A no messing around guide to the coolest things to eat, drink and do in Vancouver and beyond. Community. Not clickbait.

On Spoiled Rich Kids Assaulting Cops and Old White Dudes Burning Down the House

Tea & Two Slices is a long-running news round-up by NEEDS frontman and veteran restaurant dishwasher Sean Orr, who lives and works in Gastown. He is very aware of his privilege, so there’s really no need to remind him of it.

The world is ending and old white men don’t want to hear about it: Rex Murphy: The UN climate-change panel that cried wolf too often. Nobody is asking you Rex, as you opine in your powdered wig and petticoat made of ossified denial…

And then there are the liberals, who want you to take the brunt of the responsibility while abrogating the 100 companies that are guilty of 71% of emissions. They’re socializing the risks, privatizing the profits and individualizing the solutions:

Because we already know the fucking solutions. If it seems like too simple of an idea to work, it’s probably because a capitalist told you that: Carbon Tax. Carbon Tax. Carbon Tax.

But this “scrap the carbon tax rally” happens. It looks like a flash mob of every Life Alert customer:

As much of a spineless shill Rex Murphy is, he’s right about one thing. The fatigue is real. What’s Another Way to Say ‘We’re F-cked’?

I can’t help but think that the slow creep of fascism is somehow related to climate anxiety. It makes for a good segué in any event: If You’re Not Scared About Fascism in the U.S., You Should Be. “When fascism starts to feel normal, we’re all in trouble.”

And again, liberals will say identity politics have gone too far. Because they don’t want to dismantle the thing they all benefit from (link):

One of the major shortcomings of liberalism is the way it treats racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice as character flaws rather than inevitable superstructural manifestations of the systems of white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism. It shifts the moral failing onto the individual and away from society as a whole, so systemic inequality can continue to exist as long as we crucify the occasional bigot for show.

 

Via The Guardian: It comes as no shock that the powerful hate ‘identity politics’.

“The left has always been more confused. Those with a crude notion of class contend that politics driven by identity divides people, dilutes solidarity, and diverts energy from addressing material concerns such as pay and conditions. This fundamentally misunderstands identity, politics and class. When British women are being paid 18% less than men, gender is a material concern; when for every $100 in wealth a white person has in the US an African-American has just $5, race is a material issue. Likewise, if there is no lift and you’re disabled. If you can’t get married to the person you love and can’t leave them your pension, sexual orientation is a material issue. If you can’t walk down the street without fear of the police stopping, searching or shooting you, or if you cannot control decisions about your own fertility, those are material issues. Acknowledging diversity does not undermine solidarity. Indeed by rendering it more inclusive and better informed, it should make that solidarity more effective. “Labour in the white skin,” wrote that flaky identity hipster, Karl Marx, “can never free itself as long as labour in the black skin is branded.”

Jason Kenney Says Racists Aren’t Welcome in the Conservative Party – The Facts Tell a Different Story. “As we say in Germany, if there’s a Nazi at the table and 10 other people sitting there talking to him, you have a table with 11 nazis” – Dr. Jens Foelle.

Quebec to Alberta: “hold my beer”… Crucifix represents Christian values but isn’t a religious symbol, Quebec’s incoming premier says. That’s not what you say when I say Happy Holidays and put up my solstice tree.

But we don’t have to go that far for racist scum: Get To Know Your Racist Candidate: Conrad Peach.

A little less overt but a lot more insidious: Daphne Bramham: What the Ÿ_2#t%^=????. “It makes no sense that in the name of reconciliation, politicians are renaming landmarks using gobbledygook spellings invented by well-meaning linguists for languages that were spoken, but never written”. First off, we already had Chinook jargon. We’ve moved on. Second, this isn’t about you. You’re not a victim here.

This is what happens when you don’t let fascists and reactionaries frame everything: it turns out that – surprise surprise – homeless people are still human beings: Owner of Saanich property where homeless campers are tenting changes mind, befriends them.

Scumbags of the day: Activist says ‘relocation specialists’ speeding tenant dislocation in Metrotown.

Three men from West Vancouver and Victoria charged in assault on Vancouver police officers: video. ACAB, but also fuck these spoiled little brats. I’m honestly surprised we don’t see more of this kind of entitled rage, the seething crassness that boils beyond the gleaming glass facade.

Bonus: The Back of House.

There is 1 comment

  1. Eat less red meat, good luck with that. Swap a plane ride, it’s called going overseas. Upgrade to more efficient appliances, I’ll what’s best for my pocket book thank-you very much and puck right off.

On Ken Sim’s So-Called “Swagger” and ABC’S Class War

Sean Orr is back from his hiatus with a rundown of the local headlines that have been running on a ticker tape through his mind over the past six months...

On Post-Election Recuperation, Platform Paradoxes and Refund Communities

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr finds irony in "safety, affordability, and sustainability", and shouts out a bunch of amazing local organizations working on the frontlines.

On Running for City Council, Playing Whack-a-Mole with Homelessness, and the Public Washroom Deficit

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr finds a park ranger with a grudge, a gross misuse of air quotes and Tripadvisor slander.

On Living in a City Preoccupied with Street Cleaning, Chandeliers, and Campaigns Against the Homeless

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr hones in on the recent Langley shootings, and the ongoing criminalizing and dehumanizing of the homeless population.