caedient
@caedient.bsky.social
I did note the irony of essentially implying that what Trump represents is "unmasked" cruelty given, y'know, the goons.
January 4, 2026 at 11:19 PM
I did note the irony of essentially implying that what Trump represents is "unmasked" cruelty given, y'know, the goons.
*personally, I'd say that's just a neutral articulation of what capitalism is
January 4, 2026 at 11:18 PM
*personally, I'd say that's just a neutral articulation of what capitalism is
(Some masks do have value in-and-of-themselves, even if the aim of their architects tends to be to do the bare minimum)
January 4, 2026 at 11:18 PM
(Some masks do have value in-and-of-themselves, even if the aim of their architects tends to be to do the bare minimum)
The status quo version of DEI is essentially a mask for the structural issue of a system that discriminates on the basis of socio-economic status* in a society where people have been systematically forced to the lowest statuses on the basis of their immutable characteristics.
January 4, 2026 at 11:18 PM
The status quo version of DEI is essentially a mask for the structural issue of a system that discriminates on the basis of socio-economic status* in a society where people have been systematically forced to the lowest statuses on the basis of their immutable characteristics.
When the status quo validates the cruelties of the authoritarians, supposing that it is necessary to make such appeals to thwart them, this is just a mask it previously didn't have to hand. Its hand is not being forced, it simply has the opportunity of cruelties it previously had no way of masking.
January 4, 2026 at 11:16 PM
When the status quo validates the cruelties of the authoritarians, supposing that it is necessary to make such appeals to thwart them, this is just a mask it previously didn't have to hand. Its hand is not being forced, it simply has the opportunity of cruelties it previously had no way of masking.
A few further thoughts:
January 4, 2026 at 11:14 PM
A few further thoughts:
I think malice knows no such bounds, only an insatiable appetite for a void it will never fill.
January 4, 2026 at 11:14 PM
I think malice knows no such bounds, only an insatiable appetite for a void it will never fill.
I think, though, that cowardice has its limits. When comfort declines, when a weight of injustice increases, when the scales tip past the point where cowardice can thumb the scales sufficiently. This, again, speaks to the bounding effect on the cruelty of a politics of that character.
January 4, 2026 at 11:13 PM
I think, though, that cowardice has its limits. When comfort declines, when a weight of injustice increases, when the scales tip past the point where cowardice can thumb the scales sufficiently. This, again, speaks to the bounding effect on the cruelty of a politics of that character.
I think that once you see that character of that politics, its cowardice is blinding.
January 4, 2026 at 11:13 PM
I think that once you see that character of that politics, its cowardice is blinding.
I think trading one's sense of justice for comfort is the very definition of cowardice.
January 4, 2026 at 11:13 PM
I think trading one's sense of justice for comfort is the very definition of cowardice.
I think that cruelty is masked for an audience that would see it as unjust, but finds it more comfortable to merely not see it at all.
January 4, 2026 at 11:13 PM
I think that cruelty is masked for an audience that would see it as unjust, but finds it more comfortable to merely not see it at all.
I think it is cowardice and malice that define those two abusive forms of politics in contrast to each other.
January 4, 2026 at 11:13 PM
I think it is cowardice and malice that define those two abusive forms of politics in contrast to each other.
I think idiocy is also apparent in both, but typically essentially after the fact, once the compact to support cruelty has been made. To explain that the mask is the true face. To explain that the abuser is in fact the abused. To justify the unjustifiable.
January 4, 2026 at 11:13 PM
I think idiocy is also apparent in both, but typically essentially after the fact, once the compact to support cruelty has been made. To explain that the mask is the true face. To explain that the abuser is in fact the abused. To justify the unjustifiable.
I think avarice has - shall we say - a controlling stake in both of the abusive forms of politics in question.
January 4, 2026 at 11:12 PM
I think avarice has - shall we say - a controlling stake in both of the abusive forms of politics in question.
I think the four key human failings that fuel support for cruelty are avarice, idiocy, cowardice and malice.
January 4, 2026 at 11:12 PM
I think the four key human failings that fuel support for cruelty are avarice, idiocy, cowardice and malice.
I think a systemic necessity to mask cruelty bounds what is possible, both quantitively and qualitively, and to a profound extent.
January 4, 2026 at 11:12 PM
I think a systemic necessity to mask cruelty bounds what is possible, both quantitively and qualitively, and to a profound extent.
I think we see this in the contrast between the huge expenditure of political capital undertaken to mask the Iraq war, whilst Trump blithely talks about plundering Venezuela's oil; but more so in domestic policy, where masking cruelty that occurs on people's doorsteps is all the harder to mask.
January 4, 2026 at 11:12 PM
I think we see this in the contrast between the huge expenditure of political capital undertaken to mask the Iraq war, whilst Trump blithely talks about plundering Venezuela's oil; but more so in domestic policy, where masking cruelty that occurs on people's doorsteps is all the harder to mask.
I think that with masked cruelty, the cruelty is more profound - left politics is more profoundly different to the politics of the decaying status quo - but, the instinct to mask it is also profound - authoritarian politics is also profoundly different to the politics of the decaying status quo.
January 4, 2026 at 11:11 PM
I think that with masked cruelty, the cruelty is more profound - left politics is more profoundly different to the politics of the decaying status quo - but, the instinct to mask it is also profound - authoritarian politics is also profoundly different to the politics of the decaying status quo.
I think what we see from the "cult(ure) of abuse" you write about is antipathy towards the masking of abuse. Instead it basks in the limelight afforded to it by a culture that will centre it as the abuser.
January 4, 2026 at 11:10 PM
I think what we see from the "cult(ure) of abuse" you write about is antipathy towards the masking of abuse. Instead it basks in the limelight afforded to it by a culture that will centre it as the abuser.
A culture conditioned by a system that masks its cruelty has to check if such a mask is required _before_ it sees the true face of the abuser - as one would through the eyes of the abused. As such, the instinct is always to centre the abuser.
January 4, 2026 at 11:09 PM
A culture conditioned by a system that masks its cruelty has to check if such a mask is required _before_ it sees the true face of the abuser - as one would through the eyes of the abused. As such, the instinct is always to centre the abuser.
I think there's an interplay between what you write about a culture that centres the abuser and Mamdani's words regarding a system that masks its cruelty.
January 4, 2026 at 11:09 PM
I think there's an interplay between what you write about a culture that centres the abuser and Mamdani's words regarding a system that masks its cruelty.
i be drunk - british drunk, not american drunk - btw, as this post should testify
December 20, 2025 at 10:40 PM
i be drunk - british drunk, not american drunk - btw, as this post should testify
re-read because i be like that, and also couldn't see what i was typing. no fucking clue where the aditional "fucking" came from, but i also absolutely own it
December 20, 2025 at 10:37 PM
re-read because i be like that, and also couldn't see what i was typing. no fucking clue where the aditional "fucking" came from, but i also absolutely own it
don't forget avarice and cowardice
i'd also just plain "idiocy" over
"ignorance", but, well, quibbles
fucking love your writing btw man
fucking
i'd also just plain "idiocy" over
"ignorance", but, well, quibbles
fucking love your writing btw man
fucking
December 20, 2025 at 10:29 PM
don't forget avarice and cowardice
i'd also just plain "idiocy" over
"ignorance", but, well, quibbles
fucking love your writing btw man
fucking
i'd also just plain "idiocy" over
"ignorance", but, well, quibbles
fucking love your writing btw man
fucking
November 1, 2025 at 2:06 PM