 2022
Because obviously what the world REALLY needs is an artificial liar which is better at political deception and "strategic lying" than humans. https://t.co/yTOlaCVAlv
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) November 23, 2022
Not entirely wrong. https://t.co/YOWPVJHWdz
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) November 25, 2022
Humans have such silly ideas. https://t.co/kCAzzPyWx1
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) November 28, 2022
Sometimes history reflects itself rather than repeating or rhyming. https://t.co/ebgtxoFRed
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) November 29, 2022
It really irritates me when I see a tweet that makes a great point, but then tacks on some inane culture war shibboleth at the end, making it un-retweetable by any intellectually honest person.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) November 30, 2022
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 1, 2022
As so often in these exonerative voice constructions, the sentence is structured to place the blame on the gun. It's especially loathsome this time by including the unusually-specific detail that it was an AR-15, a note calculated to ignite readers' hysteria vs that model.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 2, 2022
Never trust someone who tries to convince you that something isn't a problem by contrasting it with a more serious problem.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 4, 2022
One of the most important differences between physics and political "science" is that in physics, nobody pretends "entropy increases" is controversial or unduly pessimistic.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 4, 2022
Do you think you'd escape consequences for grand theft if you pinky-swore to the judge that you'd pay it back? https://t.co/Bpqakk5YjA
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 5, 2022
And yet they all want to impose their "solutions" upon, and extract the things they want from, YOU. By force and by threat of violence. https://t.co/q6tMZEvnXt
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 6, 2022
Sex workers have been telling y'all this for years. https://t.co/XzKAzGRtyG
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 9, 2022
I don't even OWN any yellow clothes because they make me look ill due to skin undertones.
Brides like this need to be shut down from the get-go; her fiance should also deeply consider whether he should get legally entangled with such a narcissistic control freak. https://t.co/tDlu4ILlTE
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 9, 2022
That's called the exonerative voice.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 10, 2022
The greatest source of evil in the world is a pair of linked cravings: the desire for power over others, and the desire to be controlled by "leaders". Each is reinforced and supported by the other.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 11, 2022
Corollary: "Follow your dreams" is text for a Hallmark card or a poster on a '70s teenager's wall, not serious life advice for adults with a realistic view of the world.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 12, 2022
Gotta say, I did not expect to read something as stupid as "Ugh ugh, me hate books" today.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 13, 2022
If someone tells you that you're so stupid you can only subscribe to beliefs in big packages approved by one of the Culture War Clubs, so that if you are skeptical of "X" you *must* believe "Y", that person is not your friend and cannot be trusted. Shun them.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 15, 2022
Doctors are always fascinated by idiots; they provide natural experiments it would be unethical to subject normal people to.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 16, 2022
"And what do *you* want to do when you grow up, little girl?"
"I want to align with industry demands as a cog in tomorrow's global workforce."— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 17, 2022
85. I've discovered 10 mph over is usually the best setting to make good time without attracting predatory cops or having to come out of cruise too often due to obstruction by slower-moving traffic. https://t.co/ogdm8cThEC
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 18, 2022
Everything not forbidden is compulsory. https://t.co/K8DRkNi5Dp
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 20, 2022
Never trust a man who uses "pleasure" as a verb.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 21, 2022
Who the hell decided "factory" was a good word to include in the names of chain restaurants? I can't think of a lot of less-appetizing words they could've used without being actually off-putting.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) December 22, 2022
Links #650
Posted in Current Events, History, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged Alabama, animals, Believe Them, cops, Europe, Florida, hotels, I’m Sure You Feel Safer Now, internet, law, Never Call the Cops, politicians, Rome, slavery, Texas, video on December 19, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Is anybody out there? – “Metaverse gala” attendee
Not an especially seasonal selection, but it seemed the appropriate one for the death of its composer. The links above the video were provided by Ed Krayewski; Amy Alkon; Radley Balko; Cop Crisis (x2); Jesse Walker, Mike Siegel, and Ally Fogg; and Clarissa, in that order.
- The kids are alright.
- Chihuahua or muffin?
- I’m sure you feel safer now.
- Another cop demonstrating exactly what he is.
- Never call the cops for any reason whatsoever.
- R.I.P. Bob McGrath, Kirstie Alley, and Angelo Badalamenti.
- Why the US understanding of slavery must be confined to the US.
From the Archives
- Hundreds of hours & thousands of dollars wasted on political showboating.
- Biden tries to take the “sex trafficking” narrative back from the Trumpists.
- Prohibition never eradicates the banned thing; it just helps shady actors.
- Until there are criminal penalties for this, cops have no incentive to stop.
- New Zealand cops apparently lack sufficient reasons to brutalize people.
- More cops using non-consenting people as props in a propaganda show.
- The key to breaking these evil laws is recognizing them as punishment.
- “Signs of sex trafficking” have continued to proliferate to absurd levels.
- Remember, this is not slavery, but lucrative, flexible, voluntary work is.
- Backpage case judge claims the Backpage case “isn’t about Backpage”.
- “We simply can’t allow government officials to continue raping people.“
- The hotel industry is going to regret having collaborated with fanatics.
- The adventures of a fanatical, unhinged lawyer and his pet fantasist.
- Pretending to be a sex worker gets the attention without the stigma.
- Why are men with so much to lose so goddamned stupid about sex?
- Why are people shocked when men paid to behave violently, do so?
- Cops think they can never have enough pretexts to harass people.
- Kiran Deshmukh of the National Network of Sex Workers in India.
- Cops, odors, Pooh, Charley Pride, John le Carré, and much more.
- We aren’t living in a simulation; at least, not the kind you mean.
- “The line between legal and illegal sex should turn on consent.“
- The government’s latest sleazy trick: attacking with civil suits.
- A district court judge has to do SCOTUS’ job because it won’t.
- Arizona screws think they can cure mental illness by torture.
- Why end-to-end encryption is only the beginning of security.
- Still doubt that politicians are deranged megalomaniacs?
- FBI thugs are just federal cops, and behave accordingly.
- Providing some small help to needy kids in a lean year.
- “Lockdowns…mak[e] poor people an awful lot poorer“.
- Prohibitionists care only about “messages”, not facts.
- Cops, snakes, Mars, Anne Rice, and much more.
- Prohibitionists are targeting all online sex work.
- Your government refers to this as “correction”.
- Cops, farts, Caroll Spinney, and much more.
- But please, tell me more about the “wings”.
- We finally have all of our roofing materials.
- Spending the holidays with my best friend.
- A better toy drive than I initially expected.
- A tag just for cops caught with child porn.
- My previous columns for December 17th.
- Setting an example for his underlings.
- This subtitle is no exaggeration.
- I believe in Father Christmas.
- Rapist cops of the week.
I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one. Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful. But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer. So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets. Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements. Thanks so much!
Imaginary Dualities
Posted in Perception, Philosophy, The Dark Side, tagged agency denial, cops, language, left-right myth, Madonna/whore, prohibitionist myths, rape, screening, streetwalkers on December 15, 2022| 1 Comment »
I don’t think it’s controversial (it certainly shouldn’t be) to say that street workers suffer far more violence than sex workers with higher screening barriers. It’s not like every damned study ever done on the subject hasn’t said the same thing. If this is in any way controversial to some people, I’d say it derives from the modern infatuation with Manicheanism. Far too many moderns want to believe that all of society can be neatly divided into sheep and goats, “workers” and “capitalists”, renters and landlords, oppressors and oppressed, white and POC, old and young, straight and queer, etc, etc, ad nauseam. So when people laboring under that grievous cognitive error see a statement like “x is safer than y”, they read it as “X is completely safe and Y unrelentingly dangerous”. But of course, that’s no more true than any of the others; we don’t live in a Hollywood black hat/white hat world. The first time I was ever raped on the job, it was by a businessman in a 5-star hotel, but that doesn’t change the fact that on average, I was safer from violence by clients, cops, and criminals than my sisters on the streets. The chance of a suburban kid being killed by cops firing wildly into her parents’ house is dramatically less than that of an inner-city kid suffering that fate, but it still isn’t zero. And of course the same can be said for all those other imaginary dualities. Sex workers who should certainly understand the wrongness of Madonna vs whore will nonetheless subscribe to the equally absurd renters vs landlords or labor vs management dichotomies if they find it politically convenient to do so, even while simultaneously condemning the state’s pretense that sex workers can be cleanly divided by a bright, clear line from “pimps” (despite the fact that this notion is a littermate of the Marxist labor vs management divide).