A.R. Moxon: (Trying a thread here on the old blueski) In Missouri, a state Senator who’s running for governor fired up a flamethrower and lit a bunch of boxes on fire. But let me change the subject. I had a bully in middle school. Maybe you can relate. armoxon.substack.com/p/youve-pers...

(Trying a thread here on the old blueski) In Missouri, a state Senator who’s running for governor fired up a flamethrower and lit a bunch of boxes on fire. But let me change the subject. I had a bully in middle school. Maybe you can relate. armoxon.substack.com/p/youve-pers...

You've Persuaded Us Alreadyarmoxon.substack.com When it comes to the idea that conservatism has embraced fascism and supremacy, nobody is more persuasive than conservatives themselves. An essay on bullies and the margins of permission in the USA.

My bully was a kid my age who ran with a tougher group of guys in my neighborhood, and by “tougher” I mean they smoked and cussed and wore jean jackets, and moreover they stood in a gap in the chain link fence, a shortcut that shaved a half mile or more off my walk.

Let’s change names to protect the innocent and call my bully Jake (even though it was Jeremy). My take on it these days is that Jake wanted to impress the older guys by being a tough guy himself and I looked like an easy mark, which I sure was.

Jake met me at the gap and followed me home, and asked me mean vaguely threatening questions. I had been taught in no uncertain terms that it was very important to never retaliate, so I retaliated mostly by mumbling answers and hoping he would leave me alone, which he did not.

Next day he was waiting at the gap and he used my responses the previous day to ask even meaner and more targeted personalized questions like how long I had been a slur redacted, and how much did I like being a fucking slur redacted.

Jake made pointed threats about what he thought should happen to me for being a slur redacted, and he also pretended he was going to hit me and shove me, laughing when I flinched. I responded by walking as quickly as I could, so it would end more quickly, which I suppose it did.

Jake spent next day on more of the same; also by trying to trip me by kicking my feet into one another. And I responded with more of the same nothing, and by raging in impotent fury at home, which my parents noticed, which led to them calling Jake’s parents.

Post