Joe Biden gave an important speech today about MAGA fascism, but this was the most crucial line:
"Democracies don't have to die at the end of a rifle. They can die when people are silent, when they fail to stand up or condemn threats to democracy. When people willing to give away what's most precious to them because they feel frustrated."
#Fascism has always been unpopular. It can only win when the majority gives up in disgust. Don't let the bastards grind you down.
h/t @atrupar
"Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Don't let the bastards grind you down." https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/404835-nolite-te-bastardes-carborundorum-don-t-let-the-bastards-grind-you
As I remember it, Offred didn't come up with the phrase. She found it inscribed in her "room" by a prior Handmaid.
Vanity Fair traced the history of the phrase, including comments from Margaret Atwood herself, in 2017.
(Paywalled but you get "first" article free, so open in private mode.)
I find it interesting that "Atwood herself said, the motto was a joke when she was in school"
@janetlogan @mattsheffield @atrupar
“The key to the mystery is knowing (from the O.E.D.) that carborundum was a trade name,” he continued. “Whatever it was, it’s not in use any more, so we’ve lost all memory of it."
Not so. My father had a block of carborundum (not trademarked) for sharpening his chisels. The funny thing is that it (artificial silicon carbide) was so named because it resembled corundum, a word that derives from Tamil-Dravidian kurundam (ruby-sapphire) from Sanskrit kuruvinda.
Matthew Sheffield
Janet Logan (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️
Hugh Young-Bish