Rick Barry
@therickbarry.bsky.social
ED of Center for Christian Civics. Very, very pro pluralist democracy, the Wachowskis, pretentious literary short fiction, Doctor Who, kindness.
A whooooole lotta stuff just started making sense.
July 17, 2025 at 8:51 PM
A whooooole lotta stuff just started making sense.
To quote someone I talked with about that breed of young, conservative influencers, their careers are based on acting like the grandchildren elderly conservatives wish they had.
July 17, 2025 at 8:38 PM
To quote someone I talked with about that breed of young, conservative influencers, their careers are based on acting like the grandchildren elderly conservatives wish they had.
I think you have a better chance of getting it if you beat it normally while at level 30.
June 14, 2025 at 12:48 AM
I think you have a better chance of getting it if you beat it normally while at level 30.
If there's been any good research on the correlation between TDS's rise in popularity during the Bush II years and the principles/values of self-identified conservatives where consistency and accusations of hypocrisy are concerned, I'd love to read it. 7/7
May 8, 2025 at 5:53 PM
If there's been any good research on the correlation between TDS's rise in popularity during the Bush II years and the principles/values of self-identified conservatives where consistency and accusations of hypocrisy are concerned, I'd love to read it. 7/7
Tribalism and negative partisanship undoubtedly led some conservatives to dismiss consistency as a strategy or tool of "the other team," similarly to how GWB is reported to have dismissed terrorism as "a Democratic issue" pre-9/11.
I have no grand conclusion here, just that lone thought. /6
I have no grand conclusion here, just that lone thought. /6
May 8, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Tribalism and negative partisanship undoubtedly led some conservatives to dismiss consistency as a strategy or tool of "the other team," similarly to how GWB is reported to have dismissed terrorism as "a Democratic issue" pre-9/11.
I have no grand conclusion here, just that lone thought. /6
I have no grand conclusion here, just that lone thought. /6
But my guess is that TDS in the '00s was so good at highlighting when politicians were hypocritical and disingenuous, and it loomed so large for young Democrats and other progressives at the time, that caring about hypocrisy ceased to be a value for some significant subset of conservatives. /5
May 8, 2025 at 5:53 PM
But my guess is that TDS in the '00s was so good at highlighting when politicians were hypocritical and disingenuous, and it loomed so large for young Democrats and other progressives at the time, that caring about hypocrisy ceased to be a value for some significant subset of conservatives. /5
And I don't think I was alone in that. Coming of age during the heyday of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has left a certain subset of millennials with a deep conviction that blatant hypocrisy should disqualify someone from being taken seriously. And maybe it did, at the time. /4
May 8, 2025 at 5:53 PM
And I don't think I was alone in that. Coming of age during the heyday of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has left a certain subset of millennials with a deep conviction that blatant hypocrisy should disqualify someone from being taken seriously. And maybe it did, at the time. /4
As a teenager, I was one of the (statistically few) people who regularly watched The Daily Show BEFORE Jon Stewart took over in 1999. I was developing political opinions essentially alongside the show as he took it from being about entertainment to being about current affairs. /3
May 8, 2025 at 5:53 PM
As a teenager, I was one of the (statistically few) people who regularly watched The Daily Show BEFORE Jon Stewart took over in 1999. I was developing political opinions essentially alongside the show as he took it from being about entertainment to being about current affairs. /3
Then I thought maybe I had that first impulse because of The Daily Show—and maybe The Daily Show was the reason posting it wouldn't prompt anyone to self-reflection, too. /2
May 8, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Then I thought maybe I had that first impulse because of The Daily Show—and maybe The Daily Show was the reason posting it wouldn't prompt anyone to self-reflection, too. /2
Really we need fewer cars and more trains and busses.
April 22, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Really we need fewer cars and more trains and busses.
I have no idea how this could possibly be legislated at the federal level, but scale traffic fines and vacant property fines to net worth as reflected in previous year's tax returns.
April 22, 2025 at 2:35 AM
I have no idea how this could possibly be legislated at the federal level, but scale traffic fines and vacant property fines to net worth as reflected in previous year's tax returns.
Hold on, serious question: Do authors also write the headlines at The Verge???
April 10, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Hold on, serious question: Do authors also write the headlines at The Verge???
Love your libraries, folks.
April 8, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Love your libraries, folks.
Libraries are an amazing refuge and resource for so many people—including some of the people who work there.
I never thought I'd see libraries attacked the way they have been the last few years. I'm so proud to have worked with this one, and they deserve all of our support right now.
I never thought I'd see libraries attacked the way they have been the last few years. I'm so proud to have worked with this one, and they deserve all of our support right now.
April 8, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Libraries are an amazing refuge and resource for so many people—including some of the people who work there.
I never thought I'd see libraries attacked the way they have been the last few years. I'm so proud to have worked with this one, and they deserve all of our support right now.
I never thought I'd see libraries attacked the way they have been the last few years. I'm so proud to have worked with this one, and they deserve all of our support right now.
Now, I'm staring down the barrel of a sabbatical, unable to envision what I hope to gain from it, and coming across the article at the top of this thread finally reminded me: I hope I have a season similar to the one I had with BPL in 2010.
April 8, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Now, I'm staring down the barrel of a sabbatical, unable to envision what I hope to gain from it, and coming across the article at the top of this thread finally reminded me: I hope I have a season similar to the one I had with BPL in 2010.
I ended up accepting a job in DC halfway through my time with BPL, and moved to DC a few days after my contract there ended. That move obviously changed my life in so many ways, but I wouldn't have been able to do it without my time at BPL.
April 8, 2025 at 8:02 PM
I ended up accepting a job in DC halfway through my time with BPL, and moved to DC a few days after my contract there ended. That move obviously changed my life in so many ways, but I wouldn't have been able to do it without my time at BPL.
The eight months I ended up working with the team at Brooklyn Public Library was one of the most restorative seasons I've ever had. I healed a lot physically and mentally. The work was fun, the team functioned incredibly well, and the results of our work were always things we could be proud of.
April 8, 2025 at 8:02 PM
The eight months I ended up working with the team at Brooklyn Public Library was one of the most restorative seasons I've ever had. I healed a lot physically and mentally. The work was fun, the team functioned incredibly well, and the results of our work were always things we could be proud of.
She asked if I was interested in short-term gigs, because she had a six- to nine-month contract available writing speeches and other material for a local non-profit and thought I might be a good fit. Was I interested?
I asked what the area of practice was, and she said, "Books."
I asked what the area of practice was, and she said, "Books."
April 8, 2025 at 8:02 PM
She asked if I was interested in short-term gigs, because she had a six- to nine-month contract available writing speeches and other material for a local non-profit and thought I might be a good fit. Was I interested?
I asked what the area of practice was, and she said, "Books."
I asked what the area of practice was, and she said, "Books."
I was in this depleted state—limping; emotionally empty after deaths in the family and being kidnapped; demoralized trying to change industries and getting ghosted after an eight-hour interview—when I got a call from a recruiter.
April 8, 2025 at 8:02 PM
I was in this depleted state—limping; emotionally empty after deaths in the family and being kidnapped; demoralized trying to change industries and getting ghosted after an eight-hour interview—when I got a call from a recruiter.