Ah yes, the classic Chip of Theseus problem.

In the words of Pratchett…

… he realized he was wondering if the attack on Goriff’s shop had been organized by the same people, and whether those same people had set fire to the embassy. And then he realized why he was thinking like this. It was because he wanted there to be conspirators. It was much better to imagine men in some smoky room somewhere, made mad and cynical by privilege and power, plotting over the brandy. You had to cling to this sort of image, because if you didn’t then you might have to face the fact that bad things happened because ordinary people, the kind who brushed the dog and told their children bedtime stories, were capable of then going out and doing horrible things to other ordinary people. It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone’s fault. If it was Us, what did that make Me? After all, I’m one of Us. I must be. I’ve certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We’re always one of Us. It’s Them that do the bad things.

A shame that the article makes note of her authorial wit but doesn’t give any examples.

You’re not even good enough to be my fake!

One more warning, he’s a chauvinist pedophile

Big ups for Jemisen. Read the trilogy in 2023 and again in 2025 and I don’t think I’ve met its match since (and not for lack of trying either).

I think you’re just reading a lot of things in my words that simply aren’t there. I’m not positioning myself as some kind of arbiter of anything, I am stating my own singular opinion, not making a sweeping judgment or declaration.

Try looking at the last paragraph of my post one more time. I’m not making any moral judgments on people who get tattoos, I’m saying that I don’t like tattoos, and that if you want to get one, fine. I just won’t think they’re cool or badass or anything like that. I will think that they’re stupid. Not that the person is stupid, but that the tattoos are stupid.

If you’re looking for ad hominem, invective, and hate, you may want to look at your own comment.

Sure, anytime someone posts theirs online looking for praise or validation.

Spaceballs!

Frankly, that doesn’t sound fun at all.

Well, I used to smoke a tobacco pipe but I don’t anymore. Does that help?

Wow! What an interesting addition!

Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness.

It is not to my tastes anymore, but at the time when I was very swept up in it, it was truly an immersive and transformative experience. As a piece of art, I feel that it was a tremendous success.

Found the rebel pilot.

And the potted plants just begging to fall from a great height and brain someone.

It is one of Richard Wilbur’s best poems, and since it’s so accessible, I often use it to introduce students to poetry as an art form.

I’d also advise you not to use 俺 unironically

I didn’t even realize this was a genre unto itself, but I have played a good chunk of Liberal Crime Squad before.

Massara/Semafor.

Says so right on it.

Hey! Thanks to this comment I started reading the trilogy and I really enjoy it, so I went back and found this comment just to let you know. Thanks for the indirect recommendation!