1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:03,240 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. 2 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:11,640 Speaker 2: Book Club book Club book Club, book Club, the Club 3 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:15,600 Speaker 2: book Club. Hello, and welcome to the Cool Zone Media 4 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:18,239 Speaker 2: book Club, the only book club where you don't have 5 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:21,080 Speaker 2: to do the reading because I do it for you. 6 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 2: And this week the reading I'm doing for you is 7 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 2: my own story. 8 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:30,480 Speaker 1: That's right. This week we're reading one of my stories 9 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: because I wrote a piece over on my newsletter on 10 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 1: Substack Margaret Kildoy dot substack dot com, and I wanted 11 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:41,879 Speaker 1: people to hear it, so I thought i'd read it 12 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:46,479 Speaker 1: to you because it's a very book club type story 13 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:49,240 Speaker 1: and I mean that both in the it fits with 14 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media, it fits with sort of the original 15 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: incarnation of it could happen here, but also it's the 16 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: kind of story that I hope y'all give a good 17 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: thing about, like in a book club. And what I 18 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:09,759 Speaker 1: have to say about this story is that I've been 19 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:12,639 Speaker 1: struggling to write down some of my ideas about current 20 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: events and preparedness through nonfiction, because nonfiction has never been 21 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:19,880 Speaker 1: how I get my grand ideas about what we can 22 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 1: do as people and how we can improve the world. 23 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: I've gotten those ideas from friends telling stories, and I've 24 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,279 Speaker 1: gotten those ideas from reading narrative like memoir and fiction. 25 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: So I've been thinking about trying to write a series 26 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 1: of vignettes about collapse. And I don't know whether I'm 27 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 1: going to weave this into some post apocalyptic novel, or 28 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:44,080 Speaker 1: turn these things into seines, or you know, just run 29 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:47,720 Speaker 1: it as a kind of serial in my news letter 30 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: where this first appeared. But we'll see. I've always been 31 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 1: interested in writing didactic fiction. It's out of vogue to 32 00:01:56,760 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: just say this story is supposed to teach you something, 33 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: which is what didactic fiction means. But some of my 34 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 1: favorite fiction has been pretty transparent, and it aims to 35 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:08,560 Speaker 1: do just that. I grew up reading a ton of 36 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 1: Heinleine in Legwin, two masters of didactic fiction, though they 37 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: go about it in essentially opposite ways and have more 38 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 1: or less opposite political positions. I'm not going to defend 39 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: Heinland's politics, but I will admit I read a lot 40 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: of his books as a kid. In his book Starship Troopers, 41 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: Heinland just straight up has entire chapters that are philosophy 42 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:36,600 Speaker 1: lessons in the essentially fascistic military academy that the protagonist attends. 43 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:42,640 Speaker 1: Legwin builds novel length transparent metaphors, books with ideas like 44 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:47,400 Speaker 1: what if gender was fluid? And what if anarchy but 45 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 1: on the moon. Cory Doctro another favorite author of mine. 46 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:55,239 Speaker 1: Sometimes in his books he just has long asides that say, 47 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: and this is how you use encryption, or this is 48 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: how capitalism works. Some of my books are more to 49 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 1: dactic than others, but I suspect this How to Survive 50 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:09,520 Speaker 1: the Apocalypse series will be among my most transparently didactic work. 51 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 1: I hope you'll forgive me. I hope you enjoy it. 52 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: Hope you never have to strap dolls under your armor 53 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 1: and raise a pastel flag to go to war against 54 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: cannibal Nazis and a disintegrating rust belt city, because that's 55 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 1: what this story is about. Anyway. Here's the end, like 56 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:33,760 Speaker 1: sand or how I joined the Muppet Babies and a 57 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 1: war against the Cannibal Nazis from the suburbs by Margaret Kiljoy, 58 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: which is me. This piece was written by our beloved 59 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: friend and comrade, Cristiano mudd Alvez, who was murdered during 60 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: the assault on the butcher shop by shrapnel from a 61 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:54,200 Speaker 1: fragmentation grenade. That day's battle was lost, but the Muppet 62 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: Babies prevailed against that location eight days later, saving uncountable lives. 63 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: Mud live eternal in our hurts. The collapse was slow 64 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:09,680 Speaker 1: until it wasn't. Of course it was. We've all read 65 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:12,120 Speaker 1: parable of the Sewer by Butler, not the one in 66 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 1: the Bible. I think most people who say they've read 67 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: the Bible are lying. We all knew it was going 68 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: to be a slow collapse. We've all read that tweet, 69 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:23,480 Speaker 1: that famous one. Even if you came of age after 70 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 1: Twitter became x and so you never had Twitter, you 71 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 1: read the tweet by at Pershire Mags. The one that 72 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 1: goes climate change will manifest as a series of disasters 73 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 1: viewed through phones, with footage that gets closer and closer 74 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: to where you live until you're the one filming it. Well, 75 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:43,920 Speaker 1: it turns out, to no one's surprise that this is 76 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:46,800 Speaker 1: true about pretty much every type of collapse, not just 77 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:51,799 Speaker 1: climate collapse. One more quote for you, this one intentionally rewritten. 78 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:56,039 Speaker 1: William Gibson once wrote, quote, the future is already here, 79 00:04:56,480 --> 00:05:00,480 Speaker 1: it's just not very evenly distributed. My co is that 80 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:04,600 Speaker 1: for years we've known that the apocalypse is here. It's 81 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: just not evenly distributed, which means I can't tell you 82 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 1: the specific day that society collapsed, because it depends on 83 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:16,839 Speaker 1: where you're looking Syria, Iran, India, or do we mean 84 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 1: suburban America. I feel like we always mean suburban America 85 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:23,320 Speaker 1: when we're talking about the collapse, even though I was 86 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: born and bred well inside the limits of my rust 87 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:28,920 Speaker 1: belt city, and the only thing I've ever gone into 88 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: the suburbs for was cheap food trader Joe's Rest in Peace, 89 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:38,160 Speaker 1: or more recently, in sorties against the cannibal Nazis. When 90 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: the apocalypse came to America, it came in fits since starts, 91 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 1: and it's hard to say what kicked it off. Did 92 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:48,159 Speaker 1: it start with the twenty twenty four election, That's where 93 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:51,159 Speaker 1: most people put the beginning of the end, But we'd 94 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,280 Speaker 1: been ignoring climate change for decades or a century or 95 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:58,120 Speaker 1: some shit at that point. Hell, the first apocalypse that 96 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:00,840 Speaker 1: happened where I live happened one hundreds of years ago 97 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:03,840 Speaker 1: to the eerie people. And I'll tell you that some 98 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:06,600 Speaker 1: of the first dominoes that led us to today were 99 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:09,080 Speaker 1: tipped over when the Hoda and Ashonee were conquered by 100 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:12,479 Speaker 1: a bunch of Protestants from England. And you know what, 101 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: the Hoda Ashonee people are still around. The English bastards, 102 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 1: including a couple of the less savory among my ancestors. 103 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: To be real, didn't manage to kill them all. There's 104 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:27,520 Speaker 1: that other quote, this one from someone who survived the 105 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:30,520 Speaker 1: collapse of the USSR, that I hope will apply to us. 106 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 1: Most people survive the end of their way of life. 107 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:38,920 Speaker 1: If most of us survived the current collapse, though, it's 108 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: going to be by a generous reading of the word most. 109 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:44,880 Speaker 1: I made it through the first thirty six years of 110 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:48,000 Speaker 1: my life having only seen three dead bodies that weren't 111 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: already in coffins, and in the past year I've seen 112 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:56,360 Speaker 1: a few hundred and made two of my own. Okay, 113 00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:59,479 Speaker 1: one more quote for you. I must miss the old 114 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: Internet because I still think in memes and screenshots. This 115 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:05,320 Speaker 1: one I can't find you the source for, but it 116 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 1: basically boils down to it. It's the apocalypse. Why do 117 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 1: I still have to go to work and pay rent? 118 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:15,440 Speaker 1: And this quote is particularly important because if you want 119 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:19,560 Speaker 1: to know when the apocalypse started, well, it started for 120 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:22,920 Speaker 1: most people when they were laid off and evicted. The 121 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 1: apocalypse looks more like grains of sand dropping through an 122 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: hour glass were the grains of sand. In case my 123 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 1: metaphor was too subtle, people dropped one by one, ten 124 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:38,680 Speaker 1: by ten through the cracks of society. When did my 125 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: apocalypse start? I wasn't the first grain of sand to drop, 126 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,920 Speaker 1: and I wasn't the last. I guess my apocalypse started 127 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 1: last spring when some private security showed up to evictor 128 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 1: whole apartment building, our faceless corporate landlord. The bank was 129 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:58,680 Speaker 1: clinging desperately to some semblance of normalcy and thought words 130 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 1: like rent and lease and litigation still held power, and 131 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 1: they had convinced some mercenaries with rifles to try and 132 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:11,200 Speaker 1: enforce those dead words, which means that around eight months ago, 133 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:13,880 Speaker 1: some guys tried to rip me and my cats and 134 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 1: our neighbors out of our building, even though society was 135 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: pretty solidly collapsing and almost none of us had work. 136 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 1: The cell phones still had service back then most of 137 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:27,480 Speaker 1: the time, but half the apps were either dead or 138 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:31,000 Speaker 1: location locked for the gated communities, and I hadn't been 139 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: on Instagram for almost a year already. Maybe a more 140 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 1: interesting metric by which to measure the apocalypse isn't do 141 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:40,480 Speaker 1: I have to work and pay rent, But am I 142 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 1: still addicted to social media? Or has that been yanked 143 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:47,560 Speaker 1: out from under me? When the mercenaries came, almost none 144 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 1: of us knew what to do because we didn't really 145 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 1: know one another too well in that building. We were 146 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:56,760 Speaker 1: mostly millennial in gen Z, and our communities were online 147 00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,319 Speaker 1: or were built out of friends scattered across the city 148 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:03,120 Speaker 1: who shared our ne niche subcultural interests. I mostly hung 149 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:05,680 Speaker 1: out with other bartenders for my job back when I 150 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:07,920 Speaker 1: had it, plus a few of the people I went 151 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:12,000 Speaker 1: birding with. I didn't know most of my actual direct neighbors. 152 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:16,760 Speaker 1: I didn't want to be evicted. I've got three cats, 153 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:19,520 Speaker 1: and all of them used to be alley cats, and frankly, 154 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:21,440 Speaker 1: I used to be an alley cat too for a 155 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:24,240 Speaker 1: little while as a teenager, and none of the four 156 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:27,360 Speaker 1: of us were looking forward to sleeping outside again. And 157 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 1: food was getting spare enough that people weren't throwing much out, 158 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: so I wouldn't be able to live off of dumpstered 159 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:37,000 Speaker 1: bagels again even if I wanted to. I figured this 160 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:42,080 Speaker 1: eviction might be the end of me until about thirty 161 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:46,280 Speaker 1: muppet babies marched up the street. That's what they called themselves, 162 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:50,160 Speaker 1: bunch of weirdos with ar fifteens and armor, and half 163 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:52,800 Speaker 1: of them were in pastels, and half of them were 164 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: all black, and they had a bunch of flags, too 165 00:09:55,920 --> 00:10:00,960 Speaker 1: many flags, just an altogether inappropriate flagged marcher racio. You 166 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 1: should have like one flag per ten people. Tops. Half 167 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: these motherfuckers were carrying flags. There was a Pride flag 168 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:12,840 Speaker 1: and some other kind of Pride flag, and a Palestinian flag, 169 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:16,560 Speaker 1: and a pirate flag, and an archo syndicalist flag. But 170 00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:19,680 Speaker 1: most of the flags were those cringey boomer yard flags, 171 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:22,200 Speaker 1: you know those ones that you can buy at Walmart 172 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:25,600 Speaker 1: or loot from Walmart these days that just say like 173 00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: springtime or snow day, or have an illustration of a 174 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:34,080 Speaker 1: pumpkin or whatever. Most of the flags were those kind 175 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: of flags, and probably the smallest person in the crowd, 176 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:42,080 Speaker 1: a short king, who I have learned since does not 177 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:44,400 Speaker 1: like being called a king, because he'd cut his teeth 178 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:47,559 Speaker 1: in those no King's protests that started getting spicy once 179 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:49,760 Speaker 1: it was clear fair elections were the thing of the past, 180 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:54,720 Speaker 1: so no kings was practically his identity. But also he 181 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:57,520 Speaker 1: was a short king. That guy was right in front 182 00:10:57,520 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 1: with a megaphone, and he shouted, you want us to 183 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,840 Speaker 1: clear out this rabble, But he was talking to us, 184 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:07,280 Speaker 1: not the mercenaries the bank had hired. And my neighbor 185 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:10,080 Speaker 1: yousef like the only person in the building whose name 186 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:11,800 Speaker 1: I knew because we used to date, but that was 187 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:14,680 Speaker 1: years ago, and by that point we were friends, but 188 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:17,120 Speaker 1: in quotes, because we didn't actually hang out. We just 189 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:20,600 Speaker 1: said high awkwardly in the hall. He was out on 190 00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:23,040 Speaker 1: his tiny balcony and he cupped his hands over his 191 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:27,760 Speaker 1: mouth and said, yes please. And do you know what 192 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:32,560 Speaker 1: else you can say yes please to dear listener products 193 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: and services, or you know, hitting the floor fifteen seconds 194 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:39,040 Speaker 1: through the ad breaks. It's okay, no one is going 195 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:51,560 Speaker 1: to come to your apartment building about it, and we're back. 196 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:01,000 Speaker 1: The mercenaries, well, they were probably just a bunch of 197 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:03,280 Speaker 1: guys who didn't want to fall like sand through the 198 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:06,440 Speaker 1: same hour glass everyone else was falling through. So they'd 199 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:09,439 Speaker 1: taken jobs with one of the only institutions that still 200 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:12,480 Speaker 1: believed in business as usual and paid enough money to 201 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:17,040 Speaker 1: support yourself. But they weren't dumb. They'd shown up ready 202 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:20,280 Speaker 1: to push other people like sand down through the hour glass. 203 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:23,000 Speaker 1: They hadn't shown up ready to deal with a couple 204 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:26,600 Speaker 1: dozen queers and anarchists and pirates who'd named themselves after 205 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:30,720 Speaker 1: an ancient children's cartoon and armed themselves with rifles, so 206 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:33,720 Speaker 1: they fucked off without a fight. Cops were still a 207 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:36,240 Speaker 1: thing at that point. They hadn't just given up and 208 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:39,640 Speaker 1: admitted they were just another gang, but they'd retreated to 209 00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:43,680 Speaker 1: the downtown core and the wealthier suburbs. They weren't coming. 210 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:46,880 Speaker 1: If the cops had been available to run tenants out 211 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 1: of buildings, the bank would have sent them first. Mercenaries 212 00:12:50,679 --> 00:12:54,240 Speaker 1: are expensive. Capital will always try to leverage the state 213 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:57,800 Speaker 1: for free services before they rely on hiring someone themselves, 214 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,560 Speaker 1: just like how the state all relied on nonprofits to 215 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:03,839 Speaker 1: fill in the gaps for social services that should have 216 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:06,840 Speaker 1: been provided for by tax money. I used to work 217 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 1: for nonprofits, and I'm still a little bitter. Since the 218 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,680 Speaker 1: cops weren't coming, we knew we were safe, at least 219 00:13:12,679 --> 00:13:16,200 Speaker 1: for a while. And that's when my apocalypse started, and 220 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:18,560 Speaker 1: I got to keep living in that apartment till it 221 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 1: caught a mortar round over the summer. All my cats 222 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:23,959 Speaker 1: were okay. Wish I could say the same about all 223 00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:28,200 Speaker 1: my neighbors. But on the day that my apocalypse started, 224 00:13:28,679 --> 00:13:31,800 Speaker 1: not a single shot was fired, not a single person 225 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:35,520 Speaker 1: was killed. My apartment was saved by the mup At babies, 226 00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:38,560 Speaker 1: And now I'm a mupp At baby too. And I 227 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:40,920 Speaker 1: don't know if we're a gang or not. We call 228 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:46,160 Speaker 1: ourselves a mass, a mutual aid and solidarity society. We're 229 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:48,640 Speaker 1: honestly sort of one of those warlord groups all the 230 00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:52,080 Speaker 1: Apocalypse movies warned us about, though we don't do a 231 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:55,800 Speaker 1: lot of roving, and we make our decisions democratically, and 232 00:13:55,880 --> 00:13:58,640 Speaker 1: anyone can leave at any time, which is a detail 233 00:13:58,679 --> 00:14:00,960 Speaker 1: I haven't seen included in it any of those movies. 234 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:04,880 Speaker 1: If we're a gang, we're a nice gang or a 235 00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:08,560 Speaker 1: mostly nice gang. I've been in too many gunfights now 236 00:14:08,559 --> 00:14:12,960 Speaker 1: to think I can claim a pure moral high ground. Actually, 237 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: two of those guys who'd shown up to evict Us, 238 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:19,680 Speaker 1: two brothers named Hammer and Henry. They're with us now too. 239 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:22,880 Speaker 1: We don't pay anyone anything, but we also don't charge anything. 240 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:26,200 Speaker 1: We just take care of each other like a family, 241 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:32,120 Speaker 1: like a community, like a cult, or a solidarity society. 242 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,160 Speaker 1: We've been strapping dolls to our armor when we go 243 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 1: into battle, though, which is honestly kind of culty or 244 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:43,520 Speaker 1: warlord gangish, but we don't have a warlord, and we 245 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:46,080 Speaker 1: don't have a charismatic leader. And look, yeah, most of 246 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:49,120 Speaker 1: the people under the age of forty among us are polyamorous. 247 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:52,200 Speaker 1: But we're not a cult. I feel like a lot 248 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:54,960 Speaker 1: of people's accusations of us being a cult are already 249 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 1: answered by the we're not a cult flag that Tracy 250 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:02,800 Speaker 1: hung up outside her warehouse recent I appreciate my generation's 251 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:05,480 Speaker 1: commitment to Internet humor, even though we don't have the 252 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:11,240 Speaker 1: Internet anymore. Most of the founders of the Muppet Babies 253 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:14,840 Speaker 1: are dead now, despite the group being only a year old. 254 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 1: Only Sasha is left, and if I'm being honest, Sasha 255 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:21,720 Speaker 1: had a pretty major break with consensus reality about half 256 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:24,400 Speaker 1: a year ago, and they spend most of their time 257 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 1: converting the second floor of the Muppet Theater. The warehouse 258 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:30,680 Speaker 1: most of us live in into a dollhouse village with 259 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:34,360 Speaker 1: an elaborate public transit system built out of model trains 260 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:37,720 Speaker 1: that we've scavenged from garages and basements across the city. 261 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:41,960 Speaker 1: The trains always run on time. In Machnovia, the village 262 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:44,600 Speaker 1: Sam is building and there's a whiteboard with a train 263 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:47,600 Speaker 1: schedule right by the stairs. If you try to make 264 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:50,640 Speaker 1: a joke about Mussolini and the trains running on time, 265 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:53,880 Speaker 1: Sam will lecture you for about thirty minutes about the 266 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:57,360 Speaker 1: anarcho syndicalist unions in pre fascist Italy who got the 267 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:02,040 Speaker 1: trains running on time, a punctuality inherited by the fascist dictator. 268 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:05,720 Speaker 1: I don't know if that's true or not, because the 269 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:11,680 Speaker 1: answer isn't on our Wikipedia backup. Sasha's kind of a seer, now, 270 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:15,080 Speaker 1: that's what they call themselves. They're at every meeting, but 271 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:19,200 Speaker 1: they never directly express any particular opinion. They just offer 272 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:22,040 Speaker 1: us stories out of history or out of their imagination, 273 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:25,880 Speaker 1: and those stories are occasionally disruptive to the meeting process 274 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:31,360 Speaker 1: and are occasionally remarkably insightful. Organizing with disparate people means 275 00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:34,520 Speaker 1: accommodating the disparate ways that people are going to participate, 276 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:41,280 Speaker 1: and I love Sasha's stories. Sasha used to be an organizer. 277 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:47,240 Speaker 1: They've done it all, political campaigns, nonprofit work, direct action, environmentalism. 278 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:49,880 Speaker 1: They helped stop a bunch of data centers through good 279 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:54,960 Speaker 1: old fashioned, above board legal grassroots organizing, and they were 280 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:57,960 Speaker 1: a person of interest in the federal government's investigation into 281 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:01,000 Speaker 1: that string of data center fires that picked up once 282 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:04,560 Speaker 1: the FED stepped in to overrule local prohibitions on their construction. 283 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:09,200 Speaker 1: You might not remember that particular string of arsons because 284 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:11,920 Speaker 1: once in a lifetime events were happening every week during 285 00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: the last ten years or so before collapse, But those 286 00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:18,080 Speaker 1: data center fires happened around the same time as that 287 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:22,040 Speaker 1: National Guard mutiny that wound up splintering everything into state Guards, 288 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:26,359 Speaker 1: which you probably do remember. Sasha used to be an organizer, 289 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:28,760 Speaker 1: and they were good at it, and they helped start 290 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:31,640 Speaker 1: them up at BABIES, though they'd argued against the name 291 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:35,240 Speaker 1: they'd wanted to call it, the Rust Belt Mutual Aid 292 00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:39,320 Speaker 1: and Solidarity Society, which they'd wanted to shorten to rb 293 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:43,719 Speaker 1: MASS because organizers are obsessed with acronyms, and Sasha figured 294 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:46,000 Speaker 1: every region could set up its own MASS built on 295 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:49,800 Speaker 1: the same model. But Vivian and Hatchet and Oak and 296 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:52,360 Speaker 1: the rest of the founders were insistent that there shouldn't 297 00:17:52,359 --> 00:17:56,439 Speaker 1: be buzzwords, and there shouldn't be acronyms, and instead they 298 00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:59,120 Speaker 1: should pick something so ridiculous that no one would ever 299 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:03,120 Speaker 1: accuse them of making themselves too seriously, and Sasha went 300 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:05,679 Speaker 1: along with it, and about ten of them started them 301 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:09,639 Speaker 1: up at Babies and it was, you know, a mutual 302 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:14,359 Speaker 1: Aid and Solidarity Society, because buzzwords or no, that was 303 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:18,200 Speaker 1: what the group was designed to be. Occasionally, travelers come 304 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:21,560 Speaker 1: through Talon and tell us about other mass groups, most 305 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:24,639 Speaker 1: of which also chee the acronym and have absurd names 306 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:28,280 Speaker 1: for themselves. And hopefully sometime soon we'll get a much 307 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:31,800 Speaker 1: larger federation put together with all the masses around North 308 00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:35,399 Speaker 1: America so we can really start getting shit done. And 309 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:39,160 Speaker 1: knowing us, we'll wind up called like rugrat Nation or something. 310 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:42,679 Speaker 1: God forbid, we just become the Federated Mutual Aid and 311 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:49,320 Speaker 1: Solidarity Societies. Anyway, the up at Babies the founders knew 312 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 1: that society was collapsing and fast. They were a mix 313 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:57,399 Speaker 1: of organizers and preppers and community defense practitioners, and they 314 00:18:57,400 --> 00:18:59,720 Speaker 1: figured their skills were going to be in demand soon, 315 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:03,439 Speaker 1: and they've been preaching community focused preparedness for a while. 316 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:07,280 Speaker 1: I've actually got their old meeting notes, which I'm supposed 317 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:10,000 Speaker 1: to use to cobble together a how to build a 318 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:13,480 Speaker 1: mass pamphlet. Now that we've gotten some old letter presses, 319 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 1: running off of a water wheel in the river. I 320 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 1: used to write grants for nonprofits, so somehow that qualifies 321 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:22,159 Speaker 1: me to write a how to build the New World 322 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:26,040 Speaker 1: in the shell of the old instruction manual. It seemed 323 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:30,040 Speaker 1: like an overwhelming task, but Sasha suggested that when work 324 00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:34,440 Speaker 1: is too serious, too insurmountable, just treat it like playtime 325 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:37,440 Speaker 1: instead of work, and maybe I could write the whole 326 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:41,639 Speaker 1: thing out in some kind of narrative form first. Maybe 327 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:44,800 Speaker 1: that's why he's building a village out of dollhouses. When 328 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:50,280 Speaker 1: the work is insurmountable, turn to play. Much like dear listener, 329 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:55,080 Speaker 1: we must now ourselves turn to the products and services 330 00:19:55,119 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 1: that support this podcast, insurmountable as they may be, and 331 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:19,240 Speaker 1: we're back. If you're reading this version of this story, though, 332 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:23,480 Speaker 1: then something has gone terribly wrong and someone has decided 333 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,760 Speaker 1: to publish my narrative instead of my finished, polished non 334 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:30,160 Speaker 1: fiction essay that will magically teach everyone how to build 335 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:34,199 Speaker 1: a new and better world. Maybe I never finished that essay. 336 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:38,040 Speaker 1: Maybe I didn't live to see that better world. Maybe 337 00:20:38,040 --> 00:20:41,719 Speaker 1: this is my main written contribution to that effort. Thoughts 338 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:44,159 Speaker 1: of death will never be far from my mind in 339 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:48,639 Speaker 1: times like these, The basic idea that the first Muppet 340 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:51,600 Speaker 1: Babies came up with was a return to an older 341 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:56,320 Speaker 1: era of mutual aid organizations. Anarchist workers in Europe used 342 00:20:56,359 --> 00:20:58,920 Speaker 1: to build mutual aid societies that you actually had to 343 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:02,119 Speaker 1: be a member of to take advantage of. Fully. Some 344 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:05,520 Speaker 1: of the first Muppet Babies they were preppers with deep 345 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 1: stashes of all the classic stuff dried and freeze dried food, 346 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:15,119 Speaker 1: guns and ammos, gas masks, medical supplies, armor, seeds, radios, 347 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:18,720 Speaker 1: solar panels. Oaks straight up had a bunker under her 348 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:21,560 Speaker 1: house and the sticks. Though we lost contact with her 349 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:24,960 Speaker 1: months ago now and she's presumed dead, which is why 350 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: bunkers were never the best plan for most apocalyptic scenarios. 351 00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 1: Not a victim blame. I hope we'll clear out the 352 00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:35,639 Speaker 1: proudest boys who have been organizing in her area and 353 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:39,360 Speaker 1: find her safe and sound in her damn bunker. But yeah, 354 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,199 Speaker 1: the founders, they had all the stuff, and they've been 355 00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:46,080 Speaker 1: organizing together for a few years, putting on preparedness workshops 356 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:49,679 Speaker 1: and distributing supplies and trying to build connections between various 357 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:52,480 Speaker 1: groups of people. When they sat down at one of 358 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:55,560 Speaker 1: their meetings and realized that the end was nigh. They 359 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:58,320 Speaker 1: were like, all right, what's our plan when shit hits 360 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:01,119 Speaker 1: the fin Do we just set up on the street 361 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:03,680 Speaker 1: and give away our stuff? Do we hold up and 362 00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:08,280 Speaker 1: defend what's ours? What do we do? What they decided 363 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:11,200 Speaker 1: was that most of what they had they would keep 364 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:14,440 Speaker 1: within their group, but the group itself would be joinable 365 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:18,880 Speaker 1: by anyone and democratically controlled by all members. If someone 366 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:21,439 Speaker 1: was hungry, they could become am up at baby and 367 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:24,239 Speaker 1: eat as well or as badly as everyone else and 368 00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:26,720 Speaker 1: be part of the decision making. But they had to 369 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:30,280 Speaker 1: commit to participation in the collective well being in whatever 370 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:34,680 Speaker 1: capacity they had. And that's a mass. How am I 371 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:37,239 Speaker 1: supposed to write a whole pamphlet about an idea that 372 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:41,840 Speaker 1: I can get across in three sentences. To make sure 373 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:45,320 Speaker 1: that rapid expansion wouldn't fundamentally change the nature of the group, 374 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:48,879 Speaker 1: they agreed to what they called the Accord, which were 375 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:53,520 Speaker 1: immutable agreements at the core of the group's bylaws. Bylaws 376 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:56,560 Speaker 1: can be amended or removed or added to, but the 377 00:22:56,640 --> 00:23:00,359 Speaker 1: accord is eternal. If the group ever wants to change 378 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 1: the Accord, they would simply have to disband the group 379 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:09,880 Speaker 1: and become a different group. The accord is simple. One. 380 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:14,359 Speaker 1: Our group operates under democratic procedures in which all members 381 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:21,960 Speaker 1: have an equal say, regardless of seniority, popularity, or productive capacity. Two. 382 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:27,639 Speaker 1: Our group will not exclude members on the basis of ethnicity, race, gender, sex, 383 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:35,119 Speaker 1: sexual orientation, age, national origin, documentation, status prior incarceration, level 384 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:40,119 Speaker 1: of ability or disability, or productive capacity. This list is 385 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:43,200 Speaker 1: non exhaustive and is to be understood in the spirit 386 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:49,720 Speaker 1: of inclusion rather than exclusion. Three. Our group provides to 387 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,720 Speaker 1: its members according to their needs, and each member will 388 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 1: endeavor to provide for the group according to their ability. 389 00:23:56,240 --> 00:23:59,400 Speaker 1: Members still have a right to maintain personal property such as, 390 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:04,879 Speaker 1: but not limited to, a residence, weapons, media, and small 391 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:12,600 Speaker 1: scale supply stashes. Four. Membership in the group is voluntary. Five. 392 00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:16,360 Speaker 1: Our group prefers to build more bridges than it burns. 393 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:21,720 Speaker 1: Our group prefers to seek reconciliation whenever possible. Our group 394 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:25,879 Speaker 1: does not perceive people as disposable. Nor is our group 395 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:32,240 Speaker 1: a pacifist organization. There are all sorts of bylaws, and 396 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:34,880 Speaker 1: they change month to month because we meet about them 397 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:37,119 Speaker 1: all the time to discuss what is working and what 398 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:40,879 Speaker 1: isn't working, and because the three things that revolutions are 399 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:46,639 Speaker 1: built on are meetings, shitwork and terrifying action and descending 400 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:51,880 Speaker 1: order of time commitment. The bylaws discuss things like how 401 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:56,199 Speaker 1: to become a member currently there's a one month provisional membership. 402 00:24:57,040 --> 00:25:01,040 Speaker 1: How to remove members currently three quarter majority vote, but 403 00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:03,720 Speaker 1: we're discussing making it harder to remove members as we 404 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:08,760 Speaker 1: expand and become a larger portion of society. How decisions 405 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:12,800 Speaker 1: are made currently by simple majority for low impact matters, 406 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:16,959 Speaker 1: three quarters majority for high impact matters. And the empowerment 407 00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:22,240 Speaker 1: of temporary, recallable, accountable positions of authority for immediate crises 408 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:28,119 Speaker 1: and military situations. How we are structured. We are currently 409 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:34,040 Speaker 1: organized into three wings, Administrative, productive, and strategic, with individual 410 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:38,920 Speaker 1: working groups inside those wings. How we interact with other groups. 411 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:43,040 Speaker 1: Full cooperation with all groups that are democratic, respect diversity, 412 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:47,560 Speaker 1: and respect political pluralism. Limited cooperation with groups that respect 413 00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:53,399 Speaker 1: diversity and political pluralism. Situational cooperation against common enemies, with 414 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:57,920 Speaker 1: any group that is not tyrannical or otherwise monstrous. Look, 415 00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:00,000 Speaker 1: it's the apocalypse and there are people out there doing 416 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:05,480 Speaker 1: some pretty wild shit. Meeting structure. I'm really not going 417 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:09,120 Speaker 1: to bore you with this think Occupy era meeting culture, 418 00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:12,679 Speaker 1: but with more emphasis on autonomy for both individuals and 419 00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:17,920 Speaker 1: for working groups. How we distribute food equally, and how 420 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:22,720 Speaker 1: we distribute weapons selectively through a war council, although individuals 421 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:28,240 Speaker 1: often possess and maintain their own weapons. Conflict resolution our 422 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:32,560 Speaker 1: most contentious bylaws, which we will probably never truly perfect. 423 00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:36,720 Speaker 1: We've grown a lot since the Muppet babies marched on 424 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:39,840 Speaker 1: my apartment building and saved me from becoming another grain 425 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:43,200 Speaker 1: of sand, but we've lost a lot of people too. 426 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:46,240 Speaker 1: Are let's take care of each other and treat each 427 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,800 Speaker 1: other as equals and make decisions together. Thing wasn't too 428 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:52,320 Speaker 1: popular with some of the other factions in the city, 429 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:59,360 Speaker 1: especially the cannibal Nazis from the suburbs. Those Nazis call 430 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 1: themselves the Survivors, and there are a sort of fascistic 431 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:07,879 Speaker 1: oligarchy with pretensions of meritocracy. Most of their leaders are 432 00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:11,119 Speaker 1: former cops. To be fair, there are three X cops 433 00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:14,000 Speaker 1: in our ranks as well, which was a contentious decision, 434 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,399 Speaker 1: but none of our ex cops are active Nazis. The 435 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:22,040 Speaker 1: Survivors call their teachings the Harsh Truth and believe the 436 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 1: New World will be built of the true survivors, the 437 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:30,359 Speaker 1: strongest of the strong. The fascism came first, the cannibalism 438 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:35,359 Speaker 1: came later. Sasha likes to say, we would have added 439 00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:37,680 Speaker 1: no eating people to the accord if we knew then 440 00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:39,680 Speaker 1: what we know now. But that's the kind of thing 441 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:44,920 Speaker 1: you'd like to imagine goes unspoken. The survivors rule through fear. 442 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:49,840 Speaker 1: We co rule ourselves through love and respect. We're winning. 443 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:54,760 Speaker 1: All it takes to defeat evil in this world are love, respect, 444 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:57,760 Speaker 1: and plenty of five to five six by forty five 445 00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:02,760 Speaker 1: millimeter ammunition. I don't like to call them the survivors, 446 00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:05,639 Speaker 1: because they aren't going to survive, not if we have 447 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:08,600 Speaker 1: anything to say on the matter. I like to call 448 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:12,680 Speaker 1: them the cannibal Nazis from the suburbs because it's more accurate, 449 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:15,159 Speaker 1: and because when I call them that, I get to 450 00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:19,040 Speaker 1: feel like I live in a bad eighties movie. Despite 451 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:21,840 Speaker 1: that war, or maybe because of it, since it spurs 452 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:24,280 Speaker 1: us to build bridges with other communities in our region, 453 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:29,159 Speaker 1: we're growing fast. I think soon enough we're going to 454 00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:34,840 Speaker 1: break apart, but intentionally into local councils. Sasha keeps calling 455 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:38,600 Speaker 1: the proposed councils the Soviets. But I think he's joking 456 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:41,360 Speaker 1: because I read a book about Magnovia, which he named 457 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:44,240 Speaker 1: his dollhouse town after, and that was a country of 458 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:47,440 Speaker 1: anarchists who fought tooth and nail against the Bolsheviks and 459 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:51,640 Speaker 1: the founding of the USSR. Though Soviet just means council basically, 460 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,880 Speaker 1: it turns out we're going to set up councils and 461 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:58,240 Speaker 1: we're not going to call them Soviets. The councils will 462 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:01,680 Speaker 1: be formed by individual apartment build buildings, and by city blocks, 463 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: and by working groups, and by schools and by workplaces. 464 00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:09,280 Speaker 1: We've taken over a few factories already, and those councils 465 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:12,080 Speaker 1: are going to make their own local decisions, then come 466 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,160 Speaker 1: together in a bottom up federation to discuss bigger topics 467 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:20,920 Speaker 1: like defense, like food distribution, which means we probably won't 468 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:23,800 Speaker 1: be called them up at babies much longer. Most of 469 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:27,120 Speaker 1: the new members don't like that name anyway. I think 470 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:28,760 Speaker 1: a core of us are going to hold on to 471 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:32,280 Speaker 1: the Moniker, but for a unit in the territorial defense. 472 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:38,440 Speaker 1: We need that territorial defense. It's the apocalypse. People are dying. 473 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:42,440 Speaker 1: We're trying to build this wild, desperate utopia. But at 474 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:45,880 Speaker 1: the current rate of disease and famine and disaster and conflict, 475 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:49,800 Speaker 1: most of us won't live to be old. And I 476 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:52,680 Speaker 1: go into battle these days, something I never would have 477 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:55,920 Speaker 1: thought I would do, but it feels oddly good to 478 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:58,960 Speaker 1: strap dolls to my plate carrier and fly a pastel 479 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:03,200 Speaker 1: flag with the Eastern Bunny on it and saying, mopit, 480 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:09,120 Speaker 1: babies will make our dreams come true, mo bit, babies 481 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:13,080 Speaker 1: will do the same for you. As I go to 482 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:16,840 Speaker 1: war against the cannibal Nazis who are pouring in from 483 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:23,400 Speaker 1: the suburbs. The end, Hazel, who helps out behind the scenes, says, 484 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:26,720 Speaker 1: this piece rules, and I think it's really funny how 485 00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:30,080 Speaker 1: you managed to write a different fictional character substack. This 486 00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:33,680 Speaker 1: piece doesn't really fit conventional story beats, and there isn't 487 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:36,120 Speaker 1: really a plot or main conflict, but you still get 488 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:38,800 Speaker 1: this window into a different world with equal parts weird 489 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:43,200 Speaker 1: and familiar. It reminds me of everything for everyone. In 490 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:46,080 Speaker 1: Oral History of the New York Commune twenty fifty two 491 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:50,200 Speaker 1: to twenty seventy two by Emmy O'Brien in Amman Abdolhati, 492 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:53,120 Speaker 1: which is structured as a series of interviews between the 493 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:56,080 Speaker 1: actual authors and characters they've created to tell a story 494 00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:59,720 Speaker 1: about a utopian, communized New York City, which is a 495 00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:02,440 Speaker 1: really inventive way to do that kind of didactic fiction. 496 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:06,960 Speaker 1: As for me, what do I have to say about this? Well, 497 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:11,840 Speaker 1: I embarrassingly haven't read everything for everyone yet. I've been 498 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:15,280 Speaker 1: meaning to for quite a while. I honestly couldn't tell 499 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:19,680 Speaker 1: you why I haven't done it. But I'm excited too. 500 00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:23,000 Speaker 1: I'm excited to read that book. And what else do 501 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:25,600 Speaker 1: I have to say about it? There's a lot of 502 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:28,200 Speaker 1: meta stuff going on in this writing. Like, for all 503 00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:32,280 Speaker 1: of the things that I'm not doing traditional structure wise 504 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:35,280 Speaker 1: in terms of plot and pacing and things like that, 505 00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:38,480 Speaker 1: there's still a lot of like writers tricks and things 506 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:40,920 Speaker 1: I'm playing with in here, and one of them is 507 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:45,040 Speaker 1: the metahis of it. Right. The protagonist is told that 508 00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:48,000 Speaker 1: if he can't figure out how to write this piece 509 00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:52,320 Speaker 1: in a traditional nonfiction structure, then why doesn't he just 510 00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:54,880 Speaker 1: write it as a narrative, And That's what I'm doing. 511 00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:57,960 Speaker 1: And also the fictional creators of them upp At Babies 512 00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:01,280 Speaker 1: decided to name it the At Babies because they wanted 513 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:04,280 Speaker 1: to pick something so absurd that no one was thinking 514 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:08,840 Speaker 1: that they were taking themselves too seriously. And I wanted 515 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:11,120 Speaker 1: to do that with this story. I wanted to be 516 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:16,400 Speaker 1: really clear, although I'm providing a fictional blueprint, I really 517 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 1: mean it as fiction. I'm not saying like y'all should 518 00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:22,880 Speaker 1: cut and paste this and go do it. Although I 519 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:25,280 Speaker 1: do think setting up things like a mass is a 520 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:28,920 Speaker 1: really useful idea, and so I just like want people 521 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:32,200 Speaker 1: talking about those ideas. But obviously, like the immutable chord 522 00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:34,000 Speaker 1: I wrote, you know, there's no part of me thinks 523 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:38,080 Speaker 1: that's like the specific thing that everyone should do, you know, 524 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:41,800 Speaker 1: And I worry a lot about like what isn't written 525 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:44,840 Speaker 1: in this piece, right, Like it doesn't talk about their outreach, 526 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:48,360 Speaker 1: you know, most of their stuff they're saving for members. 527 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:53,520 Speaker 1: But also like it doesn't get into like how they 528 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:57,840 Speaker 1: would probably be going out and helping communities that aren't 529 00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:01,480 Speaker 1: members are going to become members in a like broader 530 00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:06,040 Speaker 1: mutual aid that's not just internally focused, you know. But 531 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:11,280 Speaker 1: I really just wanted to explore the idea of how 532 00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:16,240 Speaker 1: we can make individual and community defense and preparedness, individual 533 00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:19,160 Speaker 1: community preparedness, how we can make them work together, and 534 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:20,400 Speaker 1: I think one of the ways that we can make 535 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:24,840 Speaker 1: them work together is by this sort of organizational system 536 00:33:25,280 --> 00:33:27,960 Speaker 1: by which we say, like, all right, look like our 537 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:31,800 Speaker 1: stuff in the apocalypse might be for us, but it's 538 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:35,640 Speaker 1: a really broad us, you know, and I think that 539 00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:39,040 Speaker 1: you might run into a broader like, well, my group 540 00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:42,000 Speaker 1: will help your group as if you were us, because 541 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,560 Speaker 1: you're part of this larger group, you know, even if 542 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:47,640 Speaker 1: you're not this specific thing. Anyway, what I'm trying to 543 00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:51,400 Speaker 1: tell you is I haven't solved how to build a 544 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:55,120 Speaker 1: better society in the collapse of society. That is an 545 00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:58,880 Speaker 1: unsolved thing. But I am drawing on all of the 546 00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:02,080 Speaker 1: history that I read and all of the stories about 547 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:07,280 Speaker 1: revolution that I read, and this idea of building local 548 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:10,799 Speaker 1: councils and then federating them up and taking care of 549 00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:15,200 Speaker 1: each other is really promising to me. Anyway, that's it 550 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:17,280 Speaker 1: for this week. I might do more of these stories 551 00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:19,719 Speaker 1: in the near future. I don't know. If you want 552 00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:22,400 Speaker 1: to read this in a written form, you can find 553 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:26,320 Speaker 1: it on my newsletter, which is Margaret Kiljoy dot substack 554 00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:32,040 Speaker 1: dot com. And yeah, Hazel helps behind the scenes. Eva 555 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:35,360 Speaker 1: does the audio editing, and Sophie and Ian are our producers, 556 00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:37,920 Speaker 1: and thank you so much to everyone who helps make 557 00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:42,200 Speaker 1: this show happen. And until next week, fuck ice, take 558 00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:45,640 Speaker 1: care of each other. Do something you're bad at, and 559 00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:48,680 Speaker 1: talk to someone you don't know, especially if you're out 560 00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:50,759 Speaker 1: at an event, if you're out in an event, and 561 00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:53,719 Speaker 1: especially if you're the organizer of the event or you're 562 00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:56,839 Speaker 1: kind of in the in crowd of the event, find 563 00:34:56,880 --> 00:35:02,440 Speaker 1: something you don't know talk to them all right bye. 564 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:06,320 Speaker 3: It could Happen Here is a production of cool Zone Media. 565 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:09,560 Speaker 3: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 566 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:13,200 Speaker 3: folzonmedia dot com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, 567 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:16,839 Speaker 3: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can 568 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:19,200 Speaker 3: now find sources for it could Happen here, listed directly 569 00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:21,520 Speaker 3: in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.