Robert M Brown
@rmbrown.mrbadexample.com
Writer of fantasy and alternate history. Dad. Historian-ish (BA). Fueled by caffeine and rage.
Sorry ladies; I'm taken. Dad jokes, not flirting.
Sorry ladies; I'm taken. Dad jokes, not flirting.
Yes, this is exactly how it works. The fascist state supports fascist elements in the target state and then, if necessary, 'intervenes' to 'maintain peace and order' and puts the local fascists in charge.
A year ago, I worried about a US invasion. These days, I worry about something that actually scares me more: that our government (and other governments) will decide that we have to do whatever the US regime demands, and what they demand will be ever more fascist alignment.
January 10, 2026 at 6:19 PM
Yes, this is exactly how it works. The fascist state supports fascist elements in the target state and then, if necessary, 'intervenes' to 'maintain peace and order' and puts the local fascists in charge.
It wasn't an accident, or poor judgement, or a failure of training. It was the point of the training.
!["[...]he now understood why the army was organized as it was. It was indeed quite necessary. No rational form of organization would serve the purpose. He simply had not understood that the purpose was to enable men with machine guns to kill unarmed men and women easily and in great quantities when told to do so." - THE DISPOSSESSED, Ursula Le Guin](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:jkwkdjfse4l4klkbn33fmmf5/bafkreihnattrcx7ox4qn4cpsbk7ffmhgvg4x2jqf4pwceb7uwyng2g4bmq@jpeg)
January 9, 2026 at 7:59 PM
It wasn't an accident, or poor judgement, or a failure of training. It was the point of the training.
Toxic optimism prevents contingency planning and restricts opposition to specific pre-defined strategies based around existing power structures.
A lot of replies here (obviously from people not already aware of The Discourse on this point) were genuinely confused variants on "But why, they're right, that's a valid concern." Let me leave a short thread for future readers explaining why that stuff is always unwelcome on here. (1/n)
January 9, 2026 at 5:30 AM
Toxic optimism prevents contingency planning and restricts opposition to specific pre-defined strategies based around existing power structures.
Reposted by Robert M Brown
important message to all bluesky users
January 7, 2026 at 7:53 PM
important message to all bluesky users
I don't think I'll ever understand people responding to the most precedented things ever in history with, "What do we do in these unprecedented times?"
January 7, 2026 at 7:18 PM
I don't think I'll ever understand people responding to the most precedented things ever in history with, "What do we do in these unprecedented times?"
Everyone know that bit about how there are two groups: Those the law binds, but does not protect, and those the law protects, but does not bind.
Everyone is about to find out that that especially applies to international law, and always has.
Everyone is about to find out that that especially applies to international law, and always has.
January 6, 2026 at 6:34 PM
Everyone know that bit about how there are two groups: Those the law binds, but does not protect, and those the law protects, but does not bind.
Everyone is about to find out that that especially applies to international law, and always has.
Everyone is about to find out that that especially applies to international law, and always has.
Dislocated a toe studying the historiography of the French Revolution.
What's the most ridiculous way you ever hurt yourself? I got out of the tub, skidded in water and tripped over the toilet. Ankle sprain.
😅
😅
January 5, 2026 at 9:14 PM
Dislocated a toe studying the historiography of the French Revolution.
Just what a slop hog would say.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says people should move beyond calling AI 'slop'
"We need to get beyond the arguments of slop vs sophistication and develop a new equilibrium ... that accounts for humans being equipped with these new cognitive amplifier tools as we relate to each other"
"We need to get beyond the arguments of slop vs sophistication and develop a new equilibrium ... that accounts for humans being equipped with these new cognitive amplifier tools as we relate to each other"
January 3, 2026 at 2:39 AM
Just what a slop hog would say.
Using AI to filter incoming submissions is effectively just arbitrarily purging a certain number of random submissions to reduce the incoming volume. Just come right out and say, "We delete 75% of submissions without even looking at them."
file770.com/erin-underwo...
file770.com/erin-underwo...
December 28, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Using AI to filter incoming submissions is effectively just arbitrarily purging a certain number of random submissions to reduce the incoming volume. Just come right out and say, "We delete 75% of submissions without even looking at them."
file770.com/erin-underwo...
file770.com/erin-underwo...
Donativum
WATCH: Trump promises ‘warrior dividend’ of $1,776 for U.S. military service members
December 18, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Donativum
When my son was little I sat him down one day and told him, "We are civilized people. We use the serial comma, and we do not cross a picket line."
DEC 15 2025: STOP BUYING STARBUCKS DAY
Starbucks Baristas are asking us to stop buying Starbucks on December 15th.
Remember, it's not customer vs. worker, it's the 99% vs. the 1%. Baristas are your labor family, let's all help them out!
mailchi.mp/d86e5090fce2...
Starbucks Baristas are asking us to stop buying Starbucks on December 15th.
Remember, it's not customer vs. worker, it's the 99% vs. the 1%. Baristas are your labor family, let's all help them out!
mailchi.mp/d86e5090fce2...
Chicago gave us 48 hours of power. Let’s build on it.
mailchi.mp
December 13, 2025 at 1:58 AM
When my son was little I sat him down one day and told him, "We are civilized people. We use the serial comma, and we do not cross a picket line."
Automating bullshit generation is definitely a problem, but the root evil is that we've created a society that values bullshit over facts, and sees experts as people who--because they know things--cannot be trusted.
Not only is bullshit valued over facts, but facts are inherently bad.
Not only is bullshit valued over facts, but facts are inherently bad.
There’s this idea that I’ve been pondering for a bit that’s probably yet another Everyone Will Yell At Me thing, but… I don’t think that pointing out that AI is full of inaccuracies is an effective tactic at getting people not to use it. It’s based on cultural context that not everyone shares…
December 9, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Automating bullshit generation is definitely a problem, but the root evil is that we've created a society that values bullshit over facts, and sees experts as people who--because they know things--cannot be trusted.
Not only is bullshit valued over facts, but facts are inherently bad.
Not only is bullshit valued over facts, but facts are inherently bad.
I concede that renting out 5-year-olds to rich old weirdos for sexual entertainment purposes would be worse than renting out 15-year-olds, but that does nothing to change how very, very bad renting out 15-year-olds is.
How bad a thing is doesn't change just because you can imagine something worse.
How bad a thing is doesn't change just because you can imagine something worse.
Megyn Kelly: "I know somebody very close to this case…Jeffrey Epstein, in this person's view, was not a pedophile…He was into the barely legal type, like he liked 15 year old girls…He wasn't into like 8 year olds…There's a difference between a 15 year old and a 5 year old."
November 13, 2025 at 10:09 PM
I concede that renting out 5-year-olds to rich old weirdos for sexual entertainment purposes would be worse than renting out 15-year-olds, but that does nothing to change how very, very bad renting out 15-year-olds is.
How bad a thing is doesn't change just because you can imagine something worse.
How bad a thing is doesn't change just because you can imagine something worse.
It looks like we going to be losing the mighty Chaos the Cat soon. My heart is broken.
November 12, 2025 at 4:45 PM
It looks like we going to be losing the mighty Chaos the Cat soon. My heart is broken.
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 the guns on the western front fell silent, and the world could begin to count the terrible price Europe had paid, and would continue to pay for 27 more years, to make Alsace-Lorraine French again.
November 11, 2025 at 6:19 PM
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 the guns on the western front fell silent, and the world could begin to count the terrible price Europe had paid, and would continue to pay for 27 more years, to make Alsace-Lorraine French again.
Democrats remain the party of McClellan, who fought the Confederates not with the idea of defeating them, but dragging the fight out until both sides were exhausted, then making a compromise peace that preserved slavery.
November 10, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Democrats remain the party of McClellan, who fought the Confederates not with the idea of defeating them, but dragging the fight out until both sides were exhausted, then making a compromise peace that preserved slavery.
'Doomerism' is like prologues. I never see anyone complaining about prologues, only writers complaining about people who don't like prologues.
I never see any doomerism, but I see a lot of people saying they'll block people for spreading it.
I never see any doomerism, but I see a lot of people saying they'll block people for spreading it.
YES THIS. If you are one of the "all is lost" people please feel free not to say so in the comments of my posts, it'll save me the two seconds it takes to "hide for everyone" your comments. All is not lost. All is never lost. I prefer not to have you infecting others with your doomerism in my space.
"This fucking sucks" and "all is lost" are two different sentences.
Don't say the second when you mean the first.
Don't say the second when you mean the first.
October 30, 2025 at 2:31 PM
'Doomerism' is like prologues. I never see anyone complaining about prologues, only writers complaining about people who don't like prologues.
I never see any doomerism, but I see a lot of people saying they'll block people for spreading it.
I never see any doomerism, but I see a lot of people saying they'll block people for spreading it.
I'm with her. I consider even grammar suggestions to be insufferable impertinence on the part of the computer.
"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"
October 28, 2025 at 2:30 PM
I'm with her. I consider even grammar suggestions to be insufferable impertinence on the part of the computer.
I wonder if there will ever be a study of the role of toxic positivity in the destruction of American democracy.
We know about the role it played in the 2008 financial crisis, but it goes way beyond that.
We know about the role it played in the 2008 financial crisis, but it goes way beyond that.
Doomerism is chickenshit. an embarrassment to every ape that threw a rock at a bear to protect the tribe. if you actually believe this doomer shit what are you posting for? it's chickenshit and i will have no truck with it. you had something better to do with your life than make the world better?
October 27, 2025 at 12:18 AM
I wonder if there will ever be a study of the role of toxic positivity in the destruction of American democracy.
We know about the role it played in the 2008 financial crisis, but it goes way beyond that.
We know about the role it played in the 2008 financial crisis, but it goes way beyond that.
There's a metric fuckton of people right now spouting off about how glorious it would be to die resisting fascism, and attacking anyone who suggests that dying as a first resort might not be a winning strategy.
Death might happen when resisting, but it shouldn't be the _goal_.
Death might happen when resisting, but it shouldn't be the _goal_.
October 24, 2025 at 4:56 AM
There's a metric fuckton of people right now spouting off about how glorious it would be to die resisting fascism, and attacking anyone who suggests that dying as a first resort might not be a winning strategy.
Death might happen when resisting, but it shouldn't be the _goal_.
Death might happen when resisting, but it shouldn't be the _goal_.
My local No Kings protest has a banner for people to sign.
I think they're not very good at this.
I think they're not very good at this.
October 18, 2025 at 5:16 PM
My local No Kings protest has a banner for people to sign.
I think they're not very good at this.
I think they're not very good at this.
To expand on this point, a lot of the people who died with Nazi Germany were not Nazis. Probably most of the German-speakers who died were not Nazis.
Only about 1/3 of German voters supported the Nazi Party, and there was a massive ethnic cleansing of German-speakers from eastern Europe.
Just....
Only about 1/3 of German voters supported the Nazi Party, and there was a massive ethnic cleansing of German-speakers from eastern Europe.
Just....
Someone asked what happened to the casual Nazi at the end of WWII. The people who supported the Party
The answer? Suicides and murders. If they weren’t beaten to death or shot in the streets, they killed themselves
There’s a book called Promise Me You’ll Shoot Yourself by Florian Huber about it.
The answer? Suicides and murders. If they weren’t beaten to death or shot in the streets, they killed themselves
There’s a book called Promise Me You’ll Shoot Yourself by Florian Huber about it.
October 16, 2025 at 2:20 PM
To expand on this point, a lot of the people who died with Nazi Germany were not Nazis. Probably most of the German-speakers who died were not Nazis.
Only about 1/3 of German voters supported the Nazi Party, and there was a massive ethnic cleansing of German-speakers from eastern Europe.
Just....
Only about 1/3 of German voters supported the Nazi Party, and there was a massive ethnic cleansing of German-speakers from eastern Europe.
Just....
Why are people pretending to be so attached to the + in Apple TV+?
October 13, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Why are people pretending to be so attached to the + in Apple TV+?