Stream of Consciousness
The Quiet Violence of Merit
We like to believe in merit. We say the word as if it were a clean equation: work hard, get results. Study longer, rise higher. Try again, succeed eventually. Merit promises fairness without sentimentality. It offers order. It tells us that outcomes are earned.
By Lori A. A.13 days ago in Humans
Three-stranded braid of failing Cs: Christianity, Capitalism, Consumerism
Scrooge. What a word. Invented by Charles Dickens back in the 1840's as the name for his deplorably wealthy antagonist in the story "A Christmas Carol". Now, in modern English, a Scrooge is a miserly, greedy "person" who deprioritizes actual people in order to better fixate on money.
By Sam Spinelli13 days ago in Humans
The Tomb Called Justice
The courthouse looms at the town’s center like a tomb that refuses to stay closed, a monument of cold marble and older secrets. Its columns do not merely support a roof; they form the ribcage of an idea—that human suffering can be bled out, measured, and bottled in the name of peace. Above the bench, the scales hang like the iron skeleton of a trapped bird, eternally suspended in a room that smells of dust and the metallic tang of old fear.
By Ginny Brown13 days ago in Humans
The Weight of Maybe. Content Warning.
Trigger Warning: Sexual coercion and emotional manipulation Authors Note: This piece explores the confusion, mental conflict, and questioning that can follow experiences of coercive intimacy, a lack of clarity that often lingers long after an experience ends. If you relate to the themes present in this piece, you are not alone.
By Grace Ryder13 days ago in Humans
The System of Subtle Control
What if I told you someone could control your choices without raising their voice or even asking directly. Sounds strange right? Well, it happens constantly. Manipulation tactics are hiding in plain sight. And some are so normalized, most people even defend them while they're being used on them.
By Lori A. A.14 days ago in Humans
Falling Between Every System
Modern social systems are often described as safety nets. Employment law protects workers. Healthcare programs provide treatment. Disability benefits replace lost income. Unemployment insurance bridges job loss. Each system is presented as a safeguard designed to catch people when life disrupts their ability to function normally. Yet for many people living with disability, chronic illness, or injury, the lived experience is the opposite. Rather than forming a net, these systems stack vertically, each with its own eligibility rules, thresholds, and assumptions. Instead of catching the fall, they create gaps. People do not slip through because they failed to try. They fall because the systems were never designed to align.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast14 days ago in Humans
