Clancy of the Overflowing Inbox

 

I had written him an email

Which I had, for want of urgent action,

Sent to his personal account around 9 o’clock last night.

And an answer came delayed,

And the excuse that he had made,

Was “Sorry, didn’t see your message, had to catch an early flight.”

 

In my wild erratic fancy,

Visions come to me of Clancy,

On the red-eye back to Canberra with no wifi on the plane.

So I called him to a meeting,

And without extraneous greeting,

Told him, “You belong to me, my son, don't let it happen again!”

 

Nineteen Eighty Twenty Twenty Four

The following contains a massive spoiler for Nineteen Eighty Four, and I would much rather you read that than this post. 

 

If you haven't read the book, go read it. 

 

Like, now. 

 

Go ahead. 

 

This will still be here when you're done. 

 

 

   =   =   =   =

 

 

In fact, I believe there should be a law requiring people to read the entire book, and not just short extracts added to memes, before referencing it. It would do them well to read some of Orwell's essays on socialism, fascism, and democracy as well.

In the book, the world has been merged/absorbed into three superstates; Oceania, where the book is set, Eurasia and Eastasia.

 

We are regularly told that Oceania is at war with Eurasia. Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia. Eastasia is our ally.

 

But then, without any warning or explanation, it flips: Oceania is at war with Eastasia. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. Eurasia is our ally.

 

And I can't help but think of this when I see American so-called conservatives getting a massive despot-crush on Vladimir Putin, via Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson. 

 

Do you even remember when that guy was the enemy? Even Sarah Palin thought he was the bad guy as recently as 2008.

 

And look, I know you think the cold war is over but guess what: Putin doesn't!

And that's the whole ever-lovin' point!

 

Khrushchev must be kicking himself that an ambitious mid-level KGB drone used flattery and spambots to achieve what he couldn't with nuclear missiles.

 

I'm no body-language expert but which of these people looks like he got exactly what he wanted and which one looks like he's just been taken to the woodshed?

 

 

The trans children’s TV character nobody noticed

It’s one thing for television to be inclusive of all types of characters – people feel accepted when they see themselves in art – but there will only be true equality when their difference is no big deal.

One long-running animated series has done just that, and done it so well that nobody even noticed.

The Penguins of Madagascar is a spin-off of the film Madagascar, and made by Nickelodeon. It features characters from the film, anthropomorphised animals, living in New York’s Central Park Zoo.

One refreshing aspect of the show is many of the animals go against the stereotype often ascribed to them in fiction. The elephant is a bit dim. The squirrel is basically a stoner. The kangaroo is an arsehole. And it’s the kangaroo I’d like to talk about.

The kangaroo character is named Joey after the word for a juvenile marsupial, proving the creators did a bit of research. He has a masculine name, a masculine voice, and is referred to as “he” by all the characters, including himself as he regularly refers to himself in the third person. He is selfish, aggressive, and generally a bit of a dick.

He also has a pouch.

We all know that only marsupials born female have a pouch. Clearly, Joey is the first openly pre-op transgender character in a mainstream television program.

And while the other characters have plenty or reasons to dislike him, this is never one of them. In fact, it’s never even mentioned. The characters don’t mention it, the producers never called attention to it, the fans didn’t seem to even notice. It is universally accepted that Joey is a male who happened to be born with a pouch.

Bravo Nickelodeon for this inclusivity. And it didn’t even trigger a massive right-wing cancellation campaign. Well played!